ACR Brands Hatch 6th & 7th of July

[FastDB2s]

I refuse to call it an AMOC event as its not organised by AMOC.
Anyway are there any decent, cheap hotels near Brands.
Has anybody improved the facilities in the last year as its hard to believe it was ever a GP circuit.

[The SpeCTator]

Not sure what exactly you think is wrong with the facilities, but essentially pretty much everything is the same!

[FastDB2s]

Power hook-ups in the paddock, more space under cover in pits so you can at least stay dry, better monitoring of cars that are not supposed to be in pits with a pick up flat bed recovery lorry & fine system for offenders.

Most other circuits have spent some money on facilities in the last few years, not Brands though.

[Belmondo]

Originally Posted by FastDB2s

Power hook-ups in the paddock, more space under cover in pits so you can at least stay dry, better monitoring of cars that are not supposed to be in pits with a pick up flat bed recovery lorry & fine system for offenders.

Most other circuits have spent some money on facilities in the last few years, not Brands though.

From the point of view of this spectator, everything at Brands is all fine and dandy and it all looks beautiful as ever. I'm glad the new Graham Hill Bend hasn't (yet) appeared.

They've even added signposts out on the GP loop!

[Al Weyman]

Nothing wrong with Brands, try Combe, Croft, Cadwell, Thruxton, Snetterton etc to name five club type circuits if you want worst facilities, Brands is not and never will be again a GP circuit so why should the owners spend more than they need to but for what it is its way up there, grub and toilets fine and paddock is at least hard standing and has hook ups for those that need them. Personally I dont think Silverstone is that brilliant in the paddock either. Oh and at Silverstone they shut all the bars and restraunts by 6pm Brands doesnt, it serves food in the Kentagon till 9:30pm I think and drinks till 11pm and often with a bit of entertainment as well.

[gt917]

Brands is just great in my opinion.

Good power hook ups, good loos and showers regularly cleaned with plenty of hot water, and like all the MSV circuits, very efficient.

Loads of really good B&Bs close by and as others say, the Kentagon has saved my bacon many a time at the end of a long day.

Surely if someone is in your pit, a quick word with them or control office will resolve the issue pretty quickly.

Love Brands Hatch.

[Tim Barry]

There is a Premier Inn newly opened (in the last couple of years) in Swanley. About a 15 min drive to the best circuit in the UK!!!! I've always lived less than 30 miles away and now live about 6!!

[FastDB2s]

Link to event info http://www.amocracing.org/#/event-in...ion/4563172942

[Lancsbreaker]

Originally Posted by Tim Barry

There is a Premier Inn newly opened (in the last couple of years) in Swanley. About a 15 min drive to the best circuit in the UK!!!!

I think you'll find its a bit more than 15 minutes to Oulton....

The Brands GP circuit's fine, and I don't have a problem with Brands paddock facilities, although if you aren't in a pit garage it can be a PITA lugging support gear from the outer paddock to the pitlane, but the Indy circuit is hardly the best circuit in the UK, unless you like getting dizzy.

[Tim Barry]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

I think you'll find its a bit more than 15 minutes to Oulton....

The Brands GP circuit's fine, and I don't have a problem with Brands paddock facilities, although if you aren't in a pit garage it can be a PITA lugging support gear from the outer paddock to the pitlane, but the Indy circuit is hardly the best circuit in the UK, unless you like getting dizzy.

Yes, was talking about the Brands GP circuit! The Indy circuit is nothing like as good as the old Brands Club circuit was in the past (or in 1989 when I apparently had the circuit lap record for Single-Seaters!!!) but as I first went to Brands when I was two months old and then just about every meeting until I started racing myself (and numerous others mid- and end-of-season) I think it still has to be my favourite!

[zefarelly]

Exactly what I was thinking

. . . I have no real interest in my race, particularly as half of the grid is exactly what I don't want to race with . . its a test session really, and I have my oldest friends wedding to be at by 2pm, we've been friends since the forst day of school when we were 5. But Brands is the best GP circuit in the land . .and I need to get a few laps in one way or another . . . even if it is on the club circuit which is just rubbing lemon juice and salt into the wounds.

Originally Posted by gt917

Brands is just great in my opinion.

Good power hook ups, good loos and showers regularly cleaned with plenty of hot water, and like all the MSV circuits, very efficient.

Love Brands Hatch.

[Teddington Ted]

What am absolutely cracking weekend of racing. Same again for the 101st anniversary of Aston Martin please !

Mark

[zefarelly]

Well I had a hoot (and a spin!) twas very warm. and got to the wedding on time . . . I've never seen the bride jump in a lake before!

does anyone have ther HRDC touring greats results? they're not on the TSL page.

Agreed Mark, sorry I didn't come and say hello, it was all a bit frantic!

[FastDB2s]

Great meeting, in our 50s races the racing very good with lots of battles.
The best bit was seeing the AMR1 & the new GT3 tearing round on a demo, shame it wasn't in a race though.
Disapointed that the Nimrod wasn't unleashed.
I take it back about what I thought about Brands, facilities good.
lunch at Hailwood café best in 47 years of going to race circuits.
Found the power hook-ups.

Hills & tunnel just the same as in 1975 when we first went - hard work with a pit trolley !

[LAK]

What a brilliant weekend. Joe - we arrived to see the last 15 mins of your race and you looked like you were having a blast. I knew you needed to rush off so we didn't look for you.

Julius put on a brilliant weekend and even the sun he ordered arrived in spades! Love being with the AMOC guys as it's always so relaxed with lots of space in the paddock, great cars and well run.

We had a few problems in practice so Jason and I only did 3 laps in practice and Jason qualified 6th in class but had a brilliant battle in the race and ended up 3rd in class - a happy boy.

I managed a 2nd in class despite only doing 3 laps and was alongside Mark cross in the super fast Moggy. We both made great starts but there was nowhere to go - it was all a bit fraught for the first 4 corners to such an extent that I almost rear ended the Aurelia - bad idea for the marriage and also I was driving it home!

Anyway, I managed to get in the class lead but that only lasted a couple of laps before Mark slipped past as I was wondering what the smoke I could see was. Doh! We had about 4 laps nose to tail - very close, fair and hugely fun. Mark just refused to leave a Fiat sized gap and although it was a hard battle it was on the right side of firm. Mark had a bit of a moment at Sheens and I nipped past but before I could take the lead the car started to feel odd and the engine started to feel very wrong. I struggled on for a bit and then retired - probable head gasket failure.

I have so many thanks it will feel like the Oscars! To Julius and team for organising such a fun race - the friendship, great racing and wonderful atmosphere just cannot be topped. To Andrew D and brother David - thanks for your friendship and for pitching in to help Jason. Marshals, race admin, AMOC - top dollar! And lastly to the wonderful Jason - not only a terrific driver but self taught mechanic who battled hard to keep our wonderful cars not only going but extremely competitively. I didn't do bad in the husband stakes!

I'm back at Brands on Saturday racing my Fulvia in 70's Roadsports - it will be mullered by all the cars in the championship but I am so looking forward to taking it around the GP track - such an iconic and good flowing track. Still a shame about the old Dingle Dell - used to like flying the Fulvia over that!

[zefarelly]

I suppose I'd better do a race report then as the bars been raised!

The All stars race was a bit of a mixed bag and I wasn't sure what to expect or do . . .however, practice was busy and I guessed I'd be somewhere in the middle ( most TC63 and GT Int/Nat cars are around the same pace, circa 61-62s at Brands ) I was quite pleasantly surprised with 10th O/all and a new PB lap time especially as it was so warm as well, and I thought a bit oily, but I still haven't cracked the 60s mark!

I got a good start, had to lift/brake early as I got squeezed and didn't want a physical battle with the DB4! and briefly got into 7th . .before getting picked off by the quicker cars in a straight line. ( a sideways Cortina blocks the corners quite well) The race was very busy, and by the time we'd settled down I was racing with Ians WSM, the Lotus Cortina and Mustang a little further up the road, not really getting away that much. we had a 3 lap safety car period, which was almost a welcome respite, for the car at least, thereafter battle commenced and I was catching the WSM, at about an inch a lap! about lap 14 we were both lapping the Connaught at McLaren into clearways, the WSM went round the outside, the Connaught held its diagonal across track line, and rather than rear end it I went up the inside . . .a bit too quickly, with dust and oil on the track as well, the back went, more than usual and I spun. fortunately nothing hit anything and I was quickly on my way, head down in shame, but on a charge. I worked my way past a few cars, no idea if I was lapping, unlapping or actually racing them, until I came up to an E type. I tried but as close as I could get in the corners its unsurprisingly a good bit quicker in a straight line, so there I stayed. The last few laps The car wouldn't pull in top . . . the rear wheel bearing has failed, but it hung in there to the end and I finished 10th. A shame more of the TC63 and little GT cars aren't out . . .were are you? then the big GT's wouldn't be required to fill the gap, I'm sure it would be a better spectacle if the lap times across the field were closer, and the Griffiths etc have plenty of playgrounds to choose from.

A really well run event, Duncan came and said a few words at the brief, JT and the HRDC team put on a great show as always, we were just sorry to have to leave so early.

[deley]

cracking weekend so thanks all .... a bit warm out on the bank though

Dave

[AGD A105/6]

Super day for us in Touring Greats, love the GP circuit and so does the A105, chance to stretch its legs between the inconvenient curved sections. Qualified higher than I expected, outside Rae Davis no less, and ahead of a few people who normally best me so I expected a busy start.

I was not disappointed, Rae had been bemoaning his sick car in the assembly area but this was all cobblers, off he went and Michael Peet's Rapier filled in the gap with Brian's Minx too. Clinging to the outside of Druids I had a great view of the sideways Rapier which must have caused Richard Haythornthwaite's heartbeat to rise as his pristine XK150 was quite adjacent. Come the Surtees exit and I was able to outdrag the Rapier which convenient blocked the XK too, although he eventually came back to outdrag me. For the next couple of laps I had a good view of the squirly Warwick at the back of the leading pack, all of which gradually faded from view, until the Warwick was sidelined with what turned out to be a 3 inch nail in his brand new OSR tyre. Neither Rapier nor Minx survived but I hope both will be back for the Sunbeam/Rootes race at BDC Silverstone ? The Vanguard appeared in my mirrors after a while until this too expired with a suspension collapse, thankfully without further consequences. Looking at lap times, Senor Chapaman (well that's how it was spelled in the programme) could have been a threat but Jason had been keeping him otherwise occupied. Finally we finished a very hot 9th OA, the car's best ever, and 4 seconds quicker than previous PB, with nothing more to fix than a squeaking brake servo.

First lap here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWjqGEDSTjc&feature=youtu.be

Well done to Julius and CCK and crew for putting together a great HRDC race and atmosphere, thanks to AMOC/ACR for letting us play, and to race admin and the orange army toiling and boiling in the fields.

[FastDB2s]

Best result for us was Paul Chase-Gardner winning the Horsfall in his 1.5ltr after his accident at Le Mans, well & truly back in the saddle.

[John Turner]

Great personal accounts Joe and Andrew, and really good to hear about Paul, Chris. A real tonic after the Le Mans incident.

[Celia Stevens]

Just to follow up Andrews' excellent account. Yes the Warwick did fall by the wayside owing to a large nail that just happened to be lying in wait for Ian in the middle of the G.P. track. Not really what you would expect to find there but never mind! Ian was suffering some form of heat inflicted condition so all in all not a brilliant race although up till then he was enjoying himself immensely. But a big thank-you to Julius and AMOC for letting us all race on the GP circuit and an even bigger thank-you to the recovery driver who very delicately got the Warwick off his truck. Also immense admiration for all the Marshals who must have all had their own private sauna in those orange suits but carried on regardless!!

[yesnomaybe]

great to read some drivers race reports, weather finally nice for one of the big events at brands

i've had the event on my 'to do' list for months because of the HRDC races alone, and they didn't disappoint!, really entertaining, i love the variety of the cars, loved the way the blue morris minor was being thrown around, very close racing at druids on sunday

heres my full gallery of photos from each day

Saturday
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coletri...7634606645357/

Sunday
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coletri...7634670635264/

cheers

[bluebell01794]

".....loved the way the blue morris minor was being thrown around, very close racing at druids on sunday"

Great pics - glad you were entertained by the HRDC crowd.
Really enjoyed throwing "Bluebell" around the GP Circuit - she's such a brilliant car to drive. This is my favourite pic from the weekend....

[zefarelly]

District nurse-tastic!

[QUOTE=bluebell01794;3279795Great pics - glad you were entertained by the HRDC crowd.
Really enjoyed throwing "Bluebell" around the GP Circuit - she's such a brilliant car to drive. This is my favourite pic from the weekend....[/QUOTE]