I Witnessed: The last GP at Brands Hatch

Too young to have witnessed the famous 1970 BOAC 500 at Brands Hatch, I was however at the last F1 Grand Prix to be held at the Kent circuit.

Brands is my local track and I started going in the late 1970s to watch bike racing, memorably the Transatlantic Trophy (an amazing USA v GB series featuring greats such as Barry Sheene and Kenny Roberts), as well as dozens of car races. Gerry Marshall in his highly modified Marsh Plant Aston Martin V8 is a stand out memory.

My pal Big Frank had been given a couple of freebie tickets for the 1986 British GP. The horrific queuing off the M25 and into the circuit turned out to have been worthwhile, but we swore to come by motorcycle next time. The weather was sunny and warm on that July day and there were allegedly 150,000 spectators at the track.