Gladiators on Tarmac!

The Airfield at Silverstone in 1945.

The British Grand Prix is still held at Silverstone

Jim Clark won the 1962 Aintree Grand Prix in his Lotus.

Ayrton Senna's Lotus at Brands Hatch in 1986

The world's first motor race was a reliability trial between Paris and Rouen, which took place on July 22nd 1894. The winner's prize was awarded jointly to any car which could reach Rouen in less that eight and a half hours. Then with automotive technology developing rapidly, races became just that, a competition to see which car could reach a destination first. The first actual motor race is regarded as the Paris Bordeaux event of 1895. City to city racing briefly became the dominant form of motor sport with thirty five events organised between 1894 and 1903.

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Many of these races were run by United States newspaper tycoon, Gordon Bennett. Bennett organised the first racing formula, which was based on national teams identified by cars of a particular colour. These Gordon Bennett colours still have an echo in modern motor racing - the colour for Italian cars was red, and Ferraris of course are still red. British cars were green. But the Gordon Bennett city to city races came to an end after a disastrous Paris to Madrid race in 1903. By now cars could reach ninety miles an hour, and between Paris and Madrid there were a number of deaths, including that of car maker Marcel Renault. It was now apparent that city to city racing did not make sense for a number of reasons.

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It was now becoming obvious that racing circuits were needed, to improve safety and to control access of paying spectators. This was the first step in making motor racing a show, by creating a viable theatre in which its plays could be staged.

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Great Britain leads the way

The future was heralded by Brooklands Circuit, opened by a landowner in Weybridge Surrey, in 1907. This remarkable two and a half mile banked circuit was the first purpose built motor racing track, and had many features of venues that eventually came to dominate motor racing. Echoes of Brooklands are still heard at grand prix today. With no tradition to draw upon the officials at Brooklands used horse racing as their model, calling the area where teams gathered the "Paddock". The paddock is still the place where modern racing teams gather at each Grand Prix.

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Grand Prix motor racing was first established in Britain by Henry Segrave in 1926 after his winning of the 1923 French Grand Prix and the San Sebastián Grand Prix the following year, which raised interest in the sport. The first ever British Grand Prix was won by the French team of Louis Wagner and Robert Sénéchal driving a Delage 155B.

The second British Grand Prix was held at Brooklands in 1927.

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Several non-championship races known as the Donington Grand

Prix were held at Donington Park in the 1930s, where the

German Mercedes and Auto Unions dominated the precedings;

the 1937 race was the most notable; Auto Union driver Bernd Rosemeyer won.

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Brooklands and Donington had been severely damaged by

during World War II and both circuits were abandoned

(Donington reopened in 1977). Most new British circuits

were being built on disused Royal Air Force airfields, and

Silverstone, in Northamptonshire, was one of those

circuits. It staged its first race, the Royal Automobile

Club International Grand Prix on October 2, 1948, which

was won by Italian Luigi Villoresi in a Maserati. In 1949, the circuit was heavily modified and made very fast; and it remained in this configuration for decades on.PD-BRITISHGOV

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In 1950, the Formula One Championship was introduced, and the 1950 British Grand Prix was the first Formula One race ever held, with new regulations and 6 other races in Europe. This race was won by Alfa Romeo driver Giuseppe "Nino" Farina. King George VI was among the attendees of the race. The 1951 race was particularly exciting, as it was the first F1 race not won by an Alfa Romeo; the gas-guzzling Italian cars were beaten by another Italian car, the more fuel

efficient Ferrari of Argentine José Froilán González in what was the famed Scuderia's first ever Formula One victory.

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In 1955, the Formula One circus began to alternate between Silverstone and the Aintree Circuit, located on the Grand National horse racing course near Liverpool. Mercedes drivers Juan Manuel Fangio and home favorite Stirling Moss arrived at Aintree expecting to win. They took the lead at the start and the two drivers battled throughout, and Moss passed Fangio on the 26th lap; and he kept the lead for a while; but Fangio fought back and was about to pass Moss on the last corner on the last lap, and all were certain Fangio would pip Moss at the chequered flag. But he didn't, and Moss won his first Formula One race on home soil.

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Moss later asked Fangio:

"did you let me through?"

Fangio replied

"No. You were better than me that day."

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The even-numbered years were at Silverstone and the odd numbered and 1962 were at Aintree. In 1957 Moss won again in a Vanwall; he took over his ill teammate Tony Brooks's car and stormed through the field to take victory. This was the first Grand Prix victory for a British-built car. Formula One would soon be mostly made up of British teams. The last race at Aintree was in 1962, when Briton Jim Clark won his first of 5 British Grand Prix's; Aintree was later decommissioned in 1964.

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1964 saw the first Formula One race at Brands Hatch, in Kent. Silverstone hosted the British Grand Prix in odd-numbered years and Brands Hatch in even-numbered years. Brands Hatch was popular with drivers with many banked corners and lots of elevation change. Like the year before at Silverstone, Clark won the 1964, 1965 and 1967 races.

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1969 saw another big battle between home favorite Jackie Stewart's Matra and Austrian Jochen Rindt's Lotus.  Rindt won the 1970 event at the expense of Brabham running out of fuel at the end of the race, and 1971 saw Stewart win again in a Tyrrell.

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1973 saw a huge first lap accident at Woodcote corner that took out 11 cars, including all 3 works Surtees cars. This was the first time in Formula One history that a race had been stopped because of an accident. 1975 saw a chicane added to Woodcote to slow cars going through the very high speed corner; and this was another race of variables as a rain storm hit the track and a number of drivers aquaplaned off at Stowe and Club Corners.

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1976  proved to be very controversial; as home favorite James Hunt won the race but was later disqualified following a protest from Ferrari and other teams about Hunt not completing the first lap of the race; and the victory went to 2nd-placed Niki Lauda.

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1979 saw Australian Alan Jones lap the circuit more than 6 seconds inside the lap record in his ground-effect Williams. His teammate Clay Regazzoni won the race, Williams's first F1 victory.

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John Watson won the 1980 race in a McLaren; the first for a car with an all carbon fibre chassis.

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1983 saw Alain Prost win his 1st of 5 British Grands Prix and a spectacular performance from Briton Nigel Mansell in his first outing in a turbocharged Lotus, he started 16th and finished 4th.

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At Silverstone in 1985, Keke Rosberg set the all time Formula 1 qualifying lap record with a qualifying time 160.92 mph average for the lap. It was later found that the Williams had a slow puncture in a rear tyre, so the lap could have been even faster!

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1986 saw the last Grand Prix at Brands Hatch as the circuit was deemed to dangerous for the speeds of the modern Formula One car and it was almost impossible to make it safe. Since then the British Grand Prix has taken place at Silverstone. (The rebuilt Donington held the European Grand Prix in 1993).
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Silverstone has continually evolved and now bears no resemblance to it's wartime roots. Despite huge sums asked by the Promoters of Formula One, and without Government funding like many other Grand Prix, it still draws massive crowds each year.

Marcel Renault in the Paris-Madrid of 1903.

Some of the old banking still exists, but it's a bit overgrown.

Fangio at the start of the 1950 British GP.

Team McLaren at the 1973 British GP at Silverstone.

This was the first Grand Prix to be stopped due to an accident.

Map of Brooklands Circuit which opened in 1907.

Images:

BRDC/RAC

Believed to be

in the Public Domain

(age - copyright expired)