Motor Racing Memories 27/09/2006 A few days ago, my son, Mad, was telling me about a motorbike race he attended at Silverstone. It was one of a national series, not one of the international MotoGP races, and so was a lot less restricted and he was able to walk along the pits and could have spoken to the drivers. The informality sounded to me like the races I watched in Zimbabwe back in the sixties.When I think about how only celebrities are allowed anywhere near the pits in modern Formula One races and the public is kept well back from the track behind barriers and run-off areas and fencing, I am amazed at how free we were to go anywhere in those local races in Zimbabwe. There were no barriers and I spent much of my time in the pits before the race, looking at the cars and talking to the drivers. I took photographs from the inside of a corner, standing right alongside the road surface. The only things comparable nowadays are rallies, in which the onlookers often stand far too close to the road for safety.The first race I saw was held on the old Salisbury airport that had been converted to a simple but effective track. The cars were from the fifties, secondhand Cooper-Bristols and Connaughts, that sort of thing, and we could see the drivers wrestling with the steering wheel as they drifted through the corners. It was exciting stuff and I hardly needed the noise and the smells to be hooked immediately.Soon after that, the races moved out to a purpose-built track farther from town. It consisted of a long straight past the pits, followed by a tight left hander, leading immediately into a long, sweeping right hand curve that straightened out eventually and then climbed a steep hill. At the top of the hill, the road went through a cutting and this was a good place to stand, looking down on the cars as they went light over the crest, engines bellowing at full throttle. The road went straight from there down the other side of the hill until making a sharp turn to the right, followed by the longest straight of all, the back straight. This led to a less severe corner that could be taken at high speed (if you were brave enough) and so back to the pits straight again.It was a simple enough circuit and a small one by the standards of the day but was the scene of many an intense battle. Once a year the South African equivalent of the Formula One circus would visit for the Zimbabwean round of their series and this was the highlight for us. Many of the cars and drivers would enter for the international South African Grand Prix and we would hear how they did against world class opposition.John Love was our local hero, for he had raced Mini Coopers in Europe, even getting the odd drive for the works Cooper F1 team. He had an old Cooper to race in the South African series but my favorite was Pieter de Klerk, mainly because he'd built his car himself and then squeezed a highly-tuned Alfa Romeo engine into the back. He did well, too.There is one moment that stands out in my memory, however; the time the Ford Galaxies came to show off on our little track. They were monsters powered by 7 liter engines and had succeeded in overpowering the opposition in European saloon car races. It was a phenomenal sight to watch them unleash the power as they accelerated up the hill, passing all the local Mini Coopers and Lotus Cortinas as they did so. That thundering V8 sound at full throttle was truly marvellous and the acceleration unbelievable.It was the corner after the pits that nearly embarrassed them, however. They were achieving such high speeds that they would have to start braking halfway along the pits straight and the locals would come streaming past, braking at the last second and then hurling themselves through the corner faster than the Galaxies could dream of. And then would be repeated the chase and pass manouver up the hill.They won in the end but only just. Honour was satisfied on both sides, I think, for the locals could console themselves with the fact that their engines were less than half the size of the American cars'. And the crowd had witnessed a sight that would not be repeated in our forgotten backwater.Such memories. Motor racing - there's nothing like it...Technorati tags: Motor racing; Zimbabwe.
Clive
Mad Sounds like I would have loved it Dad. Oh and it's "riders" not "drivers in BSB. :p Date Added: 28/09/2006
Gone Away Sorry, Mad - musta been thinking about cars...
(BSB = British Super Bikes) Date Added: 28/09/2006
w How I would love to have been sitting there on the edge of the cliff up at the top of the hill. But I never realised how restrictive the pits had become. What a shame for kids today. Now what year Fairlane? 58? Say, we still have to do this html thing? Date Added: 28/09/2006
Gone Away Yes, we have to do the html thing still. ;) That would have been in about 1965 or 66, I think, Way. They looked like this, 'cept they were tin tops. And man, those things could accelerate! I can hear them now... :) Date Added: 28/09/2006
way That shows some snazzability. Date Added: 28/09/2006
Gone Away And I've only just noticed the furry dice... :D Date Added: 29/09/2006
Gone Away Ah, here's a better picture - that's a Galaxy in front, followed by a Ford Falcon, a Lotus Cortina and another Galaxy. After that, there's a Mini Cooper, a Falcon and another Cortina. The pic is from a race for historics in Australia - they still have a few out there, it seems. Date Added: 29/09/2006
Matthew 'Tis been awhile since I've been by here, but it's good to see you're still writing quality stuff. Though I am not, myself, particularly fond of auto racing (of any variety) - I found this post fascinating. Keep up the good work! Date Added: 29/09/2006
Gone Away It's good to see you Matthew! And I must confess that these days I don't get out into the blogosphere as often as I should - pressures of work and so on. I will find the time to visit more often, however. Date Added: 29/09/2006
Janus I used to have a Galaxy, they are great for a speedy geta... er good for acceleration :) Date Added: 30/09/2006
Gone Away That speedy getaway brings back memories too, Janus! You won't believe it but I was a bit of a boy racer in my younger days. ;) Date Added: 30/09/2006
way My impression is you are still racy. :p Date Added: 02/10/2006
Gone Away .oO(There's no foolin' Way...) Date Added: 02/10/2006
Mad .o0(Drives like a nutter is a little more than "racy") Date Added: 02/10/2006
Gone Away Remember in the ZX when we hit that patch of oil on the Allesley Road, Mad? And who held it together, huh, huh...? :D Date Added: 02/10/2006
Mad I'm unlikely to ever forget that skid Dad, I ride carefully at that point to this day. Looking back I bet it was a diesel spill that caused it (especially as there's a garage just up the slip road from there). I was very impressed it you kept it on the tarmac. Date Added: 02/10/2006
Gone Away I think my wild younger days in a rear-engined car paid off at that moment, Mad. ;) Date Added: 02/10/2006
Mad It's funny how my friends all remember your driving... Date Added: 02/10/2006
Gone Away Hah, lily-livered, the lot of them. :D Date Added: 02/10/2006
keeef You haven't lived till you've stacked a porsche into the central reservation :) Date Added: 03/10/2006
Gone Away As I understand it, Keef, the idea is to avoid doing that. Especially if it's your girlfriend's Posche... ;) Date Added: 03/10/2006
Gone Away Or Porsche even. Date Added: 03/10/2006
Mad Call that a crash Keef? It's not a crash unless you stand up afterwards and discover you've broken your pelvis front and back ;) Date Added: 03/10/2006
Gone Away .oO(Ouch) Date Added: 03/10/2006
Mad I didn't go "ouch", I went "arrgghhh thud" Date Added: 03/10/2006
Gone Away .oO(The lad reads minds...) Date Added: 03/10/2006
Keeef don't get me started on painful accidents....... Date Added: 06/10/2006
Gone Away Well, of course, that's your area of expertise, Keef... ;) Date Added: 06/10/2006
Mad True, Keef, when it comes to catastrophic accidents I am second place to your genius for fubars. :p Date Added: 08/10/2006
fin I would love to ride a chopper through the forrest someday.... Date Added: 10/10/2006
Gone Away I think I'll stick to four wheels, Fin... Date Added: 10/10/2006
Mad Sounds good to me, I just rode a streetfighter through the lowlands... Date Added: 10/10/2006
Gone Away .oO(And here I am, driving a PC through the blogosphere...) Date Added: 10/10/2006
Mad I bet the view isn't as good but it's probably less wet. Date Added: 10/10/2006
Gone Away Au contraire, I make the view whatever I like. ;) Date Added: 10/10/2006
Madmin Just a note to the person scamming this site, your IP is 59.144.200.227 and if you contnue I will ban you. Date Added: 13/10/2006
Warren Carne Good article, i remember John Loves Jaguars racing in the stock car races vs a little Anglia 'Mighty Mouse', the two yellow Jags always donnered the others, sitting in the crowd the smell of the fumes and as a kid drinking the local 'Bengal Juice' chocolate milkshakes, it brings back loads of memories, Love's daughter is a director at a large hotel in the US after finishing school at Peterhouse in Marondera, John I think is still in Bulawayo and runs a car dealership Date Added: 30/11/2006
Gone Away Hey, Warren, good to hear from another Zimbo. Do you remember the Volvo car club? There were a few of them who entered their cars in every stock race in Zim but one guy in particular (can't remember his name unfortunately) always used an estate car - he reckoned the suspension was stiffer on estates and so they handled better. He did well too...
So John is still there, huh? He must be getting on a bit now. I was in my teens at the time. Old soldiers never die, I guess. Date Added: 30/11/2006
re: Gone Away No sorry i dont remember the estate car, i was in Moray primary school and was only 6 at the time, going with my grandad who worked for Zeco rail engineers. ja john is an old soldier, i knew his daughter quite well and we were penpals whilst she was at Peterhouse girls. anyway, take care Warren Date Added: 17/01/2007
Gone Away Thanks for the update, Warren. Alles van die beste. Date Added: 17/01/2007
Back to the main blog
You may use HTML in comments. A carriage return is <br />, use two for a new paragraph. For bold text use <strong></strong> and for italic text use <em></em>. If you know what you're doing feel free to use more complex mark-up but please no deprecated tags or JavaScript.
Name * Comment * Email * URL Commenting has closed for this post
