Access to pits....as it was!
Discussion
I've been digitising a load of old prints recently and stumbled across some that reminded me just how easy it was to gain access to pits back in the day. These were from tyre tests at Brands and Silverstone. I didn't have a press pass - just wandered in! Imagine that sort of access today!
Yes...the Silverstone tests used to be cheap but lots of access, even into the 2000s.
It was also nice to be able to pretty much wander the whole circuit, with in some cases totally empty grandstands and sit where you wanted.
Also discovered one year on race day at Silverstone that if you got a centre transfer, after the race they would open the pits, and you could get into the paddock from there.
It was also nice to be able to pretty much wander the whole circuit, with in some cases totally empty grandstands and sit where you wanted.
Also discovered one year on race day at Silverstone that if you got a centre transfer, after the race they would open the pits, and you could get into the paddock from there.
Wow, some great memories there! Thanks for posting.
I've been doing exactly the same with my old photos recently - Silverstone F1 tests/GP's '85 - '92. Looks like we were at the same test in '91 judging by the Tyrrell pic.
I'd post the scans here if you don't mind a thread hijack? There are about 30 so far...
I've been doing exactly the same with my old photos recently - Silverstone F1 tests/GP's '85 - '92. Looks like we were at the same test in '91 judging by the Tyrrell pic.
I'd post the scans here if you don't mind a thread hijack? There are about 30 so far...
I have a picture I took at Silverstone in '87 - inside the Ferrari pit garage - of one of the mechanics working on Berger's car 3 feet away . Nobody minded you wandering around in the evening , having a chat , taking some pics etc.and I did this from early 70's to late '80s . There are many reasons you can't do it any more and one of them is spectator behaviour- back in the day it was actually very uncool, very bad form to get overexcited if you brushed shoulders with a Hunt or Peterson, you just let them get on with the job - but still relished the privilege of seeing them , even if you tried to appear like you did this every day.
I remember thinking how massively the sport had changed at a Silverstone test in 20004 ish . Early morning , waiting to get in and I heard shrieking and screaming , people running alongside a car being driven into the circuit. WTF ? Apparently it was Button and Sato being driven in . And I thought so what , surely if these guys interest so much you then you could easily have chatted to them and taken some pics when they were doing well in F3 ? But then I remembered that a tiny percentage of F1 race goers appear to know anything about motor sport outside F1 , let alone go to race meetings ...
I remember thinking how massively the sport had changed at a Silverstone test in 20004 ish . Early morning , waiting to get in and I heard shrieking and screaming , people running alongside a car being driven into the circuit. WTF ? Apparently it was Button and Sato being driven in . And I thought so what , surely if these guys interest so much you then you could easily have chatted to them and taken some pics when they were doing well in F3 ? But then I remembered that a tiny percentage of F1 race goers appear to know anything about motor sport outside F1 , let alone go to race meetings ...
OK here are mine - 3 lots of images in no particular order. Unfortunately, only these are the best images I've got out of hundreds. I've got a few more that are vaguely acceptable, but I'm still getting to grips with photoshop to improve the image quality, and the further I delve, the poorer the quality!
The '85 stuff was taken with an Olympus Trip 35 - that was the specific day that really got me into F1 as a 14 year old (despite having attended meetings all my life up to then).
The '89 - '92 images were taken with a Minolta X-300/700. Those test days were a pretty inspirational experience for a young engineering undergraduate! I just wish I'd had a digital camera back then.
The '85 stuff was taken with an Olympus Trip 35 - that was the specific day that really got me into F1 as a 14 year old (despite having attended meetings all my life up to then).
The '89 - '92 images were taken with a Minolta X-300/700. Those test days were a pretty inspirational experience for a young engineering undergraduate! I just wish I'd had a digital camera back then.
Edited by dr_gn on Saturday 20th May 12:53
illmonkey said:
Great topic and pics. It makes me happy and sad at the same time! Happy to see the shots, sad that it's no longer this accessible. I suppose slide down the scale to club racing to get pit access again...
I got a pits pass through work for the Silverstone test back in '08. Even with that, access to the pits themselves zero, as with the pit wall. This is a close as I got to Lewis Hamilton - I just took the picture for a laugh at how daft things had got...the number of people there just for a test!
IIRC individual teams started using private security guards around '93/'94. Today it's even worse, with screens and walls around the back of the pits, so even having a paddock pass is worthless to the real enthusiast. You can pay £1000's for the Paddock club at a race, but if, like me, you just enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere and activity, then even that's pretty pointless.
These days I doubt I'd bother going even if I had a pass. Pale imitation of F1 after watching Senna flat through Bridge in a V12 McLaren at close quarters.
Edited by dr_gn on Saturday 20th May 13:11
My theory is that if we stopped people taking their phones we'd be able to get in again.... But the whole preposterous sense of self importance which was the sole preserve of F1 can now be seen even in not very important national series , with silly tape and privacy boards on even mundane machinery . At least I can get as close as I want to gazillion pound historic racers...
By gradually making it harder to access the paddock and pits, the exclusivity that is now associated with it makes it desirable. The irony is that, from what I've seen, the majority of people with priveliged access don't know what they're looking at, not that they see much at all these days.
I'm just happy I got to experience up close what will probably turn out to be one of the most awesome decades of the sport. Rose tinted glasses? Maybe, but walking down the pit wall a few metres from 3.5 litre V10/12 F1 cars doing 160 mph was something I'll never forget.
I'm just happy I got to experience up close what will probably turn out to be one of the most awesome decades of the sport. Rose tinted glasses? Maybe, but walking down the pit wall a few metres from 3.5 litre V10/12 F1 cars doing 160 mph was something I'll never forget.
When I was 16/17 years old (many years ago!) me and a mate went to Silverstone. I can't remember exactly what race it was but we were there for a practice (testing?) but Hesketh were there.
We walked passed their setup in the paddock and admired the food that was laid out. As we stood looking at the setup and the food Lord Hesketh walked over to us and said 'Help yourselves lads, just don't get in the way'.
No photos just happy memories of a different age,
We walked passed their setup in the paddock and admired the food that was laid out. As we stood looking at the setup and the food Lord Hesketh walked over to us and said 'Help yourselves lads, just don't get in the way'.
No photos just happy memories of a different age,
GCH said:
Yes...the Silverstone tests used to be cheap but lots of access, even into the 2000s.
It was also nice to be able to pretty much wander the whole circuit, with in some cases totally empty grandstands and sit where you wanted.
Test days used to be free; I live quite close to Silverstone and always took my mountain bike in order to be able to get around to all areas.It was also nice to be able to pretty much wander the whole circuit, with in some cases totally empty grandstands and sit where you wanted.
Fantastic to stand on the outside of Maggots watching Schumacher take it to perfection lap after lap after lap,
and with only a handful of people around you.
I took this in 2004: IIRC soon after that, access became restricted.
skeggysteve said:
When I was 16/17 years old (many years ago!) me and a mate went to Silverstone. I can't remember exactly what race it was but we were there for a practice (testing?) but Hesketh were there.
We walked passed their setup in the paddock and admired the food that was laid out. As we stood looking at the setup and the food Lord Hesketh walked over to us and said 'Help yourselves lads, just don't get in the way'.
No photos just happy memories of a different age,
It's really nice when things like that happen. In 2012 the Australian V8 Supercars raced at the Abu Dhabi GP weeekend, so a few of us wandered over to their pitlane (there are two pitlanes out there) for a look at the cars. We were standing outside the Stone Brothers garage, peering in, when one of the team members said: "You're not bloody well going to see much standing out there, so you might as well come in for a nose about". Within a few minutes we had their main engine guy chatting and taking the airbox apart for us to look at the inlet system and mechanics inviting us to crawl underneath the cars for a proper look at the live axle suspension. It was brilliant and so refreshing. They were mildly confused as to why we wanted to look at their cars when all their mechanics wanted to do was go to the F1 pits for a look at our stuff though...We walked passed their setup in the paddock and admired the food that was laid out. As we stood looking at the setup and the food Lord Hesketh walked over to us and said 'Help yourselves lads, just don't get in the way'.
No photos just happy memories of a different age,
StevieBee said:
I've been digitising a load of old prints recently and stumbled across some that reminded me just how easy it was to gain access to pits back in the day. These were from tyre tests at Brands and Silverstone. I didn't have a press pass - just wandered in! Imagine that sort of access today!
Thank you for sharing thesemarkcoznottz said:
Superb photos, weedy looking roll over hoops on those camel lotus cars, wouldn't like to trust my neck to it in a big crash!.
I always thought those cars looked fragile and a bit budget looking. The welding on the roll bar, the fit where it attaches to the tub, and Piquet's afterthought head padding...Do a search for "Donnelly Lotus crash" to see how the tub performed in an impact...it's not pretty.
dr_gn said:
markcoznottz said:
Superb photos, weedy looking roll over hoops on those camel lotus cars, wouldn't like to trust my neck to it in a big crash!.
I always thought those cars looked fragile and a bit budget looking. The welding on the roll bar, the fit where it attaches to the tub, and Piquet's afterthought head padding...Do a search for "Donnelly Lotus crash" to see how the tub performed in an impact...it's not pretty.
Compared to a Formula 1 car of the 50s-60s the Donnelly Lotus was far, far safer . Remember that , thanks especially to Jackie Stewart's safety campaigning in late 60s , massive leaps were made in driver safety. But yes, we've also come a long way from 90s safety levels, if not by as great a leap .
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