Memories of Strange Race Meetings?

[E.B]

OK, my first thread here in the History of Motorsport at TT, so be kind.

I am sure many of us recall meetings we have been to where something strange happened, perhaps something unexpected. Here is the place to share such tales.

I will start the ball rolling....

Back in 1975 BBC had recently launched Radio 1 as their new 'Pop' Music Channel, and Radio 1 sponsored one of the Production Saloon Car Championships. They used to promote some of the events with what they called 'Fun Days', which involved celebs and side shows happening. One of these 'Fun Days' was at Mallory Park in May 1975..... I am sure others reading this might well have been there as well. So enjoy the memory!

.....this memory is of that Mallory Park 'Fun' Day. I was one of the close to 50,000 (yes Fifty thousand!) people that were at Mallory that weekend. i was working for Arian Automotive, who built and ran a number of Mazda RX3's in ETCC, BTCC plus the Radio 1 Prodsaloon Championship.

I have never seen so many people at Mallory, that I know, and to start with was hardly a fun day I can assure you. One of the cars I was looking after was the Cozy Powell Hitachi sponsored entry. Cozy was a drummer of some note (he had a UK #1 hit with a drum solo called Dance with the Devil, was drummer with Whitesnake and many top Bands) and so of great media and fan interest. (Sadly I read of his passing a few years ago, in a road accident near his home - RIP Cozy) Noel Edmonds was also racing that year in a Radio 1 / Castrol backed Capri, so there was always plenty of attention.

Of the huge crowd there on this day, very few were motor racing fans. Most were screaming girls there to catch a glimpse of the Tartan Terrors, the Bay City Rollers, the 70's equivalent of a 'Boy Band', who were to be the 'guest attraction'. There were also other celebrities involved in the day.

The thousands of girls around started off as being a delight bearing in mind I was a testosterone brimming 19 or 20y.o. at the time....being asked for autographs was a bit embarrassing, but I coped. It soon all started to go wrong though.

The Island in the middle of the lake had been converted for the day into a stage, and the band were supposed to play, or at least appear at some stage, and the DJs were doing their thing there. All the top DJs (for those not from the UK you have to understand that DJ's of a radio station that was National and the only source of music other than pirate radio were huge media stars) of the day were there, Tony Blackburn, David Hamilton, DLT, John Peel, plus of course Noel Edmunds. Another DJ, Paul Burnett, was broadcasting appeals for the public to stay away! They were all being driven round the track in course cars or around the lake in a small speedboat.

The arrival and landing of a helicopter indicated the 'Rollers' had been deposited on the island. Im sure the helicopter landed on the island itself. They were scheduled to do a 'lap of honour' but that never materialised due to the safety risk. What safety risk you might ask.....

The Formula Ford race was running full bore when the band appeared on the island, but that mattered not. At this point sheer hell broke out as hundreds of tartan clad crazy schoolgirls proceeded to run across the track, MID RACE, totally oblivious of the cars racing by.

Like lemmings they hurled themselves into the lake to try to swim to the island in the middle of the lake, which IIRC had a control tower on it. The band and others barricaded themselves in the tower as scuba divers in wet suits and flippers were flapping around, and with what seemed to be hordes of police, were trying to round up these girls. Part of the entertainment was a speed boat that was used to convey the DJs to the island.....

Indeed, one of the clearest memories I have of the proceedings was of this speedboat, cruising around the lake at this point, being driven by a Womble dressed in full regalia, whilst Tony Blackburn (Radio 1 National Breakfast Show DJ) was sat up behind, looking every bit like the Queen, waving regally to the crowds, with all these schoolgirls trying to cross to the island. The speedboat accelerated off back to the island with Blackburn flung from his throne onto the floor of the boat. The helicopter tried to land again to recue 'the Rollers', but there was no space. The band tried to escape by boat but the fans were hanging on to the side so it returned to the island and they scurried back into the tower. Frogmen were still running into and out of the lake collecting girls and depositing them on the bank for PC Plod to deal with.

Racing was naturally stopped, and when control was regained all those involved on the racing paddock side of things began to see the funny side of it. I know there were quite a few injured in the melee, none seriously I believe. The day continued with no further interruptions. Thankfully the intended Bay City Rollers performing a couple of songs did not go ahead.

In fact Cozy Powell won his class that day so we were quite happy by the end. However, by the time we had loaded up the race cars, the traffic was as bad as Silverstone on GP day at its worse, compounded by thousands of overly excited pedestrians dressed in Tartan and 'under the influence', walking in the roads aimlessly, in a state of euphoria .

By this time I was getting very peeved trying to escape the circuit driving one of the transporters, from memory a V6 petrol engined flatbed Transit with a car on the back, dragging a trailer with another car on it behind (although it may have been a caravan, my memory fails me). We were on the road leaving the track, at barely walking pace, literally bumping pedestrians out of the way to try and clear a path. Pedestrians were clambering on the rig, trying to cadge a lift and my mate in the passenger side of the truck was trying to tell them to 'get off please' ...or words to that effect. A few 'brake tests' did the trick, until the road started to clear and we were able to pick up speed. Thankfully the rest of the journey was straight forward.

The reason I was in a big hurry to escape...... I had tickets to see some real music that night. Led Zeppelin were playing at Earls Court and my mate and I had tickets. My next challenge that night was nearing Earls Court trying to find a suitable park to fit 40ft of transporter and trailer.

A while ago I actually emailed the friend of mine from UK who was with me that day to verify some points for that story. He related the story as an onlooker trying to reverse park 'the rig' in a side street space in Earls Court that was a little ambitious. There was a nice new car behind.... the owner of which came out from his flat to check what was happening, and seeing the size of the space, told me my rig wouldnt fit the space. Bear in mind at the time I was even younger looking than the 19 or 20 yo I was.... certainly IIRC I was still 'young enough to know everything'! so nowadays I can fully understand his concerns when apparently I very confidently said 'Oh yes it will', and continued to inch towards his car. At which point he screamed out Stop, pulled his keys out and moved his car to another spot up the road leaving a space that I fitted comfortably. Who said size doesnt count or mean anything!

We locked everything up and ran off towards the concert. So, Yeah I got to the gig, and it was great. Louder than a Mazda megaphone exhaust. A great end to a long day and night.

Altogether one of the more unique and certainly most memorable days motoracing I have had.

Fun to look back on but scary at the time.

Some pics I found....



I am sure that you all have some amusing tales from either the paddock or spectator enclosures that were interrupted or became memories for reasons not expected. Surely some of them can now be told without fear of legal reprisals!

[Al Weyman]

Blimey that'll be hard to top! Thanks for posting.

[M Greenslade]

I remember the day, I was marshalling at the landing stage - madness.......

Bladders...............

[NotLordPercy]

Oh yes, I was there along side Balders at the old Post 3 which was Landing Stage ( & still is I expect) but in those days we also manned the outside post opposite which was on the scrubby bank above 3 yards of grass run off. Behind us was a pretty steep drop, I seem to recall, & it was up this bank that a fair number of 'crazed, hysterical & besotted' young ladies scrambled during the Ford race.
It was only at the last minute that we became aware of the presence and their intention of crossing a live track ( dodging the back markers) to gain access to the groups on the infield. It was the Bay City Rollers who produced the wildest & most brazen of fans I recall.
Of course Balders & I attempted to grapple with the comliest of maidens but we were all overcome by sheer numbers & the race was stopped by ' force majeur'. Mind you, it was some sort of fun whilst it lasted & the Obervers report made good reading ( had a touch of Jilly Cooper I think). And we kept one lady with us that afternoon ( I think, but memories can play tricks) as she seemed to like the proximity of so much testerone and racing cars......
I believe the St Johns treated many for hysteria and cut feet as there was a lot of broken glass in the lake. Happy days....

[M Greenslade]

We did not have to keep that lady, but we did for some reason, seemed like a good idea at the time!!! I think the only Womble you see these days around Mallory Park, lives locally and is one of the Clerks of the Course, no offence intended!!!!

Bladders...................

[tim dodwell]

Agreed - that was one of the most incredible race meetings that I ever raced in. Driving to the circuit, all the way from the main road was a line of white and tartan young females, and when we came out of the paddock onto the track for our race, you couldn't see any greenery anywhere. It was a sea of faces - far more than I had seen at the Formula One meetings I had spectated at.
Noel wasn't competing at that meeting for some reason, nor Mike Smith who was out with us at times - never saw Noel mingling, but Mike was very sociable. Seem to remember I couldn't hear my 1275GT's engine above the noise of the RX3s - if you worked on them, you must be mutton and jeff by now!!

[dave vass]

What a fantastic account of the meeting E.B.
I was marshalling at Devils Elbow and remember the girls running across the track by us and at the esses during racing, and then swimming across to the island.
Do I also remember DLT blasting his dragster up and down the start/finish straight at lunch time, or was that another day?

[tonyC]

i was there heping a friend with his FF. Fortunately/Unfortunately his engine went in practice so didn't actually get to race so we were able to witness the proceedings!

If my memory serves me correctly he also got half his entry fee back from the organisers as a gesture of goodwill for all the hassle during the day!

[dave vass]

Another type of race meeting similar in some (commercial) respects to the Radio 1 Fun Days were the Fordsport Racedays.
I remember one such meeting at Castle Combe where they incorporated 'Driving Tests' at lunchtime, around and in and out of cones set out in the startline area. When the first test was set up it was the task of the 'Clerk of the Course' to demonstrate to the drivers which way to go. He set off in his RS Escort sliding in and out of the cones only to roll it on its roof!
That afternoon we were also 'treated' to the infamous Celebrity Race versus Rally Drivers Ford Granada race. I seem to remember the drivers complaining that the cars didn't handle after practice, but the race went ahead with Richard Longman hurting himself as his car was launched into the marshals post at Quarry and cars destroyed all round the circuit, Whizzo completed the race with one side of his car totally flattened! I think that after the carnage it was never repeated! (Not a particularly good advert for the Granada!)

[M Greenslade]

I remember caravan racing at Snetts, I seem to recall there were only about 6 or so starters and I believe the tow cars were Granada's, I also seem to recall that points were award to whoever broke the least amount of crockery!!!

Bladders........

[dave vass]

Yes, I also remember caravan races at Thruxton, Castle Combe and Silverstone, and of course when the 'vans flipped over,as I remember happening at Woodcote the back wheels of the tow car lifted off the ground. All very entertaining!

[NotLordPercy]

I think you'll find in the regs for caravan racing that there had to be a passenger actually in the caravan itself & scrutineers checked this before practice & racing. They were , of course, strapped into a seat or the could choose a very thick sleeping bag & recline.
Health & Safety put a stop to that after 3 races I think.

[M Greenslade]

Originally Posted by NotLordPercy

I think you'll find in the regs for caravan racing that there had to be a passenger actually in the caravan itself & scrutineers checked this before practice & racing. They were , of course, strapped into a seat or the could choose a very thick sleeping bag & recline.
Health & Safety put a stop to that after 3 races I think.

Stupid Boy....

Bladders........

[E.B]

I just remembered another strange happening, this one here in Australia.

Less than a year ago this one happened, and certainly it was unexpected..... I was not there live at the track although I know many 10-Tenthers would have been, some no doubt as track officials who may have been on the spot and would be able to tell you in far more detail than I can, although I was watching it on a live feed at the time, at home in the dry and witnessed it all unfold live......

We have had kangaroos hopping about on the track mid race on a regular frequency, horses and dogs have appeared, not to mention rocks as well.

But I have never heard of a race being red flagged for this reason......

I am talking of the day the tree came down and blocked the track on Conrod Straight at Bathurst during the Feb. 2010 12 Hour race.

Seven hours into the 12 hour race, and a large tree fell accross the track on of all places Conrod Straight (at the same place Jim Richards went off the track years ago in a Nissan GTR when a cloudburst in the last laps had many of the cars aquaplaning into the barriers and the race red flagged). The quite large tree had fallen from the drivers' left hand side and was completely accross the track, and with no way past, stopping the field of cars on top of Mount Panorama.

Fortunately for all on track, at the time the cars were following the safety car due to heavy rain, lightning and foggy conditions over the mountain and around the circuit making conditions too treacherous for racing.

Seeing as the track was completely blocked by the tree the SC had to stop on track with the cars lined up behind whilst the marshalls and State Emergency workers made a brilliant job of getting out the chain saws and clearing the tree off the track in pieces very quickly. IIRC it was only a delay of some 40 minutes for the clean up, from tree fall to restart.

It was some clean up though.

Anyway here is a pic of what one of the cars came up against when he came down Conrod Straight trying to catch up with the Safety Car, which had fortunately already passed the scene where the tree fell with the bulk of the field behind him and was already past the pits when the tree fell....

As I said the track was fully blocked.



I was amazed at how quickly those involved cleaned up the mess: I bet a local council have never jumped into action with a street cleaner gang with such fervour in all history.







Here is a link to a highlights video which covers it all pretty well
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD-z5FbYwzw

Perhaps someone who was actually at the scene will read this and tell us a bit more of the events.

[E.B]

Hmmmm..... I thought the tree down at Bathurst might have stirred a few who might have been there to comment.......

... or someone else to comment on a strange meeting they have been to. It doesn't matter if it isnt a full on 'in yer face' event such as Mallory Fun Day or the tree episode....

Maybe someone was at or can tell us the details of other Bathurst episodes such as 'the rock' or the day the track was blocked by bent machinery.

[chunterer]

There was the 1980 or 81 Bathurst stopped prematurely due to a monster pile up at the top of the Mountain?

Not sure of the detasils so i'll leave that to the experts to summarise!

I've been racking my brains to think of any strange ones here.

Only remotely strange one i can think of was Birmingham F3000 1988 when Russell Spence's car got craned off the circuit with him still in it.......

For a while Thruxton and maybe Lydden used to host what could best be described as very versatile meetings featuing a mix of cars, trucks, cars and bikes.

I'm not sure if I've got this right but at some UK race meetings, i think that if an entry one used to miss practice one might get special dispensation from the organisers to practice out of session. However at such an open meeting I doubt a kart would have been sensible going round with trucks for example?

[Dave Brand]

Originally Posted by chunterer

I'm not sure if I've got this right but at some UK race meetings, i think that if an entry one used to miss practice one might get special dispensation from the organisers to practice out of session. However at such an open meeting I doubt a kart would have been sensible going round with trucks for example?

That still happens. At the discretion of the Clerk of the Course a driver may be allowed to practice out of session. Drivers practicing out of session will only be allowed three laps & will start from the back of the grid.

[Woolley]

Originally Posted by E.B

But I have never heard of a race being red flagged for this reason......

I am talking of the day the tree came down and blocked the track on Conrod Straight at Bathurst during the Feb. 2010 12 Hour race.

Monza, 1000km sportscars, 1985, same thing happened.

[Alan Raine]

Just found this tread. The first time I ever marshalled at Mallory was that Bay City Rollers meeting. Absolutely mad. Screaming teenagers everywhere.

I also marshalled at a caravan race meeting at Silverstone. The race was stopped when a van turned over at Woodcote but the tow car stayed upright, but had it's rear wheels a foot off the ground

Some of the best races I ever did were at Kirkistown in the mid 80's. We had a full days testing the day before the meeting and would drone around all day. On one occasion the Guinness truck arrived to top up the bar and promptly drove the wrong way up the back straight whilst we we still testing. Somehow we all missed it and nobody seemed concerned that anything untoward had happened

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Woolley

Monza, 1000km sportscars, 1985, same thing happened.

I never knew of that but your mentioning it sparked my curiosity.... a very quick search shows little in the way of details other than a tree fell at lap 138/173 at which point the race was red-flagged. The race was never restarted, and being past 75% distance was declared at the red flag positions.

[Woolley]

I remember a photo at the time showing a large tree across the circuit and a GrpC sportscar (Lancia?) stopped about 4 feet from it. Some very lucky people considering the speed and strength of vehicles in those days.

There was also the GrpC race when Jesus Puras in a Porsche ran over a loose manhole cover (I think at Montreal but I could be wrong) causing significant damage and a fire. When Aussie V8s went to China someone did much the same. I wonder if it's worth looking at the history of GrpC for other odd incidents so that Aussie V8 marshals can be trained on what to do when it happens there!

[racerkeke]

Originally Posted by Woolley

There was also the GrpC race when Jesus Puras in a Porsche ran over a loose manhole cover (I think at Montreal but I could be wrong) causing significant damage and a fire.

Well, it was a little more "interesting" than you say. It was Montreal, and the Group C car ran over a manhole cover at the acceleration point going on to a straight along the river. Because the cars had been "squatting" at that same point all weekend and no one had checked, the welds holding the manhole cover down had broken. The ground effects essentially sucked the entire cover up through the tub. The race was stopped to see if repairs could be made, but you just try to get a unionized Montreal Works welder on a Sunday. I don't recall if the race was scrapped or not, but Montreal never had another sportscar event on the Island.
keke
(who has the t shirt)

[E.B]

Originally Posted by chunterer

There was the 1980 or 81 Bathurst stopped prematurely due to a monster pile up at the top of the Mountain?

Not sure of the details so i'll leave that to the experts to summarise!

I was hoping that perhaps we might have got an account of the specifics of this race from someone who may be able to call on personal memories, having been there on the day in 1981. I was still a pom in that year, living in the UK, so before my time....

Just to give a non eye-witness account of what happened, Dick Johnson won a shortened race (120 laps). The race was stopped after Bob Morris and Christine Gibson in XD Falcons collided at McPhillamy Park to cause a multiple pile up. After the 1981 race the track was widened at McPhillamy Park to allow crashed cars to leave the race track.

Here is a youtube film of the aftermath (as would be expected, Channel 7 missed the action being on a commercial break) There is some limited footage of the accident after.

The race was never restarted, and it became the first Bathurst 1000 race to not run the full 1000kms distance

Accident / aftermath
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD59VZ5e4Fg

Race Start and opening laps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ca0RJcfCYU

Surely someone must have been there and can give us more details. I know we have a few ex drivers here at Ten-Tenths that may want to add there 2c worth. There is an interview at the scene with Alan Grice in the footage of the aftermath footage above which is quite good . Gricey was running a 'Racecam' on board camera in 1981.

Originally Posted by chunterer

Only remotely strange one i can think of was Birmingham F3000 1988 when Russell Spence's car got craned off the circuit with him still in it.......

Hehehehe.... similar to that would surely be the very wet European GP at Nurburgring in 2007, when Lewis Hamilton sat in his car after he went off track and got bogged in amongst others who had already got out of their cars. Those other cars were craned into a dead car area the other side of the barriers.

Lewis just sat in the car, engine running, until another crane arrived, went straight to Hamilton's car, picked it up and he was actually craned away, not to the dead car park as others, but back onto the track, with a marshall turning his car the right way as it was lowered to the track, so he was facing the right way, with his engine still running.

He just drove away and continued in the race after the restart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akV8CsONJi8

[KA]

Originally Posted by racerkeke

Well, it was a little more "interesting" than you say. It was Montreal, and the Group C car ran over a manhole cover at the acceleration point going on to a straight along the river. Because the cars had been "squatting" at that same point all weekend and no one had checked, the welds holding the manhole cover down had broken. The ground effects essentially sucked the entire cover up through the tub. The race was stopped to see if repairs could be made, but you just try to get a unionized Montreal Works welder on a Sunday. I don't recall if the race was scrapped or not, but Montreal never had another sportscar event on the Island.
keke
(who has the t shirt)

As I remember, it was actually the car running in front of Pareja that pulled the manhole cover out of the track as you describe, and Pareja's 962 was hit by the debris from this- part of the cover going through his windscreen, and another part going under the car, piercing the tub and rupturing the fuel tank, the car catching fire then hitting the wall.

He had a very lucky escape, as not only had the chunk of manhole cover come through the windscreen and missed the driver, but he only suffered minor facial burns from the fire- IIRC he normally raced in an open-face helmet, but fortunately had switched to a full-face one for the first time that weekend...

The race was stopped and a result declared- think it was a bit over half-distance

[E.B]

That reminds me of similar drain incidents both in recent history. The famous drain cover in Turn 10at Shanghai, which made Montoya retire in the Chinese Grand Prix 2005. Montoya ran over the kerbs when the drain came lose, cut his tyre and damaging his McLaren suspension. Only a few months prior to the GP a similar incident happened in a V8-Supercar race.


The Australian V8-Supercars had a round of their championship at the same Shanghai circuit, when Mark Winterbottom hit the kerbs and the same drain became displaced. The drain came lose and ripped the bottom of his car open and even damaged the driver's seat. Winterbottom was uninjured, but the car was very badly damaged structurally.

In 2004 when the DTM series visited Shanghai for a street race there was a drain problem. Worksmen had to weld the manhole covers closed after an incident with Bernd Maylander.

A manhole cover came unstuck in the start phase of the first of the originally planned two races of 30 minutes each. Bernd Mayländer in an AMG-Mercedes CLK was unable to steer clear of a collision and rammed into the obstacle. As a result, the race was interrupted (red flagged) and the manhole covers were welded firm for safety reasons. The first race was therefore cancelled due to time constraints.