1983 Manx Rally Vatanen and that stage!!

Just been doing a set of the Rothmans Manta from the 1983 Manx Rally.

Toivonen in no 2, Vatanen in no 3 and McRae in no 4.

They were good days and the Manta was in its pomp. Doing some research for these models I found an favourite old bit of film.

At the end of each days rallying everyone met up in the Sunmmerlands (now burnt down) for a night of entertainment with David Vine (now passed away to the ski slope in the sky) the BBC Ski Sunday sports presenter hosting the evening.

In the 1980s in car footage was pretty hard to do as the camera equipment was big and heavy, nothing like the go pros or micro cams they use today.

I remember David Vine saying to the thousand or so who were there we have been doing some filming today would you like to see it and then rolled out this film clip

This is Ari Vatanen on the Tholt-e-Will stage listen out for the notes from Terry Harryman at 1.53 150 unseen easy right 50 easy left and......!!!

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Listen out later for the comment Look out for Jimmy (refering to Jimmy McRae catching them up)

After the showing David Vine said Do you want to see it again... YES!! and it was repeated a few times that night.

It was the first time an in car camera had captured something really good. It was the benchmark for years, and is still good 30+ years on.

Enjoy...

Chris

Seat of the pants stuff, brilliant today nor mind all those years ago! Thanks for posting Chris.

Niall

I think its made better with Terry Harryman's delivery of the pace notes and the speed of the car at the end of the stage despite a rear wheel puncture.

As you say still brilliant..

Chris

Was in the audience that night and remember the mass in-take of breath when the car approached the grid!

Great footage, Rothmans really did bring something huge to British rallying and unfortunately they have never been replaced one good thing of being a little older is some of us got to enjoy that era 1st hand

That is some piece of footage............i first saw it in the very first Rally Semelator i have ever seen........ i spent a weeks Drinking money, Petrol money and more as i  watched  that clip so many times..............i ended up on first name terms with the owner...............Thank you for putting it up here on the forum !!!!!!!

In-car footage is tame by comparison with the real thing as the camera is mounted in the centre of the car - almost on the axis that a car would spin on so can you imagine what it was like in the car. What I am trying to say is that if the camera was mounted on the rear parcel shelf it would give a better sensation of the enormity of the sideways drift. Class clip, class car and class crew.