The Race

We battened down the hatches this afternoon, prior to Storm Isha’s arrival, so it was a chance to do more sorting of photos. Most were date stamped and of obvious subjects - Le Mans, Superbikes, climbing in The Lakes, etc - but a few needed more investigation to pin down the where and when. Luckily, most of those were of races or rallies and, thanks to some judicious googling, I could match competition numbers to entry lists to establish the event. I still have a fair few random photos which could have been taken any time between 1987 and 1997, but they’re mainly of whichever house we were living in at the time.
But the photos in the Blip needed no investigation to establish when and where they were taken. Beside the fact that I’m unlikely to forget the 1987 British Grand Prix because I was standing in the exact spot on the Hanger Straight where Mansell overtook Piquet to win with only three laps to go, I have kept the tickets from the event with the photos.
And just look at those prices! £28 entrance fee and another tenner to get in to the centre of the circuit. And, judging by the photos, that £10 also gave access to the pit lane before the race. No hordes of celebs dodging Martin Brundle either. Just genuine fans able to get a good look at what was going on in the pits pre-race.
By the time I was in a position to go to another British GP, prices had rocketed and I have only been to a couple of the (much cheaper tickets) Friday Free Practice sessions since. In fact, it was cheaper to go to the Belgian GP in 1997 than to the British GP!
I’d also discovered Le Mans by then. A much better race experience, at a very reasonable cost and the glamour of it being very French! That took care of my summer holidays for many, many years…