So.....what was you first motor race as a spectator?

Housey

Housey

Housey

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For me, if we are not including Hot Rods, it was the 1979 British GP at Silverstone. I was 12 and somehow my mum and dad managed to find the WORST view possible, just before the Daily Express Bridge on the Abbey Straight. I spent 8 hours watching crash helmets drive past at 160mph. At the end of the race we got on track and walked to the start/finish straight and watched the final race in The Stands.

From that point I was hooked and from 1980 to I guess 1989 I was at some race each weekend.

Dad and I watched the entire Senna/Brundle F3 season. Never missed a single Group C race on the UK (I did 1989 and 1990 Le Mans) and all the Birmingham Super Prix's, many many MANY touring car races, Group 1/2/4/5/6, Group C1/C2, F2, F300, F1, Thundersaloons, Thundrsports, etc etc etc etc

I feel really lucky to have seen so much great GREAT racing trackside.

Met Senna 3 times (he gave me a Coke) Gilles (back of the pits 1981 British GP), Derek Bell, Stefan Bellof, did I mention Senna :)

I have loads of old school photos, I MUST get them scanned

Hot Rods from mid 1970's and one of my best friends was the sone of Tom Laffey, a superstar of Hot Rod's in the 70's (because I lived 1 mile for Hednesford Raceway).

So....who is next?
 
This post has taken me down an unexpected and emotional rabbit hole.

I had forgotten, and I think I have some skewed memories of it as I was maybe 5/6/7 or so at the time, but I was definitely at a rally before anything else. I think it was maybe the Grizedale Stages. Definitely forest area and definitely early 90s era. We had loads of photos from it in the loft I remember looking at when I was older but I think they have been archived in the bin by my parents (along with their vinyl before it re-surged, morons!).

I would love to ask my dad about it but sadly he is no longer with us. I will definitely check the loft for any photos next time I'm at my mums for any amount of time.

Since I've been back to Grizedale just by coincidence, few BTTC days at Oulton and Goodwood FOS a few times. Dad and I watched F1 and I wish I didn't sit on getting us to a race or to the FOS together. He would have loved the FOS but sadly I prioritised the wrong people at the time. I've not yet been to the F1 but I'm hoping maybe to take my will be 4 year old next year. I've just set a reminder for the Grizedale Stages in December too, he'll absolutely love it.

Right now I'm flicking through camcorder footage of early 90s Grizedale stages seeing if there's a potato shot of us there.
 
Oh lordy. My parents took me and my brothers to Brands Hatch when I was probably 7 or 8. It didn't ignite a bug in me at all. TV is what got me into Motorsport. I went to Knockhill for the Touring cars and saw Tarquini's big off only 50 or so yards away.
www.youtube.com

BTCC 1994 - Knockhill - Gabrielli Tarquini rolls

Tim Harvey gives Gabrielli Tarquini a helping hand with destroying his Alfa RomeoBrilliant commentary as ever from the legendary Murray Walker
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com

Then I went to Assen for the MotoGP in 2004. It was about the same price including flights and car hire and tickets than actually going to Donington. Had a great time!

Then Silverstone for the Grand Prix in 2017. Expensive but we did go for Covered Grandstands at Becketts. Also had a great time. Not sure I'd do it again though.

The plan is to try and hit Spa, Zandvoort and Monza next year if I can!
 
Brands Hatch in the late 70's for the British GP. The throttle cable broke on the Capri so a manual bodge got us home. Length of cord through the side window operating the carb opening. :)
 
Banger racing in Herts and Beds in the late 1970s. First proper race circuit visit must have been Assen in 86 or 87 for the Dutch TT. Been to most of the U.K. circuits since as I spannered for several local bike racers at Club and National meetings and the occasional Manx GP during the late 1980s to mid 1990s.

Only been to the one F1 GP, Monza in 2015 as a 50th birthday treat.
 
chrismscotland said:
1998 British Touring Car Championship at Knockhill.... probably about the only time I've ever been there that it didn't rain.
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That might have been around my first time at a motorsport event.

My mum's uncle (who sadly passed away last week) and his two sons worked for TVR Motorsport when it was a thing. He was quite high up with them (to the point he got all the new TVR cars for free!) and his two sons were mechanics so we always got 'paddock' tickets when they were up here. Always loved going up as Knockhill is only 20 minutes up the road and getting to see all the mechanics at work and even getting to sit in the cars, which blew my mind at 6 years old! :D
 
Almost certainly a NASCAR race at Rockingham when I was around 12/13 and then pretty much anything that raced their BTCC/BSB/Indy for the next few years until it started to dry up.
 
Tricky one, I remember as a very young boy going on holiday to Bournemouth and being taken to a speedway race at Poole. We were at one end of the track and every time the bikes went around, we got showered with gravel. It wasn't enjoyable. I was probably around ten.
 
Feek said:
Tricky one, I remember as a very young boy going on holiday to Bournemouth and being taken to a speedway race at Poole. We were at one end of the track and every time the bikes went around, we got showered with gravel. It wasn't enjoyable. I was probably around ten.
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Same! Although we went to Swindon with Dad relatively frequently. Which is odd because we lived just outside Reading and they still were going
That gravel hurt lots!
Otherwise BTCC at Brands Hatch around 10/15 years ago.
 
It was probably at Cadwell Park back in 1974-5 or thereabouts as a kid. It will have been a classic motorbike race as my Uncle was and still is heavily into collecting and restoring classic motorbikes and my dad used to pal around. I can still remember the smell of the back lot where the bikes were getting ready. I remember there was a classic 3-wheeler race that day too. Other early memories would be night time speedway at Quibell Park in Scunny, long since defunct. Went to Santa Pod once, and another memory was one of the first truck Grand Prix at Donnington back in the early 80's. I remember part of that event was that lunatic Finnish stunt biker Arto Nyquist hanging off the back of his superbike wearing clogs speeding down the main straight. That was a pretty awesome day, the crowd must have been like 100,000 at least, at Donnington.
 
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