> > Indeed Brands Hatch is a superb circuit. When racing is held on the
short
> > (Indy) circuit, about 3/4 of the track is visible from many places. This
> > gives much better value than that bland airfield up the road, littered
as it
> > is with buildings and all manner of obstructions on the infield. I for
one
> > would love to see a GP there again. Brands would need about 9 million
> > spending to get it up to modern f1 requirements. There is no room to
swing
> > a cat in the place and the paddock is a joke at club meetings.
> But they've got the new race control stuff in the err.. Nigel Mansell
Centre.
> > I drove the place a few years ago in a BMW saloon and formula ford. I
can
> > vouch for the place being a real drivers circuit. Paddock bend is
> > absolutely terrifying the first time at speed. The apex is not visible
> > because of the steep drop and the camber is wicked.
> Completely terrifying. I had seen quite a few races live there and seen
Paddock
> both from the bottom of Halewood Hill and from the Paddock bend
grandstand. I'd
> also seen it from numerous tv events. But when I first drove it the
steepness
> really stunned me. You just don't appreciate the gradient until you drive
it.
> Add that to the adverse camber and the fact that it's a really fast band.
What a
> pity that the '67 GP was held at Silversone or else we would all have a
chance
> to kill our virtual selves at Paddock in GPL. '68 was at Brands, I believe
as
> was Rouen.
> Cheers,
> Paul
I live about 3 miles from Brands, and so go there whenever I can (my brother
was working there when Williams - still with Mansell onboard - did some
testing there a few years back - git!).
Paddock is always one of the best places to watch from if you want to see a
crash. The two most memorable ones I saw were:
1) watching bikes from the fence on Paddock itself, as 2 bikes left the
track simultaneously (possibly due to the small bump in the track when they
first put the second pit-tunnel in under Paddock Hill bend! :) ).
The bikes both merrily skipped across the gravel traps into the tyre wall,
throwing copious amounts of gravel at the advert boards, carefully put at
45degrees to the vertical, to send the gravel flying up through the catch
fence at the spectators!
2) Watching the "Big Boys Toys" Beetles there about 3 or 4 years ago. Due to
the marvellous layout of the beetle (rear-engined, rear drive, all weight in
the back, sod all in the front!), when one of the first cars entered Paddock
on the second lap, he lost the back end. The driver then performed a very
impressive power-slide around the bend, until he ended up halfway down the
hill, facing back up it. As all the following pack suddenly encountered a
stationary car immediately after one of the hardest corners on the circuit,
a considerable number of them had to swerve ***ly, and so also lost
control of their cars.
The most amazing thing was that even though the pack had been quite tight
when it happened, there were no collisions in the incident whatsoever. I
counted at least 5 or 6 cars spinning off the circuit in various directions,
some of which got caught in the gravel traps, plus more almost losing it on
the track, but there was no contact, not even with tyre-walls.
Incidentally, the guy who caused the whole thing managed to turn around and
drive away in the mid-field, while all the cars that tried to avoid him were
finding their way back on the circuit
Please, someone, give us a working GPL track editor! Brands Hatch in GPL
would be way beyond cool!
Mike West
3DNow! UK: www.3dnow.freeserve
