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Latest release from Terrific Stuff
is a fantastic DVD entitled "The Gulf/Wyer GT40s & 917s in
Action". Previously available on video, the DVD format makes
for more enjoyable and easier viewing and won't get chewed up by
your video player! Two
titles feature on this DVD: "Never Start Something You Can't
Stop" and "A Year To Remember". Both fims are in
colour and last about 30 minutes each.
"Never Start Something You Can't
Stop", made by Ferodo to promote their brake linings,
concentrates on the efforts of the John Wyer team of Gulf Ford
GT40s to win the1968 Le Mans 24 Hour Race. It begins with a fast
lap around the 8.4 mile circuit viewed from the front of a GT40
and described by Stirling Moss. Trees and sand banks line the
road and corners and there is no trace of Armco to be seen. Due
to a row between the CSI and Ferrari there were no Maranello
cars in endurance racing that year, Enzo being distinctly miffed
by the imposition of a 3 litre limit on sports prototypes which
rendered his P4s obsolete.
Favourites to win were Wyer's "production" 4.9 litre Gulf GT40s
driven by Pedro Rodriguez/Lucien Bianchi; Paul Hawkins/David
Hobbs and Brian Muir/Jackie Oliver, but they were soon in
trouble with Muir stuck in the sand at Mulsanne on lap 11. Three
hours later he had dug himself out but to no avail, and the
Hawkins/Hobbs car retired with clutch and engine maladies. After
seven hours Rodriguz and Bianchi were in the lead and remained
there, trouble free, until the end, providing a first Le Mans
victory for the drivers and Gulf Oil; a second for John Wyer
(his David Brown Aston Martin team had won in 1959) and the
third in succession for the Ford marque. |
"A Year To Remember" is a
marvellous record of John Wyer's highly successful 1970 season
when his fabulous Gulf Porsche 917s swept to victory in 7 out of
10 championship races and the equally fabulous skills of Pedro
Rodriguez and Jo Siffert thrilled spectators wherever they went.
We start in America at Daytona and Sebring and then move to
Brands Hatch where Pedro produced a truly sensational
wet-weather drive to win the race. We then go to Monza; Sicily (Targa
Florio); Spa; the Nurburgring; Le Mans; Watkins Glen and
finally, the Osterreichring where the 917s wrapped up the season
with their seventh victory. During the film John Wyer, Pedro and
Seppi appear from time-to-time with their impressions of the
races, providing a poignant reminder of these three remarkable
men who made such a great contribution to motor racing.
Although "A Year To Remember"
doesn't feature the GT40, it gives a great insight into what
made the Gulf Team such a success. If you have read John Wyer's
book "The Certain Sound", you will find that it makes an
excellent companion to this film and gives an amusing background
to the interviews provided by Pedro Rodriguez and Jo Siffert.
I can whole-heartedly recommend this
DVD to anyone with an interest in motor racing and I only hope
that more like it will eventually appear.
Priced at £17.99 (plus P&P) and
available direct from Terrific Stuff using the link below. |
