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I always remember as a kid reading the Evening Press (remember that!) on the Wed before the meeting and seeing who or what was coming over. Then we'd head up on Friday night for scrutiny and just soak up the atmosphere. Lots of things to be seen, always someone that seemed to need a hand. Spent a few years helping other people out, most of whom seemed to have terrible luck! By the time I got to race there all that atmosphere seemed to be gone. Sitting in a fenced off area with security guards doesn't hold the same appeal, either to me or the next lot of kids.
Best memories? Orwell Supersports, first time I saw a 917. All the saloon races, formula fords removing myriad lamp posts (including a funny memory of the Hawthorn run backwards with a guy in a FF running 1st car in the 1st practice of the weekend coming down to Mountjoy from the paddock , going wide and hitting a lamp post. He was only doing about 10mph !), pre war cars on the Hawthorn, a guy throwing a Corvette Stingray into the trees halfway along the main straight, sidecars, bikes the list seems endless. Oh and how big those trees looked when I drove there first. I was terrified!
The short circuit has never really appealed to me or had that sense of madness but I hope it returns even in short form as it is what racing here was all about.
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