When I was trying to think of a way to celebrate my 60th
birthday I decided that I would try and visit all 15 of the full time motor
racing circuits on the British mainland – Anglesey, Brands Hatch, Cadwell Park,
Castle Combe, Croft, Donington, Knockhill, Lydden Hill, Mallory Park, Oulton
Park, Pembrey, Rockingham, Silverstone, Snetterton, Thruxton. This was also to
celebrate over 50 years of spectating at motor sport events dating back to a
holiday in the Isle of Man in 1963 which coincided with the Southern 100 races
on the Billown circuit.
It is not just motor racing or motor cycle racing that have given
me pleasure over the years however – hillclimbs, sprints, rallycross,
autocross, autograss, rallies, short circuit oval racing, karting, on-street
parades with a motoring theme, scrambling, motoX have all entertained me and
if this year is a success there are a number of hillclimbs and motor cycle
circuits I have yet to visit and which may form the itinerary for future tours.
In total I have probably been to around 450 motorsport
events of all types, which on reflection is not a great many per year – at only
9, but bringing up a young family is not always conducive to getting away very
often though I was fortunate to have two sons who quickly came to appreciate as
much as me the excitement to be had from watching cars go round and round.
Indeed while I write they are on their way back from the WEC round at
Silverstone, I having decided that, with the forecast wet weather and the ability
to watch the race live on TV, I would
settle down in front of the box and keep warm and dry, particularly after
freezing at the qualifying day yesterday. It must be my age!
I had thought of including the Irish circuits as well, but
the extra cost was a factor in excluding them though they are on my wish list
for future years, and I also decided not to include Goodwood which, apart from
the Revival, has just had the one other meeting, this year’s Members
Meeting. The news of Mallory Park’s
closure was a blow, but the better news that there would be a meeting there in
July put it back in the itinerary, though it did mean that that was one weekend
when I could not be anywhere else. Other circuits which were constraints on the
tour were Lydden and Pembrey where events are limited, but eventually I came up
with a skeleton structure which covered every circuit but did not exclude
repeat visits at other events.
My home base for this tour is Bedford which is fortunate in
being central to a good ring of circuits within easy reach of a day’s return
trip – Thruxton, Silverstone, Rockingham, Mallory Park, Donington, Snetterton,
Brands Hatch, Lydden Hill but I have had to a bit of planning for the further afield
places to try and get two events in one weekend. As such there are a couple of
weekends where I start off at Cadwell Park on Saturday, then go to Croft on
Sunday, travel to Scotland to stay with friends and relatives and back down to
Oulton Park an Anglesey the next weekend. Knockhill will be a special visit for
the BTCC in August while Pembrey also means a weekend away. That leaves Castle
Combe and that will be the last leg of my spring bank holiday triple header
which I first did last year – Donington Park on Saturday, Thruxton on Sunday
and Combe on Monday.
For a number of years I have championed Premier Inns and
with early booking it is not too difficult to get a room for £29 and an early
visit to the circuit for breakfast is usually good enough to set one up for the
day.
There are only three of the circuits I have not visited
before – Anglesey, Pembrey and Oulton Park. Of the rest it is Silverstone which
has been most popular with me, probably because it is closest to my home, with
83 visits, followed by Brands Hatch with 29, Snetterton (14), Donington Park
(14), Mallory Park (12), Knockhill (9), Castle Combe (7), Thruxton (4),
Rockingham (3), Lydden Hill (2), Cadwel Park 91) and Croft (1). Also on the
list , but sadly no longer operative, are Ingliston which I visited 60 times
when I lived in Scotland, and Birmingham where I survived the first on-street
race meeting monsoon! In addition I have visited Le Mans, Hockenheim and Spa.
To me club racing is the essence of motor racing in this
country and I would far rather go to a good varied clubbie than a Grand Prix –
in fact I have only been to 3 Grand Prix in my time – the British at
Silverstone, the German and the Belgian but in all instances the trips have
been the result of winning tickets / trips in a
competition. I love sports car racing and in addition to one trip to Le
Mans – in 1988 for the Jaguar win, I have attended a major sports car round at
Silverstone or Brands or Donington nearly every year for the past 30.
So enough of an introduction. The aim of this blog is to
share memories of great (and not so great) motor racing, to feed back on my
anniversary tour and to share with you some of the pictures I have taken over
the years – far fewer than I would have liked owing to the lack of a decent camera
for quite a while. It may be boring and I will soon find out I am sure from any
comments, but hopefully you will not begrudge some nostalgia - I need something to do in my retirement!!
