DFA Staff Pick: North West 200

In this clip we see footage from 1957 of the famous North West 200, a motorcycle road race, that is Ireland's biggest annual sporting event. It takes place on the ‘Triangle’ a street circuit stretching 8.970 miles between Portrush, Portstewart and Coleraine. Held each May in Northern Ireland, with 150,000 spectators attending over the race weekend. This film shows the riders making their way to the grid and a manic push-start as the race gets underway. Later, we see them take some of the early course corners at ferocious speeds.

In this clip from 1957 it is particularly interesting to see the vintage bikes, helmets and suits of  these racers from an era gone by along with the classic chalk leaderboard. We also get some lovely shots of the crowd in their 1950s clothes lining the streets and photographers with their film cameras trying to capture the moment of these races while the bikes zoom past. 1957’s race saw Jack Brett record the first 100 mph lap of the Triangle circuit riding Lord Montagu’s Norton to 500cc victory along with Sammy Millar winning the 250cc race and Bob Anderson the 350cc. 

This film was digitised as part of the BFI's Unlocking Film Heritage project. Unlocking Film Heritage is one of the most significant film digitisation projects ever undertaken and encompasses the British Film Institute National Archive and the UK regional and national screen archives. Watch more from our archive here