Just watched it again, not seen it for years.....cracking bike racing movie!!! David Essex is a legend in that film....just amazes me how he becomes the 500cc world champion after winning one race at silverstone, that aside.....a must watch....
It was a film "of its time". The time being the '70s. The engine, which I think was a 2 stroke triple and 750cc rather than 500, was made in the UK and ended up in a sidecar outfit raced by Nigel Rollason who I knew vaguely. He eventually won a TT with it but I remember it breaking down more often than not. History lesson ends!
IIRC most of the action part at the end of the film was filmed during the famous Sheene V's Roberts 1979 GP weekend at Silverstone, there were various parade sessions where the crowd was asked to cheer them on. Having seen the film a few times I also noticed they removed the final dramatic scene where he crosses the line - arms in the air cheering - loses control - horrendous wobble - smacks straight into the pit wall and bursts into flames roll credits. The bike was a real racer and not just made for the film and it was British Barton Engineering got together with Spondon the frame company to create the Sparton which was the bike in the film, they manufactured their own square 4 engine not unlike the RG500's, they had spent a few years working as a tuning house for the large Suzuki strokers
Toby is correct, and Roger Marshall rode the bike in most of the scenes......it was a square 4 engine, not a triple.......and all the "race" scenes were filmed at about 45mph...I was there and saw the film being made over a number of International races that season......it was a USELESS film imho.......
You're right, square four not inline triple, but it was a long time ago! Nigel Rollason now races ocean going yachts. He was famous for campaigning a BSA B50 single in international endurance racing and winning. Apparently its secret was that it would run for over two hours on a tankful of fuel at racing speeds so although slower than the 750 multis it rarely had to stop. I've a feeling he won the Bol D'or or similar prestigious event.
Mate of mine (along with quite a quite a few other club and national racers of the day) was an extra in some of the race scenes, don't think he made anthing out of it but he did say it was a good laugh doing it.
good info guys.....did not realize it was roger Marshall riding the bike, or that sheene and roberts were riding during the racing scenes......cool
