1971: ANNIE NIGHTINGALE at SILVERSTONE Grand Prix | Before The Event | Classic Sport | BBC Archive

[@Ogma3bandcamp]

04:42 Whispering Bob Harris on welding duties. R.I.P. Annie, you legend.

[@GBURGE55]

Had to play that back. Perhaps that was his day job!😊

[@teabagmcpick889]

Goode spot - he's a dead ringer 😂

[@sidecarbod1441]

The welding fumes are what gave him his distinctive voice!

[@Ogma3bandcamp]

@@sidecarbod1441 😂

[@malquezare]

Nice to see Emerson Fittipaldi, G.Hill, Stewart and others pilots

[@jeffreynolds3848]

Wasn’t Emerson amazing in this piece...?! This makes me want to watch the film Grand Prix all over again....! RIP Annie - you were forever a class act...!

[@john2ndname]

@@jeffreynolds3848 Emerson almost got away with the Elvis look...

[@plunder1956]

I saw a lot of familiar faces. Like Jackie Stewart with long hair and Grayham Hill with that fantastic smile and the trademark chin. these were major names in my teenage years.

[@plantfeeder6677]

Was hoping to get a glimpse of Jo Siffert. He would die later that season at Brands Hatch. I saw him finish his last race at Laguna Seca Can-Am driving the Porsche 917-10. One week later😢

[@aureliobrighton1871]

@@plantfeeder6677 Jo Siffert, elegant and charming. Quiet master of race driving and top business man. To me a true legend without any myths. ☮️:)

[@ScreamqueenarmyBlogspot666]

RIP Annie Nightingale, you will be missed 😢

[@hilaryepstein6013]

I really only knew Annie Nightingale as a DJ but having read about her since her death she had an amazing life and, especially in the 60s and 70s, was a fearless woman in a man's world. A sad loss.

[@DanielBruzzivaz]

Viver intensamente é melhor que viver sempre até velhice

[@hilaryepstein6013]

@@DanielBruzzivaz She was lucky, she did both.

[@19megamustaine85]

what are you talking about ,why was she fearless woman in a man's world explaine !

[@richardwilton722]

Peter Gethin was an outrageous flirt! :)

[@shaundadson8302]

Be rude not to really!. Back then it was one of the benefits of being a racing driver - look at James Hunt and Barry Sheene - know they both died young, but they sure enjoyed themselves in their short lives. Given the downside of the risk of being killed racing at that time I suppose you can't blame them.

[@Daniel-S1]

45 yrs and 52 yrs.

[@sg-hd9fz]

Outrageous lech

[@sonorastar2239]

Even blue-haired feminists start ovulating when REAL men flirt with them.

[@tachikomakusanagi3744]

I did wonder what Annie was doing in his flat the morning of the race!

[@SilverfoxJB]

RIP Annie Nightingale a beautiful and talented woman and one of the best Radio Dj's of the last 40 odd years

[@raoulheinrichvonmerten4851]

That so takes me back, the whole vibe of that interview with Peter just captured GP racing in the 70’s.

[@mk1cortinatony395]

Brilliant ! I never knew Annie did stuff like this

[@davidphilips5543]

Been watching 3 minutes and already the film has said more than the current F1 videos say in a season!

[@Al-os2cg]

And with less words and drama.

[@mecano572]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@Doc_-_Savage_1]

Modern F1 is slot car racing compared to the 70's through to the 90's.

[@davidphilips5543]

@@Doc_-_Savage_1 yeah I follow that. Went to my first GP in 91' at Silverstone. Man, the sight and sound of those cars going past on the hangar straight has stayed with me

[@moiseulpasmoi]

From what I know, F1 is an ENGINEERING d*ck size measuring among teams. Cars can be tamer in sound and everything but they’re miles better than the old ones.

[@GaryJohnWalker1]

Annie also did a summary doc on the Transatlantic(?) challenge - UK vs US bike racers at a couple of circuits around Britain in the early 70s. Poss with Sheene. And on the US side a good few who later became GP stars when they ventured to Europe properly (prob not Roberts). Anyway, she was a terrific BBC presenter, not just the Sunday night R1 jock she became in the 80s.

[@gaillaffer7579]

I feel I grew up with Annie and John Peel. I miss you both.

[@_Ben4810]

9:19 French motorsport journalist Gerard ''Jabby'' Crombac on the left, March Racing (& ex-Team Lotus & Jim Clark's...) mechanic Dave ''Beaky'' Sims on the right....

[@LeoWuerde]

Jabby share his appartement in Paris with Jim Clark in 1967...and took over Jimmys Lotus Elan....Dave "Beaky" Sims were at cold and rainy Hockenheim track, 7th April 1968, the last man who spoke with the by far Greatest Driver Ever, or in the words of Senna and Fangio "The Best of the Best".

[@scottishwildcat]

That would be Peter Gethin's penultimate race for McLaren. He switched to BRM mid-season, and won his second (and only) F1 race with them at Monza.

[@samlancaster1277]

Well done. I followed Peter all through his career.

[@shaundadson8302]

Wasn't it the fastest ever average speed F1 race for many years?, with the first few cars covered by fractions of a second, (think the record was later broken by Michael Schumacher). That BRM engine was a beast - still one of the best sounding engines even today.

[@samlancaster1277]

Well done Sean. Yes it was. I recorded the winning BRM P180 at the Oulton Park, Gold Cup in 2002. The sound on the approach to Old Hall and the downshift into Cascades are absolutely awesome . I well remember the days when with eyes closed, I could instantly differentiate between Ferrari, Matra, BRM and Alfa Romeo V12’s. Such very happy memories indeed.

[@shaundadson8302]

@@samlancaster1277 Definitely one of the best sounding V12's that's for sure. All modern F1's sound tame by comparison - that was a great era of beautiful sounding engines with the DFV too.

[@iannicholls7476]

Ah, I was wondering about that. I thought it was in ‘71 that he won with BRM at Monza so I was surprised to see him in a McLaren. I hadn’t realised that he switched mid-season.

[@doxies]

Annie Nightingale was gorgeous! Grew up listening to her on Radio 1. Wonderfull seeing hoe much simpler the world was - not too long ago but a lifetime away

[@syedalamgir5838]

Thanks BBC archive

[@Al-os2cg]

The good old days😃 of drawing board and tape.

[@John-k6f9k]

They didn't have KZbin though.

[@HuSiaCat]

Annie was a voice of my youth, loved the radio and those were golden years.

[@OlafProt]

Good grief Annie was forever awesome.

[@boatman222345]

I was in the tech building at the Formula One race at Watkins Glen in the late 1960s watching the Ferrari mechanics change out a failed engine. I can remember thinking what a complex piece piece of technology that car represented. Watching this today I realized that those cars were simplicity plus in comparison to Formula One cars of today where the brake system alone costs more than an entire Formula One cost back then.

[@plantfeeder6677]

Thank your politicians and central banking for that inflationary increase.

[@PurityVendetta]

Yes but it was such fun. I worked for a small team in the uk running Formula Vauxhall Lotus A and B class cars, current and historic FF cans and various other open wheel and sports cars. I really enjoyed it.

[@PurityVendetta]

​@@plantfeeder6677You're not a technical type are you...

[@boatman222345]

@@plantfeeder6677 I'm afraid that it's not inflation alone that led to the vast increase in the cost of Formula One racing. The technology in Formula One has advanced to the stage where materials and design costs have soared through the roof. It's not an exaggeration to say that compared to Formula One engineering rocket science is child's play.

[@nigelwilliams9307]

Annie was in awe of Peter and I think there was some chemistry between them.

[@mick8473]

He was too obvious, off putting.

[@nigelwilliams9307]

@@mick8473 She wanted his bone.

[@jonathancolling2284]

I thought the exact same thing ! Made me a bit uncomfortable actually 🤣

[@sidecarbod1441]

@@nigelwilliams9307 More likely she wanted his 'connecting rod'

[@andrewgurney6019]

He was shifting through the gears with ease.

[@shb8124]

Cool wee film and a few famous faces to be spotted as well, enjoyed that. RIP the wonderful Anne Nightingale too who was one of the better DJs we had during her time.

[@GrahamDyson-h9z]

As a kid, I recall her being really quite 'hot', & offering this particular 'callow youth' a further reason to tune into the 'Whistle Test' ! ~ God bless you Annie, for championing some great alternative music, & opening my ears up to sounds that are still very much with me to this day.

[@plantfeeder6677]

That was an incredible program that has many videos here on yt. Gonna be watching some of those now to get a glimpse of her somemore. Thanks

[@shaunmckenna1923]

I remember days like this when F1 was so much more fun seeing all the drivers walking around , also you if you were in the paddock you were able to see the cars up close .

[@captaintoyota3171]

The loafers in the f1 car heel toe is so 70s so fantastic

[@EllDub]

Love how there's photos of all the McLaren's of Bruce's day on the walls, good on ya Phil 👌.

[@howardsportugal]

Amazing to watch...mum had a miscarriage watching this race, 1971 Silverstone. Bless my sibling. I came along 18 months later.

[@shaundadson8302]

What a great piece of film - she was lovely and a great presenter - only knew her for the music stuff, but this was good. Nice to see the hands on engineering, with the Cosworth DFV in pieces - didn't realise they pulled them apart themselves - thought they went back to Cosworth for rebuild at that time. Great interview with Peter Gethin too - a driver like many others from F1 history of that time, (another is Tom Pryce), doesn't get mentioned enough.

[@sonicstep]

"What a great piece of film. " Yes, it's refreshing to see it doesn't look pre Charlie Chaplin; grainy and bleached out.

[@Kosmonooit]

0:42 Never leave the key in the chuck! RIP Annie used to love her early morning show on R1. She was quite posh back in the day yeah

[@aineo2888]

Well spotted, yes, that would result in a bollocking if caught, but we all did it once at least.

[@davidg3944]

@@aineo2888 I never threw a key, but did once leave a chunk of square stock in the socket when the key itself had gone missing (drove it with an adjustable spanner), and that did go across the shop. Luckily no harm, and in fairness I was still in my first year or two of technical High School, but it was an embarrassing lesson in what not to do.

[@1man1guitarletsgo]

I was surprised to see so much swarf on the lathe.

[@PurityVendetta]

Wow, so many experts 🤣

[@OneSwitch]

What a lovely voice Annie Nightingale had. Great video. Exciting scary era for racing.

[@SunShine-dk6rk]

Thank you for a super upload, ❤❤❤

[@Sundae_Times]

"Ooh, it's a nice tight fit." "And what's this little knob here?" 🤗

[@miloudiben]

So many innuendos 🤣🤣

[@juergenschneider6472]

Its a jewel for everyone who is interested in the history of Formula one. Just great!! Hope to see Jackie at Goodwood this year.

[@julianlockwood3040]

Pure GOLD

[@Grunchy005]

6:53 That's Irwin Shaw "Rich Man, Poor Man" (1969), Harold Robbins "The Inheritors" (1969), and Ross MacDonald "The Underground Man" (1971)

[@brianmorecombe2726]

Annie Nightingale a car racing presenter.Amazing,1971 and the BBC got a music Old Grey Whistle Test presenter to do this.Never in a million years did i think Annie Nightingale was interested in car racing

[@MGDriver99]

The paddock scenes are amazing!

[@patrikfloding7985]

I love the 1970s. I almost wish I was 10 years older so I could have enjoyed it even more!

[@SURGASURGE12]

Back when F1 cars were actually interesting, and F1 itself actually felt like a proper motorsport.

[@HTOP1982]

I think the modern cars are very interesting, but they produce terrible racing. They are focusing too much on lap times when writing the rules, instead of declaring once and for all a maximum amount of dirty air behind the car. Wings got to go. for proper racing to exist.

[@rafabern31]

Back when F1 cars had almost nothing but a helmet to protect drivers with imminent risk of death in the next race.

[@user-dz3ie5me2t]

@@HTOP1982 There are plenty of racing categories with primitive aerodynamics, but they are so much slower, and nobody watches. F1 drivers themselves say they prefer the challenge of driving the modern F1 cars, the fastest racing cars in the world, even if it looks boring from the outside. It's a conundrum nobody can solve. The truth is that the technology has advanced so much, way beyond good old racings.

[@HTOP1982]

@@user-dz3ie5me2t F1 cemented itself as a commercial powerhouse when their aerodynamics were primitive. What people like is spectacle, and they spend a lot of money trying to provide it,because the cars simply don't allow for drama, unless it rains.

[@chumleyk]

0:52 Remember that the average price of a HOUSE in the UK back then was £4500...

[@plantfeeder6677]

What is it now? Anything less than Unobtainium I'm guess is out of the question like everywhere else the new world communist order has taken over

[@georgethomas7814]

An amazing gem from Silverstone 1971..... Good to see Mclaren and their car from that year.

[@plunder1956]

It's curious seeing Annie sliding down into the seat of the F1 car with almost a look of fear. Back in 1998 we had two Jordan F1 cars on stage for a show and a few people tred to get into them. They are snug and almost claustrophobic for a thin person and some of the people at this show were NOT slim. We had to stop them before Sombody got stuck. Plus many of the carbon wing sections are actually sharp. The car sits very low to the ground, even without an engine in it. Just lifting the cars onto a 2m stage level was difficult. We rolled them onto a sheet of Plywood and then used a fork lift to pick them up. Seeing an F1 car close up gave me a lot more respect for the drivers of these machines and the designers that build them.

[@TheNovum]

McLaren 😍

[@jeremyrichards8327]

What is that strange little knob? Well done Annie always coming up with something different.

[@tenparkdrive]

Gorgeous x

[@ridhobaihaqi144]

1971... my dad still 2 years old 😅😅

[@southwestkinema9149]

Thanks for that. 52 in Feb 😢 Time flies people try and enjoy your life

[@NoosaHeads]

I can't reconcile the young, pretty, vivacious Annie with the fact that she died in early 2024, at the age of 84. It seems surreal.

[@rfratelli]

Is it just me or was Peter hinting on Annie?

[@billb7876]

More than hinting lol, all very suggestive eh?

[@NicotineRosberg]

Can u blame him?

[@phillipecook3227]

No wonder. She was " fit."

[@drew699]

Defo some flirting there.

[@neilwarburton3683]

With his little knob 🤩

[@jeshkam]

Peter's surely Gethin there.

[@MrAussieCrasher]

I think Annie staid the night with Peter lucky boy , a perk of being a GP driver

[@mylesdw]

I was there! As a youngster my dad took me to the race in 1971. I still remember the sound of those howling Cosworth DFVs; I had never heard anything to loud! Jackie Stewart led for most of the race and subsequently won. Grahame Hill had some sort of shunt on the grid and did not feature. There was also a gas turbine car running. At the end JS came round with his car on (if I recall) a farm trailer and we all hopped down onto the track to congratuate him as it drove past.

[@trainscranesandtrivialtale7262]

Peter and Annie are both the same age here - 31. You wouldn't think it!

[@Ruda-n4h]

Annie looks about 30ish, Peter older.

[@LuckyFruitRacing]

Peter looks easily 45+, crazy how times have changed

[@phillipecook3227]

Really? She looks younger, mid 20s.

[@Ruda-n4h]

@@phillipecook3227 For the time I would put her at about 28 if I didn't know better. People born during the war just looked older and more mature.

[@ajs41]

@@Ruda-n4h She looks 30 by today's standards, 25 by the standards of the day, but was actually 31.

[@DM-it2ch]

Peter Gethin doing his best to out- smooth Terry-Thomas!!!!

[@jeshkam]

He was Gethin there. 😏

[@ВасиаткаБезпутная]

Боже, столько легендарных людей на этом видео! Да и такое качество! Я бы с удовольствием посмотрел трансляцию этапов Ф1 1971(или более поздних) года в таком качестве! Жаль, что это невозможно...

[@craigyirush3492]

Can you post the whole thing?

[@conner916]

My dad told me Peter Gethin was chatting my mum up at Brands Hatch in the bar back in the early 70’s 🤣🤣

[@Tom_Hadler]

...Peter Gethin is your real dad

[@TheBoycie86]

The lack of safety is eye opening!!! The fact there was a 1 in 3 chance a driver wouldn't make it to the end of the season!

[@christopherharmon2433]

It wasn't until the mid seventies (1976IIRC) that F1 went an entire season without an in race fatality.

[@jdb47games]

Nonsense. Of the 26 drivers taking part in the first race of the 1971 season, all but two would survive the year, and their deaths were not in F1 World Championship races.

[@TheBoycie86]

@@jdb47games I didn't specifically state the 1971 season, but more that era, 60s and 70s when safety wasn't important as performance. Motorsport in general

[@PeacefulRallyCar-pw3cs]

Back when F1 was dangerous and flying was safe.

[@phillipecook3227]

​@@christopherharmon2433Jesus. That's incredible.

[@wf1g]

oh my ! Thank you for this.

[@hughessay1372]

Annie: "What are you doing now?" "We're fitting the seat." "That's the seat?" (pointing at what even a 6 year old could identify as a seat) Brilliant, simply brilliant...

[@alexandrefernandes8027]

Thanks for this amazing video.

[@ysgol3]

Oh wow, this is fantastic, thank you, I love the quick glimpse of Graham pretending to ne a duck - typical! Peter was a complete gentleman and very very well liked - just a few weeks later he sensationally won the 1971 Italian GP, in the last GP at Monza without chicanes, in a four car chase to the line. His average speed there was the fastest in GP history, a record which lasted, amazingly, until 2003!!

[@oldjake4233]

R.I.P. Anne Nightingale

[@InZomnia365]

There's something so strange about seeing something so old in such high quality.

[@ianmangham4570]

Peters wonderful combover is now in a museum 😮

[@5tuartGuy]

as a modern F1 fan, hearing them say an engine only cost £7000 is incredible

[@phillipecook3227]

I understand that even allowing for inflation that would be cheap as chips in 2023.

[@davepoul8483]

That was about 2000 more than a 3 bed semi detached house, in most areas of the country,UK

[@prelovedguitarsni1436]

Very interesting video. £7.5k for a DFV!!! That would be about 10% of a rebuild today.

[@chumleyk]

And almost double the price of a house back then.

[@richardbullwood5941]

Annie Nightingale has to be the most English name I've ever heard

[@fjp3305]

That was real racing!

[@the_lost_navigator]

RIP, Respect

[@TheLastOilMan]

Another DS presenter, but I fell for her once. RIP Annie !

[@georgecarlinismytribe]

Man & Machine before it became Man & Digital Interface

[@jeshkam]

U nailed it.

[@betsyrocks]

0:52 £7500 in 1971 is worth roughly £105,000 in 2024. Nowadays, an F1 engine could cost over £10M?

[@marine4lyfe85]

Are you serious? What could justify a $10 Million engine?

[@chumleyk]

@@marine4lyfe85 Research and development and the fact they aren't mass produced...

[@tobythehairlessdog8876]

In 1971 a pint of beer was 15p. Now it's 5 quid. That means it's more than 30 times dearer, so 7000 would be more than 200,000 pounds - which is still stupidly less than an F1 engine today! Woof!

[@juanmontoya6622]

RIP Annie.

[@stephenhowell5611]

Great clip, RIP.

[@m0ondoggy]

It's crazy out of all of those teams, McLaren and Ferrari are the only ones still running. I'm well aware that Tyrrell is today Mercedes, but still.

[@GeoffBob77]

"It's a nice tight fit isn't it" said Peter. "What's this strange knob" replied Annie. Hilarious.

[@SimonWallwork]

My Goodness- she was lovely!

[@jeremypreece870]

The only female DJ/presenter on Radio One until Janice Long in the 1980's. She was on R1 for 53 years! I didn't know that she did TV other than the whistle test. Again, one of the first women ever to venture into this type of subject on TV as well. On the Radio One tribute, all of the current female Radio One DJs spoke of her the pioneer and their founding mother.

[@hisham_hm]

"It produces an amazing 450 horsepower" The 2026 F1 cars will produce 470 hp from their electrical part alone -- the progress is amazing!

[@pasha12343]

Very interesting 🙂

[@graemewilliams6697]

Excellent film.

[@davidporeilly1]

New Cosworth Engine cost £7,500. Spoken in awe as an average house in 1971 was £6,500.

[@phils2180]

Some great footage from a golden era of F1. Certainly more dangerous with, sadly, many more fatalities than would be tolerated today but there was just something special about the racing and the drivers back then, not like the oversized slot racing we have today.

[@rockets4kids]

I miss shows made like this.

[@malcpaul996]

She was gorgeous. x

[@Tracertme]

She clearly knew very little about Motorsport, but did a good job of presenting… like some of the young F1 presenters we have to put up with on Sky today… I wish they would just let the drivers present as they know what they are talking about..

[@Pianoguy32]

F1 needs some more Phil Kerr

[@SubTroppo]

8:52 Boeing management take note!

[@sonicstep]

00:52, To put that in perspective, you could buy a three bedroom semi-detached property with a garage and a decent sized garden back then for that money; in suburban London.! Now such properties are £500,000 minimum. 😳 Interesting how street cars can develop more now, yet don't require such frequent rebuilds. I mean they can do tens' of thousands of miles before a rebuild.

[@hugoagogo9435]

Great clip. Better than the drivel you get on f1 today. X

[@AlejandroPerez-lp6qq]

Qué hermoso video !!!

[@kawalsehmi]

Back when F1 drivers didn’t look like 1st year A Level students.

[@mecano572]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@phillipecook3227]

😂

[@19megamustaine85]

💩💩👹👹

[@rhysenna]

😂😂😂

[@sonicstep]

06:21, Emerson Fittipaldi if I'm not mistaken.

[@DanielBruzzivaz]

Mulheres européias têm muita coragem

[@ecossearthur]

Sweet Annie!

[@aureliobrighton1871]

Besides the fantastic garage atmosphere, interview style and legendary drivers (and obviously the point), to me only a british woman can be appealing like that just by diction, intonation and the most casual appearance in the world. Regards from Munich 🌻:)

[@caloricphlogistonandthelum4008]

It's a good job Annie learnt to read.

[@cliffbarre6970]

Annie asking all the right questions and making them sound silly 😎

[@johnsweet8508]

"Strange little knob..."😅

[@alistairbartlett6569]

Graham Hill and a Ferrari mechanic doing the funky chicken!!😅