Tuesday 31 July 2012

About some rescued motorsport magazines

Lately I've been tweeting pictures from various old motorsport books, magazines and newspapers that I own. It started out when the Ulster Grand Prix's Twitter account asked if anyone had old programmes for them to borrow. I realised that I probably had some stuff, and tweeted them back to let them know, as the UGP happens fairly close to where I live.

They didn't get back to me, but I dug everything out anyway. I have had all this stuff in my house for about two years now. I rescued it from my Uncle's house after he died, otherwise my mum might have just chucked the lot in the skip. Anyway, it's taken me this long to actually sit down and look through everything properly - and I'm so glad I did, because it's been interesting - and quite fun too.

I couldn't face getting the scanner out, so I just took a few snaps of things that caught my eye. Please excuse the bad photography and my zebra print rug (in hindsight, I probably should have taken the photos against a blank surface, but hey ho).


Various motorcycling books from the late 1960s


This one's from 1960. No idea what happened to the editor, though...


1966 book/magazine about Mike Hailwood




TT Souvenir booklets from 1964, 1965 and 1967



All Ireland Motorcycle magazines from the late 1970s(ish)


Below are the newspapers about  the 1965, 1966, 1967 and 1968 Ulster Grand Prix. Some of them have autographs on them, but due to how old they are, I really can't tell if they are original autographs that were gotten at the event (which would mean that I am not the first member of my family to gallivant to motorsport events in search of such things), or if they were already printed on the newspapers. Unfortunately I'm not sure who most of the autographs belong to - I'm afraid late 1960s road-racing wouldn't be something I have any knowledge of whatsoever, aside from knowing names like Hailwood, Surtees and Agostini.





Ulster Motor magazines from 1972


'Castrol Achievements' magazines from 1964, 1966, 1967 and 1968 below. This seems to be a publication printed at the end of each motorsport year by Castrol, giving a review of every type of motorsport. The late 1960s editions are my absolute favourites; just seeing the bright 60s colours, the clothes, and the styles/typefaces used.




1968, 1969 and 1970 issues of MotorWeek - a Northern Irish car newspaper which no longer exists


The bulk of the collection is made up of Wheels magazine. This appears to be a motorsport magazine that was printed in Belfast and sold throughout Northern Ireland, the RoI, and possibly the wider UK also. I can find no mention of this magazine anywhere online, so I have no idea when it started or ended. There doesn't seem to be any trace of it whatsoever. The issues I have span from 1972 to 1974.


Some of the editions of Wheels have a column by John Watson. Here's one which is accompanied by a photo of him with a resplendent beard...



Most of the collection is motorbike rather than car related, but there is the odd article or mention of F1 in some of the magazines.


Some of which are sad.



And others have extra N's, thus proving that the misspelling of Donington is not a recent phenomenon.







Needless to say there are many advertisements in the magazines for regular road cars. I loved looking at these. What must have looked so modern back then just looks a bit crap now. 





There are also ads for car accessories - such as these STUNNING sheepskin car seat covers. Thinking of putting them on my car seats, only to be ruined by muddy schnauzer paws, is going to send me into some kind of panic attack. Look - your woman has actually had to exit her car so she can contemplate how gorgeous they are out in the fresh air.



Early 1970s Castrol advert


This stuff being from the 1960s and 1970s, it's fair to say that women don't get too much of a look-in, aside from being the obligatory 'totty'. (Did I really just use that word?)



Lovely girls!



I mean, obviously the role of women has come a lot further since then, but considering we still see photos of models draped over cars nowadays, perhaps not far enough. Great case in point is the ridiculous photoshoot from this year's European GP. (Thanks to @angua2259 on Twitter for the link).

Thankfully I don't think you'd see a 'hilarious' cartoon like this these days, though:



Not everyone liked the 'lovely girls', however.



Obviously the magazines contain lots of adverts that aren't related to motorsport, and nice little bits of miscellany; some amusing, some interesting, and some, like the one immediately below - ever so slightly eerie...



Castrol didn't just make motorsport magazines in the late 1960s - they also went hunting for actual, proper Scottish loch monsters that may or may not exist.



Below is a 1968 advert for Northern Ireland. 'Make the most of your stay'? Yep, it was probably best to pay a visit that year before everything went a bit too riot-y.



Lucozade advert from the early 1970s. I like the bearded man's creepy face in this ad. Look at him, smirking away in his anorak in that sinister fashion. He's totally spiked her sports drink, hasn't he.



Come to Mondello Park, watch some bike racing - and try to avoid this horrendous looking 1960s hipster. Ugh, you'd spend your entire time trying to avoid him and his pretentious cigar, big sunglasses and stripey top.



While I was looking through these, I found a photo of my Uncle doing motocross in the April 25th 1970 edition of MotorWeek. Given that he was the one that kept all these magazines and newspapers in such great conditions all these years, that seems like a pretty apt note to end on.



(Obviously there are tons more adverts and photos in these, and if I thought that others would find this type of thing interesting, I'd definitely consider scanning a load of it in and starting a proper blog for it all. Any comments/thoughts would be appreciated!)

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