Motorsport at the Palace
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Motorsport at the Palace
Motorsport at the Palace
Motorsport at the Palace
Motorsport at the Palace
Motorsport at the Palace
Motorsport at the Palace
Motorsport at the Palace
Motorsport at the Palace
Motorsport at the Palace
Motorsport at the Palace
Motorsport at the Palace

London, 29-30 May, 2016

The grounds of Crystal Palace Park in south east London, once again hosted the Motorsport at the Palace sprint meeting over the UK Bank Holiday weekend of 29-30 May. The event is organised by the Sevenoaks & District Motor Club, and run on a 740 metre long course using a section of the original Crystal Palace racing circuit around what was known as North Tower Corner. The name North Tower Corner is a reference to the north tower of the old Crystal Palace building, which was destroyed by fire in 1936, whilst the two towers, which survived the fire, were subsequently demolished, the south tower shortly after the fire as it was deemed unsafe, and the north tower in 1941as it was thought that it could be used as guidance for enemy aircraft.


The 2016 running of the event was the seventh successive year, with a slightly altered display layout for this year, where most of the car club displays were located on the upper terrace around the vendor area. The gathering is very “user friendly” in that everything is accessible to all, and the visitors can get close to all the competitors and their cars in the parkland paddock surrounded by towering trees and purple rhododendron bushes in full bloom. This laid back atmosphere is very popular with competitors and public alike, as the former can impart details of their vehicles to anybody who is interested, and it makes the visitors really feel part of the gathering, with no barriers between them and those participating. It is definitely a family orientated gathering with plenty of peripheral entertainment, which this year included live music from a girl harmony group, Elle and The Pocket Belles, giving four performances each day on the live stage. There was also the Savage Skills bike display team performing gravity defying feats on their mounts, display runs each day from a red, white and blue trio of Minis, re-enacting the film “The Italian Job”, one of the scenes from which was filmed at the Crystal Palace back in the day, the classic motorcycle paddock, with the motorcycles also doing demonstration runs, a fairground, and the previously mentioned vendor area, apart from the almost continuous track activity.

The range of machinery on the entry list was of all shapes, sizes and ages, with some competitors running on both days, with others running on only one of the days, thus providing even more variety for the spectators who attended on both days. Those who attended on the Sunday had the best of the weather, as there was plenty of broken sunshine from lunchtime onwards, whereas the Monday was overcast with a chill wind for the whole day. Amongst the competing cars there were single seaters, which ranged from a 1953 Cooper Bristol to a 2012 Mygale F12, an eclectic mix of pre-war machinery including Austin Sevens, Wolseley Hornets and a Riley TT Sprite, and a rare 1925 AC/GN Cognac that was driven very swiftly and tidily in Monday’s runs. The range of saloon cars was really diverse, ranging in size from a Minisprint to a Ford Galaxie 500, the latter probably being a bit of handful on the tight course, whilst along the way there was a “Fraud Cortina” with turbo V8 power, a number of acrobatic hot Ford Escorts together with waste gate popping Mitsubishis and Subarus, to name but a few. On the sports car front there was an equally eclectic mix, from a Mini Marcos through Caterham Sevens, a Lotus Elite and Elans, Porsches, an Alpine A110 and a Jaguar E-Type, to rarities like a pair of Turners and a GSM Delta. Mention should also be made of the 800+bhp Audi RS6 Plus Estate-ABT, which made the journey from Germany with owner Gerd Griepe to compete, the whispering BMW i8, together with probably the most unlikely competitors, a 1959 Standard Vanguard saloon and a pristine 1970 Austin 1800 “Land Crab” – they say that variety is the spice of life!

The competitors had two practice runs each morning, with three competitive runs during the afternoon, so there was plenty of activity throughout the day. The fastest times on both days were taken by Gary Thomas in his 2005 Force PT single seater, with times of 31.59secs and 31.60secs respectively, with David Seaton in his 1980 Pilbeam MP43-BMW 2nd quickest on the Sunday, but was just eclipsed by the 2012 Mygale M12 of Andy Laurence on the Monday.

Keith Bluemel
05/2016

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