Wednesday 22 February 2012

Motorsport Statues

I had an email today from someone at The University of Sheffield who is running a project to catalogue sporting statues. The project has a website (Sporting Statues), which will eventually act as a gateway for people to explore details of these global sporting monuments.

The aim of the project however isn't simply to catalogue statues*. As its being run by a university there are rather loftier ambitions for the data they collect. I must admit to being unsure what interesting output one could make about statues, but have a look at the video below, showing the rise in numbers of football statues across the UK. The way the numbers skyrocket from the mid-1990s took me by surprise, and you have to admit it does make an altogether more interesting research proposition than you would have initially thought - why did we suddenly become so obsessed with commemorating our sports stars in this way?

Anyway, in order to make clever maps (and I'm a sucker for a map at the best of times), the team behind the project need data. They have already logged the following motorsport related statues in the UK - 
  • John Surtees, Colin Chapman, Stirling Moss, Roger Clark, Mike Hawthorn and Jim Clark at the entry to Mallory Park
  • Senna/Fangio and Roger Williamson outside the Donington Collection (for these statues the team are missing details of the sculpter and dates - so any more info would be great)
  • Hawthorn/England at Goodwood 
  • Jim Clark at Kilmany
  • Jimmie Guthrie and Steve Hislop at Hawick
  • Steve Hislop and Joey Dunlop on the Isle of Man
  • Joey and Robert Dunlop at Ballymoney
  • Donald Campbell in Coniston 
  • Bernard Hiett in Reading cemetery
There is also a memorial to Tom Pryce in Ruthin, but the project is focused on actual statues (rather than memorials or busts).


It's always good to ensure motorsport is well represented in any project like this, So if anyone out there knows of any other motorsport statues across the UK that are missing from this list lets pass the information on. Put any extra information down as comments to this blog post and I'll pass them on. Details of the people involved, reasons for the statue (e.g. was it a fan-led idea), and the sculpters and dates are all needed if possible. Alternatively you can send them direct to the project team via either email (info@sportingstatues.com) or via Twitter (@sportingstatues)


 

* For the record, even if Sporting Statues was just an anoraky site I would still be wholeheartedly in favour, being as I am quite an anorak for motorsport. Two great motorsport sites I can spend hours on are the Motor Racing Programme Covers and the Motor Racing Circuits Database sites. Both do exactly what they say on the tin and both are fantastic!

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