Televising the old Nürburgring

[BDunnell]

Can someone answer this for me? How were F1 races at the Nürburgring Nordschleife televised live? I presume they were on German TV, because almost all national networks in Europe that I know of used to show their own GPs live (and the BBC did a fair few overseas ones too), but how did they manage to show anything like a whole lap, or even a good proportion of one? The only film that exists of Lauda's crash in 1976, after all, is amateur footage.

I'd be fascinated if anyone knows!

[Zsolt]

I don't know if they were shown live, but for about 1/2 of the track, they had a helicopter w/camera follow the cars at least on the copy I have. It's an amazing track, that's for sure.

[Rollo]

The first live GP ever shown on TV anywhere was the 1976 Japanese GP which was the last race of the season and the title decider. Cameras were provided by the BBC because James Hunt had a potential shot at the title.
Lauda's accident in 1976 happened before this date, and because of safety concerns, the racetrack has never held an F1 GP since.

The answer to this question:

How were F1 races at the Nürburgring Nordschleife televised live?

How? Never; in fact never televised live ever.

[BDunnell]

The first live GP ever shown on TV anywhere was the 1976 Japanese GP which was the last race of the season and the title decider. Cameras were provided by the BBC because James Hunt had a potential shot at the title.

Sorry, but I know this isn't true. Several GPs were shown live by the BBC before that. For example, the 1967 and 1969 Italian GPs were definitely broadcast live by the BBC. The British GP was certainly covered live by the BBC before 1976 as well. There is archive footage that backs this up, notably as carried on the Grand Prix 500 retrospective programme at the end of the 1990 season.

The 1976 Japanese GP was also shown by both ITV and the BBC. ITV's commentary was by Barrie Gill, the BBC's by Murray Walker.

[BDunnell]

I don't know if they were shown live, but for about 1/2 of the track, they had a helicopter w/camera follow the cars at least on the copy I have. It's an amazing track, that's for sure.

Is this a copy of the German TV broadcast of the time, or of another film of the race?

[D-Type]

I can recall seeing the '69 race live. I can confirm that there was a lot of helicopter footage.

[Zsolt]

BDunnell, it's a copy of the German tv broadcast.

[Zsolt]

1973 race.

[Shirk]

Had a quick look through my footage of the 1975 German GP, there seems to have been a total of nine mounted TV cameras that year.

CAM1: Within the Südkehre of the start/finish loop, capturing the cars coming down the straight, then panning full circle to follow them around the loop and down the back straight.

CAM2: On the entry to Hatzenbach, covering the first three corners of that section. Located inside of the Ring between the first and second turn.

CAM3: Situated somewhere atop of Ex-Mühle, covering Wehrseifen, Breidscheid and the climb towards the Bergwerk right hander.

CAM4: On the hill next to the Steilstrecke, covering Klostertal, the climb towards Karussell as well as the first half of that turn.

CAM5: Panning along the Karussell from the inside of the turn for close-up shots of the cars going through and then exiting the corner up the hill.

CAM6: Exit of the Karussell section with the fast left-hand sweeper towards Hohe Acht.

CAM7: The quick right turn on the exit of said sweeper and the entry into Hohe Acht.

CAM8: Looking towards the exit of Tiergarten in the background, Hohenrain in the foreground, then following the cars through that double chicane onto the start/finish straight.

CAM9: Mounted atop the grandstand right at the finish line, enabling it to cover the entire start/finish straight (plus the pits and the score board).

And then back to CAM1 again, and so on. The huge gaps between CAM2 and CAM3 (Hatzenbach >> Wehrseifen), CAM3 and CAM4 (Bergwerk >> Mutkurve), and CAM7 and CAM8 (Hohe Acht >> Tiergarten) seem to have been covered exclusively via helicopter, at least that year. I've seen b/w footage from the 1960s with at least two additional cameras, one looking down towards Flugplatz, the other situated at Brünnchen, though these may have been on film, not for TV.

[BDunnell]

Many thanks for your fascinating replies, Shirk and Zsolt.

The issue of live GP coverage in the 1960s and up until the late 1970s is an interesting one. In the UK, many people believe that nothing was shown until the BBC started its Grand Prix highlights show in 1978. However, they had actually done quite a few live races before that, mainly the 'glamour' races, as Murray Walker has put it, like Monaco and Monza (the earliest live BBC footage I've ever seen of a GP is Italy in 1967), but also of course the British GP. I believe the BBC also showed the German GP from the Nürburgring, at least on occasions, from 1969. Raymond Baxter was the main commentator in this period, but Murray Walker did some when Baxter couldn't, notably the 1969 Italian GP where he was almost overcome by the excitement of the finish, and confused Jochen Rindt's Lotus with Jean-Pierre Beltoise's Matra!

Clips of some of these races have obviously been shown in the past, but I find it really disappointing that most of the videos/DVDs of old Grands Prix are made up of film footage shot for the likes of Shell and Ferodo at the time, because the original TV coverage of some races is still out there.