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Escort, Vauxhall.......Camaro

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aeronca65t

aeronca65t

Great Pumpkin
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Here's an excellent, vintage video of British racing saloons.

Watch Crabtree (Escort) pass the 350 Camaro at about 6:00. Bold!

The Vaux-driver is Gerry Marshall.....a hard-living, hard-drinking (but also beloved) British saloon racer. Marshall's official biography was called "<span style="font-style: italic">Only Here For The Beer</span>".

If you want to watch the standing start of this event, Click Here

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And even though he came in second, may I say I was rooting for Gerry Marshall!

Go Viva!!!
 
Thanks for sharing that. Great bit of racing.
 
And FWIW Vivian is the same car(ish) as Marshall is driving. They apparently could get 250 horsies out of the engine - in part because the slant four was also designed for a V8 and a diesel version, neither of which came to be but which meant the block is very robust!
 
Great stuff Nial!! The kind of racing to get your heart pumping! Always like to see the underdog triumph as well!

Kurt.
 
Great racing, Nial, thanks for posting.
Whizzo Williams (Barry) and Gerry Marshall were both known for and very popular because of their sideways style of driving, the Vauxhall droop snoot Firenza named Big Bertha was the most famous of the Gerry Marshall cars, I am sure his efforts boosted Vauxhall sales.
 
Simon TR4a said:
Great racing, Nial, thanks for posting.
Whizzo Williams (Barry) and Gerry Marshall were both known for and very popular because of their sideways style of driving, the Vauxhall droop snoot Firenza named Big Bertha was the most famous of the Gerry Marshall cars, I am sure his efforts boosted Vauxhall sales.
Click to expand...

I am sure they did though IIRC Big Bertha was a Ventora and Baby Bertha was the Firenza.
 
Thanks! That brought back some memories! Saloon racing certainly helped enhance the image of the manufacturers in the UK. I remember watching as often as I could, BBC's "Grandstand" used to show each round of the Championship,and rallycross on a regular basis.

Gerry Marshall was very popular and won a lot of races, his major competition was David Brodie in a black Escort, called "Run Baby Run".

Good days.
 
Thank you Nial - brings back great memories. The ever-enthusiastic commentary of Muddled Talker (Murray Walker) and that lovely little circuit at Crystal Palace, where I remember Jochen Rindt starring in Formula 2. Sadly, no more racing there, though I believe there have been recent sprint events.
 
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