The Mountain at Cadwell Park

[Lord X]

Used to stand there for pretty much every meeting I attended as a kid from the mid-70s to late 80s, about half way up the hill on the outside (probably my most vivid memory is of Mauricio Gugelmin flinging his FF2000 Van Diemen into the right hander at the bottom of the hill on what was pretty much his first qualifying lap in 1983 - absolutely amazing speed, angle and precision. Also, watching in disbelief as half the field then seemed to destroy itself in a massive shunt at the first bend of the race. I think Martin Donnelly survived that and ended up the winner when it was restarted about an hour later...

Anyway, does anyone have any great photos from this section of the track (bottom to top of Mountain) that they'd like to post and in doing so put a smile on my (ageing) face!

Many thanks

Lord X

[Alan Raine]

An enlarged pic of my Avatar.



A great place to fly!

[fyrth]

Here is one for starters!

[Alan Raine]

That's not the mountain. It's Hall Bends.

There used to be a Dunlop Tyre Bridge there and a lot less run off area than now!

[Lord X]

Yeah, it's pics of the Mountain I'm after, thanks.

[terence]

It,s the other side of the mountain! Every mountain has a down side

[fyrth]

Is this any closer?

[terence]

Full marks Fyrth!It is a lovely cirquit is,nt it.

[fyrth]

Just fabulous, although being only a sprint and hill driver opportunities are slightly limited. However managed the September sprint weekend this year and will certainly be back for more.......!

[Lord X]

If anybody has any 80s F3, FF2000, FF1600 or BTCC photos coming up the mountain, snaking through the esses beneath it then that would be perfect.

Thanks again.

[Andrew Kitson]

Here are some I've taken. A gem of a circuit, brilliant for taking photos.
For those who have never been to Cadwell, I hope these give an idea of how beautiful the place is, all taken from the spectator areas. The VSCC and HSCC meetings are terrific, 'must dos' each year. I reckon they should bring back F3 and the BTCC. If those guys can race at Macau or Monaco (F3) - Cadwell is no more dangerous, an argument they always put!

Starting with a map so we know where we are talking about:


Gil de Ferran hopping over the mountain in his FF1600 Fulmar Reynard in '89.


The rest are from the 2004 HSCC meeting. The mountain with the clubhouse bar at the top right.


Classic F3 from the Mountain grandstand.




The perfect place to stand and watch with a pint, taken from the clubhouse bar viewing area.






Some from the other side and around the first couple of corners. Taken from the stand on the start/finish straight:


FJs between Coppice and Charlie's. Note the camber on the circuit!


Charlie's bend. The mountain can be seen through the trees to the left.


Looking from Charlie's to the loop out in the country.


A view of the Gooseneck from alongside the Park Straight.


Looking back to the mountain/wooded area from the Park straight.


Coming back towards the mountain. Park straight in the distance with the left hander Mansfield corner.

[graeme]

THere was a bridge over the mountain!? That must have been scary (if useful - it's a pain to get down to race control now) - would like to see some photos of that (and any of the barn at Barn).

[Andrew Kitson]

No the iron bridge was further up track over the hall bends. The barn and farmhouse are now gone. The track would pass right by the garden fence to the house. When I first went to Cadwell in the sixties the barn doors were left open with straw bales either side. The run off area was in the barn!

[DWA]

I suggested to Barbara that they should bring the UK F Ford's to Cadwell as its the nearest thing we have got to a street circuit and is as far away from the wide expanse of Silverstone as we can get in the UK.
I also used to go for the F3 meetings in the 80's and 90's, but hadn't been to Cadwell for some years until 2005. It has lost none of its charm, just wish it was a bit easier to get to from London !

[graeme]

I thought the recent modications to Cadwell (runoff at Hall Bends and the Hairpin) would ruin it, but it's actually made it so much better - the Hairpin runoff ain't huge but it's saved my bacon, and Hall Bends is much more "attackable" now. Just needs the bridge back and the manor house (?) in the pitlane converting to a clubhouse...

[flagwaver]

And clubs had to pay for the couple who lived in the cottage, to go out for the day whilst racing was on. It was only recently that the area from the hairpin to the barn have actually been owned by the circuit.

[Alan Raine]

Originally Posted by Andrew Kitson

No the iron bridge was further up track over the hall bends. The barn and farmhouse are now gone. The track would pass right by the garden fence to the house. When I first went to Cadwell in the sixties the barn doors were left open with straw bales either side. The run off area was in the barn!

The garden gate from the farmhouse opened on to the track and yes the barn doors were left open but sometimes the farm machinery wasn't always removed from the line of fire!

[Andrew Kitson]

Our friend here Dave Marshall took this pic. Brave man! Taken standing by the barn door..James Hunt in F3 1970 with the farmhouse to the right and another snapper in the garden!


The apex the FF car is about to clip here is where the bridge crossed. In the Hall bends, a very low bridge too! You can still just make out the brickwork.


One I forgot - what a circuit!

[Al Weyman]

Its not too bad too get to I have found, better than Oulton from London or Pembrey, straight up the A1 basically. For some unknown reason I always have fallen foul of officialdom there has anyone else found that?

[John Turner]

I can add a few pics, although all recent. A couple from the MGCC meeting on11th September 2005. I guess you could call this hitting the summit:-





A few more later.

[Steve Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by DWA

I suggested to Barbara that they should bring the UK F Ford's to Cadwell as its the nearest thing we have got to a street circuit and is as far away from the wide expanse of Silverstone as we can get in the UK.

Me thinks that you have forgotten the circuits at OULTON PARK and KNOCKHILL! If you class Cadwell as a "street circuit" then both of these should also be classed as such. Then there is the all new Anglesey Racing Circuit which I believe will be every bit as a much a street circuit as Cadwell! Finally there is of course the circuits of Brands Hatch & Lydden which are equally far removed from Silverstone and would also fit the bill as "street circuits".

So with a list of half a dozen "street circuits" I suspect the UK F Ford's are spoilt for choice!

[graeme]

As much as I love Oulton and Knockhill, there are in the same league as Cadwell for that "street circuit" feel - there's just no runoff at Cadwell, so you've got to be brave and precise. It doesn't feel a lot different to the only street circuit I have driven on; Phoenix Park in Dublin.

[John Turner]

Taken from the other side of the circuit, Frank Lyons and Ian Gray charge the Mountain at the HSCC meeting on 23 April, this year:-


Along the top. Tour Britannia, 2006:-

[Alan Raine]

This can only be The Mountain!



Love it

[John Turner]

Without wishing to be 'picky' (but I am! ), surely we are talking about 'Road' type circuits rather than 'street' circuits which conjures up pictures of loads of roadside furniture, walls and houses etc. Monaco and Pau, amongst others, come to mind. Oh, and the Birmingham Superprix circuit was another!