Waiting at the Station

[Colin Salter]

Just having a little morning wallow in the songs of the Helps and friends. Does anyone know the source of the sound effect at the start of Waiting at the Station on the Happy Days LP? It doesn't have much to do with the song, and I'm wondering if it had some internal significance  for the Happy Daze crew.

[Nick Nation]

Colin I think it's a synth at the start of the track, the Low Frequency Oscillator perhaps.

[Colin Salter]

Thanks, Nick. Yes, that sounds right. I once had to do a helicopter for a stage production with an old Juno 8. Worked a treat!

[Olly Goodwin]

Its a Massey Ferguson 5 litre diesel tractor engine, late 60s model, which was parked on the farm at Rockfield. Davey Charles recorded it and then "treated" the sound somehow in the studio. I don't have the details, Malcolm wasn't clear on that point as he wasn't there when it was done.

[Rob W]

Olly, you've just made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and filled me with nostalgia of the highest order.

Ferguson tractors: paved the way for the most wonderful Jenson motor cars, of which the FF (Ferguson Formula) was one. I think the FF was the first 4WD production car.

Coventry Climax: Probably the most successful racing car engine produced. Made it for Colin Chapman and the greatest driver of them all, Jim Clark, with the Lotus.

Happy Days is in my car. I'll be putting it on in approx 75 minutes, on the A and B roads to Birmingham, and as much as I love the MG growl, today Matthew, she will be a Coventry Climax engine.

I wonder if Malcolm knows the connection between him Jim Clarke, Colin Chapman, and the Formula One World Championship.

Thanks Olly...

[Jules]

Whisper it, but I think we may have just accidentally stumbled upon one of Rob's other specialist subjects 

[Allan Heron]

I'd heard whispers about Rob and the Coventry Climax. Seems I was slightly misinformed.

[Rob W]

Errr!! I think my main love in life has been unashamedly shoehorned into previous post(s) throughout the history of the Man Board.

Did I ever tell you (copyright Mike M, always remembered) about Jim Clarke once standing on my foot?

[Olly Goodwin]

Hey, Rob !
Please tell me the Jim Clark anecdote. My Dad had a connection with motor racing in the 50s and 60s, and I met Jim Clark at a charity race day in 1966 ( I was four)  For something like half a crown, he drove us around a " circuit" in a Rolls Royce, and I chatted away to him throughout, asking about his recent victory in the Indy 500. He was my absolute hero. Do you know the story of Ayrton Senna visiting his grave? ( might have been in the Senna documentary). I've got programmes and things signed to me by Jim Clark.

Love the old MGs. I had a Triumph Spitfire, but engine beefed up with Cosworth parts and twin SUs, wider wheels and race suspension and exhaust. My MG owning friends got a surprise when it out dragged them on the straight and through the windy country roads. When I got my hands on an MG in the wet, or even just damp, it was so easy to flick the back out and drift through corners, which was great fun - the owners in the passenger seat didn't look as happy as I was. Great days !

The Hillman Imp engine is also based on the Coventry Climax ( fire pump engine!), but in aluminium. Fun rear engined car, when souped up....

Okay, now don't get your wading boots on, but I made up the thing about the Massey Furguson engine. Sorry. I've never lied on this site before, and it won't happen again. I used to wonder what the sound was at the start of the track, and let my imagination roam.

[Rob W]

Olly, my story, fades into absolute insignificance compared to yours. In the early 60s, when the Oulton Park Gold Cup was held for F1 cars, and the cars/drivers were not hidden away from the public, Woolfe family legend has it, as the Lotus mechanics worked on the car, I stood behind Jim Clarke, he turned round to walk away, and stood on my foot. See what I mean about insignificance compared to yours?

I was 10 when he died. I still recall at school, during break when we played football in the yard, I made everyone have a minute's silence.

Don't know about the Senna story (who I watched at Oulton from Formula Ford to F3), but I believe the spot at Hockenheim where Jim Clarke's memorial is, is not where his car ended.

I ashamedly admit despite for ever and a day saying I'm going to the Jim Clarke museum in Duns, I still haven't.

And I too have a confession to make. I never recalled the sound of a tractor engine on my Happy Days cd, hence with great anticipation I was going to put it on...only to discover I didn't recall the sound of a tractor engine cos I discovered I haven't got the Happy Days cd in the first place!

I've tried to attach a photo of the two photos I have on the wall at home above the stairs. Too large to upload and can't reduce it enough. One is the cockpit of an old MG, the other is Jim Clarke in the Lotus 49, airborne at the Nurburgring 1967 GP