Crystal Palace

[Andrew Kitson]

Did anyone else out there ever go to Crystal Palace - London's very own race track that closed in 1972?
I went there for F2 & F3 meetings in it's last 3 years of use - incredibly dangerous with the wooden sleepers and bushes lining the track and no run-off. My main memory was the famous shunt at the end of the F3 race when James Hunt then punched Dave Morgan as he was getting out of his wheel-less car!
Anyone else got any memories of the place?

[Rutle]

Never went there for the racing but went there for a Mercedes Owners Club meeting in about 1970. (The largest collection of gullwings ever brought together in one place.) and I remember some superb TV coverage of F3 and Saloons during the late '60's. I wonder if any of that is available now on video? It would be well worth it.
Also, I have a superb book by Phillip Parfitt called Racing at Crystal Palace - published by Motor Racing Publications Ltd, 1991. Well worth a look for anyone who remembers it.

[Andrew Kitson]

Yes, I have this book too. Superb.
Another good one with some great 60s/70s club racing shots is 'Motor Racing Circuits in England - Then & Now' by Peter Swinger. Also the new 'Nowhere to Hide' Royale Story book by Paul Lawrence. Not special saloons I know but great photos of 70s single seater / sports. Both these books were released last year. (P.S I'm a bit biased as I painted the picture for the front cover of the 'Royale' one!!)

[Vitesse]

I was at both the last F2 meeting and the last ever (AMOC) meeting at the Palace. It was also the first circuit I ever went to - F2 International Easter 1970 - Rindt, Stewart etc.

For the 1972 F2 meeting I shelled out for a paddock pass and, armed with autograph book, sallied forth! Met Mike the Bike, Jody (who lived only a couple of miles from me in those days), Graham Hill, Brett Lunger and some chap called Lauda - wonder what happened to him? Great racing, great atmosphere - only wish I'd gone more often!

[Rob29]

Ahh!! the 'Palace was the first circuit I ever went to on Sept 19,1953.Thence almost every Whit Monday 1955 to 71. '58 I missed due to a bus strike,and the last one in '72 I had another commitment at Silverstone. If there were circuits like that now where you could lean over the fence a few feet from the action,I would be out every weekend,rather than at home watching the box as is nown more often the case.

[Peter Scillitoe]

Originally posted by Andrew Kitson
Did anyone else out there ever go to Crystal Palace - London's very own race track that closed in 1972?

I was born, and lived until my early twenties, within earshot of the circuit. Started going there as a child, got hooked and the rest is history. I am 55, and still do 50 - 60 days motorsport marshalling a year (got back from Le Mans yesterday afternoon). The Palace has a lot to answer for.

[paulzinho]

Bit before my time unfortunately.

I've missed out on so much, but I guess that only adds to the prestige and glamour of it all!

[Rutle]

Rob29 - In response to your comment, "If there were circuits like that now where you could lean over the fence a few feet from the action", Mallory Park comes pretty close.

[Rob29]

Last time I was there,David you could no longer stand at the hairpin. Donington is the worst offender.Maybe some changes are necessary in the interest of safety,but I wonder if Mr.Weatcroft has ever thought why his events are watched by almost no one,whereas when it opened in 1977 it was packed?

[Rob29]

Oh! That has not happened before.Has it anything to do with the fact that I seem to have been moved from the e-tracks discussion forum to the sarah kavanagh one? Pretty in pink?

[Tony_Simpson]

For those of you who are interested then have a look at http://gplea.racesimcentral.com/ for the Crystal Palace track.

[Barry Boor]

I first went in 1957 and continued to visit until the early seventies. I regret not going to the final meeting.

Since then I have been back a couple of times - (I worked for 3 years in Thornton Heath) but I think I would be sad to see that some of the old track no longer exists.

[stirlingmoss7]

Never went myself but wish I had. I recall once seeing a BBC film '100 Great Sporting Moments' of a Formula 3 race there.It looked terrific.

[ingo]

Yes, Andrew, it was a wonderful circuit wasn't it? I was lucky enough to get to the last three Formula 2 meetings and I think my brother and I watched from the last corner each time, with a view from Ramp through the right hander and down to the startline. I remember being particularly impressed by the mellow terracing and coming across the odd dinosaur on the way to the track.
The F2s were great - good battle in 1972 between Scheckter's McLaren and Hailwood's Surtees - and the tight circuit used to even up the RAC saloons. I think people like Chris Craft, Vince Woodman and Dave Brodie in the Escorts used to give Frank Gardner and Brian Muir a real fight. Quite right Rutle, the Philip Parfitt book is excellent - wish I'd seen Ickx in the Ferrari and Rindt in 1964 and Bira and...........
Rob29, Rutle is right about Mallory; it's tremendous and has hardly changed at all. You can't stand at the apex of the hairpin but you can get pretty close at the entry and exit. I watch sometimes at the end of Stebbe straight as they turn into the esses - it's terrifying!

[Andrew Kitson]

Talking of the Mallory Hairpin...here is the front cover of Autosport from March 1972. It shows the F2 international with the Brabham of Dave Morgan who beat Reutemann, Lauda, Depailler(all following in the photo) along with most big stars of the day ( Hailwood, Scheckter, Peterson, Hunt etc,.
The reason I have kept this is because I am in the crowd with my father as a 13year old lad!
Just shows how close you could get at the Hairpin in those days - you can still get very close at entry and exit but cannot stand where the crowd is in this pic.

[Andrew Kitson]

And here is a photo also from the front cover of Autosport of Crystal palace in 1969. Roger Nathan's Astra RNR1 on the grid with Chris Skeaping's Chevron B6 and a Porsche (910?)
behind.
Pity a Goodwood style revival can't happen at the Palace.
Far too dangerous for today's racing and a lot of the track no longer exists.

[silverfox]

I too lived near the cicuit and though at the grand old age of 57 remember my visits as if it were yesterday.
You always have a soft spot for a circuit that gets you hooked for life.
As a wet behind the ears teenager who had just passed his test I was pulled up for speeding outside the entrance.
The policeman who stopped me said"Excuse me sonny.I think that you have lost your way.The racetrack is over there".
Got off with a warning so along with every meeting I attended the place brings back good memories

[Peter Scillitoe]

Originally posted by Andrew Kitson
And here is a photo also from the front cover of Autosport of Crystal palace in 1969. Roger Nathan's Astra RNR1 on the grid with Chris Skeaping's Chevron B6 and a Porsche (910?)
behind.
Pity a Goodwood style revival can't happen at the Palace.
Far too dangerous for today's racing and a lot of the track no longer exists.

I was a marshal at that meeting. Still marshalling today. Mad, or what?????????????

About five year's ago, the Sevenoaks & District Motor Club started to run sprints using most of North Tower Corner and the Glades, plus a small section of part of the pre war circuit (not used after the war) and some of the park walkways. It was a great success and (despite the usual local and environmental lobbies) was building up to big things. Unfortunately, last year the local council decided to relay most of the track at North Tower with cobbles. Bye, bye Crystal Palace sprints. A great shame. Incidentally, virtually all of the post war circuit does still exist, albeit some of it now with cobblestones.

[Rutle]

Great pix Andrew. What great memories!!

[DaveM]

Just read the great Palace memories on this thread having dragged it up via search, and as I have recently resurrected some old negs and had them put onto CDs (frighteningly expensive!) thought I'd bring it back to the top by posting some. It was truly a spectacular circuit and once inside it was difficult to remember you were in London. In keeping with the spectacular nature of the circuit here is Ronnie P powersliding in...

[DaveM]

...and out of North Tower in May 71. Photographer looks a bit apprehensive!

[Edgar Jessop]

I think your photos are from practice in which case I was somewhere on the bank above watching having been allowed to travel across London by bus as a very pre-teenager.

In the race Ronnie had more traffic around him, although these shots may have been from his heat when I think he was running away in the lead only to retire. Certainly he started the final from [say] 14th and was something like 4th after 4 laps. Something like that. It doesn't matter! It didn't happen. We all know the circuit was too narrow for overtaking and the rest of the Formula 2 field of International drivers wouldn't have allowed it!

What I can remember accurately is that the anxious photographer was standing just in front of a beautiful big rhodedendron bush and that Gerry Birrell spun his Lotus 69 into the bush in practice and then had to sit there through the session 'cos there was no gap in the traffic for him to get back on. You don't get that at Sepang!

[ss_collins]

That bush is still there! bit bigger now though and the road half the width now after bromleys interventions. Still wouldn't it be nice to see cars there again in 2004 (hint, gossip tip off here guys)

[DaveM]

It was in Heat 2 before he retired. Here he is in the Final leading Tim Schenken. The positions were reversed by the end - Schenken 2nd and Peterson 3rd, behind Fittipaldi (Emerson).

[DaveM]

Mentioning Gerry Birrell, Edgar, this is him in Heat 2 leading Jassaud, Quester and Schenken, and trying by the look of it to revisit the bush. This was a good place to watch the cars getting well out of shape, but Ronnie P was the most consistently sideways.