Video: When Racecam Was Born at the 1979 Hardie-Ferodo 1000

Head back to 1979 and Mount Panorama to join fellow motorsport fans witnessing the birth of live on-board footage in this clip from the 1979 Hardie-Ferodo 1000.

Race coverage these days is quite stunning. We have cameras by corners, whizzing along wires, stuck all over cars and even on helmets giving us first person footage. And it’s all broadcast live and uninterrupted with radio chatter, telemetrics and more.

Back in 1979, this level of sophistication was just a dream. The 1979 Hardie-Ferodo 1000, however, would see one the birth of one of our favourite elements – live on-board footage.

This clip gets plops you on board the Toyota Celecia of Peter Williamson as he comments on a lap doing battle with Alfa Romeo Alfettas and Ford Escort RS2000s in Class C, along with all the other muscle on the track at Mount Panorama. He and co-driver Mike Quinn would finish ninth outright in the race after qualifying 33rd, and claim a class win in doing so.

It’s brilliant old footage that’s packed with great racing, classic cars and vision of Mount Panorama in its early days, and it’s an exciting moment in the history of motorsport coverage. Peter’s clearly enjoying his day at the office, and there are some moments that we’d never see today (check him flying past the flat bed). Hit play.

MORE from Bathurst in 1979: Brock blitzes Bathurst

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