GRAND PRIX DE FRANC

[Music] so so claremore fair about 250 miles south of paris one of the principal towns in that beautiful area known as the massive central here in the main square the inevitable john darm whistles the traffic on its way past scenes typical of every corner of france tall cathedral spires and narrow streets kindly old folk and busy open-air markets of course there are cafes at every corner but at whitson 1959 the cafe universe was no ordinary bistro as headquarters of the moto club duven it was the meeting place for every motorcycling enthusiast within miles on which sunday the first world championship meeting of the year would be held over the magnificent new five mile circuit de montan dovan southwest of the time let's take a look over the starting line and then the fast left hand sweep of pits bend leads under the footbridge to the only straight on the circuit barely half a mile long and uphill at that everywhere else the circuit twists right and left almost continuously there are no less than 51 corners in its five miles here near the village of shahad we are at the highest point 2775 feet above sea level in the next mile and a half we drop nearly 600 feet to the lowest point then begins the long climb up again but the men to judge this circuit are those who have to race on it what do they say how about it cyril smith well i think it's quite a reasonable circuit it's all acceleration and stuffy like damn dard work actually dickie dale uh we're on very low gear ratios which goes to prove it as a circuit it isn't a very quick circuit gary hawking well it's a pretty good really it's just uh i think for a five mile grand pizza it should be a little bit faster a little bit faster well the quicker 500s will be averaging around 75 miles an hour on this but what does the fastest of them all think john certis well it's quite reasonable it is a little slippery but um on the whole apartment being very much hard work it's it's quite a pleasant circuit and florian camatheus swiss sidecar dicer shall have the last word oh yes very nice early on race morning the police helicopter known to one and all as the chopper wallows around netting in with the complex system of round the course police radio vans and telephones ready are the phones to the marshals posts ready the loudspeaker system to all the natural grandstands and vantage points on the slopes around the circuit ready the ambulance services well nearly ready done in the paddock are the nomads the continental circus boys who go from meeting to meeting france one weekend germany the next and then maybe on to italy they carry their homes with them sleeping in caravans or tents and they're always busy doing something even the wives get roped into help it's getting their race time and dickie dale adds to the din by warming up his big bmw while some of the others have got some rather more serious tuning to do [Music] cyril smith has time for a chat with john certis whilst nearby camatheus checks his oil but there's none of the milling head for the gleaming mv's terrific four-cylinder jobs being tended by a gaggle of italian mechanics in the competitive seclusion of their pits standing there on the right mr violet chief steward there's plenty on his mind today but he still finds time for a chat with castrol's albedivo [Music] but in the race control office australian bob brown is probably telling her not just politely chatting earlier on he had a spot of bother getting his nortons past the scrutineers now come the final preparations for the 350cc brace topping up the tanks and sealing the caps on norton number 24 is 21 year old southern edition gary hawking a star in the making who everyone predicts will soon be right at the top dickie dale's 350 has number three is wheeled into the enclosure to join the mass of machines all prepared to the nth degree and ready to blast their way around in the first ever motorcycle race on the oban circuit [Music] ready on the grid are number 22 john hempelman of new zealand and 30 bob brown england's dickie dale and londoner jeff tam the well organized types have pretty girls to look after the details while if you poly prose you can even get a john down to prop up your bicycle whilst you get your gloves sorted out hawking leather's on now and ready to go and now the master himself john certis the 1958 350 and 500 world champion about to start another record-breaking season certees is out in front of the start with hawking and john harter chasing him and the rest in a close-knit pack behind about a mile out and it's certainly heartland hawking but by the time they reach the reso hairpin nearly four miles out hawking riding like fury has nosed ahead of hartle and is almost nudging certain bob anderson on 20 is in fourth place only yards ahead of pimpleman brown australian tom phillips and south african paddy driver one lap gone and certis screams around the pits bend chased by hockey just beyond shout out the three leaders go through with very little between them but it's eleven and a half long seconds before we see anderson in fourth place and then almost another five seconds before a meaty little bunch consisting of peppermint brown phyllis driver shepard and dale come hurtling through [Music] already the race has settled down to a one two three pattern that is to remain unchanged although the gap between hawking and hartle is getting much wider further back though it's nip and tuck all around the course for fifth to eighth places bob brown is riding number 30 teddy shepard number 60 tom phyllis is on 18 and driver on 26. [Music] even further down the field there is keen dicing although in a competitively quiet and gentlemanly fashion between two frenchmen collee and asamini gentlemanly two was another frenchman rebecca who stops and for a most unusual reason he finished last but certainly certainly races at the halfway mark now and he's about six seconds ahead of hawking and nine in front of teammate johnny hart [Music] the hairpin just before the pits is named in memory of that great french four-wheel driver louis rossier who was born here in clermont here certis rounding it and then roaring on up the straight lapping some of the tail enders on route he's followed by hawking and right behind him comes hartle on the second mv [Music] bob anderson is still safely in fourth place riding a rather lonely race somewhere behind hartle yet appreciably ahead of the group of happy dices still hotly disputing fifth position right now it's number sixty terry shepard on a reg dead norton who leads the procession just after the start of the 15th lap bob brown snatches the lead of this little group but not for long oil on his right boot causes him to fumble a few gear changes and he soon finds himself back at number eight on the left chart behind driver shepard and phyllis [Music] the race is on its last few laps and gary hawking tenaciously holds on to second place with john hartle still lying third and unable to narrow the gap between them [Music] bob anderson is still fourth and closing up a little unhartle but it's too late to affect the final order for here is certis starting off on his last lap with about a minute in hand over hawking the master yowls his mv augusto 4 along the straight with eight championship points as good as chalked up [Music] [Music] and it's the checkered flag once again for the brilliant john he's covered 95 miles at an average of over 73 miles an hour and notched his first big win of the year now there's peace and quiet for a few minutes and time for the jean-dam to go about their normal business of arresting the local citizens but it isn't long before the 24 sidecar i pits trundle up to the grid amongst them last year's world champion balter schneider of germany and fritz scheidegger of switzerland another swiss edgar stroup and another florian commetus australian lindsey erket helmet fat from germany and cyril smith an impressive lineup almost as impressive as that one each schneider on his white bmw i bid who leads at the start and along the straight he seems to be pulling away fractionally as they accelerate through the gears but beyond shadowed both comathius number seven and scheidegger on number 11 have nipped past him and by the end of lap one camatheus is leading comfortably [Music] here is scheidyka schneider on number one and cyril smith on 21 in fourth place round the bend and full bore up the straight with the order unchanged by now come atheist has a six second lead over scheidegger but this is not to be the leader's lucky day [Music] seized gearbox slides him onto the grass no damage done but his day's racing has come to an abrupt end and scheidegger is left with a clear road ahead [Music] cyril smith is now lying third but an oil pipe is adrift and at the end of the third lap he has to pull into the pits and retire from the race which brings the bright yellow bmw of edgar strobe number 45 up into third position [Music] in fourth position comes number 39 germany's helmut fight [Music] [Music] [Music] is right on form today and although it's the world champion who is chasing him he even manages to increase his lead here comes schneider number one snarling in pursuit and you can see that his sidecar is mounted on the right where the scheidegger has his hitched on the left compare the styles which makes for the faster cornering driving round the chair or hauling the chair round the machine eric oliver four times world champion says he prefers driving round the side car so on this clockwise course schneider should have the edge on the corners but does he what do you think [Music] with the leaders settling down to something of a procession the spectators turn their attention further down the field to number 23 rallyado who has been dicing like a demon with fellow countryman jacques dom riding number 27 also in the battle with two germans ritter and neusner on numbers 31 and 37. [Music] [Music] back amongst the leaders again and edgar strobe is still hanging on to third place with his bmw like all the others in the race going like oiled silk even so he is running nearly four minutes behind schneider who seems a safe bet for a win now that the race is only a few more laps to go [Music] [Applause] try as he may schneider can do nothing about reducing that lead of scheidiger's and after 13 laps 65 miles at an average of over 64 miles an hour scheidegger gets the flag and coasts in to collect eight championship points schneider comes into second place and he has to be content with six points and a bottle of strong orange aid thrown in as a consolation prize strobe rolls home into third place and then it's the moment for national anthems and flag flying kisses and bouquets handshakes and cheering and if you think there seem to be an awful lot of people up there remember side cars carry passengers lunchtime simple for some rather more opulent for others and then over to the pits once again in time to see the machines being wheeled out for the big race of the day for 500 over 25 laps if there was any betting there would be quite a lot of frank's staked on certies and the mv-4 the second mv is being written by remo venturi ralph renson on his norton and another norton exponent his has a two plug head paddy driver from south africa bob anderson wondering whether he can match his placing in the 350 race and teddy shepard who doesn't look as though he has anybody's ready to go again and nearest the camera in the best position for pits bend is john certis but this time three others beat him to it hawking is first round the corner and thunders ahead up the straight a quarter of the way round and hocking still leads but the italian venturi is second with certi is pretty well breathing his exhaust as they come down the hill towards the riso hairpin certees appears where we all expected him to be out in front having gobbled up venturi and hawking in about half [Applause] [Music] there goes the maestro increasing his lead fractionally all the time and at the louis rossier hairpin he's about to finish a standing start lap of over 70 miles an hour but hawking and venturi are right there and only split seconds separate the three as they belt up the straight and get ready to cope with the series of downhill curves and corners that follow [Music] now bob anderson number 20 comes into the picture is a brilliant fourth closing up fast on venturi by the end of the third lap he's made third place and leads venturi by two and a half seconds he holds it for a further two laps and then when we hear he has temporarily run out of road he drops five places before getting mobile again that brings number five venturi back into third spot and lets dickey dale on his factory bmw number three and driver on the norton number 26 into fourth and fifth positions most of the time these two are riding almost neck and neck swapping places nearly every left it's quite a sad day for johnny hartle he's had to stand down so that venturi could have a ride and all he can do is to watch certain instead of having a crack at catching [Music] in second place hawking is still riding beautifully but he's got precious little in hand over venturi on that second string mv too little in fact or just before the end of the 14th lap the italian manages to squeeze past and that means there are two mv's screaming along in the first two places by now the dale driver scrap has sorted itself out with dale in fourth place about 20 seconds ahead but driver isn't exactly hanging about is he even so he eventually finds himself beaten down to sixth place by shepard on number 60 who has been passing the time having a magnificent dice with tom phyllis on 18 and bob anderson a game which went on for lap after lap [Music] two more laps 10 miles to go venturi is a safe second and hawking although he has dropped back noticeably is an equally safe threat [Applause] and that's the last pit signal john certis will get he's on his last lap now with everything neatly buttoned up and his envy screaming as melodiously as at the start [Music] [Music] [Music] the master has done it again two wins in one day and that makes everyone on the circuit happy the day's racing is over and john certis is the hero with a double in the first classic meeting of the year he's right in the grove again with eight points in each of the major worlds championship classes and nobody showing any real signs of seriously disputing his lead in the grand prix races during the following months yes the union flag in honor of john is going to flutter from masts in a good many other countries before the racing season is through the loudspeakers are dead racing machinery is loaded into vans gear is packed tents are struck the nomads of the continental circus take to the roads once more and clermont returns to normal [Music] you