The Pirelli Classic Marathon 1989.

The Pirelli Classic Marathon 1989. Distributed by Duke Marketing Limited,P0 Box 46, Douglas, Isle of Man. Running time — 49 mins.

The video of the Pirelli Classic Marathon is for anyone interested in sports cars of the fifties and sixties. It is an amusing production that is well edited with some good camera work. However the approach is fairly light weight, and the emphasis is placed on the human element, the atmosphere of the event and the beauty of the cars. This is probably the major shortcoming of the film in that it would be interesting to see a greater technical study of the cars, of the problems that the various teams had to face and overcome, and of the nature of the event itself. Despite these criticisms the video is good in so far as it goes. There are some lively characters involved, notably Stirling Moss and Paddy Hopkirk, and there is plenty of footage of beautiful classic cars being driven with verve and enthusiasm. Those cars include a Jaguar E-type, Austin Healey 3000, TR4, MGB, MG Midget, Aston Martin DB2-4, FrazerNash, Sunbeam Alpine, Morgan and Talbot. One of the highlights of the film is to see the cars tackle the Stelvio timed section, climbing through a total of 48 hairpin bends. For Stirling Moss’ timed run the camera is in his MGB. The video is recommended as light entertainment. CSR-W