Before all the venues disappear...
Discussion
Aventador 700 said:
littleredrooster said:
Robmarriott said:
I wanted to go to the Arette 'Impossible' Hill Climb in France but it was the week before I was there! Where's the UK equivalent held?
Red Marley HillclimbEvery motorsport enthusiast should see this at least once. Stand halfway up the hill for best effect. Mental.
https://redmarleyhillclimb.com/home-2/
littleredrooster said:
Aventador 700 said:
littleredrooster said:
Robmarriott said:
I wanted to go to the Arette 'Impossible' Hill Climb in France but it was the week before I was there! Where's the UK equivalent held?
Red Marley HillclimbEvery motorsport enthusiast should see this at least once. Stand halfway up the hill for best effect. Mental.
https://redmarleyhillclimb.com/home-2/
Is one where it's impossible tor each the top? there are a few actually, bit odd as a lot of folk seEm to go to destroy a perfectly good bike!! I dont think we quite have the terrain for events like this, which are hugely popular abroad, the off-road trucks ones are immensely well populated in eastern Europe and the like, and some of the things they do are astonishing!
Was at Croft and Knockhill last weekend and have mixed opinions of both.
Croft wasn't too busy as it was a CTCRC event, albeit one with Supertourers which normally draw a bigger crowd. Parking was great, the spectator banking around the circuit was brilliant too, way better than the banking at Santa Pod, for example.
The only problem for me was that the areas you are allowed to spectate from are not particularly interesting IMO, I really wanted to be at the fast sections of the circuit but could only view from Clervaux/Hawthorn or between Sunny Out and the complex.
Still not bad for a cheap entry fee though.
Knockhill on Sunday was a different animal. I'm glad I went, the setting for the circuit is amazing and I don't think I'll ever go to another circuit quite like it. However (...dramatic pause...) access was horrendous, it took me an hour to get from half a mile outside the gate to where I was eventually parked, then when I was in the circuit because it had been raining, all of the 'spectator banking' was wet, muddy grass or wet slippery astroturf. I walked around the whole circuit and couldn't get a decent spot to watch from, wherever I stood, I was 3 people back from having a good view.
Honestly it felt like a banger racing circuit which had been outgrown by the crowds. It's too busy for what the place has to offer the spectators.
All that considered though, it was still a great place to experience, like I say, there's nowhere else I've been which was like it for views and it definitely had a different atmosphere to other circuits.
Getting there with the list now, I've got Thruxton, Anglesey, Lydden (and Pembrey) left for the circuits...
Croft wasn't too busy as it was a CTCRC event, albeit one with Supertourers which normally draw a bigger crowd. Parking was great, the spectator banking around the circuit was brilliant too, way better than the banking at Santa Pod, for example.
The only problem for me was that the areas you are allowed to spectate from are not particularly interesting IMO, I really wanted to be at the fast sections of the circuit but could only view from Clervaux/Hawthorn or between Sunny Out and the complex.
Still not bad for a cheap entry fee though.
Knockhill on Sunday was a different animal. I'm glad I went, the setting for the circuit is amazing and I don't think I'll ever go to another circuit quite like it. However (...dramatic pause...) access was horrendous, it took me an hour to get from half a mile outside the gate to where I was eventually parked, then when I was in the circuit because it had been raining, all of the 'spectator banking' was wet, muddy grass or wet slippery astroturf. I walked around the whole circuit and couldn't get a decent spot to watch from, wherever I stood, I was 3 people back from having a good view.
Honestly it felt like a banger racing circuit which had been outgrown by the crowds. It's too busy for what the place has to offer the spectators.
All that considered though, it was still a great place to experience, like I say, there's nowhere else I've been which was like it for views and it definitely had a different atmosphere to other circuits.
Getting there with the list now, I've got Thruxton, Anglesey, Lydden (and Pembrey) left for the circuits...
Interesting thread and it's led me to an odd hour trawling round the map covering sites of non forest / farm track rally stages that I have done over the years.
Some are still there, albeit no idea if still have potential to be used, but there are plenty more that have just disappeared completely, or still there but developments, housing, industrial, prison just make it a non starter.
Former military driver training squadron site at what was RAF Driffield looks interesting, it was a bit of a car breaker, as does the current place at Leconfield.
Carnaby, lol, got kicked off there by a m/cycle cop when I was about 12 and Dad had let me have a drive.
Lindholme is now a prison.
Scofton, Swinderby, Hemswell, Hibaldstow, Fulbeck, Saltby, various stages some completely disappeared, or at minimum interfered with.
Remember doing a stage at Cottesmore long time ago, still there somehow associated with a defence contractor.
Anyway best wishes to OP, interesting mission.
Some are still there, albeit no idea if still have potential to be used, but there are plenty more that have just disappeared completely, or still there but developments, housing, industrial, prison just make it a non starter.
Former military driver training squadron site at what was RAF Driffield looks interesting, it was a bit of a car breaker, as does the current place at Leconfield.
Carnaby, lol, got kicked off there by a m/cycle cop when I was about 12 and Dad had let me have a drive.
Lindholme is now a prison.
Scofton, Swinderby, Hemswell, Hibaldstow, Fulbeck, Saltby, various stages some completely disappeared, or at minimum interfered with.
Remember doing a stage at Cottesmore long time ago, still there somehow associated with a defence contractor.
Anyway best wishes to OP, interesting mission.
Until the early noughties, at Croft you could spectate on the infield at Tower. It is the best overtaking place on the circuit and was brilliant to watch racing , F3 , Tuscans and GTs especially from very close range. Despite my protestations , MSA (as it then was ) stopped its use , on safety grounds . To be fair , they had a point , but risk could , and should have been minimised by some debris fencing . Then we regulars were sort of tolerated on the outside for a year or two before being asked to leave.
Croft was effectively a new circuit after its 1996 rebuild , and what a huge missed opportunity it was also to have no spectators at the other very popular overtaking point, the hairpin . Speeds are pedestrian but unlike at Mallory ,Brands , Cadwell and Knockhill , no spectating is available at the hairpin .
You can see both, if from some range, by using the infield spectating area , accessible by crossing the track (when permitted my marshals ) about 200m towards Tower from the chicane.
Croft was effectively a new circuit after its 1996 rebuild , and what a huge missed opportunity it was also to have no spectators at the other very popular overtaking point, the hairpin . Speeds are pedestrian but unlike at Mallory ,Brands , Cadwell and Knockhill , no spectating is available at the hairpin .
You can see both, if from some range, by using the infield spectating area , accessible by crossing the track (when permitted my marshals ) about 200m towards Tower from the chicane.
Ticked something of the page one list today, a forest rally. I posted on Twitter about how it's hard to find info about rallies because they're organised by various different clubs and you need to know the names of each and every one of them to work out what's on and where.
Turns out I was wrong and someone posted a link to a website which just gives you all the events and dates in one place.
So, last week I booked a hotel in Shropshire for Friday just gone and today I stood in the scorching hot sun in the Ceri Forest.
Other than the complete lack of shade in the freshly deforested spectator area it was brilliant. Friendly marshalls, chatty spectators and an all round great atmosphere. I even managed to stick my camera on auto and grab some fairly decent shots of the 2wd stuff. The 4wd cars were too fast for me to pan my camera round.
So, while "never stood in a forest in the rain listening to a mk2 Escort in the distance" might still technically be true, it's only because of the weather.
It was also technically free. I paid £10 to park at the Ceri stage but stopped by the Haye Park stage on the way home and although there was a £10 charge according to the website and program, there was plenty of opportunity to park elsewhere and just walk into the forest.
Turns out I was wrong and someone posted a link to a website which just gives you all the events and dates in one place.
So, last week I booked a hotel in Shropshire for Friday just gone and today I stood in the scorching hot sun in the Ceri Forest.
Other than the complete lack of shade in the freshly deforested spectator area it was brilliant. Friendly marshalls, chatty spectators and an all round great atmosphere. I even managed to stick my camera on auto and grab some fairly decent shots of the 2wd stuff. The 4wd cars were too fast for me to pan my camera round.
So, while "never stood in a forest in the rain listening to a mk2 Escort in the distance" might still technically be true, it's only because of the weather.
It was also technically free. I paid £10 to park at the Ceri stage but stopped by the Haye Park stage on the way home and although there was a £10 charge according to the website and program, there was plenty of opportunity to park elsewhere and just walk into the forest.
Edited by Robmarriott on Saturday 9th September 21:20
Good for you . As an old git I've spent countless hours in Yorkshire forests listening to Escorts, Quattros , T16s , 6R4s , Imprezas and Evos - - even the Stratos. It is a spine tingling experience and the proximity and speed of the cars , the soundtrack and the setting make for a piece of automotive theatre . As you noticed , it also feels much more of an experience shared with others - drivers, marshals , spectators - than any other form of motorsport .
Try a winter one next - cold and mud are important elements of the experience ...
Try a winter one next - cold and mud are important elements of the experience ...
Robmarriott said:
But I've never been to a hillclimb, or a BRISCA F1 event, or Rallycross, or Speedway, never stood in a forest in the rain listening to a mk2 Escort in the distance. Then there's the one off events like the Brighton Speed Trials, VHRA on Pendine Sands, plus the museums I've not found time to visit. So much still to see and it would be a shame to miss them before they're gone.
Went to a BRISCA F1 event at Brafield last night so that’s another one done.Sadly though, Brighton Speed Trials is no more, an event I’ve wanted to go to for years but never made it to.
Got a hillclimb in Germany on my radar for August, plus a big drive across Europe to see some circuits amongst other things. On the list of hope is Spa, Hockenheim, Monza, possibly Imola and Fiorano. I’ll be passing the Norisring too but that one feels weird.
And don't neglect what is closer to home - some folk (and you are obviously not one ) seem to think motor sport is F1 and BTCC alone.
My year would not be complete without seeing a VSCC trial and/or race meeting and /or hillclimb , nor a Straightliners drag or top speed event , HSCC at Cadwell Park , nor a round of British Autograss championship
My year would not be complete without seeing a VSCC trial and/or race meeting and /or hillclimb , nor a Straightliners drag or top speed event , HSCC at Cadwell Park , nor a round of British Autograss championship
As someone now in my early 70s I grew up in Northamptonshire where I had access to many forms of motorsport. On Boxing Day we had the Wild and Woolley motorcycle scramble near Blisworth. We obviously had Silverstone which in those days offered F1 and every other form of single seater racing, various car club meetings, WEC, saloon races etc. we had the RAC Rally at Billing Aquadrome, Santa Pod drag racing, Braefield hot rods, a short distance to Mallory Park for club racing and additional F1 at Donington .
egor110 said:
What's that park in Wales where they have motorbike racing once a year ?
Aberdare Parkhttps://www.aberdarepark.co.uk/
It is the circuit that nearly took the life of an acquaintance of mine, Neil Tuxworth (who used to run Honda racing in the UK)
https://www.pressreader.com/uk/classic-racer/20200...
Edited by Drumroll on Monday 1st April 08:07
Edited by Drumroll on Monday 1st April 11:44
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