Circuits of the past.

[TheStig]

This is a site worth a bookmark.


http://groups.msn.com/CircuitsofthepastEnglish

Stig

[Ian]

Great post Stig, as you said,  ' bookmarked '. 

[TheStig]

Great Ian, some news and reference on the site.With all the old photographs of the past drivers.

Stig

[Neil.P]

Good site Stig, great to see Reims on the front page there

Neil.P

[TheStig]

Thanks,Neil.Some good old reference for the American Chaps as well.

TheStig

[Neil.P]

No problem Stig, good to have you back in the gang.

Neil.P

[TheStig]

Thanks,Neil

TheStig

[cosworth151]

Great find, Stig. It went straight on the Favorites list.

[Steven Roy]

Amazing site. Thanks for that Stig.

[Herman]

Hi all,

I'm the manager from Circuits of the past. Thank you that you all like my site
My site is now moved from MSN Groups to another server (yes it is a real site now): www.circuitsofthepast.nl in English and Dutch language.

Herman.

[johnbull]

I see there's no mention of Syracuse GP circuit in Sicily.

I watched Swiss driver Jo Siffert win the Formula 1 GP there in 1963 with his 1.5 litre Lola Climax. Count Carol Goden de Beaufort of Holland was second with his orange Porsche, having as usual removed his shoes before getting into the car and driven bare footed.

As a pimply 17 year old youth I had flown across to Catania from Malta with a friend for GP weekend. We then took a train to Syracuse and a camp site across the bay called Il Minareto.  Hardly had we been there a couple of hours when a British registered VW camper turned up towing a racing car on a trailer. It was ex motorcyclist Bob Anderson accompanied by his wife and tiny kid, plus one mechanic. That was a formula 1 team!

As none of Bob's party could speak a word of Italian we became convenient friends and interpreters. We explained that we had come from Malta to watch the GP whereby he offered to take us into his pit on both Saturday and Sunday. We had no passes so we were smuggled into the paddock lying between the wheels of the Lola on the trailer, covered by a tarpaulin. Once he had backed the trailer into the paddock garage we climbed out. The same thing happened on Sunday.

That Syracuse weekend was also to be my first of many encounters with another of my idols, Dennis Jenkinson - JENKS, who was there covering the GP for "Motorsport" in his monthly "Letter from Europe" articles. I visited the Targa Florio every year from 1965 till the end in 1973 and met Jenks again there on each occasion as well as at the Monaco GPs in 69, 70 and 71, and the Nurburgring 1000ks also in 71. We corresponded and sent cards every now and again, and a couple of years before he passed away he sent me a signed photograph of himself hillclimbing his Manx Norton, which I treasure and have framed in my office.

I have since visited the Syracuse GP circuit and the Targa Florio regularly, making it a point to stop at the pits and meditate every time. The Targa is even more special to me since I actually raced there in 1972. We didn't finish, but then very few cars did.

I drove to the Syracuse GP circuit again some weeks ago and was saddened to see that the old pits and paddock area have been demolished. I was even more saddened to read in an Italian magazine, also very recently, that the Palermo council has decided to sell the area around the Targa Florio start / finish, including the pits, paddock, timekeeper's building and grandstand. What a shame. I would have thought the Italians would have had more sense of value of such heritage items.

Here's the Targa pit area as it stood last time I visited a few weeks ago.

[Steven Roy]

Hi Herman.  I have loved your site since I was first made aware of it.  I am sure you will find quite a few people on GPWizard with a real interest in the history of the sport.


johnbull,

You should write a book about your adventures or at the very least put up a website or write some articles.

[johnbull]

Hi Herman.  I have loved your site since I was first made aware of it.  I am sure you will find quite a few people on GPWizard with a real interest in the history of the sport.


johnbull,

You should write a book about your adventures or at the very least put up a website or write some articles.

I did actually start writing a book quite a few years ago. About 200 pages along the way I'm still in the 70s !!!!!

It was originally intended as a book about my adventures with Minis starting in my teens, but of course since the Mini days - I raced Minis successfully for some 20 years - I've had about 10 years heavily into vintage motorcycles, a number of years with son Josh into RC car racing, and now most of my time is spent helping him with his "real" racing, where 2008 has been a fantastic year. He won the Malta Hill Climb Championship this year, as well as a couple of "Big" outright wins in Sicily. For the 2009 season we are building a new car, using carbon tub and suspension components from a 2003 Formula BMW, with which we hope to do a few rounds of the European hill Climb Championship, as well as our local championship of course.

But getting back to the book, now that I am semi retired perhaps I really should pic it up again. Thanks for the prompt, Steven.

[Dare]

John maybe you could write a book about F1 drivers you knew
and f1 experiences?I'm sure there would be a audience


                           and


Where's Monza with the banking?

[jams002]

what do you mean of that?





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