Just as chips abound on the gaming tables of Monaco, so champagne is ever-present on the dining tables of Reims, making our title entirely appropriate.

Monaco GP 1955

These two films are the work of the late David Clarke who was a successful business man, international racing driver and enthusiastic film maker. In1955 he set off for Monaco to film the GP with a couple friends, armed with just two16mm cameras and a tape recorder. As an ‘amateur’ he could only scrounge one trackside pass for the entire crew, so David sent one of his team to cover both the Casino Square and Station Hairpin. That of course used up the precious pass so David and his ‘sound man’ headed off to a spot on the hill side below the Royal Palace and with his 100mm telephoto lens followed the action from the exit to the tunnel right through to the Gasworks turn and away up the hill towards The Hotel de Paris. The result was a superb film that captured one of the most dramatic races ever seen at Monaco. It was an action packed race with both Moss and Fangio failing to finish it was Maurice Trintinant who went on to win for Ferrari.

All the action is caught on David Clarke’s superb film, but we do just miss Ascari’s sensational dive into the harbour by a fraction of a second but all the same this is an astonishingly ‘professional’ film that despite limited resources shows what can be achieved by a talented team of enthusiasts. Running time 25 mins, Colour.

Reims GP 1957

By 1957 David had trained two more assistants so he now had the luxury of three cameras and two sound recorders to cover the flat, fast 5.2 mile Reims circuit. The 1957 French GP, won by Fangio, had been held at Rouen earlier that year but despite this the Reims GP attracted all the principal teams. The only top drivers missing from the grid were Moss who was ill and Brooks who had been injured at Le Mans. Stuart Lewis-Evans led for most of the race in his Vanwall while Fangio and Hawthorn renewed their classis battle of 1953. Once again David and his team did a superb job covering practice and the race this time from a variety of viewpoints. He used a 135mm lenses with his Pathé Webo 16mm camera. “ It was a splendid machine which gave me a 35 second run on one wind-up, this was ideal for those long panning shots”. He also used slow-motion to great effect. Once again the results are first-rate, a testimony to a true enthusiast and brilliant film maker. Running time 27 mins, Colour.

Publisher: Terrific Stuff

Status: Out of Print (No Stock)