Snetterton 1988 'you tube'

[Andrew Kitson]

Some frantic FF1600 action I shot at Snetterton, July 31st 1988. Unfortunately uploaded in the usual youtube lo-resolution format. A home movie filmed from the long gone Esses grandstand. Also a few paddock shots including Tiff trying out Paul Warwick's F3 car for size. Note the wide line the FF's take just missing the old bridge! Copyright Andrew Kitson 1988.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VoRwgvANlpk

[VIVA GT]

Excellent nostalgic stuff Andrew. Plus, I'd forgotten all about the Saab Turbo series...

[jonners]

Golly - it all just comes flooding back

Watched nearly the whole of the 87 Willhire near the old chicane - easy to forget how good it was until you see an old clip like that - had forgotten about the Saab Turbos - probably explains why Tiff Needell was there - remember him doing a bit of extra curricular 'testing' on the inner road at Oulton in one of those...

...and I nearly passed out when the Thundersports appeared for a few seconds at the end...

Got any more?

[davyboy]

Fantastic stuff Andrew. Can't wait for the Thundersports to be uploaded... and like the others said, totally forgotten about that Saab series.

[GBRM]

Great stuff Andy. I haven't got any sound on my work PC but was it the 30th/31st July?

[Andrew Kitson]

Yep, your Dad was in the Saab race. I remember him talking to Rowan Atkinson in the paddock, Rowan was in the Renault 5 turbos. Thundersports will be uploaded later.

[Thundersports]

Thundersports will be uploaded later.[/quote]

[GBRM]

Glad my system is working then, have him down as finishing third. Dad was working at Brands with Tony L and IIRC they had given Rowan quite a lot of advice (poor chap!!).

In the Thundersports is Tony in that funny yellow thing (Spirit?) and is TLD in the race too?

[snett fan55]

Fantastic footage,Andy.Reminds us of what we used to have!Those FF1600 races were always a guarantee of a bit of wheelbanging,slightly"brains disconnected" driving. Great fun,and much missed.

[Andrew Kitson]

Thundersports footage now up:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=5aQ0UiLK45Y

Don't you just miss the proper 'big balls' Russell?
Simon Hadfield was in this race too ( Simon?) in the yellow converted Ralt.

[Tim 27]

Fantastic footage Andrew, thankyou for posting that for us to share.
Brought back many happy memories.
Spotted me dad walking across camera during the Saab race at Russell.
How I wish we could have the old Russell back...

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by Andrew Kitson

Yep, your Dad was in the Saab race. I remember him talking to Rowan Atkinson in the paddock, Rowan was in the Renault 5 turbos. Thundersports will be uploaded later.

Renault 5 turbo's... That could have been the event where Matthew (son of Roger) Clark was in the Renault 5 turbo race. On one lap (rally driver that he is) he straight-lined the Russell chicane, there was just a Renault 5 sized gap between the armco and the rear of the gravel trap. It was highly spectacular to watch (albeit a little 'iffy'), as mid-way there was a yump which launched him up into the air. Unfortunately for him, any advantage he could have gained was negated by a puncture (probably picked up during that daring manoevre), so he retired. Having said that, I don't suppose that he'd have been allowed to get away with it by the organisers!

[Alan Raine]

Yo! The old Russell. It took me ages to pluck the courage to take it flat in the old PRS. Trouble is the next lap the guy I was following didn't and it was well past the pits when I finally caught up with the tank slapper

Ironically I didn't notice the bridge that much coming from the other side.

Nice one Andrew.

Cheers,

Alan

[White flag man]

Thanks Andrew, great stuff.
Love the area running round the Bombhole, lack of runoffs looks a bit scary though. Also love the old Russell.
Going up there tomorrow on a marshals training day. Will try and inform some of them of this thread, they may be on it!

[Andrew Kitson]

Thanks. Check out my other videos too, Mallory, Cadwell, Silverstone etc.
You tube should list my others if you click on my user name.

[chunder]

Jesus Christ I was at Cadwell that day aswell for the FF1600, I was stading right where allhares put Sospirir on teh grass! If I rememebr rightly they had a couple of goes at starting the race!

Oh the days of Verity against Bob thingy!!

[snett fan55]

Thanks for posting such great memories,Andy.Reminded me that when the bigger trucks arrived ,the circuit had to be closed so that the gates could be opened to allow access as the bridge could not take the weight!Mind you, I sometimes wondered about my car,when fully laden with family,friends etc. A lways felt that FF1600 was one of the best value for money series, from a spectators viewpoint?

[MikeHoyer]

Brilliant footage, cheers! Good to see the track from 20 years ago, bits are familiar whereas others feel totally different.

The grandstand at the bombhole looked like a great place to watch from.

[Andrew Kitson]

Originally Posted by MikeHoyer

Brilliant footage, cheers! Good to see the track from 20 years ago, bits are familiar whereas others feel totally different.

The grandstand at the bombhole looked like a great place to watch from.

Cheers
It was a good place watching on the old 2.71 mile circuit also, changed in the winter of 1973/74. If you sat on the far right hand side (and fairly high up) you could see the cars flying down the old Norwich Straight in the distance (by the side of the A11) and then see them coming down the home straight before turning left under that bridge. In the summer if the corn was high you could only see the very top of the saloons on the Norwich Straight, single seaters were hidden unless they had the high rear wings such as 1969 F5000s.

Although the new bridge ( now more than 10 years old already!) is better, I think it should have been placed further down the Revett straight ( half way down) to allow better spectator viewing of the braking area.

[MikeHoyer]

Yeah I think you're right. The old bridge does have a great view of the straight.

I'd love to see them on the old circuit too...

[Thundersports]

Originally Posted by GBRM

Glad my system is working then, have him down as finishing third. Dad was working at Brands with Tony L and IIRC they had given Rowan quite a lot of advice (poor chap!!).

In the Thundersports is Tony in that funny yellow thing (Spirit?) and is TLD in the race too?

No TLD in that race he was off playing with Porsches in WSPC by then. The Bombhole grandstand was a great place to sit and always had a "good atmosphere" the other thing that struck me is how close the tyrewalls were back then (you tend to forget) along with a lack of debris fencing, clearly much safer but it takes something away too.

[MikeHoyer]

It does indeed. Well I'm mainly at Snetterton for empty test days... but it seems like there was a lot more atmosphere back then.

[diddy100]

They appear to move us further away from the action - the bomb hole grandstand was a wonderful to place to watch the cars come by almost underneath you. I can remember sitting in the stand for most of the night in the late 70's watching BMW test their new M1 on a 24hr test in prep for Le Mans.
Who can also remember the days of F1 Stock Cars wrecking the circuit around the bombhole !!

[Andrew Kitson]

I remember the stock cars and banger racing (...no, not the modern BTCC)
They used a grass oval on the infield between bombhole and coram. The stock cars used the tarmac circuit too in this area. I also saw Rallycross, Drag Racing and a land yacht demo at Snett in the 70s, but missed the aircraft racing with a pylon each end of the circuit.

I've added more FF vids on youtube, see them here:
http://www.andrewkitson.com/pages/movies.htm

[snett fan55]

diddy100, to say that the bombhole stand was the best place to watch ANYTHING would be a major understatement. I first travelled to snetterton in 1968, and the top,right back of the stand was where I and all my mates met.
You could just see the cars coming from the "A11" hairpin under the original bridge(often they would end up in the cornfield which seemed to be a "feature" in those days).There were often small fires caused by hot exhausts !Great fun for spectators.