Brands Hatch
Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts many British and International racing events. The venue is owned and operated by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation.
Circuit
Brands Hatch offers two layout configurations. The "Indy Circuit" layout is located entirely within a natural amphitheatre offering spectators views of almost all of the shorter configurations from wherever they watch. The "Grand Prix" layout has played host to several Formula One Grands Prix, including those with moments such as Jo Siffert's duel with Chris Amon in and 1992 World Driver's Champion Nigel Mansell's first win in. Noise restrictions and the proximity of the Grand Prix loop to local residents mean that the number of race meetings held on the extended circuit is limited to just a few per year.The full Grand Prix circuit begins on the Brabham Straight, an off-camber, slightly curved stretch, before plunging into the right-hander at Paddock Hill Bend, with gradients of 8%. Despite the difficulty of the curve, due to the straight that precedes it, it is one of the track's few overtaking spots. The next corner, Druids, is a hairpin bend, taken after an uphill braking zone at Hailwood Hill. The track then curves around the south bank spectator area into the downhill, off-camber Graham Hill Bend, and another, slightly bent stretch at the Cooper Straight, which runs parallel to the pit lane. After the straight, the circuit climbs uphill though the decreasing-radius Surtees turn, before moving onto the back straight where the track's top speeds can be reached. The most significant elevation changes on the circuit occur here at Pilgrim's Drop and Hawthorn Hill, which leads into Hawthorn Bend. The track then loops around the woodland with a series of mid-speed corners, most notably the dip at Westfield and Dingle Dell and the blind Sheene curve. From there the track then emerges from the left hand and cambered Stirlings Bend onto the short straight to Clearways and rejoins the Indy Circuit for Clark Curve with its uphill off-camber approach to the pit straight and the start/finish line.
The British Rallycross Circuit at Brands Hatch was designed and constructed by Trevor Hopkins, a four-times British Rallycross Champion. Completed around 1981, the circuit spans approximately. A notable feature is the starting point on the startline, followed by a right turn and descent on loose terrain at Paddock Hill Bend. After navigating the left-right Esses at the bottom, the circuit rejoins the Indy Circuit, leading up and around Druids hairpin. A 90-degree left turn through Langley's Gap and across the knife-edge connects back to the Indy Circuit, but in an anti-clockwise direction. Subsequently, cars proceed from Cooper Straight, swooping up the old link road and returning to Paddock.
History
Origins – 1940s
Brands Hatch was originally the name of a natural grassy hollow that was shaped like an amphitheatre.Although the site was originally used as a military training ground, the fields belonging to Brands Farm were first used as a circuit by a group of Gravesend cyclists led by Ron Argent, with the permission of the local farmer and landowner, Harry White. Using the natural contours of the land, many cyclists from around London practised, raced and ran time trials on the dirt roads carved out by farm machinery. The first actual race on the circuit was held in 1926, over between cyclists and cross-country runners. Within a few years, motorcyclists were using the circuit, laying out a three-quarter-mile anti-clockwise track in the valley. They also saw the advantage of competing in a natural arena just a few hundred yards from the A20, and with the passage of time, a kidney-shaped circuit came into use. The first motorcycle races were "very informal" with much of the organisation being done on the spot. Initially, the racing was on a straight strip approximately where Cooper Straight came to be when the track was tarmacked. Brands Hatch remained in operation during the 1930s, but after being used as a military vehicle park and being subject to many bombing raids during World War II, it needed much work before it could become a professional racing circuit.
In 1932, four local motorcycling clubs joined forces and staged their first meeting that March.
Motorcycle racing quickly resumed after World War II and in 1947, Joe Francis persuaded the BBC to televise a grass track meeting, the first motorcycle event to be televised on British TV.
1950s
Following World War II, cinders were laid on the track of what was by then known as Brands Hatch Stadium and motorcycle racing continued. That was until 1950 when the 500 Club managed to persuade Joe Francis, that the future for his stadium lay in car and motorcycle road racing. The group behind 500 c.c. single-seater racing cars was the 500 Club and it, together with the owners, invested the sum of £17,000 on a tarmac surface.Thus Brands Hatch was born as a motor racing venue, and on 16 April 1950, the opening meeting was scheduled for the first purpose-built post-war racing circuit in England, approval having been given by the RAC following a demonstration by a handful of 500s in February. Amongst those giving the demonstration was a very young Stirling Moss. The Half-Litre Car Club for 500cc Formula 3 organised that first race on 16 April, with 7,000 spectators coming to witness these cars complete in 10 races. Don Parker won the first race. Before the year was out, five meetings had been held, with the events running to a similar programme. The June meeting was a Moss benefit for he won all five races he entered in the Works Cooper and set a new lap record. The August Bank Holiday meeting saw for the first time, involvement of the national press with the Daily Telegraph sponsoring the main event of the day. The old cinder track had been in length, but the tarmac circuit was lengthened to and now ran anticlockwise. The Maidstone & Mid-Kent Motor Club invited a number of sports car drivers to test the circuit on 5 November, this being the first time that any car other than a 500cc had used it, and they ran clockwise.
In 1951, season included seven car meetings, all for Formula 3 and they were again organised the Half-Litre Car Club to which the 500 Club had changed its name since becoming a Limited Company. In February, the Aston Martin Owners Club tested some 1.5-litre sports cars at Brands Hatch preparatory to the full International season starting.
The 1952 season saw the emergence of Stuart Lewis-Evans. Les Leston raised the lap record to – the first time that had been exceeded.
1953 saw the introductions of raised spectator protection banks. This was to be Parker's year for he won the Autosport Formula 3 Championship taking seven races at Brands on his way the title. Some 50,000 people packed into the Daily Telegraph International and as the season came to an end Parker raised the lap record to . During 1953, the Universal Motor Racing Club was established, with a racing school set up at Brands Hatch. The Half Litre Club, later to become the British Racing and Sports Car Club, ran many races throughout the 1950s and firmly established the venue as one of Britain's top racing circuits.
The track continued to expand during 1953 and 1954, with the addition of Druids Bend by lengthening the circuit, a pit lane and spectator banks and reversing the racing direction to clockwise. While Formula III racing was unquestionably close and exciting, it did have its limitations and now the paying public wanted some variety and more powerful cars to watch. The change in direction of racing traffic resulted in the creation of Paddock Hill Bend a fast sweeping downhill right-hander. At the bottom the Paddock Hill, a quarter-mile extension to the circuit was added which took the competitors up the other side of the valley to a right-hand hairpin, which is called Druids Hill Bend. This new section re-joined the old track at another tricky corner, Bottom Bend, and the result was a circuit lengthened to.
The first race winner on the revised track was Stuart Lewis-Evans, at the wheel of a Cooper-Norton Mk.8, with a new name at the inaugural meeting. That name was N. G. Hill who was a 'graduate' of the racing school.
As the season progressed larger engine machines began to appear starting with small and medium capacity sport cars, then Formula Libre machines. However, most races were still run for Formula 3 and 1954 saw the first of what was to become the traditional Boxing Day meeting down in Kent. A total of 15,000 spectators arrived at the Christmas meeting to watch a programme of seven races with the added attraction of ox-roasting and Stirling Moss.
It was Jim Russell's year, for he dominated the Formula 3, winning the Autosport National Championship, as well as four of the meeting. Cooper T39s and Lotus Mk.9s dominated sports car racing while Archie Scott Brown had a stranglehold on the over 1,900 cc class, driving either the works Lister-Bristol or Louis Manduca's Jaguar C-Type.
At the August Bank Holiday meeting spectators could avail themselves of the only permanent grandstand at a British motor sport circuit; it had been purchased second-hand from the defunct Northolt pony-trotting stadium and for the 1956 season, a telephone system was installed linking race control, the grandstand and the marshals' posts, while a modern hospital was opened at the circuit, complete with operating theatre.
As larger-capacity cars become more common, 500 cc racing began to decline, but the formula still gave close, exciting racing. The first year that public car race meetings were organised by other than the BRSCC was 1956 – in June, the 750 Motor Club joined forces with the Club Lotus to offer a mixture of races, including, for the first time at Brands, saloon cars. This was also the year the Brands grew up, running Formula One cars for the first time on 14 October. Initially, a long-distance race was planned, but in the end a 15-lap race was run which attracted four work entries from Connaught opposed by privately entered Maserati 250Fs driven by Roy Salvadori and Bruce Halford and a selection of independents. Archie won from Lewis-Evans, setting a new lap record in the process at a speed of. Politics caused the cancellation of the Boxing Day meeting that year due to the Suez Crisis.
As a result of Suez affair, forecasts for 1957 season were gloomy, but the programme ran as planned, the two feature meeting of the year being run for the new Formula Two on Whit Sunday and August Bank Holiday. The year saw a continued diversification at BRSCC meetings with fewer 500cc events and more sport-racing machinery. The Kentish 100 was the biggest event yet run at the circuit for Formula Two with two 42-lap heats and attracted a truly International field. Formula Two featured at other meetings but at the August Bank Holiday meeting, Formula 3 proved that it was not yet dead as it was run as the feature event for the Daily Telegraph Trophy.
Jim Clark made his Brands Hatch debut at the Boxing Day event, when he drove the Border Reivers-entered Lotus Elite into second place behind Colin Chapman. At the August Bank Holiday meeting in 1958, an 1,100cc sports car became the first to lap Brands Hatch in under a minute. Its creator had been unable to afford to purchase a Lotus, so had designed his own car; the car was called a Lola and its creator was Eric Broadley.
The highlight of the 1959 season was again the Kentish 100, with no less than 40 drivers fighting for just 16 grid positions. Jack Brabham won both 42-lap heats driving the works Cooper-Climax. The feature race at the Boxing Day meeting was for Formula Junior, a new International Formula for single-seater racing cars using production engines up to 1,100 cc; works entries were received from Elva, Gemini, Lola, Cooper and Lotus. This new formula was to prove the death-knell of 500 cc racing.