0:02:45 > 0:02:48Today the soccer star is entering a brave new world
0:02:48 > 0:02:51in which living for kicks has its own special meaning.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55The big occasion, fame, travel, are all part of the game,
0:02:55 > 0:02:58and so now are high rewards.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01All this, and the world at his feet,
0:03:01 > 0:03:04and if he's a Jimmy Greaves, scoring here,
0:03:04 > 0:03:07he has a price on his head to make even millionaires wince.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12But behind the Saturday glory, the big game fervour,
0:03:12 > 0:03:14is a highly competitive profession.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17Out of thousands of players given trials every year,
0:03:17 > 0:03:20by the top clubs of England, Scotland and Wales,
0:03:20 > 0:03:23only a handful get as far as Burnley's Alex Elder
0:03:23 > 0:03:27and sign professional forms to begin, at 17 or 18,
0:03:27 > 0:03:30an exacting career in which only the best can hope to reach the top.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33Here's the way many stars begin,
0:03:33 > 0:03:36playing in the cobbled arenas of Clydeside and Lancashire,
0:03:36 > 0:03:39or in the new parks and open spaces,
0:03:39 > 0:03:44but it's not often that you'll find a First Division club's talent scout watching back-street players.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49Who said it's tough at the top? What about the bottom!
0:03:49 > 0:03:52Never in the 100 years of soccer
0:03:52 > 0:03:56has so much help been given to those who want to learn the game.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02Every year, between 400 and 500
0:04:02 > 0:04:04school masters, youth leaders and others,
0:04:04 > 0:04:08qualify as coaches under the Football Association scheme.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11Coaches such as former West Ham player Malcolm Allison
0:04:11 > 0:04:15visit schools at a cost to the FA of £10,000 a year
0:04:15 > 0:04:17and more and more professionals are passing out
0:04:17 > 0:04:19as fully fledged coaches.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21Here's Jimmy Hill, the player who's done more than anyone
0:04:21 > 0:04:23to win a new deal for professional footballers,
0:04:23 > 0:04:26showing you've got to use your head.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28Nowadays the more go-ahead clubs
0:04:28 > 0:04:31take their responsibilities to young players very seriously.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34West Ham United Chairman Reg Pratt is one of the many who believes
0:04:34 > 0:04:38in preparing them for the time when their playing days are over.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41Few players can stand the pace and strain of modern football
0:04:41 > 0:04:43beyond their mid-30s.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52But now how's our young professional getting on?
0:04:52 > 0:04:55He's following the example of the best and getting down to it,
0:04:55 > 0:04:57and, to an old player, there's nothing so sweet
0:04:57 > 0:05:00as to see a star in the making.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03Dedicated, self-disciplined, strong in the tackle, fearless,
0:05:03 > 0:05:05and with keen positional sense,
0:05:05 > 0:05:08Alex Elder's got most of the things that it takes
0:05:08 > 0:05:09to make a top-class player.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15Day after working day he practises,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18polishing those moves that have helped put Burnley
0:05:18 > 0:05:19among the footballing elite of Europe,
0:05:19 > 0:05:22along with Spurs and the famous Rangers of Glasgow.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28Ever since the professional footballer was recognised
0:05:28 > 0:05:32more than 75 years ago, his status has been improving -
0:05:32 > 0:05:35slowly and against opposition, most of the time,
0:05:35 > 0:05:37but lately very quickly.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40Today he's neither a slave, nor is he pampered -
0:05:40 > 0:05:43he gives pleasure to millions.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46With the top clubs he gets the best medical attention,
0:05:46 > 0:05:48with everything from heat lamps to a wax bath,
0:05:48 > 0:05:52designed to get the swellings out of sprained ankles.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55Yet, in the end, everything comes down to the player himself -
0:05:55 > 0:05:58to his character, his determination to keep on top of his game,
0:05:58 > 0:06:02and this can mean austere living.
0:06:02 > 0:06:04He moves through the junior teams, into the reserves,
0:06:04 > 0:06:08and then, if he's good enough, into the first team.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14This is the moment he's waited for - into the cauldron he goes.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17Those who really make football the big game
0:06:17 > 0:06:20are the dedicated players, like Elder.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24they know the glory and also the cost of having the ball at their feet.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51For the first time in the Cup's short, hectic history,
0:06:51 > 0:06:53the final rounds came to be played in Britain,
0:06:53 > 0:06:56in the islands where the game, as we now know it,
0:06:56 > 0:06:58was born more than a century ago.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02England had never won the World Cup, had never been in its final,
0:07:02 > 0:07:05but Alf Ramsey always believed that it could be done.
0:07:09 > 0:07:14Bobby Moore and Bobby Charlton are but two of his star-laden training squad - key men.
0:07:14 > 0:07:16It was said that Ramsey gets the best from his stars
0:07:16 > 0:07:18when he has them abroad on foreign tours.
0:07:18 > 0:07:20So a vital programme of international games
0:07:20 > 0:07:23was arranged before the start of the cup matches.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27It was designed to give the manager his chance to knit together a team of world-class
0:07:27 > 0:07:29and world-class it has to be.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33A few years ago, the England team wasn't rated with an outside chance,
0:07:33 > 0:07:37but Alf Ramsey never agreed and it was a tribute to him that,
0:07:37 > 0:07:39as the World Cup series drew near,
0:07:39 > 0:07:42so his team became favourites, with the holders, Brazil.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17More than a million people all over the country
0:08:17 > 0:08:20now play what used to be a rich man's game.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24The young, the old, and even the disabled.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28Once they fall for it, they never lose the charm
0:08:28 > 0:08:30of this infuriating and enchanting game.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39Experts reckon that more than £20 million is spent on the game
0:08:39 > 0:08:40every year in Britain alone.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43In club dues, green fees and equipment.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48Young tournament player Anne Sutton shows what it's like
0:08:48 > 0:08:50to give the game the full treatment.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53She has her own trolley, a full bag of matched clubs
0:08:53 > 0:08:55and all the gadgets that golfers grow to love,
0:08:55 > 0:08:59not to mention sporting tailor-mades and special shoes.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02Her clubs and outfit would cost about £120,
0:09:02 > 0:09:05and she makes them look well worth it.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07There are more than 3,000 golf clubs in Britain
0:09:07 > 0:09:10and hundreds of public or municipal courses
0:09:10 > 0:09:13on which a work-a-day round costs half a crown or so.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16Of these last, the best known is probably Richmond Park, near London,
0:09:16 > 0:09:19where play starts at seven in the morning.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22Even at that early hour there's often a small queue of cars,
0:09:22 > 0:09:25some of them with players who've just come off night work
0:09:25 > 0:09:27and who book their places to tee off.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39You don't have to be a millionaire to play golf today,
0:09:39 > 0:09:42it's no longer just a game for the rich or the leisurely.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46Nearly half a million women, many of them housewives, now play it.
0:09:46 > 0:09:48Some of them with desperate seriousness,
0:09:48 > 0:09:51others because it makes a break from the kitchen sink.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06Many of the experiments are carried out at Loughborough College of Advanced Technology.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09A man is wired up to a delicate instrument
0:10:09 > 0:10:11that records the tiny electric impulses
0:10:11 > 0:10:15that are produced by his nerves when his muscles are in action.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18These minute currents produce a movement on the needle,
0:10:18 > 0:10:21varying according to the way the muscles are working.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25So the machine gives a scientific picture of what happens in a golf swing
0:10:25 > 0:10:27and how the various muscles are used.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31Nothing could look simpler than putting - until you try it!
0:10:31 > 0:10:34But what goes wrong? Why don't they all drop?
0:10:34 > 0:10:36A test surface and thousands of putts
0:10:36 > 0:10:37all recorded on a punch-card system
0:10:37 > 0:10:40are helping to supply the answer.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44Out on a practice ground, a young woman golfer
0:10:44 > 0:10:48helps to test the effect of her swing on the club under playing conditions.
0:10:48 > 0:10:50That's one thing certain about golfers -
0:10:50 > 0:10:53they have an intense curiosity about this game
0:10:53 > 0:10:56and they'll take endless trouble to get their swing into a groove
0:10:56 > 0:11:00so that they hit the ball in the same way every time they look at it.
0:11:00 > 0:11:04Then there's another side to the question the experts are asking -
0:11:04 > 0:11:08how exactly does the golf ball behave as it spins its way through the air?
0:11:08 > 0:11:10This could have a bearing on the way you hit it.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14The answer's to be found at the Royal Military College of Science,
0:11:14 > 0:11:18at Shrivenham, in a wind tunnel, where scientists and engineers
0:11:18 > 0:11:22can recreate conditions similar to the speed and flight of a ball.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26Back at Loughborough, the scientists will often use a computer.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29They feed into the machine all the information they've obtained by their experiments
0:11:29 > 0:11:33and, in the end, the computer can tell them what the golfer has done,
0:11:33 > 0:11:35in terms of mathematics.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40The golf swing - its secrets will take some years to put on paper.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42When it's really explained by the scientists,
0:11:42 > 0:11:46it will help players, not only of golf, but all sorts of games.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06The spirit of cricket still abides in the villages,
0:12:06 > 0:12:07where, on Friday evenings,
0:12:07 > 0:12:11men like painter, medium-paced bowler, Cyril Ackman,
0:12:11 > 0:12:13start thinking about tomorrow's game.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16For young Brian, the deep field.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18Marking creases - builder George.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21Light mower - Ron Cummings, wondering perhaps about his lunch.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24It's his wife Olive's turn to cut the sandwiches,
0:12:24 > 0:12:27for at every home match two wives take it in turn
0:12:27 > 0:12:29to prepare, deliver, and serve tea.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31Today it's Olive Cummings and Pat Goodall.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38The mixture of dour contest and amiable picnic proceeds
0:12:38 > 0:12:40with up-to-the-minute information provided.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43At last, tea! Those taking part -
0:12:43 > 0:12:4722 performers, scorers, and one hopeful dog.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52From village green to cricket's centre of gravity -
0:12:52 > 0:12:54the most famous pitch of all.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58The sacred core of 19 and a half acres of priceless property,
0:12:58 > 0:13:03where cricket has been played by the Marylebone Cricket Club for 150 years.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05Yes, this is Lords.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12Cricket at Lords doesn't just happen, there's a ritual.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14The fielding side file through the historic long room,
0:13:14 > 0:13:16packed with the ghosts of cricketers
0:13:16 > 0:13:19whose achievements and peculiarities are frequently revived
0:13:19 > 0:13:21by the commentators.
0:13:21 > 0:13:22The opening batsmen follow.
0:13:28 > 0:13:30Cricket, like other sports, is a career.
0:13:30 > 0:13:36Today there are no gentlemen, no players, there are just cricketers.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38The one certain thing about cricket
0:13:38 > 0:13:41is that it can always be relied on to start a discussion.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43If it's not the bowlers, it's the batsman.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46If it's not the players, it's the laws.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49The impact of cricket varies -
0:13:49 > 0:13:53to some the game is sacred, to some a background for knitting,
0:13:53 > 0:13:57and others it makes no impact at all.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22Style, colours, the right anorak,
0:14:22 > 0:14:25and, of course, those eye-catching ski trousers.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27What does it cost to become a skier?
0:14:27 > 0:14:30You can get your equipment for around £30
0:14:30 > 0:14:34and a fortnight on the slopes costs between £40-£50.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37Beginners need to exercise long before they reach the snow fields.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41Schools, like this, in a famous London sports shop,
0:14:41 > 0:14:43prepare novices for the adventure to come.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46Muscles used in skiing are neglected most of the year
0:14:46 > 0:14:50and former ski champion Annie Moray knows how to tone them up.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52Swing, swing, keep going, now, from the hips!
0:14:55 > 0:14:58For fun and competition,
0:14:58 > 0:15:02some 85,000 skiers leave for the continent every winter from Britain.
0:15:02 > 0:15:07Thousands go by rail or air, in parties laid on by travel agents.
0:15:07 > 0:15:09Others get their skiing nearer home.
0:15:09 > 0:15:14Today Scotland has over 20 ski centres strung across its Highlands,
0:15:14 > 0:15:16from Glencoe to the mighty Cairngorms.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21Local Scots enthusiasts put up this chair lift,
0:15:21 > 0:15:23working through the summer months.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26Older hands at the game think the present generation of skiers
0:15:26 > 0:15:28is being softened by all this mechanisation.
0:15:31 > 0:15:32One last check.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36Safety bindings on modern skis have done a lot to cut the accident rate,
0:15:36 > 0:15:37but even at this altitude,
0:15:37 > 0:15:40the force of gravity is still what it always was!
0:15:42 > 0:15:44Come on, come on, up you get!
0:15:45 > 0:15:49No, no, no, you can't go all the way down like that!
0:15:49 > 0:15:53At skiing you find your own gradient as well as your own level,
0:15:53 > 0:15:54whether it's a nursery slope
0:15:54 > 0:15:56or one of the fast, steep runs of packed snow
0:15:56 > 0:15:59that challenge courage, strength and skill.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06Here at Murren, in the Bernese Oberland,
0:16:06 > 0:16:08birthplace of downhill ski racing and the slalom,
0:16:08 > 0:16:11the British championships are in progress.
0:16:14 > 0:16:18And here, competing in the giant slalom, is the Aga Kahn.
0:16:18 > 0:16:19He's a British citizen
0:16:19 > 0:16:21and a long-standing member of the ski club.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24He must twist through those gates in lightning-fast turns,
0:16:24 > 0:16:27if he's to stand a chance of a winning time.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29A missed gate means the competitor is out.
0:16:32 > 0:16:36Now comes Winston Churchill, grandson, of course, of Sir Winston.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44And here comes Charles Palmer-Tomkinson in top gear, all-out,
0:16:44 > 0:16:48and making the fastest time - two minutes 7.6 seconds.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51With his good time in the slalom, it's enough to bring him victory.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00So a new British champion is born
0:17:00 > 0:17:03and though British skiers may not yet be among the world's best,
0:17:03 > 0:17:06they're certainly getting a place on the Alpine map.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23The fastest way to travel on land without a motor is to cycle.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26Speeds of about 40mph are not uncommon.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29a fair rate with nothing beneath you, but a bit of steel tubing
0:17:29 > 0:17:32and two slim, air-filled compartments.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52The great cycling event in this country
0:17:52 > 0:17:55is the 1,500-mile tour of Britain.
0:17:55 > 0:17:5885 competitors, including teams from seven countries
0:17:58 > 0:18:01as well as British regional teams, started out.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10After the mass start, competitors thin out and many of them drop out
0:18:10 > 0:18:14or are eliminated for not finishing their stage in time.
0:18:21 > 0:18:2523 and a quarter miles per hour was the winner's average over 12 days,
0:18:25 > 0:18:29along a route that takes in Welsh mountains and Lake District peaks.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36The game gives Britain one of its few world champions,
0:18:36 > 0:18:41Beryl Burton of Leeds, who in 12 hours has covered 277 miles,
0:18:41 > 0:18:45a greater distance than any other cyclist - man or woman.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48Just turned 30, this dedicated athlete,
0:18:48 > 0:18:51mother of a girl of 11, pedalled away on her own
0:18:51 > 0:18:54to win the World Amateur Road Championship for Women,
0:18:54 > 0:18:55at the Holland meeting.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04Championships and records all come the same to Beryl Burton,
0:19:04 > 0:19:06she's gained so many of them!
0:19:06 > 0:19:08Scudding home in front of a spread-eagled field
0:19:08 > 0:19:09is no novelty to Beryl Burton.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37Stirling Moss, here checking his BRM,
0:19:37 > 0:19:41is still considered by many as the fastest of all Grand Prix drivers.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44The newest star racing for Britain is Australia's Jack Brabham,
0:19:44 > 0:19:46with a brilliant list of recent successes
0:19:46 > 0:19:48and the promise of more to come.
0:19:48 > 0:19:50Brabham's rise to stardom
0:19:50 > 0:19:54is as sensational as the little car he drives - the Cooper,
0:19:54 > 0:19:56a relatively low-powered British car
0:19:56 > 0:19:57with the behaviour of a thoroughbred.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00In only its second full year of international racing,
0:20:00 > 0:20:02the Cooper is suddenly leading the world in the trophies
0:20:02 > 0:20:06it's snatched throughout Europe, the States, and Down Under.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12And clocking Jack Brabham as he drives
0:20:12 > 0:20:15is the man who helped to make her - John Cooper.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18The first Cooper racing car came off the drawing board
0:20:18 > 0:20:21just after the war. John designed it with his father
0:20:21 > 0:20:24and drove it in small car races, 500cc events.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27Soon, it was making a brilliant name for itself.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30Here's Brabham, Cooper's top driver, coming in from a test run.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32They talk the same language -
0:20:32 > 0:20:36Brabham is a top mechanic, a quality quite rare among racing stars.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39The Cooper recipe - put the engine in the rear,
0:20:39 > 0:20:43concentrate on suspension, handling ability, rather than all-out power.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49But where does Britain find her racing stars?
0:20:49 > 0:20:54Many begin as amateurs driving in sports-cars rallies, hill climbs, club events,
0:20:54 > 0:20:55and then going on to buy, hire,
0:20:55 > 0:20:58share, or build their own racing car.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05Another Cooper contribution to British car racing
0:21:05 > 0:21:07is the school for would-be racing drivers,
0:21:07 > 0:21:10which they've started at Brands Hatch in Kent.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18There, instructors lead beginners round the track,
0:21:18 > 0:21:21under the eyes of the judges in the stands.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26With the instructor as pacemaker,
0:21:26 > 0:21:30the first test is 12 laps of the twisting, hilly circuit at Brands Hatch.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39Right from the start, testing of beginners is pretty searching - it has to be.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42Those who still show promise as the pacing is speeded up
0:21:42 > 0:21:44are singled out for more advanced training.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47More severe tests, this time at the school's expense.
0:21:47 > 0:21:52Only about one pupil in 75 gets right through the next solo stage of schooling
0:21:52 > 0:21:55and sets foot on the first rung of the professional racing ladder.
0:21:55 > 0:22:00Driving Cooper cars, with the firm's backing, at its first junior formula events.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07But it's a long haul to this, the British Grand Prix, at Aintree.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09And they're off.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22Right from the start it's the Australian Brabham, number 12,
0:22:22 > 0:22:24who streaks to the front.
0:22:24 > 0:22:26And Betty Brabham, a true racing wife,
0:22:26 > 0:22:29clocks his sizzling lap times from the pit counter,
0:22:29 > 0:22:31as he streaks past the stands.
0:22:32 > 0:22:34Even over two hours of all-out driving,
0:22:34 > 0:22:36the place is so hot and the running so close
0:22:36 > 0:22:37that a driver forced to a pit stop
0:22:37 > 0:22:40can see his chances vanish in the seconds it takes to refuel.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10And, oh, dear, here's Moss stopping - a wheel change.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12The treads right off his tyres.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15And now they're flashing Brabham, bad news about his tyres.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18Brabham ignores his pit and fights to stay ahead on worn out tyres,
0:23:18 > 0:23:21with Moss gaining on him every time round.
0:23:26 > 0:23:28But, as Betty Brabham watches the last lap round,
0:23:28 > 0:23:31her husband still ahead, he's held off Moss to win.
0:23:31 > 0:23:33There's the flag, as he streaks across the finish.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40And here's Moss, not the luckiest, seconds behind.
0:23:42 > 0:23:43And first to reach the winner
0:23:43 > 0:23:47is a young man, with a big dream of coming in first himself one day
0:23:47 > 0:23:51and having the world fall round his neck, just like this.
0:23:51 > 0:23:56And a kiss from his very best girl, just like this.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21Stock car racing came to Britain, from America, seven years ago.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24Is it a genuine sport or just an infantile craze?
0:24:27 > 0:24:29Unlike ordinary motor racing,
0:24:29 > 0:24:31it doesn't contribute to motorcar manufacturing,
0:24:31 > 0:24:35perhaps it's simply an outlet for drivers who get too much of this?
0:24:35 > 0:24:37But one thing is certain,
0:24:37 > 0:24:39the thousand-odd stock car enthusiasts in Britain
0:24:39 > 0:24:42should never run short of raw material.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44They build their cars from a variety of parts,
0:24:44 > 0:24:47all of which can be picked up pretty cheaply.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50A man's sport? Not a bit of it!
0:24:50 > 0:24:54Quite a few gals have had a go at stock car racing.
0:24:54 > 0:24:5937-year-old Tanya Crouch, with her mechanic, has raced for six years.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02For safety, doors are welded shut, by the way,
0:25:02 > 0:25:05but Tanya's used to getting in this way.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08There's plenty of space on their Sussex farm
0:25:08 > 0:25:09to try out their new motor.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14The cars stream into the pits at the track well before time,
0:25:14 > 0:25:18for there's plenty of work to be done.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20Tyres are stripped at the rate of two a race,
0:25:20 > 0:25:22so wheels have to be changed.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28Hairdresser's model, Mrs Betty Mason, from Chichester,
0:25:28 > 0:25:30is her husband's mechanic.
0:25:32 > 0:25:33As the work goes on,
0:25:33 > 0:25:36the official board of control scrutineer checks all cars
0:25:36 > 0:25:38and drivers' safety harnesses,
0:25:38 > 0:25:41which must be fastened to the floor, not to the seat.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48Bumpers of regulation size must not protrude beyond the tyres.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52Warnings are issued - a car not up to regulations is barred.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55At the Brafield Northamptonshire track, it's an afternoon meet,
0:25:55 > 0:25:58and the girls turn up to cheer on their favourites.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00Drivers get a minimum three pounds starting money,
0:26:00 > 0:26:02ten pounds for a win.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05There'll be as many as 40 cars at the meeting, 20 in a race.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10They're all ready now and they're off!
0:26:14 > 0:26:16And so is someone's wheel!
0:26:16 > 0:26:19The first bend is murder - it's every man for himself.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22Get out of the way!
0:26:22 > 0:26:24Someone's having tyre trouble - stop?
0:26:24 > 0:26:25Not on your nelly!
0:26:25 > 0:26:27What's a tyre here or there?
0:26:30 > 0:26:32This is a 20 lap contest, about eight miles -
0:26:32 > 0:26:35if you keep going the right way, that is.
0:26:35 > 0:26:36Look out, he's after you!
0:26:36 > 0:26:38The field's been cleaned out now
0:26:38 > 0:26:40and the red tops are setting the pace - move over!
0:26:40 > 0:26:43The barrels take a pasting and, with wrecks everywhere,
0:26:43 > 0:26:45things get a bit tricky.
0:26:45 > 0:26:46Cornering - this is how to do it.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53Whoops-a-daisy, no wonder those chassis have to be reinforced.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04The red tops have lapped what's left of the field by now,
0:27:04 > 0:27:06and soon it's the finish -
0:27:06 > 0:27:10for those who survive this race of crashes, bangs and wallops!
0:27:10 > 0:27:12Breakdown lorries sort out the pile-ups.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15The track must be cleared for the next event.
0:27:15 > 0:27:16To the majority of drivers,
0:27:16 > 0:27:19stock car racing is a highly competitive sport,
0:27:19 > 0:27:21to a few, it's a smashing craze!
0:28:26 > 0:28:30Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd