What price Historical Accuracy?

Currently Channel 5 fill their Friday early evening slot with a programme titled 'Brits Who Made the Modern World'. The series kicked off with a programme presented by Jon Snow on Colin Chapman and the Lotus 25. His thesis being that the monocoque Lotus 25 was the first modern Grand Prix car and by building the car, Chapman laid the foundation for current domination of the engineering side of F1 by UK based teams. The idea has some merit but its execution was to comic book simplistic standards so it ignored the input of other chassis manufacturers and the work of the firms that built the engines. It also ignored Chapman's other contributions, his progressive attitude towards sponsorship - he was instrumental in introducing tobacco sponsorship to F1- and his work in encouraging Ford to build or more correctly finance the building of the iconic Cosworth DFV engine.

But my main disappointment with the programme was not with its thesis but with its lamentable production standards, much of the film used to illustrate the programme used race footage from the wrong period and very little of it showed the Lotus 25. Visually jarring attempts were made to splice in modern footage of a 25. But at least the Lotus 25 was spared the embarrassment that Jon Snow was subject to, in one dire scene he was to be seen flapping about with a chequered flag on an empty straight. Tito Roche could have shown him how to use the flag (a sentence that only the assistant editor may understand!).

In my view, a very disappointing programme, but does it matter? We anoraks that can recognise the difference between a Lotus 24 and a Lotus 25 can look askance at a production team that cannot tell the difference between a Lotus and a Cooper, but does this matter to the general public? The answer is that it probably does not matter to the casual viewer. But the other side of the coin is that only a fraction of a fascinating story has been told and thus the history presented cannot be accurate. Programmes like this pander to the English belief in the gifted amateur, the maverick genius with vision. Chapman can certainly be presented as the latter but he also had the right tyres & the right engine plus enough business acumen to rapidly accumulate the funds required to finance a GP team and employ the era’s best driver.
I for one hope that the full story will be told one day.

Anglesey, praise where it is due, the management at Anglesey have made an excellent job of their new circuit(s). One can easily make a case that Anglesey has the best club circuits in the UK. The Coastal circuit is a good drive and provides an adequate number of places for overtaking, not many circuits have the balance as well judged as Anglesey. The flowing natural nature of Anglesey contrasted strongly with the contrived ersatz track that is Rockingham. Additionally, unlike Rockingham, the track surface at Anglesey provides a most acceptable level of grip in the wet.

New for 2008, we had the luxury of kerbs, these also seem well judged, treading the line between deterrence and destructiveness. The old circuit used to suffer from excessive corner cutting, with the attendant problem of muck and stones being dragged onto the track, there was little evidence of this problem now that the kerbs have been fitted.

As a competitor, I consider it appropriate that the track takes precedence over the infrastructure, some aspects of which let the side down. It is good to see that the paddock has been extended, there was little evidence of overcrowding this year. But the scrutineering bay is a curiosity, everywhere else has discovered the 'roll in, roll out' principle. Anglesey’s approach, roll up to a brick wall and then try to reverse through the cars that followed you to the scrutineering is not a recipe for ease of use or efficiency.

On the topic of efficiency; for some reason the CSCC was not imposing its one race at a time signing in procedure. The result was a disorganised and hassled office with very slow throughput. A queue of frustrated Monoposto competitors rapidly built up, many requesting a return to CSCC's standard, efficient system.
You may wish to support Anglesey circuit by posting the 'Tourism Awards Postcard', given out when we signed in. Dig it out of your paperwork, put your name and address on it and post. Someone has already filled in the 'Best Activity Operator' section for you and I am sure that the circuit management would appreciate your vote. I did find myself stuck when it came to suggesting entries for the other sections......

It’s a good thing that the postcard did not include mobile caterers as my wife rated the output of the chips & burgers van as near the bottom of the scale. She claimed that the staff appeared to have escaped from the pages of Viz (for our older readers, Viz: a scurrilous satirical comic, younger readers will be able to name the characters).

The Mono1800 class lost a third of its entries between the publication of the race programme and the race, a fairly high rate of attrition. One of those who withdrew his entry was the injured Michael Dale, his injury demonstrated the dangerous nature of home maintenance. I am sure that he is not unique, I wonder how many injuries are associated with smoke alarms? Dangerous things smoke alarms and houses.

At the last director's meeting, class representatives were asked to write a paper on how they envisaged their class progressing in the future. I am fairly confident that I am not the only class representative that would appreciate some ideas/input from members of my class. Crystal ball gazers are welcome to pass on their ideas to the appropriate representative.

Patrick Huston
July 2008

An apology to David Cox; sorry no tirade against the MSA this edition.

Lotus 25 cutaway

DFV Cutaway

Toto Roche signalling end of French GP to Jack Brabham. Wearing a suit, standing in the middle of the track.

We have a cartoon taken from Viz's website with a modified caption but the ed thinks it's close to libelous. So it's been deleted.

Pix: Pboursin.club, Forix, Jack Brabham Engines and Viz