Courses not just for horses

Author

admin

Browse pages
Current page

1

Current page

2

Current page

3

Current page

4

Current page

5

Current page

6

Current page

7

Current page

8

Current page

9

Current page

10

Current page

11

Current page

12

Current page

13

Current page

14

Current page

15

Current page

16

Current page

17

Current page

18

Current page

19

Current page

20

Current page

21

Current page

22

Current page

23

Current page

24

Current page

25

Current page

26

Current page

27

Current page

28

Current page

29

Current page

30

Current page

31

Current page

32

Current page

33

Current page

34

Current page

35

Current page

36

Current page

37

Current page

38

Current page

39

Current page

40

Current page

41

Current page

42

Current page

43

Current page

44

Current page

45

Current page

46

Current page

47

Current page

48

Current page

49

Current page

50

Current page

51

Current page

52

Current page

53

Current page

54

Current page

55

Current page

56

Current page

57

Current page

58

Current page

59

Current page

60

Current page

61

Current page

62

Current page

63

Current page

64

Current page

65

Current page

66

Current page

67

Current page

68

Current page

69

Current page

70

Current page

71

Current page

72

Current page

73

Current page

74

Current page

75

Current page

76

Current page

77

Current page

78

Current page

79

Current page

80

Current page

81

Current page

82

Current page

83

Current page

84

Current page

85

Current page

86

Current page

87

Current page

88

Current page

89

Current page

90

Current page

91

Current page

92

Current page

93

Current page

94

Current page

95

Current page

96

Current page

97

Current page

98

Current page

99

Current page

100

Current page

101

Current page

102

Current page

103

Current page

104

Current page

105

Current page

106

Current page

107

Current page

108

Current page

109

Current page

110

Current page

111

Current page

112

Current page

113

Current page

114

Current page

115

Current page

116

Current page

117

Current page

118

Current page

119

Current page

120

Current page

121

Current page

122

Current page

123

Current page

124

Current page

125

Current page

126

Current page

127

Current page

128

Current page

129

Current page

130

Current page

131

Current page

132

Current page

133

Current page

134

Current page

135

Current page

136

Current page

137

Current page

138

Current page

139

Current page

140

Current page

141

Current page

142

Current page

143

Current page

144

Current page

145

Current page

146

Current page

147

Current page

148

Current page

149

Current page

150

Current page

151

Current page

152

Current page

153

Current page

154

Current page

155

Current page

156

Current page

157

Current page

158

Current page

159

Current page

160

Current page

161

Current page

162

Current page

163

Current page

164

Current page

165

Current page

166

Current page

167

Current page

168

Current page

169

Current page

170

Current page

171

Current page

172

Current page

173

Current page

174

Current page

175

Current page

176

Current page

177

Current page

178

Current page

179

Current page

180

Having achieved success with her Aintree horse racing meetings, Mrs Mirabelle Topham decided that she should add motor racing to her repertoire, so she had built a car race track inside the celebrated course over which the Grand National was held annually. When we motor journalists went to see the opening meeting at the new track we were asked not to walk on the ground over which the famous horse race meetings took place.

I remember going to the first international car race meeting on May 29, 1954, organised by the BARC for the Daily Telegraph. The track was exactly three miles to a lap, which was covered in an anti-clockwise direction but which changed to the more normal clockwise for the second meeting. Resembling an airfield circuit in being perfectly flat with long straights, its series of eight interesting bends gave considerably lower lap speeds than Silverstone or Goodwood.

On this opening meeting the rain did not dampen the spectators’ enthusiasm as they were rewarded by seeing Stirling Moss drive in truly professional style in his new Maserati 250F, winning the Aintree International 200 race ahead of Reg Parnell in a Ferrari and Ron Flockhart in a BRM. Moss also dominated the 500cc event in his Beart-tuned Cooper-Norton. Duncan Hamilton took sports car honours in his C-type Jaguar from Carroll Shelby in his Aston Martin DB3S and Jimmy Stewart in the ex-Le Mans-winning Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar.

I also recall, after one meeting at Aintree, setting off for home which involved driving through the Mersey Tunnel. In the left-hand lane was a very slow driver so I moved into the opposite lane, not realising that such a move was not accepted. When I got to the exit of the tunnel I saw someone signal to me, which I presumed was a friendly wave, so no need for me to stop. This person obviously took my number as some time later I received a complaint from the Mersey Tunnel Authorities for changing lanes illegally.

I reported this in Motor Sport, and later received an anonymous letter from a lorry driver who said he knew the person who had reported me to the authorities, and also knew where he lived and that he parked his car outside his house. The correspondent drove heavy commercial vehicles and implied that the person who had reported me would one day find his car a different shape…