High speed venues

Many of us will have enjoyed happy days watching or competing on the English short circuits in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Racing is always risky, but here's a few memories which make me smile to set the ball rolling.

I well remember a race-long tussle for third place between a pretty lady driver piloting a huge American Ford Galaxy and a tiny 650cc Steyr-Daimler-Puch ( tuned, enlarged Fiat 500) at Snetterton, chasing a pair of Alan Mann Racing Lotus Cortinas. The squeal of the Galaxy's tyres as the lady drifted ever more extravagantly round former Norwich Straight end hairpin hooked me on airfield racing.

Then there was the Murray Walker-moment when the commentator uttered across the loudspeaker system "Xxxxx

Xxxxxxx, with consummate ease, passes a backmarker on the back straight:' What could possibly go wrong? Moments later, the Velo was summersaulting into the grass, pursued by its rider, whose blushes we are sparing. In interview, everyone expected him to blame mechanical failure ... Instead he quietly muttered "rider error, bloody expensive rider error!"

And finally, the advice given to me before I passengered a racing sidecar outfit for the first time ... Expecting tips on hand holds and positioning, the regular crew grinned, then advised: 'Don't have any breakfast:

Many will have similar stories, I'm sure. Perhaps when times return to something more normal, and I can again access the archive, we can look at the tracks of Scotland, Wales, loM, Northern Ireland and Ireland. And, yes, Brooklands is arguably