On-board camera action footage nothing new to Gillman Speedway manager - October 2013

October 17, 2013 by Gillman Media

On-board camera action footage is all over the TV and internet these days, but it is nothing new to Gillman Speedway manager David Parker.

A newspaper article found this week while researching the Neil Munro story for the souvenir Gillman programme for the Classic meeting on 26 October, revealed Parker took part in some on-board filming as far back as 1978.

Parker was chosen by the SA Film Corporation to race his sidecar around Rowley Park with a camera on his shoulder for a rider’s eye view to be used in their new production “The Money Movers”.

Now the movie title wasn’t about the amount of money Parker was paid for his participation; the movie was about a $20 million robbery from a security building.

“Eric Jackson,” played by Terry Donovan, was a security service man who helped plan the robbery from the inside.

In the film, Jackson is a former speedway enthusiast who once built and raced cars and one scene in the movie — also filmed at Rowley Park — is of Jackson talking about the robbery with his compatriot while the racing goes on.

That scene took several takes and it seemed the track-side location was selected without knowledge that sidecars and sprint cars would be pitching dirt over the fence in a very noisy atmosphere.

But to further add to the speedway action, a cumbersome movie camera was mounted with brackets, and strapped to Dave Parker’s shoulder.

Parker then raced his Suzuki outfit around the track while the camera recorded a rider’s eye view of the track, the wooden fence and the crowd rushing past. Another camera was mounted on a Leyland Moke, with its driver trying to keep pace with a pack of sidecars that sped past.

Parker’s only comment after his filming: “Now maybe I can do the filming for the chase sequences of ‘Starsky and Hutch’.”