Croft in the 70s

[simonkart]

Does anybody out there still remember the halcyon days of Barton ,Bell and Clacher in the 1.0 litre Special Saloons? I still think back to those days as ayoung teenager-they sparked a lifelong passion for motorsport and i would be interested to know if anybody has photographs of the following as examples-Derek Cook,Cameron Binnie,Peter Harrington,Bill Wood,John Lepp,Doug Niven,Chris Meek,John Absolom,Jim Crawford,Tony Dean.......? The list is endless.

[Steve Wilkinson]

I only went the once to Croft in the 70s. That was for the F3, Saloon and Two Litre Group Six races on 10th July 1971. There were no Special Saloon races that day however I was a regular at Oulton Park.

I thoroughly enjoyed the day watching the races from the grandstand overlooking the chicane. This also afforded a view onto the back straight.

[simonkart]

Yes the chicane was agood place to watch especially on the last lap-bits of chicane and bodywork all over on many occasions,It helped i think that a number of different lines could be used on the approach- similar to Thruxton but not as quick obviously.All time highlight being the Clacher,Barton and Bell dice resulting in Cedric Bell going thro the pit lane at unabated speed!

[big andy]

have a look here http://www.racing70s.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/index.html

[simonkart]

Superb-thanks.

[Steve Wilkinson]

Bigandy - what a great site well spotted! This is an interesting site that seems to cater for Croftaholics! There are interesting cars and there should be some help for the historians as there are potted histories to boot!

The thing I liked about the chichane was that between races there was always plenty going on as the collection of bent cars that had accumulated were recovered and the glassfibre swept up.

The other thing that struck me was how well organised the place was. As one raced finished and the clean up was going on the cars in the next race were already in the pit lane waiting to be released. You barely had time to nip to the loo!

[PaulSands]

I think I have, or have just sold, the Autosport that covered the "opening of new 100mph circuit" Croft
I'll have a looksee

[Mike Holmes]

Remember one bank holiday doing Silverstone Saturday, Oulton Sunday and Croft Monday in the 70's with Basil Dagge and his Imp in special saloons, he tagged one of the famous sleeper/oildrum chicanes in the race and had to retire with a fair bit of damage as they were very solid!!

[gfm]

Can Andrew Kitson please take a moment to do one of those link things with the threads we had on this thread a few months back?
We had some great photos and memory jerking stuff from Croft.

[graeme]

Never realised there was a tunnel at Croft - is it still there?

[Mackmot]

We've got the Autosport with the first Croft race. Apparently there was big prize money and a 40-50000 'gay' crowd

[big andy]

the tunnel is no longer there ,i think thay removed it in 1996/97 when thay changed the track to its current layout

[graeme]

Ta - the whole of the "old" circuit is still intact, isn't it? The back straight between Sunny and Hawthorne is still well surfaced - we normally get paddocked there - it be good to have a thrash 'round the original circuit sometime - I wonder if it would be possible?

[simonkart]

The most demanding section was(is?) the section from Tower thro the esses to Sunny-you could tell who was trying by listening to the engine note-the qiuck Libre lads coud just about do it flat although woe betide if they got it wrong!

[graeme]

It still is the eye-opening section of the track, though with the advances of tyre technology, it is easily flat out for most. Braking starts a bit earlier than previous - quite excitingly whilst you're still negoiating the Barcroft kink - as the new Sunny is a good few metres nearer and, I'd guess, tigher.