Welcome to Terrific Stuff Ltd
Motor Racing DVDs, Videos, Books and Limited Edition Prints
Our roots go back to an era when, during the winter months, motor clubs would hire a room at a local pub and show 16 mm films to their members between food and the occasional glass of beer. These top quality films were produced as a PR exercise by major manufacturers and suppliers such as BP, BRM, Elf, Mercedes-Benz, Auto Union and Shell. Sadly, the advent of VHS/DVD and the total upheaval of motorsport meant that these excellent films simply got left on shelves or in many cases were simply thrown away or destroyed.
Auto-historian Chris Nixon and racing enthusiast Jock Simpson were both fans of what they would describe as 'proper' motor sport! Before modern F1 racing took over it was possible to recognise the drivers, the cars had different shapes and with no advertising plastered all over them you could even read the racing numbers. Nixon and Simpson learned of the existence of the BP Film archive and set up Terrific Stuff, determined to get these sort of films back into circulation. The title came about when Nixon heard the legendary Murray Walker say " this is terrific stuff!" during his commentary on a touring car race from Silverstone.
We began with the BP Collection unfortunately this is currently not available on DVD but it is where it all started. BP's then Head of TV Production Chris Bratt took a huge leap of faith and was enormously helpful; without his enthusiasm we would never have got the project off the ground.
Jock Simpson is a self-confessed Porsche freak so it was imperative that we found something that involved the Porsche 917. With help from Porsche Cars Great Britain and the director Michael Brandt, we not only got the Porsche but the Ford GT40 as well. (TS-DVD2 The Gulf Wyer 917s & GT40s).
Chris Nixon unearthed the next source of footage (TS-DVD3 Lap of The Gods) after seeing some stunning 'on car, driver's eye view' footage of the great Ayrton Senna at Monaco. After some serious research the next stop for Nixon and Simpson was France to meet Alain Boisnard of AFAVA, who casually mentioned that he had reel after reel of footage shot from F1 cars during practice for the GPs of the 1980s. Made for the Elf petrol company, this featured the 'Turbo Era' and all the Grand Prix circuits of the time, plus 17 drivers. So Nixon wrote the words and Murray Walker added a superb commentary and another best seller was born! You will also find that, with Alain Boisnard's help, there are some excellent 'extras' on the DVD. Each has around 30 minutes of additional material. These comprise twenty two, 3 minute snippets, that cover virtually every aspect of Formula One in the 1970's. After a fair bit of research we have been able to identify all but the most obscure drivers and team managers. There are interviews with Nikki Lauda, Ken Tyrell and the late Keith Duckworth, plus Jackie Stewart gives us a live commentary during a one-off drive in the six-wheel Tyrell. One of the advantages of DVD is that both discs are now fully 'authored' so finding your way around will now be much easier.
But it wasn't only the 'big guys' who were making films. David Clarke was a very successful businessman and a gifted amateur movie maker. He took a couple of 16mm cameras and a tape recorder to the races and shot some superb footage. He had no passes, just talent! The outcome was two stunning films, that have always been very popular with our customers.The Monaco GP of 1955 and The Reims GP of 1957. (TSV-DVD9 Chips and Champagne).
The next target for Terrific Stuff was the BRM Archive. This is no longer available on VHS but may become a target for a new compilation DVD. The good news was that the archive had been 'digitised' and was in superb condition. The credit for this has to go to the current directors of Rubery Owen who saw the value of their archive and they looked after it.
The most comprehensive book about pre-war Grand Prix racing is Chris Nixon's 'Racing The Silver Arrows', which formed the basis of more titles for Terrific Stuff the first was TS-DVD4 Racing The Silver Arrows. The success of his book had prompted Audi to grant us access to the Auto Union film archive, which enabled us to show these heroic drivers racing their fabulous Mercedes-Benz and Auto Unions in all their glory. This was written and produced by Terrific Stuff.
When putting 'Racing The Silver Arrows' together we did not have access to the Mercedes-Benz archive, but this all changed when Chris Nixon's long term association with Mercedes paid off and we were offered access to their archives. Some of most fantastic footage came out of 1954-55 seasons and this formed the basis for 'The Return Of The Silver Arrows', this was also written and produced by Terrific Stuff. This film marks the 50th anniversary of the Stuttgart concern's return to GP racing after WW2 (TS-DVD1 The Return Of The Silver Arrows).
Motorcyle racing was never our strong point, we tended to stick to four wheels, but when we found the BP Archive contained to wonderful historic footage we put together the DVD compilation 'Tribute to Bob McIntyre' (TS-DVD5). This has proved to be immensely popular with the bike racing fraternity particularly since it features a true hero in the shape of Bob Mac himself.
Alain Boisnard at AFAVA produced a superb series of programmes for TV based upon all aspects of Formula One.. the history, the cars, the drivers plus the rivalries between teams and drivers. The Saga of Formula One Volume One (TS-DVD6) is a fascinating two part programme. The first part is all about 'The Drivers that made history' and the second part is a splendid insight into the history of The Monaco Grand Prix and is called 'Monaco- Jewell in the Crown'.
TS-DVD7 'The Deadliest Crash' is an award winning documentary film that goes into the 1955 Le Mans disaster in great detail . It complements TS-DVD1 The Return of The Silver Arrows and adds superbly researched detailed analysis of the crash, the cause, the aftermath and the horrifying cost in human life. It also breaks new ground with footage rarely if ever seen before and by interviewing eye witnesses and survivors. This is an important film in historical terms and is a 'must see' for any motor racing enthusiast.
These speak for themselves, they were mostly written by the late Chris Nixon. Chris had an amazing appetite for detail that moves these books away from being simply history books. They contain carefully researched human and technical details that make them all thoroughly readable.
What turned out to be Chris Nixon's final book, before his untimely death in 2005 ,was called 'Kings of The Nürburgring'. This, as we have come to expect from Chris, is a huge work with over three hundred photographs. There are also masses of those brilliant insights, that Chris was so excelled at, into the drivers of the day. The book is not only about the history of the 'Ring itself, but also about the 'Ringmeisters' who took on this awesome circuit and won. Chris will probably be best remembered for his book on Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins called 'Mon Ami Mate' but many of the critics believe that 'Kings of The Nürburgring' will run this a very close second. It is believed to be one of the only books written in English that features the Nürburgring.
In 2006 we added Michael Cotton's excellent Autobiography of Norbert Singer titled '24:16'. This of course refers to the sixteen wins that Porsche has had at Le Mans, all of which were under the auspices of their senior race engineer .. Norbert Singer.