Short-changed

Sir,

I spent an enjoyable day at the British Grand Prix meeting, but it was somewhat marred by two matters.

First, there seemed to be a surprising shortage of programmes, even at 6.45 am (or is that simply too early?).

And second surely it is quite wrong that the opening race, albeit a “Celebrity Escort” event, should have been confined to the short Indy circuit ie in front of the main grandstands — thus depriving paying spectators on the country parts of the circuit of one race. I hope this is a practice which will not be repeated at future Grand, Prix.

K. A. Prebble

(Brands Hatch tell us that the programmes did run out, but at about 11.30 am on race morning and suggest that your experience was localised. They feel that the Celebrity Race might not have been so consistently close had it been over the Grand Prix circuit and, in view of the amount of time it would take to complete a lap. the number of laps would have to have been sharply reduced.

We have received other letters complaining about traffic jams, lack of toilet facilities and the amount of visible security at the race. Brands Hatch tell us that they were caught out by the larger than expected crowd, but the main reason for the jams were accidents and breakdowns. Traffic control is anyway largely the responsibility of the Kent police. A number of Portaloos were destroyed by vandals which naturally exacerbated what is always a problem.

We found the sight of security men with guard dogs a little alien but having heard about the amount of vandalism can understand the necessity for them. Nobody would wish to see the Grand Prix degenerate into a Yahoos’ day out. — M.L.)