BSCC Crystal Palace 1964

[DudokX]

wow those old tires had so little grip! Those drivers had to be very talented to go so fast constantly in drift. amazing!

[deanwilliams89]

I finally found it! My dad used to have "The year of the Cortina" video and I've been searching for this for years. Thanks so much for putting it up, do you happen to have the rest?

[annysvan]

Great!

[ppaarraammoorreeXD]

Epic footage

[brownsrd16]

I was there that day!! I went to see the greatest: JC. If you go on Google Earth and put in "Crystal Palace, Anerley Hill, Bromley, London SE19" you should zoom in close enough to make out the old circuit. The start/finish line was on the western side where the road has been pulled up and I think the pits were where the adjacent car park is now sited.

[TheLiquidKnight]

Health and what now? I was born thirty years too late for motorsport to be fun. :-(

[flaperke]

PLEASE BRING RACING BACK!!! This is much better than today.

European hatchbacks against American muscle and maybe german muscle

[BillDFC]

Notice how the Mk.2 Jaguar was trailing well behind.

[MrTimbobo]

Nice used to ride my bike up to crystal palace park as a kid and watch these racing from rite on the edge of the track behind a bit of tape and a hay bail! no health and safety then spectators or drivers!

[HenrikDalin]

Cool, we race with a Galaxie 1964 and this weekend we did complete a 1000km / 7h race at Nordschleife.

[avril2]

Look again at the non-existant safety.

Where would a driver go when we left the track? Across six feet of grass into railway sleepers.

There were several shots of a St John Ambulance man sitting on a grass bank on the outside of a bend. In front of him only the grassy bank to bring any wayward car right up to him. Nice.

I used to go there to watch motorcycle races, but looking back that track was leathally unsafe.

[TheRacer120]

@Tarkus2040 According to results of the race I think that was driven by John Sears. Gawaine Baillie was in the other Galaxie.

[leach1527]

@Tarkus2040 Jack Sears was in the Galaxie

[janknuckey]

Where exactly was/is the track at Crystal Palace? Also, how come such a disparate group of cars were racing (Galaxie V Cortina!!!)

[BMWizardofOz]

@janknuckey

the variety of cars, comes from more than one class racing against each other here, much like it can still be seen in long distance races today, like Le Mans.

[leach1527]

@janknuckey the Palace circuit was situated in the Crystal Palace Park , S.London. Bits of the old track still exist but not enough of it to hold any hope that it might be revived in the manner Goodwood has. However, sprint meetings have been held there in recent years with short sections of the old circuit incorporated.

As BMWizardofOz said, the Cortinas and Galaxies raced in separate classes. Jim Clark won his class in every Touring Car Championship round in 1964 to win the title outright.

[ricadus]

@janknuckey

A small part of it, at the north end of the park, is still in use as a summer cycle-racing circuit, though the width of the track has been greatly reduced.

[Stereolabdream]

This made my day...I've walked the route of that track many times over the years...walking in the footsteps of a legend like Jim Clark!

[fosterpops]

They are meant to be having a race again this year.

[eagleash1]

This was 1964. Jim Clark was the current World Champion. Can't see Jenson turning up for a meet like that one!?

[BMWizardofOz]

I think it´s Gawaine Baillie.

but you have to see that the Galaxie has 3 times the power of the cortina and drives in another class.

[spannerman04]

@BMWizardofOz , pretty certain the galaxie driver is Jack Sears - he drove for my uncle's team - Willment racing - along with the two red striped cortinas - Jack still owns the Galaxie! Lord March has a copy of it which he shows at Goodwood

[kontroledkos]

jazzy cars and jazzy times, wish I could go back.

[danielmillionaire]

i live on gipsy hill and you wouldnt think its a racing track now. it looks all different

[subzero92MK]

is the guy at 1.04 dead?

[BMWizardofOz]

no it says in the commentary that he escaped with a broken tooth

[subzero92MK]

wow he was lucky

[corbin1747]

I have been living near Crystal Palace for the last 5 years and never knew this was there... this is where i taught my wife how to drive.... wow...to think that i taught my wife to drive on the bends that the greats have taken....

[timelinetwist]

good stuff, I used to live about two miles from there when I was a kid - I remember hearing the cars, and yes, buts of the circuit are still there. nice vid - thanks

[7SLR]

What a great piece of footage!! I lived in Palace for years and knew about the motor circuit, an outline of which you can still follow today. Amazing to think that the likes of Clark, Stewart and other great drivers raced there.

[cass2112]

superb vid,superb music too,and especially my hero Jim Clark,what a legend!

[jdb47games]

This vid is a delight. Whenever I walk round the old circuit at Crystal Palace it amazes me that it was ever used for racing. The track is very narrow in places, and bordered by banks and trees. I never saw a race there in the flesh, though I do remember on TV that Formula 3 race in 1970 that finished with James Hunt punching Dave Morgan!

[okkim1980]

Anyone appreciating this type of racing (wildly mixed types of cars, drifting around corners etc) - you might be interested in a very realistic simulator for the PC called "GT Legends". I found this clip and found an interest in this era/racing because of the simulator.

The old cars are just so much more fun and engaging to race than the technological grip/downforce monsters of today.

[roddy76to86]

@okkim1980

I want to do the real thing !

[shep1379]

I use to live in the flats above the old Forest Hill Fire Station in the 60's and I can also remember hearing the racing.

[bellcord]

Gotta love the carefree view of driver safety back then..the Mini does a barrel roll,smashs top down onto the concrete barrier,loses it's doors,wheels,seats torn loose,top crushed and the driver only chipped a tooth... Right...and gained the ability to do a great impression of the 'Elephant Man'for the rest of his life...

[piggy501]

HA HA HA, the tyres on fire...

[tankosl]

Great stuff!!!!

Straight out of the history books......

Fantastic footage.

[bellcord]

Tire troubles aside, didn't occur to anyone that a 427cid American V-8 might have a smidge horsepower advantage over a 126cid English 4-banger /Glad to see track safety was paramount..each hugh oak tree has at least one highly combustable haybale in front of it and where they couldn't afford haybales they've thoughtfully provided photograhers..

[Singe61]

If you watch closely you'll see another American V-8 close to the back of the field. Although they had a power advantage this didn't help through the turns. This wasn't NASCAR! Saloon races were also run in three or four classes according to engine size.

[CycolacFan]

This was a time of unlimited racecars and o matter if it was a Cortina, Falcon or Galaxiethat crossed the line first the Ford works team still counted as the winner.

[bellcord]

Commentary by Chumley Warner...Wait,no,..one of the car's racing IS a Chumley Warner...actually just a rebadged Thrash-Well Snailby...

[bellcord]

Luv that "Real Gone" background score..

[hedinsand]

thank u so much i used to race

imp here in the 60s as for the gentleman saying modern day drivers are better then please remember our engines were built at home and our tyres were made out of licorice

[tinasuper1500]

if you want to see how a ford should be driven then check out'simon mckinley escort mk2' on youtube.makes this look like slow motion.

[megasuggs]

Great, I remember Crystal Palace track so well, my dad used to take me in the 50s, I remember seeing D type Jags and Astin Martin DBR2s, Roy Salvedori driving and Peter Ashdown in the 1100 Lola, great memories.

[Richard259]

I was brought up near Honor Oak and on race days you could hear the Crystal Palce track very clearly, like a lot of angree bees!

[foreversideways]

Kids these days don't know what they missed. Love the commentary. "Tyres on Fire" "Clark and that swinging style' and "she only broke her glasses and a tooth"

Don't get that sort of quality from James Allen !!!

[sonicstep]

I recognise that bridge at 00:24. To the left can be seen the Athletics running track. About 120m beyond the bridge is the London Radio Car Club track. Amazing!

[mju141]

its vids like this that meake me real proud im bringing a poor old rusted anglia back to life, shes deffinetly going to get so track days now even though its solely being built for drag racing

top vid!

[frictionstreaker]

Currantly racing a Lotus Cortina, so started looking for clipes and came across this one.

My dad is racing in the black jag at the back of the pack does enyone have any other footage of BSCC from the 60's. My father crashed his jag at crystal palace some years later, but also raced and AC Leman and an XK120. And he still races the cortina with the Classic Touring Car Racing Club today. If anyone has foot age like this please let me know.. Its the best form of motor sport even today.

[FINN0411]

I actually felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up watching this brilliant, brilliant vid. My family used to live in Beckenham and my Dad and I used to go often to the saloon car races at CP (plus some F3, I think) in the mid 60's. The weeks we couldn't go, we'd hear the cars hooning around in the distance from our back garden! Heady,simple, fun days.

[Dethmeister]

Wow this GT Legends game footage almost looks real! J/K thanks for posting this vid.

[ewencameron]

Wonderful stuff. I grew up in Forest Hill and used to walk up to the circuit in the 60s. I remember some epic battles (I think) between Gerry Marshall in the Galaxy, and Dave "Run Baby Run" Brodie in an Escort. The Galaxy went like something-off-a-shovel in a straight line, but the Escort got him on the bends.

I remember seeing the Fittipaldi brothers racing against Graham Hill there Happy days - thanks for posting.

[BMWizardofOz]

Hi thank you for the nice comments and informations.

I will try to upload some more racing videos here.

[soufeast19]

rah i liv in palace and part of the circuit is now the entrance to the sports centre and theyve demolished the bridge next to the station

[soufeast19]

hence the name soufeast19 from se19 lol

[martymcmeek]

...love the music :-)

[neilb13]

Comentary by Mr Chumley Warner

[piemandan]

Amazing video.. Shame about the mini and that fellas glasses..

[XC0688]

beautiful track

[eldo56]

Fantastic!! - I spent a lot of time at race meetings back in the mid 60's, usually at the first main bend (opposite the bowl)as many of the cars used to bunch up and shunt into the wall, as they usually breaked too late - those were the days - exciting racing and loads of pile-ups!! - a boys dream!!

[thegoodlead]

Great stuff. I live 5 mins walk from Crystal Palace park and the track is still there in places. Crazy that there does not appear to be much between the cars and the spectators, though. Hope there weren't any major incidents!

[leethallee]

This is a great slice of motor sport history. I am a big fan of Jim Clark and the Ford Mark 1 Cortina. Also after living across the road from Crystal Palace park for 2 years and trying to imagine how the race circuit looked, it was fun watching the video and finally getting a glimpse of what it was like in it's hey day. Thanks

[HUEYHOG]

A chipped Tooth?? Is that a 'saying' with writing off cars? 3rd time i've heard that.

[spannerman04]

The striped Galaxy and Cortina were run by my late uncle John Willment, who went on to run GT40s with John Wyer in 68/69. Thanks for this great footage, nice to see the 'USS Nimitz' running in her time.

See her at Goodwood revival most years - she is now owned by Lord March!

[adamfruitcake]

This is great!! Wow actual footage of classic touring cars, great! Ive seen them at classic car races but actually seeing the real thing is something else :)

[mk1tina]

excellent stuff.. More needed.. Checkout mine of CP too from 1971 Iberia Trophy with RS1600's etc. Know of any others??

[nesticle]

Absolutely amazing video!!!  Thanks for putting it up!

[randgruppensportart]

Thank you for uploading this!!!

(Yes, this is a minority here being thrilled)

[m535i]

Mk1 Cortinas... Proper cars, proper racing drivers, Shame Crystal palace is no more!

[mkilner]

..This is fantastic!!..please theres got to be more of this great footage, thanks for posting! Think i have to do a race CP now in the cortina with GT Legends! ;)

[nicol1955]

Great video - proper racing !

[R34Maniac]

Superb video thanks, i hope you have more =P

[55bloke]

SUPERB!!!! Agree with all thos eabove who commented that this is soooo much more exciting than the modern stuff!! Plus, I LOVE those Mk 1 Cortinas, on opposite lock ant one wheel in the air! Fantastic stuff.

[cupidstunt1st]

that brought back some great memories of my dad taking me there when i was a kid nearly every bank holiday i wish someone had some more film clips from there thanks again !!!

[rocketpunch12210]

Yeah, very nice footage.

[roch73]

very nice video!

[ClassicMini]

Poor mini :(

[Topguncam3888]

the galaxie is like 10 times as big as the others haha gotta love it

[Fleas777]

This is real racing, could always SEE they where right on the edge, all modern touring/racing cars are just plain dull pants to watch in comparison.

[mitchthompson]

Wow! It's such a shame we have to resport to watching old footage like this to see demonstrations of truly great car handling. Wonderful video.

[VonBlade]

Top stuff.

Proof again that aero has killed motorsport.