The World's Oldest Motor Racing Circuit

[Noj]

Who would have thought it would be in London ?


http://www.speedhunters.com/2012/10/temple-of-speed-crystal-palace/

[Mower Man]

On 08/05/2013 9:21 PM, Noj wrote:
>
> Who would have thought it would be in London ?
>
>
> http://www.speedhunters.com/2012/10/temple-of-speed-crystal-palace/
>
>

I used to love going there, usually watching from North Tower Corner.
Here's the 1964 one I went to - http://tinyurl.com/ygj7n7y

--
Chris

'Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it
every six months.'

(Oscar Wilde.)

[Noj]

Mower Man wrote ...

>
> On 08/05/2013 9:21 PM, Noj wrote:
> >
> > Who would have thought it would be in London ?
> >
> >
> > http://www.speedhunters.com/2012/10/temple-of-speed-crystal-palace/
> >
> >
>
> I used to love going there, usually watching from North Tower Corner.
> Here's the 1964 one I went to - http://tinyurl.com/ygj7n7y

The railway sleepers made a right mess of that Mini.

[John Briggs]

On 08/05/2013 21:21, Noj wrote:
>
> Who would have thought it would be in London ?

That isn't what it says in the text - it says "one of the oldest venues
used for [motor] racing in the world". It was just an ad hoc circuit
(the permanent circuit wasn't built until 1927.) The first purpose-built
circuit was, of course, at Brooklands.
--
John Briggs

[Noj]

John Briggs wrote ...

Take it up with the website.

[John Briggs]

No, no - the text of the website is *correct*: I quoted it above. I'm
taking it up with you because of what *you* wrote.
--
John Briggs

[AC]

Mower Man wrote:
> On 08/05/2013 9:21 PM, Noj wrote:
>>
>> Who would have thought it would be in London ?
>>
>>
>> http://www.speedhunters.com/2012/10/temple-of-speed-crystal-palace/
>>
>>
>
> I used to love going there, usually watching from North Tower Corner.
> Here's the 1964 one I went to - http://tinyurl.com/ygj7n7y
>

That mini was racing with that passenger seat?

--
AC

[Noj]

And the title of the web page is ??

THE WORLD?S OLDEST RACING CIRCUIT ? IN LONDON

Like I said, take it up with the website.

[Darryl Johnson]

I can recall going to races in Canada in the 1960s and watching people
drive up to the circuit, change the tires on their car, and drive onto
the grid. I don't recall people doing much more for race prep than
maybe taking the spare tire out of the truck. About the only spec I
can recall from that far back is that the tires used for the race had
to have inner tubes. Back seats (for the saloon cars) and passenger
seats generally remained in, IIRC.

--
Darryl

[John Briggs]

Titles are often inaccurate - as was yours.
--
John Briggs

[Noj]

Tell Sir Tim.

--
Lord Noj
Duke of Brands Hatch

[AC]

OK, but I thought, obviously wrongly, that video was of some sort of
professional (ish) racing. If its a case of people turning up having a
go on a seni pro or amateur level then, OK makes sense.

--
AC

[Darryl Johnson]

I think even the pros used to a lot less race prep than we would take
for granted today. And perhaps the series rules didn't allow too many
modifications, like removing seats. I'm thinking something like the
old (?) LeMans rule that stipulated that all cars had to be
two-seaters, resulting in legal but unusable second seats in what were
essentially single-seaters.

--
Darryl

[Mower Man]

Wonderful mix of cars in the BTCC - and strange to say, the Galaxie's
speed was put down to handling, not power.

I once saw a Mustang spin at North Tower, going off onto the infield
grass between two trees. Where a photographer was standing... with
considerable agility and aplomb, the guy sort of vaulted over the
bonnet. Huge cheer from all of us opposite.

[Mower Man]

I seem to recall that the BTCC in '64 was pretty restricted as far as
mods. were concerned. There wouldn't have been that much difference
between your road going Lotus Cortina and Jim Clark's one. Roll cages I
had thought were compulsory - but the Mini that rolled didn't look like
it had one. Or if it did, it wasn't entirely effective?

[Sir Tim]

On 09/05/2013 19:40, Mower Man wrote:

> I seem to recall that the BTCC in '64 was pretty restricted as far as
> mods. were concerned. There wouldn't have been that much difference
> between your road going Lotus Cortina and Jim Clark's one. Roll cages I
> had thought were compulsory - but the Mini that rolled didn't look like
> it had one. Or if it did, it wasn't entirely effective?
>

In our category (Modsports) at that time it was certainly compulsory to
have working headlights, even though we were only doing ten-lappers and
had no thought of racing at night. I'm pretty sure rollover bars were
mandatory.

Raced a couple of times at Crystal Palace. We loved it but our driver
wasn't so keen - he didn't like the look of all those railway sleepers :-)

--
Henry Birkin, Bt.

[Jeff]

Noj <b...@arse.com> wrote in news:MPG.2bf4f822d...@news.shared-
secrets.com:

The Milwaukee Mile-used for motor racing since 1903 (4 years before
Brooklands) and still in use.

[Noj]

Jeff wrote ...

"...motor races were first held on ?London?s Own Circuit? in 1899..."

[Sir Tim]

And here's a picture of that first race - I'm the guy in the boater on
the right :-)

http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s391/Sir_Tim/CrystalPalace1899_zps3ea02e69.jpg

http://preview.tinyurl.com/butkfrr

--
Henry Birkin, Bt.

[Noj]

Sir Tim wrote ...

Didn't know you were mates with Charlie Chaplin.

[John Briggs]

It was a horse-racing track - it wasn't a purpose-built circuit (OK, it
was - just not for that purpose...)

It is not clear when it became dedicated to motor-racing, but a
permanent track wasn't put down until 1954.
--
John Briggs

[Jeff]

Noj <b...@arse.com> wrote in
news:MPG.2bf86f904...@news.shared-secrets.com:

"The track was a 1 mile (1.6 km) private horse racing track by 1876."
The Mile was an established race circuit before there were motor cars.

[Noj]

Well fuck a duck. We've got a horse racecourse that opened in 1839 and
held the British GP on 5 occasions.

That's you trumped. YFI.

[Jeff]

Noj <b...@arse.com> wrote in news:MPG.2bfaa1e8c...@news.shared-
secrets.com:

Except that Aintree's horse track and motor racing track are separate
circuits.