1971 Japanese Grand Prix video

[JT191]

Alternate title:
Look at all them Nissans chase that Bellett!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R10uG8TUEtA

There are three different races shown on this video, the one of interest is the first one. Ignore the first few frames, it looks like someone made the cut for the video clip at the 1970 race results.

At 0:44, the cars are lined up on the starting line. By 0:57, the camera has panned back to the front of the pack, and we see car number 43, a Bellett GTR, with a British flag painted on the roof (mini style), rapidly moving away from the rest of the pack. At 1:03, we see the cars entering the big banked turn, and the Bellett has stretched its lead to 8 car lengths.
This is followed by several scenes that look like a giant game of "chase the Bellett".
1:58 or a little after, Car 36 (Nissan Bluebird) finally sneaks by.
Then Car 35 sneaks by.
But that's all that get past. This was a 15 lap race. Finish order is 36, 35, and 43. The two Nissans stretched the lead to 31 seconds, but the next closest car behind the Bellett was 20 seconds back.
3:19, the Bellett driver is accepting his trophy for third place with the two Nissan drivers.

I think the white cars with the red hoods chasing on the first lap and later following closely behind are Cars 44 and 45, Toyota 1600GTs.

May 3, 1971
Fuji Speedway
#43
Bellett 1600GTR
Driver: Omori Shogo (?)


Shiina Masahiro (?) finished 10th in a Bellett 1600GTR (#49).
Shuzuki Yukio (?) retired after the second lap at 35th in a Bellett 1600GTR (#48).
36 total cars.

[redback]

Looks like "Jump Starts" were not penalised back then - third row about a second early........

[Farmer]

Nice digging, JT. Maybe the Bellett leading out was a bit of a shock - all the camera interest was in the Nissans! Cool race - nice to hear those little motors howl!
Thanks,
Matt.