1973: GRAHAM HILL Creating His Own F1 CAR | Tuesday Documentary | Classic Motorsport | BBC Archive

Tuesday Documentary follows Formula One racer, Graham Hill, over a three month period as he and his small team work intensively to finance, build, tune and eventually race his new car, the DN1 Shadow, in time for the 1973 Formula One season.
Clip taken from Tuesday Documentary, originally broadcast on BBC One, 10 July, 1973.
You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.
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[@cr6911]

No overbearing music, no unnecessary voice-overs and no flipping drone shots! What joy.

[@Satori-Automotive]

my dopamine levels regained consciousness while watching this its such a pleasure. Also how calm all people are and well manured.

[@AndyHack10]

Here we are over 50 years later still watching this as it's incredibly interesting without drama and straight to the point. Graham was iconic, sadly he died just 3 years after this was filmed.

[@douglasdixon524]

I was only 6 years old when he died and I live here in the U.S.A. However, I heard his name a thousand times growing up in the 1980s. I heard people talk about him so much I didn't know he passed so long ago. I think that says alot about the man to be spoken of so often by the racing community for years after.

[@rogeriogoulartstankowski5039]

Esse pra mim.foi um.dos grandes subestimado pela mídia atual do automobilismo um.cara que ganhou cinco GP de Mônaco e a tríplice corridas do automobilismo não é só um.piloto

[@seaninterpop]

Sitting in the bar: “Here I am in the boardroom” 😂

[@JJONNYREPP]

1973: GRAHAM HILL creating his own F1 CAR | Tuesday Documentary | Classic Motorsport | BBC Archive indeed. it's also the unoffical labour exchange - the bar or the pub.... and the best ideas have been garnered in a pub..... proper, though, having to pitch your insane ideas to the money men who probably think it's a crazy investment.... though it's boy's own and they probably have similar dreams for themselves. probably the world of the monday club, eh?

[@martinandersson1049]

Loads of important decisions often are made in the pub with a pint!

[@JJONNYREPP]

@@martinandersson1049 kzbin.info/www/bejne/oYvPoauJhZKFq6Mfeature=shared

[@djdrwatson]

Graham Hill looks just like Dick Dastardly from the Wacky Races! 🏎

[@jeshkam]

Who would be Muttley then?

[@tiadaid]

@@jeshkamDamon.

[@starty8814]

Alan jones said that once on his beyond the grid interview

[@delahayenator]

Haha yes always thought that too 😂

[@Jack_Warner]

Or stunt driver, Joe Wadham.

[@marguskiis7711]

The F1 british team in the 70s: bunch of friends building a car in some workshop, adding a Cossie DFV and managing the F1 races with ca 10 people total. "Thats a BIG business indeed!"

[@thegridgab]

This is Gold, thanks BBC for sharing this. Amazing to see "new" footage of Graham and his Embassy Hill team

[@markusmanstroma3156]

What a Legend! I remember being 14 years old and very much into Grand Prix and loved the look of his car. It was tragic the way he died, I’m sure with his experience and skill he could have made an impact with this team, it’s fascinating to see how small a set up it was, meetings at the pub, putting his overalls over trousers shirt and tie it was simply a project of love! Great days of F1!

[@eldiablo3794]

The 1970s was the best era of F1. Look how basic the set up is too. Just a steering wheel, gear shifter, and no onboard computers. The steering wheels now look like a video game controller lol.

[@terrystevens5261]

Sadly the Shadow DN1 was not very successful, even for the works team. Hill got Lola to build his next effort, and after that, the Embassy Hill GH2 with Tony Brise driving was a much better proposition, sadly fete intervened.

[@barrowcloughstandfast1225]

What an absolute legend. And a shout out to Old Woking !!

[@JJONNYREPP]

1973: GRAHAM HILL creating his own F1 CAR | Tuesday Documentary | Classic Motorsport | BBC Archive 1436pm 8.7.24 woking? is that where thre pub is...? i was gonna ask is that pub situated in islington....

[@landhopper4296]

At Stirling Moss’s memorial, Sir Jackie Stewart said we’d never celebrated the life of any sportsman in that way. Had Graham Hill lived, we probably would have. Look at the other clips of him on KZbin- charming, funny and of course fast. I remember him doing road safety when I was a kid and I also remember his plane crash and how sad it made us.

[@danieldravot341]

The first time I encountered Graham Hill was at the Questor Grand Prix at Ontario Motor Speedway in 1971. I was taken aback when he walked into the loo. In 1975 I went to Lotus before the race at Silverstone and Peter Warr told me to watch for an announcement. When Embassy announced a press event on the Friday I showed up and attended Graham Hill’s retirement . . .

[@terrystevens5261]

I was at Silverstone for the GP in 75, got bloody soaked.

[@danieldravot341]

@@terrystevens5261, I had a reservation for a hotel the night before the race, but when I saw the potential traffic issues on race day, I made other arrangements. I stayed in a tent at the circuit with some follows from Stowe School who were regulars at the track; I had two RAC passes and I gave the second one to the young man I’d befriended. After the race I drove him back to school using the track, but, silly me, I missed his turn off two or three times. Twelve or thirteen years later I was in the paddock at Imola chatting with some of the photographers when a fellow I didn’t know called me by name. Since that day at Silverstone our circuitous routes had had brought me to Italy as a member of the media, and him there as member of Lotus.

[@diego646464]

The big tie under the overalls !!! 😍

[@georgemorley1029]

Weight! Weight Graham! Discard the tie! Or make the tie a bit smaller at least…

[@forthrightgambitia1032]

3:25 you can see a classic JVC Videosphere in the back of the office.

[@nigelcarren]

The pillar-drill is a man's mixer! 💪🇬🇧

[@marcelgrguric3785]

Graham Hill was so great. That car is a customised Shadow DN1. See it in black UOP livery elsewhere.

[@crusherbmx]

I was born in 1970 and was always attracted to things with wheels, I knew of Graham Hill at a young age...but probably after he had passed, he was an icon, the first race car driver I ever heard of, the next would be Mario Andretti. So suave in that pecil thin moustache.

[@keithbuxton5671]

A real motorsport hero. I would loved to have meet him

[@sratus]

Great to see Dick Dastardly again. Big shout to him & Muttlley if he's still around.

[@marcelo7541]

A pilot on speedways and a true lord out of them.

[@eldiablo3794]

This video is so awesome. I wish I could've experienced F1 back then as a fan. The 1970s was an awesome era and like the wild west of F1 when it came to car designs. No computers, all mechanical, with a gear shift lever. Teams could do whatever. The drivers were also legendary. I remember seeing the Tyrrell P34 6 wheeled F1 race car from 1975-76. Then I saw Brabham had the "fan" car design and was super fast because of the insane down force it created in 1978. Having the chance to see both those cars in person really put into perspective how crazy F1 teams were back then and would do anything to win.

[@trob1173]

Watching in the 60s and 70s was exciting... and frightening. If a race was televised in the 60s and the screen went black, but there was still audio, (I remember Monaco in particular, I forget what year in the mid 60s, I was a toddler) you knew something REALLY bad had happened.

[@terrystevens5261]

@@trob1173 Lorenzo Bandini died after his Ferrari crashed and caught fire, Monaco 10 of May 1967.

[@delahayenator]

What a good looking car that was!

[@terrystevens5261]

Not very successful though, even for the works team.

[@TheChukklebunny]

When can we hope to see part two ?

[@jlinbkk7184]

National treasure..All class.

[@WSBach]

Was 12 years young in 1973 and my interest in Formula One Racing just ignited. Hill, Stewart, Cevert, a young Lauda....all my heroes of my childhood. Thank you for this report which really is from another totally different time 👍👍🍀

[@djpalindrome]

“Those rather rude bits sticking out” 😂😂😂

[@nigelwest3430]

A very different world back then.........I had the privilege of knowing Walter Hayes 20 years after this film was shot when he came to Aston Martin as President of the company, so much motoring history wrapped up in one man.

[@sidecarbod1441]

In the past we could watch programs like this, now we have 'Love Island' and other quality shows like that. 😞

[@stephenwilliams926]

And BBC3 😮

[@jamesdunlop8704]

he was such a nice man

[@calmkenny4175]

His book, Life At The Limit has a great passage on his first visit to Spa, going back to the pits and "having a think".

[@oscott63]

I remember watching a doco from my childhood about a driver building his own car. And this is it. It could pre-empt the moment when he had his seat fitting. Thanks for this

[@trob1173]

"I figure £80-90,000." That'll get you a steering wheel today. Man I miss "the good old days".

[@Nobody7720]

Still plenty of fun racing an individual can get into for that money. Just not F1.

[@sportionary]

Around £3million adjusted for inflation so still a fair amount

[@Satori-Automotive]

@@sportionary its not not that easy to calculate this. if it was like u say, then people back then would also not have been able to buy houses etc. like nowadays. the whole cost of living was so much lower and taxes aswell. Back then my family could easily afford a nice part of land and a nice house, while nowadays with similar jobs and money u would get a friendly handshake. the prices for land also went to the roof. also i did the calculation with the "offical" calculator. 90.000 pounds from 1973 is is roughly 949.000 pounds in nowadays money. 80.000 is what my grandmothers house cost my family in the 70ths. (840.000 in nowadays money) she sold it for 280.000 a couple years ago and its now probabaly worth 350.000.

[@sportionary]

@@Satori-Automotive yeah I literally did a quick google search for this hahahaha your breakdown makes much more sense but the generally gist I was going for definitely still stands that Graham was paying a fair amount for the engine. Apologies for the misinformation. Also interesting to see the amount your grandmothers house price has risen within a couple of years, can’t even imagine what that 90k he paid for the engine would equate to in another 50 years!

[@NicotineRosberg]

Damon Hill has some of his Dad's mannerisms

[@andrewrcmadwilkinson6999]

CHEERS MATE BEEN LOOKING FOE THIS FOR AGES 😉

[@GBURGE55]

That Shadow DN1 was always such a beautiful car.

[@terrystevens5261]

Yes, but not quick enough.

[@grantmckendry3323]

That was brilliant. Really enjoyed that. Building race cars in sheds, how it should be done.

[@terrystevens5261]

Ken Tyrrell built Sir Jakie Stewarts championship winning cars in a wood yard in Surrey.

[@grantmckendry3323]

@@terrystevens5261 Ecurie Ecosse something similar too, they used to build their cars in a mews garage not too far from where I stay.

[@rcnotes]

Graham Hill had the best hair for a racing driver.

[@a34rwl]

You'd have thought he'd put his helmet on for seat fitting. Love the string vest - fireproof, was it?

[@domformula1]

Those gaps in it are clearly for weight reduction

[@lucascarioli]

Fantastic stuff, completely new to me!

[@BurtSampson]

Graham Hill baby.

[@janveit2226]

Wow. So much changed in those 50 years. Drivers had to be really crazy to drive those "fuel tanks on the wheels"

[@lukealadeen7836]

1:54 The 70s were wild. Imagine Max Verstappen climbing into a race suit over his dress pants, shirt and tie 😂

[@markfarnon6742]

What a treat! So interesting to see the differences between F1 then and now.

[@thatguyfromcetialphaV]

The very definition of a champion and a gentleman.

[@mchristr]

The early 70's F1 cars looked gaudy and overdone at the time. Now they look positively gorgeous compared to the current space ships.

[@stephaneblais9149]

FANTASTIC!!! Never saw that!

[@SnakeyUk08]

Fascinating ,but also shows how far technology has moved in 51 years 😳🤓

[@videogamebookreviews]

Horse riders: please drive slowly when near us. Graham Hill: 180mph. 0:35

[@McRocket]

Absolutely fascinating. ✌

[@simonbysshe]

Incredible, is it possible to watch the full episode?

[@JJONNYREPP]

1973: GRAHAM HILL creating his own F1 CAR | Tuesday Documentary | Classic Motorsport | BBC Archive 1431pm 8.7.24 a mobile rocket launch. same with landspeed and water speed vehicles... this was the era when motorsports were intersting, though... now it's plodding crap. saloon cars probably being the more entertaining of these sports....

[@Jack_Warner]

@@JJONNYREPP You didn't answer his question.

[@aogracing660]

@@JJONNYREPP cheers for the clarification

[@SlingVideo]

Sure - just invent a time machine and travel back to 1973.

[@JJONNYREPP]

@@Jack_Warner Comments on ‘1973: GRAHAM HILL creating his own F1 CAR | Tuesday Documentary | Classic Motorsport | BBC Archive’ 2241pm 8.7.24 she never asked one....

[@jjw8885]

Awesome video!! I wonder if there's anywhere you can find the full doco?

[@sdroffey]

Any chance of releasing the whole programme?

[@xiaofengxiaofengxiaofengxi4651]

Its amazing how similar Graham sounds to Damon

[@KR1736]

Holy hell this is so good

[@samghost13]

That is the coolest thing i have ever seen!

[@richardseymour1258]

Two mechanics! It takes three to change a single tyre today.

[@terrystevens5261]

Yep, but they only changed tyres when they had a puncture back then.

[@adolfoofranco]

Great video! Absolute legend. It is interesting seeing them experimenting (then) new technology. I'm not sure if the compressed air thing in the helmet is really safe though.

[@ozibizi2125]

Graham hill ❤❤👍

[@potranco999]

Great documentary. He was my favorite F1 driver as a kid. I was fortunate to attend the 1968 & 1970 Mexican Grands Prix as a ten/twelve year old. Thanks to my dad’s job at Ford Motor Company, he obtained weekend pit passes. Different times back then; you could walk around in the back area of the garage stalls and see mechanics working on the cars and drivers walking around. I was able to get the race program signed by the drivers. It was a thrill to have Graham stop and talk to me briefly and sign my program. I still have the 1970 signed program with all drivers except John Surtees because he was in a foul mood over his new underperforming new car he built.

[@terrystevens5261]

Yep, the Surtees TS7.

[@SpeedBrazilOficial]

AMAZING GUYS ❤

[@user-sw2ob4iw1m]

What a man Graham Hill was, smooth, charming, talented, brave; he also managed to replicate all of those qualities in Damon Hill (chip off the old block)

[@terrystevens5261]

I was chuffed to bits when Damon won the British Grand Prix, something his dad failed to do. He did win the International Trophy at Silverstone though in 1971, Grahams last win in a GP car and my first visit to Silverstone. i was 17, now 70. where the hell did all that time go ?

[@The_Doug124]

Race suit over his suit! What a bunch of mad lads

[@scottspy]

Graham had a handsome head of hair and a magnificent jawline. 🏁🇬🇧

[@trainscranesandtrivialtale7262]

I wonder if any of the team members helping fit the seat were with in the plane with him on that fateful day two years later

[@stephenwilliams926]

I was thinking the same 🤔

[@vvayoutvvest]

From Wikipedia: "On board with him were five other members of the Embassy Hill team who all died: manager Ray Brimble, mechanics Tony Alcock and Terry Richards, driver Tony Brise, and designer Andy Smallman."

[@weallfollowmanutd]

He's so bloody cool.

[@kevinquigley3]

Is there a full version?

[@remilebesque6242]

They misjudged a bit the quantity of foam used for molding the seat😅. I love the videos of these pioneers

[@iaingrant5478]

Love the boardroom meeting

[@RackemDawg]

Please share the rest of this documentary!! I was enthralled, and 100% plot committed. I’m going to need some resolution, if you beauties at the bbc could accommodate a yank.

[@kevinbailey5953]

where can we see the rest?? It was getting very interesting!

[@cartoonfan959]

the wild 70s , what period

[@andyelliott8027]

£90,000 in 1975 = £770,000 in 2024.

[@alexanderwolterink5622]

Remember that these chaps thought their world was complex and fast moving 😂😂

[@ysgol3]

Watching Graham is always riveting - the wonderful articulacy and wit in the way he talked, the way he moved, his appearance, everything. There's still nobody in sport - anywhere - who's come close to Graham's amazing combination of tremendous achievement, hilarious humour and immense physical courage. All these years later - not even close. Thank you so much for this, though I'd have so loved to see the whole show! The state of his legs is quite something to see - he never really recovered from his 1969 accident at Watkins Glen when both his knees snapped 'backwards', along with other injuries, yet he seems to ignore this and moves very well. He was asked around this time, which is of course only two and a half years or so before his tragic, ridiculous and (to me anyway) still hard to believe death, whether his legs still hurt. He replied 'Only when I stand up'.

[@burkezillar]

I'd say Alex Zanardi surpassed him. May not have won a GP or a championship, but to win what he has done after losing his legs, I think you have your man for the current times.

[@ysgol3]

@@burkezillar Hi, I take your point about his physical courage, yes of course, but the combination I referred to? Graham was funnier than most comedians and is still the only person ever to win Indy, Le Mans and the F1 world championship - the amazing 'Triple Crown' which is so unlikely EVER to be repeated.

[@youtybebw]

Love the fire testing, could you imagine that today 😂😂😂

[@morris2450]

I had the privilege as a kid with my brother to see and touch Graham & Jochen's Gold Leaf Lotus cars at a workshop and then see them at the Teretonga circuit (NZ)

[@terrystevens5261]

Tasman series i guess.

[@morris2450]

@@terrystevens5261 Correct👍

[@balazsvydra2202]

Amazing character, I would travel back in time and have a chat with him! The lady is so pretty from 12:25!

[@user-yd3lc2zs6h]

At BBC archives please give us the full Gentlemen lift up your skirts F1 ground effect documentary?

[@jacobmassey3897]

Putting the race suit on straight over a highly flammable shirt and tie 👔 😂

[@vvayoutvvest]

That isn't the race suit, it's just a pair of overalls to protect his normal clothing from workshop oil and grease while he works on the car.

[@jacobmassey3897]

@@vvayoutvvest I disagree. Racing overalls. Goodbye

[@terrystevens5261]

@@jacobmassey3897 Yep, all the drivers wore those early Nomex suits back then.

[@drocles]

I would love to see a modern car fitting

[@stephenwilliams926]

Sitting in a Bath of high octane fuel 😮

[@_Ben4810]

In a parallel universe, Lewis Hamilton this weekend just won his 9th British Grand Prix driving a GH49 for the ultra-successful Sir Graham Hill & Son Racing International racing team powered by the affiliate company within Graham's own empire of The Hill Group plc, Cosworth Engines, Powertrains & Rocket Systems Ltd.🙏

[@crusherbmx]

How many Championships did Damon win with this team in this parallel universe? 4?

[@LIGIERJS111979]

dont talk about the disgraceful rich commie in a video about the late and great graham hill

[@_Ben4810]

@crusherbmx It was one more championship than the ones Schumacher won in our universe...! 😉🏆💪😆

[@AdrianInflorida]

"I have 2 excellent mechanics"..... Nowadays an F1 team has 200, lol. The goodnold days....

[@rodthewelder3360]

Love the low tech way to test fire proof suit ! 1970's

[@GamerSpencer]

I do wonder where in Old Woking his racing cars were made! its nearly my home town of Woking!

[@pensylvania65000]

10 Manor Way. Leased space from Gomm Metal Developments. They weren’t there long however before moving to Hanworth.

[@GamerSpencer]

@@pensylvania65000 I wonder if they know the history of that building?

[@tangerinedream7211]

Having won Le Mans with Matra in 1972, as the co driver of French darling Henri Pescarolo, Hill would have been better trying for a sports car drive I think. Many questions over that fatal air crash in the fog , he had the option to divert to a fog free airport but declined, rumours of the plane being overloaded with a DFV. Great man, very rich motorsport history, tragic end. No one will ever equal his triple crown achievement of wins, F1, Indianapolis and Le Mans .RIP.

[@handbrakebob]

Where's the circuit where they're testing at the beginning?

[@hpoonis2010]

Back in the day when F1 drivers had personality, character and charm, and were not just corporate robots all living in Monaco and going to the gym. If one is going to be driving a race car one must wear a decent tie. 85,000 UKP for one car? That would barely get a set of tyres now.

[@tbgsport]

Looks so funny watching an F1 car being put together in basically someone’s back shed…

[@highlands]

Gomm metal developments in Old Woking. Amazing to think that you had Brabhams, Mclaren, Alan Mann, Cooper, HWM and, I think AC cars all withing throwing distance and all operating out of old workshops. Next door to Gomm's in a similar setup was a company making scientific instruments. On the one hand, post-war, they were a reasonably affordable and convenient way to get started but they also made it difficult for businesses to expand or buy in new equipment, by the late 70s and 80s they too antiquated for the world of modern business.

[@terrystevens5261]

Not to mention Ken Tyrrell working out of his wood yard.

[@youtybebw]

I think they still use that system to make the seats

[@paulsagbakken2996]

A gentle mans sport 😆☕️🫖

[@nickysixx2480]

We trying to get a “pint into a half-pint pot” as that basic anthology from Graham makes a lot of sense even to an aerospace performance engineer like me

[@terrystevens5261]

He worked for Smiths Industries back in his early days, now G.E. Aviation.

[@SpeedBrazilOficial]

51 YEARS in 2024. TODAY!

[@jmfjcas6014]

Absolutely talented and unique driver. Ayrton Senna beat "Mr. Monaco" 5 times won, many years later. And Dick Dastardly from "Wacky Races" ... ;)

[@metacosmos]

At the moment of his plane crash, Hill was bankrupt ? broke ? Alan jones said that in 1975 Hill was a very demanding and agressive team manager because he needed results to keep running his team. And there is the accident of Stommelen in Montjuic 75 due to a faulty rear wing...

[@ashokathegreat4534]

What does he say at 3:35? I can only hear “Ive got a workshop set up in old Woking” and then “In Norris Gums place” who is that Norris?

[@danross8565]

They don’t make men like Graham hill nowadays.

[@TestGearJunkie.]

He was, as my delightful other half is wont to say, a Top Bloke.

[@pauljames3058]

Seemed like a nice bloke

[@LagmasterB]

What a loss. His death was one of the ones that hit Jackie Stewart the hardest.

[@rencelani-ty2sc]

One very cool man absolute legend every one who had something to do with him liked him I had the fortune to meet Damon in Adelaide in 1994 and thought wow I bet he he is just like his Dad Damon was impressive in the Car and I thought if F1 had rules like they have in football Schumacher should have been fouled out and Damon should have been Champion never would’ve happened in Grahams time all the drivers were reasonable no one would bang wheels in open wheel cars but Senna And Schumacher brought road rage into Formula One sorry about my winging

[@terrystevens5261]

I think Gilles Villeneuve and Rene Arnoux set the precedent for wheel banging, and that was long before Senna and Schumacher came along. but you are correct, they were thugs too.

[@trsfc1595]

Is the Worksop Maurice Gomm's premises. Gomm Metal Developments