75 British GP

[Dare]

a little slippery out there

[cosworth151]

Great find, Dare! I do miss having Sir Jackie do the race commentary.

[David]

I don't remember that one, I was spending a lot of time with my mum in 1975. 

[Andy B]

 
I remember that one I was living in Kettering at the time not far from Silverstone but being married for less than a year could not afford to go.

The things that stand out in the clip for me: -

• The marshals were all over the place and not the controlled, organised team they are now and they did not seem to have the PPE they have now.
• The quality of the TV coverage has improved so much and we take it much for granted.
• Did the catch fencing ever work I always had my doubts but have never seen anything to suggest it did not. Did a driver ever get injured by one of the supporting posts getting up ended and hitting him as the car burried itself?
• Did Murray get it wrong when he said Emo put on dries surely he was getting wets?

It was a problem to get the information we get now what would we do without the Internet now?
 

[Canada Darrell™]

• Did Murray get it wrong when he said Emo put on dries surely he was getting wets?

Murray get it wrong? No way! 

My favourite part of the clip was when Sir Jackie said something like "they've got seatbelts and everything" as another car was sliding into something.

[John S]

• Did Murray get it wrong when he said Emo put on dries surely he was getting wets?

It was a problem to get the information we get now what would we do without the Internet now?
 

Murray is famous for his c*ck ups but on this occasion it was JYS, with foot firmly in mouth, saying that Emo was leaving the pits on dry tyres. 

Unusualy poor old 'motormouth' Murray was finding it hard to get a word in with Jackie on a high octane excitement trip about the dodgem car antics on the track.

Brilliant stuff, good find Dare.

[cosworth151]

There's a baseball player over here named Manny Ramirez, famous for runing off at the mouth. Everyone says it's "just Manny being Manny." I'd say that this was just Murray being Murray. 

[SennaMan]

murray WALKER was/is an incompetent motorsport buffoon    who, [by his own admission hated motor racing and was told by his employer to commentate as no one else wanted the job], was an utter embarassment of F1.

thankfully, just like us, such people eventually have to retire.

[Canada Darrell™]

murray WALKER was/is an incompetent motorsport buffoon    who, [by his own admission hated motor racing and was told by his employer to commentate as no one else wanted the job], was an utter embarassment of F1.

thankfully, just like us, such people eventually have to retire.

Personally (as we go off topic here) I really miss Murray. I really loved it when he was commentating with Martin Brundle towards the end of his announcing career. We have a hockey play-by-play announcer over here named Bob Cole who is well past his prime but like Murray Walker, just has that iconic voice that seems to define the sport.

[David]

murray WALKER was/is an incompetent motorsport buffoon    who, [by his own admission hated motor racing and was told by his employer to commentate as no one else wanted the job], was an utter embarassment of F1.

thankfully, just like us, such people eventually have to retire.

My word, I have never ever heard a bad word said against Muddly Talker. 

[Ian]

Thats funny Sennaman, I've heard Murray on more than one occasion say that he loves F1.

[John S]

murray WALKER was/is an incompetent motorsport buffoon    who, [by his own admission hated motor racing and was told by his employer to commentate as no one else wanted the job], was an utter embarassment of F1.

thankfully, just like us, such people eventually have to retire.

That just does not stack up SM. I met Murray on two occasions, in the 80's, at the Rye House Kart racing track in Hertfordshire, England. These were standard low level race meetings yet Murray was the course commentator on the day and since the crowd was very thin happily chatted to everyone who approached him. He was terrifically encouraging to all the young kids who drove the karts and he also suprisingly had a good grasp of who were the shakers and movers in the Karting world. He was able to predict the likely top runners from the practice sessions before the times and grids were announced even though he had never seen most of the drivers before.
The friend I went to the track with knew the owner and he is certain that Murray was not paid a fee but simply expenses to attend the meetings, now if that is not love of motor racing I don't know what is.
I think Murray followed his dad, first into motorbike racing without a lot of success and then into commentating. Murray was also a succesfull advertising executive for a large part of his working life, motor/bike racing was his hobby and commentating was part of that.


 

[Scott]

Everyone loves to hate sports commentators, whether it's because they say something stupid, or just have an annoying voice.  Murray had plenty of both...but he also had something many commentators lack (the RTL crew from Germany for one), and that's the ability to bring excitement to things that may be not entirely exciting.  He could turn the most mediocre moment into a tense, edge of your seat moment, simply because he got so darned excited about every little thing. 

I cannot believe he doesn't truly love the sport.  He absolutely does.  And even if someone was only a casual fan of motor sports, they would jump at the opportunity to travel the world and commentate on F1 if it was presented to him.

Great video by the way Dare...   

[cosworth151]

There are far, FAR, FAR worse race commentators than Murray Walker.


Boogity, boogity, boogity! 

[lkjohnson1950]

Yeah!! If you watch NASCAR you have to miss Benny Parsons.

Lonny