Crystal Palace Park

Image: © Peter Trimming Taken: 20 Sep 2017

When motor racing events took place around the Crystal Palace circuit, this bend was at the end of the start/finish straight, before the cars entered the downhill section. From memory, the track was almost twice as wide at the point, with the inside of the bend now filled in with grass. Most of the top drivers raced here, including several F1 world champions. I recall seeing Graham Hill, John Surtees, Jochen Rindt and Jody Scheckter driving in the F2 events. In the final full season (1972), the lap record of 103.39 mph was set by Mike Hailwood. On a tight and twisty circuit, saloon car racing was particularly entertaining. The longest race which I witnessed was an F2 final, at 125 laps. A 50 lap F2 final was more usual. As might have been expected, there were accidents, as most races were 10 or 15 lap 'sprints'. During one F3 race, a Lotus entered the start/finish straight when suddenly all four wheels came off the car ... this was several laps into the event, and the accident happened at about the safest point on the circuit.

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