Eric Silbermann: Tracks of my tears

With Monza’s future uncertain, and fed up with Eric Silbermann’s grumpy view of most of the circuits on the F1 calendar, we asked him which circuits he missed. Brands Hatch might be an obvious choice, but Mokpo? Seriously?

Brands Hatch

Brands was the first race track I ever went to even though Crystal Palace was a bit nearer to home. I used to go by bus to Brands, a tedious 2 hour run, because I was too young to drive. But I was old enough to marshal at the British Grand Prix at Post 23, on the inside of Clearways. Wow, what a view! Just the best of the best and yes, I was there when the Harrier Jump Jet did a vertical take off on the South Bank viewing area blowing everyone’s picnic out into the English Channel. If we consider that Spa has its origins as a road circuit and Suzuka is a test track, Brands is probably the most beautiful purpose-built race track in the known universe. One year I was heading down through London for Saturday F1 practice in my souped-up Mini when I spotted a rare Iso Grifo sports car. Being a complete F1 nerd at the time, I knew it was Mike Hailwood’s car and sure enough we ended up having a very entertaining dice down the Finchley Road all the way to Lewisham before I was left stranded at some traffic lights. Other good memories involved the grand prix stars mucking about in a pre-GP celeb saloon car race, something that would be out of the question these days as the poor loves have to eat their chicken and pasta and “get in the zone” and other psycho-babble pre-race stuff. Can you imagine the current grid all piling into the downhill right hand Paddock Bend just after the start and then trying to fit round Druids hairpin?