I can't remember whether it was 69, 70 or 71, as a young boy, going to Crystal Palace and watch the racing including saloon cars. I seem to think that the likes of Jochen Mass & Rindt, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart and Jacky Ickx, (who I met at Le-Mans this year, what a legend) all raced on the day. Oh how I wish I had a programme? Memories
You can see Crabtree set up the pass for the lead in the corner preceding the straight. He hung back just a bit so that he could get off the corner quicker. Very nicely done.
Man, I wish I'd been born 20 years earlier so that I could've been around to watch, or even compete, in events like this! Proper motor racing! I wonder why they don't have a Mike Crabtree memorial race at Goodwood? They have one for Gerry...
Yeah, I was dragged up standing around at events like these virtually every weekend, freezing my bollocks off in the mud and the rain, chomping on a bacon butty with a mug of tea in the other hand, it was mega!
Give classic touring cars a try. It’s very exciting racing and the sound is unbelievable. Watching American muscle and a mini duelling is as good as it gets.
Thank you Murray Walker for all that you did for car racing and your true love motorcycle sport be it scrambling, road racing or track racing. You were an absolute gentleman -RIP. Thank you also to Gerry Marshall, my saloon car racing hero of yesteryear -RIP.
I love this kind of David v’s Goliath racing with Minis against big V8 Muscle cars and everything in between. We just don’t get the power vs lightweight battles anymore.
I used to go to these races you couldn’t see more exciting motor racing anywhere and they were televised on Grandstand those were the days I started going with my Dad in the 60’s and when the Formula one boys raced it was incredible watching Jim Clark Hill and Surtees thrashing Lotus Cortina’s and Escorts around the circuits
I went to visit Crystal Palace on a day out a couple years ago. Never been before. Very nice now, very quiet. I really could not believe that the place used to be a full blown racing car track. Ideal place for a day out for the youngsters.
Love this, I was there - on South Tower, a great place to watch the grid take off at the start and high enough to watch them coming up through the bends towards South Tower. Such a shame when racing stopped at "the Palace".
Mike Crabtree was disqualified for leaving the start line before the flag dropped. This is a ,very entertaining race , Iv'e watched it many times. I wish racing these days was more like this , run what you brung.
Yes, I´ve seen it loads of times before as well, I even I have it on a video tape somewhere, just thought it was worth putting up. Like you say, I wish racing was like that today
I thought he was fast off the mark, that very very knife edge fine line of a good start or a penalty, the worst is, like him in this race, that you dont find out untill the end and you are thinking how good it has all gone! PS I speak from experience 🤣🤣 Yeah good racing back then!
Lived in Streatham from 1961 to 1972, most of that time in "The High", which had its own swimming pool, games rooms and summer cafe. Went to most meetings that were run in that period.
Gerry Marshall knew that Mike Crabtree in the Escort had jumped the lights at the start so he only had to finish 2nd to win - hence his wave out of the window at the end. Fantastic David vs Goliath type race & nothing like the sterile stuff we see these these days. It was Gerry Marshall's driving in this car that prompted me to buy a 2nd hand Vauxhall Viva GT in 1972 which I suitably modified - as you did in those days.
Now I know why I went to Brands Hatch every Sunday in the early "70s .... Guaranteed entertainment like this, with cars you could build yourself thanks to the various tuning companies of the time
A mighty scrap there and for a few laps I thought the Camero was going to hang on as the Escort and Viva were tripping over eachother. Brilliant racing from Crabtree in the Escort
Gerry Marshall, what a great racer. Would love to have seen what that man could have done in a single seater, if only they could have made him fit in one. Such a talent and true showman.
Gerry Marshall, Brian (Yogi) Muir (Camaro), John FitzPatrick (Escort) - the best saloon car racing ever. These guys had epic duels. Bring back the 1970's!
I got the train to Crystal Palace for the last meeting there. Fittingly, perhaps, the last ever race was won by a certain G Marshall Esq. driving a Lister Jaguar. It was the only time I ever made it to a meeting at the palace, though I used to go to Brands by getting the train to Swanley and the special bus service to the circuit. How the times have changed.....
1600 BDA engine was a Cosworth evolution from 1500FVA that was basis of 3.0 DFV. Duckworth got Mike Hall to work on Ford's 1600 block that replaced the 1500 as he was busy on DFV upgrades. Mike made many changes from FVA, including Belt Drive, and got 238bhp in it's first power test. Took a few years before Stuart Turner, who had become Ford's Competition Manager, heard about it and Ford put it in a handful of Capris before 1970 when the Escort BDA was created. What a great era that was!
I’m sad that I grew up within walking distance of this, was 8 years old at the time and my parents never ever took me there. But, they had no interest in and we didn’t even own a car! 😢
This is proof that big barges like the Mustang can be caught up in twisty circuits like Crystal Palace by decidedly underpowered cars like the outwardly unassuming Ford Escort and Vauxhall Viva. Of course, it kind of helps if you have the likes of Martin Thomas, Mike Crabtree and the legendary Gerry Marshall at the wheel. Murray Walker kept on top of the action more or less - if David Addison or Tim Harvey ever saw this, they'd just explode.
I used to love the saloon car racing back then. Or club racing. There was so much variety in the cars and you had minis/beetles etc against large american cars. These days they all look the same. I remember when the BBC used to show a lot of club type racing and things like car trials. As it's all money now and the BBC can no longer afford big events why can't they go back to basics?
@@alangood8190 It was but I believe the main reason it closed was a number of noise complaints from the many houses that backed onto the circuit. Used to live just down the road so could walk to the meetings. Happy days, well some of them were.
@@tonypacke6954 That opens up the possibility for electric car racing. I suppose they'd then argue there's a serious fire risk given their penchant for spontaneous combustion.
@@alangood8190 I think Bromley Council already had plans for the running track and the swimming pool complex which got built soon after the closure, so there was little support for motor racing enthusiasts. You can still walk around some of the old circuit as it is in Crystal Palace Park. They had bike racing as well but how they got around the safety aspect with all those wooden railway sleeps that lined the track, who knows. Things were different in those day though. Search UA-cam, I'm sure there are other races from that circuit on-line. Edit:- I was actually wrong, the track was still being used when the sports complex was built in 1964 and finally closed in 1974. Main reason given was safety and noise issues.
Only Murray Walker could get me excited about the result of a race that finished 54 years ago! God bless you Murray.
good one
Murray was the very best. F1 has not been the same without him.
Just what I was thinking too.
Murray Walker. RiP
I used to have an old ps1 formula1 game ,it was great because Murray was the commentator.
Bloody fantastic. Great racing and the voice of the legendary Murray Walker. What more could one ask for! Many thanks for this one.
Glad you enjoyed it
I was there - bloody brilliant meeting
I was there, too. Have half frame colour slide pics to prove it!!!
Me too. My first live motor race was at Crystal Palace in 1969. Those Formula Two meetings were spectacular.
When cars had to be driven by the feel of the handling.
Loved that. Great racing and Murray Walker. What more could you want.
World's best motor racing format with World's Greatest motorsport commentator.
definately, nothing else like it
I can't remember whether it was 69, 70 or 71, as a young boy, going to Crystal Palace and watch the racing including saloon cars.
I seem to think that the likes of Jochen Mass & Rindt, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart and Jacky Ickx, (who I met at Le-Mans this year, what a legend) all raced on the day.
Oh how I wish I had a programme?
Memories
You're correct, not sure which year but I have an image scanned from a slide which I took at the circuit of Jochen Rindt in an F2 lotus.
I'm a Belgian. And even I got excited watching this 'old' video. I entered end of the '80s; And even I miss this era of car racing.
You can see Crabtree set up the pass for the lead in the corner preceding the straight. He hung back just a bit so that he could get off the corner quicker. Very nicely done.
Well done Murray Walker, and what a great race, a different world
Man, I wish I'd been born 20 years earlier so that I could've been around to watch, or even compete, in events like this! Proper motor racing! I wonder why they don't have a Mike Crabtree memorial race at Goodwood? They have one for Gerry...
Yeah, I was dragged up standing around at events like these virtually every weekend, freezing my bollocks off in the mud and the rain, chomping on a bacon butty with a mug of tea in the other hand, it was mega!
Give classic touring cars a try. It’s very exciting racing and the sound is unbelievable. Watching American muscle and a mini duelling is as good as it gets.
What a race!... fantastic!
That V8 thundering down the start straight is beautiful. Fantastic race and Murray Walker in top form, Thank You for this.
glad you enjoyed it
Thank you Murray Walker for all that you did for car racing and your true love motorcycle sport be it scrambling, road racing or track racing. You were an absolute gentleman -RIP.
Thank you also to Gerry Marshall, my saloon car racing hero of yesteryear -RIP.
yes
My dad used to take me back in the day. I even watched Lauda and Hunt race long before they reached F1. Great days out.
Back in which day?
@ An expression used to fondly remember past times. It’s a English thing 😁
Fabulous to hear the lare great Murry Walkers voice one the the all time best commentators of all time..
crabtree's tenacity was epic. bravo!
best video i have seen in ages
Bloody brilliant 👍
Three of my loves in 1 place, racing, Crystal Palace and of course his Highness Murray Walker
Glad you liked it
My dad (an HGV Class 1 driver) knew Mike Crabtree. He had a very low opinion of his road driving. Great to hear Murray's voice revving up again.
Thank you for taking us back in time. What fantastic racing with Murray Walker on the mic. Wow, no wonder everybody wanted an escort.
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What a fantastic race track
I love this kind of David v’s Goliath racing with Minis against big V8 Muscle cars and everything in between. We just don’t get the power vs lightweight battles anymore.
Get to Goodwood members meeting and Revival, it still happens.
How can you not love a MK 1 Escort?
By having driven one?
Greetings from Finland 🎉
@@suomenpresidentti Cold.
Great racing. Those Escorts were like flies around a buffalo.
There's only one Escort. The other is a Vauxhall Viva HB.
You got that right!
I used to go to these races you couldn’t see more exciting motor racing anywhere and they were televised on Grandstand those were the days I started going with my Dad in the 60’s and when the Formula one boys raced it was incredible watching Jim Clark Hill and Surtees thrashing Lotus Cortina’s and Escorts around the circuits
I went to visit Crystal Palace on a day out a couple years ago. Never been before. Very nice now, very quiet.
I really could not believe that the place used to be a full blown racing car track.
Ideal place for a day out for the youngsters.
It was
Martin Thomas, great line Murray! "Smokes cigars, and almost eats them!"
Excellent. Thanks for the upload. Bit of proper racing.
Tears of joy. Dad was heavily involved with Ford advertising the Mk1 Escort.
Love watching this, what a racer gerry was. That viva certainly looks like it lacks punch in the straight compared to the other 2.
I used to go to the 'Palace' as a child on the 137 bus! Later I marshalled for BRMC for bikes. Awesome short circuit, lethal of course!
Brilliant ❤
The sound and microphone locations are way better than today.
The days of saloon cars and F1, even sports car racing are long gone
Sports car racing "long gone"? I don't think so!
Oh god we used to ride our push bikes up to the palace to watch the races bloody brilliant times
Love this, I was there - on South Tower, a great place to watch the grid take off at the start and high enough to watch them coming up through the bends towards South Tower. Such a shame when racing stopped at "the Palace".
North Tower was my favourite. Were you there when the Galaxy plucked a sleeper out of the wall at South Tower and can openered itself??
Mike Crabtree was disqualified for leaving the start line before the flag dropped. This is a ,very entertaining race , Iv'e watched it many times. I wish racing these days was more like this , run what you brung.
Yes, I´ve seen it loads of times before as well, I even I have it on a video tape somewhere, just thought it was worth putting up. Like you say, I wish racing was like that today
@@zentecgarage definitely worth it, I appreciate your enthusiasm. 🙂👍
Old racers never die, we just smell that way a bit 🤣🤣
@@zentecgarage Growing up , for years our family home had a little wooden sign in the back porch , that read Old fisherman never die ...............
I thought he was fast off the mark, that very very knife edge fine line of a good start or a penalty, the worst is, like him in this race, that you dont find out untill the end and you are thinking how good it has all gone! PS I speak from experience 🤣🤣 Yeah good racing back then!
Spot on.
Went several times in my youth. Saw Graham Hill amongst others.
Yeah so did I
I grew up just down the road from that track, and went to see races many times there, during the early 1970’s.
Lived in Streatham from 1961 to 1972, most of that time in "The High", which had its own swimming pool, games rooms and summer cafe. Went to most meetings that were run in that period.
Gerry Marshall knew that Mike Crabtree in the Escort had jumped the lights at the start so he only had to finish 2nd to win - hence his wave out of the window at the end. Fantastic David vs Goliath type race & nothing like the sterile stuff we see these these days. It was Gerry Marshall's driving in this car that prompted me to buy a 2nd hand Vauxhall Viva GT in 1972 which I suitably modified - as you did in those days.
Dave Brodie was sponsored by a company I worked for, nice man. Stirling cooper..
Now I know why I went to Brands Hatch every Sunday in the early "70s .... Guaranteed entertainment like this, with cars you could build yourself thanks to the various tuning companies of the time
Remember Neal Davis Racing?
I lived in Upper Norwood at that time and you could hear the engines from my garden😂😂😂!
great
Sensational racing, as it used to be
Went several times to the Palace for motor cycle racing. Really good track...
Man they flogging the snot out of those Ford Escorts. Those gentleman had some cajones!!!!
They certainly did
Murray was great on rally x, especially at Lydden hill
Murry was great full stop
A mighty scrap there and for a few laps I thought the Camero was going to hang on as the Escort and Viva were tripping over eachother. Brilliant racing from Crabtree in the Escort
Come back crystal Palace circuit.
Such a great day out in. South London .
It certainly was
I was there what a day.
Gerry Marshall, what a great racer. Would love to have seen what that man could have done in a single seater, if only they could have made him fit in one. Such a talent and true showman.
Would he have fitted into a single seater, he wasn't a walking skeleton?
Do you remember Marshall’s “ baby Bertha” ?
It just shows what a legend the RS 2000 would become.
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Went to Crystal Palace a few times for meetings as a kid.
Me too, when we went south to visit my Aunty Barbera, or was it the other way around?
Gerry Marshall, Brian (Yogi) Muir (Camaro), John FitzPatrick (Escort) - the best saloon car racing ever. These guys had epic duels. Bring back the 1970's!
Brillant
This is when saloon car racing was saloon car racing,not the rubbish we have nowadays
I got the train to Crystal Palace for the last meeting there. Fittingly, perhaps, the last ever race was won by a certain G Marshall Esq. driving a Lister Jaguar. It was the only time I ever made it to a meeting at the palace, though I used to go to Brands by getting the train to Swanley and the special bus service to the circuit. How the times have changed.....
Res sad really
awesome ¡¡¡
Glad you think so!
Gracias
Gerry Marshall was an absolute monster. Loved him to death.
Realy good
Best cracking race 😎👌
true
Just shows you how fast the Rs1600 was considering it was only 1600 cc that yank tank was a 5.liter fast on the straight but not the corners ❤
It didn't exactly leave the 1600 for dead down the straights either.
1600 BDA engine was a Cosworth evolution from 1500FVA that was basis of 3.0 DFV. Duckworth got Mike Hall to work on Ford's 1600 block that replaced the 1500 as he was busy on DFV upgrades. Mike made many changes from FVA, including Belt Drive, and got 238bhp in it's first power test. Took a few years before Stuart Turner, who had become Ford's Competition Manager, heard about it and Ford put it in a handful of Capris before 1970 when the Escort BDA was created. What a great era that was!
Flippin brilliant!! mk1 saloon racing escorts are just incredible!! Wonder if any of the cars in this race are still in existance?
Could be
I think the Viva is down under, maybe NZ?
14:05 "Every mousepower". Only Murray could come up with a comment like that.
Don't remember much about it, but I know I had a cycle race here in about '75. I would have been 14 or 15. I imagine we used some of the circuit.
I’m sad that I grew up within walking distance of this, was 8 years old at the time and my parents never ever took me there.
But, they had no interest in and we didn’t even own a car! 😢
sad
Murray walker. THE voice of motor racing.
true
Dear old Murray, not a bloody clue what was happening, and obviously on a bonus for mentioning Gerry Marshall at every opportunity....🤣🤣
Back when racing was interesting and added bonus Murray Walker commentary to boot.
Escort Mk 1 best looking model of them all
These cars were identifiable because they looked very much like those that you saw on the road. Racing saloons today all look the same.
They're still representative of the showroom version. Your point should be that all cars look the same now!
Is that Murray Walker on the 🎤 mic.?
He does sound like Murray "excuse me while i interrupt myself" Walker.
Yes.
Absolutely
Certainly is!
This was Murray at his calmest. To paraphrase Clive James: “He commentates on motor racing like a man whose trousers are on fire”.
Martin Birrane went on to own Lola from 1997 until they went bust in 2012.
I loooove when the American junk finally spins off the track and something more balanced flies by. So satisfying.
I remember going here in 1938, pity tey got rid of the inner part of the cicuit. Saw B.Bira and Charley Dobson duelling.
Marvellous Murray.
I’m still confused about why a 5.7L V8 is allowed in the same race.
They were the rules back then
Watched this race a dozen times, but still not spotted an IMP 😂😂
What about a ford anglia😊
I would have thought a motoring channel could at least have got Mr Marshall's name right.
We do try
I’ve walked around what remains of the track, it should be opened up again,🇬🇧🇬🇧
It would be grerat
This is proof that big barges like the Mustang can be caught up in twisty circuits like Crystal Palace by decidedly underpowered cars like the outwardly unassuming Ford Escort and Vauxhall Viva. Of course, it kind of helps if you have the likes of Martin Thomas, Mike Crabtree and the legendary Gerry Marshall at the wheel.
Murray Walker kept on top of the action more or less - if David Addison or Tim Harvey ever saw this, they'd just explode.
true
Gerry Marshall of ‘Big Bertha’ fame!?
Viva, later Firenza
Wasn’t it called “ baby Bertha” ?
Proper racing in proper cars not like the stuff today with crate engines and sequential gearboxes
I used to love the saloon car racing back then. Or club racing.
There was so much variety in the cars and you had minis/beetles etc against large american cars.
These days they all look the same.
I remember when the BBC used to show a lot of club type racing and things like car trials.
As it's all money now and the BBC can no longer afford big events why can't they go back to basics?
fantastic race but as i remember Crabtree is demoted for a jumped start
Murray Walker who put! exclamation! marks! after! almost! every! word!
Did he say Franklinstin engine 😮
Have you any footage of Ivan Dutton?
Now THAT is saloon car racing. SOOO much better than the modern rubbish, all cars looking the same, same power, just dead boring.
No idea there was a circuit at Crystal Palace.
It was magic
@@zentecgarage And dangerous by todays' standards.
@@alangood8190 It was but I believe the main reason it closed was a number of noise complaints from the many houses that backed onto the circuit. Used to live just down the road so could walk to the meetings. Happy days, well some of them were.
@@tonypacke6954 That opens up the possibility for electric car racing. I suppose they'd then argue there's a serious fire risk given their penchant for spontaneous combustion.
@@alangood8190 I think Bromley Council already had plans for the running track and the swimming pool complex which got built soon after the closure, so there was little support for motor racing enthusiasts. You can still walk around some of the old circuit as it is in Crystal Palace Park. They had bike racing as well but how they got around the safety aspect with all those wooden railway sleeps that lined the track, who knows. Things were different in those day though. Search UA-cam, I'm sure there are other races from that circuit on-line. Edit:- I was actually wrong, the track was still being used when the sports complex was built in 1964 and finally closed in 1974. Main reason given was safety and noise issues.
Does any one know if many/any of those racing saloons survive to this day?
yes it would appear that they do
The animosity between the drivers was palpable?😀
Ford escort RS 1600 best car ever .
✌️🤠💥🌟🌀🙏
Not the (RAC) British Saloon Car Championship, but rather the BARC Special Saloon Car Championship. Also, it's Gerry Marshall, not Jerry.
Thanks
Proper motor sport.
Yes
Maybe it’s an age thing but England was a better place 50+ years ago.
imo your all looking at this through rose tinted specs, Murray was a bit shit and missed a lot of what's going on hence putting Hunt with him
The camaro driver was very ordinary . All that power and no finesse .
Just as exciting today as it was then personally I prefer the BTCC to the Grand Prix
Me too
Since when has a Camaro been a British car ??
Nobody said it was a British car.
Murray Walker has no equal.
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