Last Years of the Palace

What was the first race-meeting you ever went to? For me it was Brands Hatch on Boxing Day 1965. Even though it was not much more than a club meeting, there was a Formula Three race, won by Piers Courage and a sports car event won by David Piper in his BP green ’62 Ferrari GTO. Later, Lotus F1 man Jackie Oliver took the saloons in a Mustang and a handsome metallic-blue sports racer called the Felday took everyone by surprise; this was powered by a two-liter BRM V-8 and utilized four-wheel drive, very useful on a circuit with patchy ice caused by a hard overnight frost.

Meetings like this were very popular—the attending crowds would be the envy of any event organizer today. I was enthralled but it was 18 months before I realized there was another race circuit offering equally good fields, not that far from my home and, in those days before I had, or could conduct, any form of motorized transport. I was delighted to find that this newly discovered venue was but a London Transport bus-ride away.