When Bay City Rollers made a splash at Snetterton: Letters, February 2026

There is an omission from Will Farmer’s article on music and motor sport [Pump up the volume, January]. The Radio 1 Fun Day was held at Mallory Park in May 1975 and remains the most bizarre race meeting I have ever attended.

Expecting a day’s club racing we were surprised to see that the queue for the circuit extended to the Leicester suburbs, but nothing prepared us for what happened when the Bay City Rollers arrived (by helicopter, obviously). Most of the near 50,000 crowd was already fired up by the presence of such luminaries as The Three Degrees, Showaddywaddy and DJ David Hamilton, but events took a surreal turn when the Rollers took to a powerboat on the circuit’s infield lake. The fact that they did so during a Formula Ford race did not deter many fans from jumping over the barriers, running across the track and then swimming towards the Rollers’ boat.

Some fans were rugby tackled by burly marshals – cue cheers from the few of us there for the racing – but many more had to be fished out of the lake. I was in my po-faced prog rock era and remained unamused. Pity that neither Bill Boddy nor DSJ were present, as their copy (perhaps headed The wrong crowd and too much crowding) would have been priceless.

John Aston, Thirsk

As a regular reader since the ’70s of your (by the way) excellent magazine, I felt surprised and to a certain extent disappointed while reading 50 greatest drives by women [November]. No intention to doubt the author’s personal selection, but wondering why one of our best known and very successful women drivers Christine Beckers has been forgotten in your selection.

Her racing career: 1966-1986

● Successful in multiple disciplines: circuit, rallying, rally-raid, hillclimbing, autoslalom and NASCAR.

● Six-time Belgian women’s drivers’ champion (1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1974).

● Le Mans 24 Hours 1974 – 2-litre class winner with Marie Laurent and Yvette Fontaine.

● Le Mans 24 Hours 1977 – 11th overall, accompanied by Lella Lombardi.

● Paris-Dakar 1979, 1980, 1982 – the first woman on this rally.

● Alfa Romeo and Inaltéra team driver.

● Guinness World Record – oldest woman to drive an F1 car: at 80, she drove an Arrows-BMW A8 at Zolder last year (2024).

Eric Janssen, Belgium

Anyone interested in the history of car racing should be grateful for the 50 greatest drives by women article which appeared in the November issue of Motor Sport. It shows that there is still a wealth of interesting subjects waiting to be covered by pioneering journalists.

However, I was truly disappointed to see that Christine Beckers, one of the most talented female racers of all time, had not been included in the list. All through her career she has shown how well she mastered a wide variety of motor sport disciplines such as touring car races, endurance races, rallying, rally-raid, hillclimbing and even NASCAR.

Jan Wintein, Belgium

The late, great Sir Terry Wogan used the phrase “Is it me?” when seeming to hold a point of view that went against the established one.

Am I the only one who doesn’t seem to hold up Ferrari as some sort of supernatural being, entitled to unquestioning reverence by its disciples? Over many years there has been this myth that F1 would cease to exist without them and they appear to have received special treatment out of all proportion to their rivals. I’m not dismissing the successful years under Todt, Brawn and co, but these almost seem to be dwarfed by the many mediocre phases. Enzo was often dismissive of other teams and shrugged his shoulders if a rival went out of business.

After years of underperformance and the traditional interference from management, Ferrari seem intent on tearing themselves apart once more. Would The Circus really grind to a halt if they pulled out? I think not. Yes, they would be missed, but so are many other teams who no longer exist. Is it me?

Dave Bradshaw, Guernsey

I loved the features on Jim Clark’s 1965 cars and races [December]. I thought you might be interested in some very poor-quality photos that I took at the Guards Trophy meeting, Brands Hatch, August 1965.

Photos show JC in F2 Lotus and his celebration lap after winning the British Eagle F2 race, JC in poor-handling Lotus 40, already on opposite lock entering South Bank compared with Dan Gurney in McLaren Elva and Jackie Stewart in Lola T70.

Also poster of the meeting showing three British F1 champions. Plus blurred pic of JC in Cortina Lotus on three wheels.

David Tarbutt, Headley Down, Hampshire

Thank you for your article The ultimate two-car garage [December]. Being of a certain vintage, this in-depth history of these two iconic Porsche 356s was much appreciated. For many of us at that time we seldom got to see a 356 on the road in the UK and it was Jenks who brought them to our attention. His references to UYY 34 in his Continental Notes gave us an insight into his many adventures. This included his participation in the Silverstone 6 Hours relay when he noted this unknown Scotsman was lapping 3sec quicker than any other 356… welcome a certain James Clark.

My thanks to Tom Pead for his work in bringing these two cars together and all who worked on the restorations. It’s fitting that this should appear in Motor Sport and I feel sure DSJ would approve.

Alistair Crooks, Victoria, CANADA

I very much enjoyed reading your article about BUY 1, the Coombs Mark II 3.8 [Getaway with you, January]. It brought back (mostly) happy memories.

As a boy I recall sitting in the cockpit of the Le Mans-winning D-type (possibly the 1956 car), which happened to be centrepiece at the Coombs showroom in Guildford. Its presence there would have been testimony to the prestige with which Coombs was held in Jaguar circles. This would have been in the years when we would attend the Easter Monday Goodwood meetings, often accompanied by the celebrated motoring cartoonist Russell Brockbank.

Coombs Jags invariably featured in the saloon car races, which would have encouraged my father to buy first a 3.4 and then a 3.8 from Coombs. I doubt that they had any of the special tweaks mentioned in your article, but they were ‘sufficiently fast’, although not always entirely reliable.

I remember a rear spring breaking as we set out from home for a summer trip to Spain. Inevitably we missed our ferry. I can only assume that, to preserve the engine from serious damage, the ignition had to be substantially retarded to cope with the low-octane Spanish fuel. On another occasion my father experienced complete brake failure, fortunately without consequences.

One fine day the 3.8 ‘disappeared’ from Godalming station car park. True to form it had been nicked by bank robbers. It eventually turned up worse for wear. It wasn’t replaced by a further Coombs car.

Tony Gomis, LONDON

A few words of thanks to Doug Nye for everything he’s written this year. Increasingly, this early-50-something gravitates to his column when each issue lands for the wit, depth of insight and revealing perspective that a ‘look back’ provides – both as subject matter that’s simply interesting in itself, as well as how past mistakes and successes can be applied and learned from (or not…) in the context of modern motor sport.

Long may his writing continue! All the best to all at Motor Sport and thanks for another year of great work.

Hugo Brailsford, via email

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