The 1985 British GP was my first and I had a seat opposite the pits. I remember Senna exploding out of the second row and seeing him park next to the pit wall later in the race (They’d never allow that now……you would have thought it would have been safer to pull off on to the grass on the left). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKunonTkCqk
The European GP was at Brands and I recall leaving home at 2am. The M25 opened fully that day (There was a bit near Leatherhead, that hadn’t opened when I was on the way to Brands). For that race, I watched from Pilgrim’s Drop, just on the way to Hawthorns. The PA system wasn’t too good and I hadn’t noticed Rosberg losing a lap and it took a while before I realised that Mansell was in the lead (Rosberg was driving like someone possessed…..he was always great to watch). I remember Alboreto going by and seeing the early stages of his fire, which clearly took a hold very quickly!! On the way home, the weather was very wet and I kept anticipating the Leatherhead diversion but unbeknown to me, that last section had opened that day. I was a great relief when I saw the sign for the M4. The weather was so bad, that it felt safe to do about 40mph, though many were racing by into a wall of spray (Part of the reason for my low speed, was that I kept expecting to encounter a pile up and felt that at 40mph, I could drive up the embankment under some sort of control); it was a big game of Russian Roulette. Nearer home, there were some diversions due to flooding. I think I got home about 2am….luckily I had the day off that Monday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loDNAXJBwPo
By the 1986 British GP, I had worked out that if you reversed into your parking spot (Warmed the car up before the start) and left it as ready to go as possible (In gear), when the winner crossed the line, if you legged it, you could beat the horrendous traffic jam, that is Grand Prix traffic trying to leave the circuit (If you’ve never seen it, it’s hard to imagine). It worked well and I got home in time to see the GP Highlights on the TV. As to the race, I had gone up the day before and seen qualifying (The Benettons and Alboreto’s Ferrari were fastest over the start line, at 189mph, though the Williams cars were fastest overall (I got to meet Nigel Mansell). From the first start, Mansell’s car broke and I looked on horrified, as he limped up the hill to Druids. I was in an enclosure on the entrance to Paddock bend but hadn’t noticed the carnage unfold more or less in front of me (I was too preoccupied with Mansell)
. When I saw the results of the shunt, I realised the race would be stopped. Owing to the injuries to Jacque Laffite, there was a big delay, not only getting him out of the car but since he was airlifted to hospital, the race couldn’t restart until the helicopter was back at the circuit. You can see that the re started race was gripping and once Mansell got settled into the spare car (I’d forgotten that Berger got in to second place for a while), he was able to challenge, though Piquet gave him a hard time up until the last ten laps. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7KP2N0m ... re=relatedThere had been a good air display during the lunch break; Concorde was the noisiest and there was also a B17, plus, it would seem, a Vulcan but I’d forgotten that!!
Mansell and Piquet gave us another classic dual at Silverstone, in 1987 but that was all about looking at your watch and seeing the gap come down, as Mansell gave chase.