Europe Trip PART ONE
This report starts on Saturday 2nd of May, with an afternoon drive to the Montreal Airport. I was there to catch the Air Transat overnighter to London (Gatwick).
I took off at around 10-00 pm (ET) and arrived in Gatwick the next morning at around 10-00 am (GMT)
Sunday 3rd of May
Once through the formalities , and I’d picked up the Vauxhall rental car, my first port of call was The Rocking Horse Emporium, in nearby Burgess Hill , it’s a store that specializes in collectors items such as vintage diecast cars .
Photo Credit (unknown)
I was there by 1-00pm and for me , I was like a kid in a candy store. There was a great selection at good prices . I was happy and bought a couple of models that I’d been looking for.
A Morris in the TinTin Series
and an NSU RO80 by Dinky.
I could of bought many more, but I had to think of the weight of my ‘returning’ suitcase. I knew I had more to pick up, during my stay.
From Burgess Hill, I headed in the direction of Havant, Hampshire, to my friend Lynn’s place , where I was basing myself for the duration. . It was about an hour and a half drive.
I was there in good time for us to go out for a Sunday Roast carvery.
Monday the 4th of May.
This was a ‘Holiday Monday’ in the UK and our destination was the Mendip Hills Raceway in Somerset .It’s been a gap of 35 Years since I’d last visited.
Let me digress
My first visit to this track was 54 years ago on the 25th of June 1972.
In those days we knew it as Bristol, but in fact it’s quite a few miles away from Somerset’s principle city.
It’s located high in the Mendip Hills , near to the small Village of Shipham. The promoter back then was the late Gerry Dommett.
In 1972, I was 18 years old and guess it was my ‘break out year’ when I started travelling all over England to watch stock car racing. I owned a 1965 Hillman Minx . It was my second car , prior to that , my first was an old Morris Mini Van, that wasn’t up to long trips.
I think it was 1969 when Dommett opened the track, and I wanted to make a visit.
The regular diet of racing back then was and still is BriSCA F2’s , but occasionally F1 events were also staged (sadly not now) . The F1’s were appearing on the 25th of April, so the ‘Minx’ was loaded up with my buddies and put into action . It was a three hours ‘plus’ , drive from Bedfordshire. I remember us paying a visit to nearby Cheddar Gorge and buying some scrumpy.
According to my records Les Mitchell # 238 from Oxfordshire was the big winner that day. In the intervening years , I raced F1 and F2 there.
In my F2 in 1977.
BriSCA F1 , Mendips in 1975
BACK TO THE PRESENT
We left Lynns place at around 9-00 am and were in the Mendip Hills by mid day. Racing wasn’t scheduled to begin until 1-00 pm so we had enough time to stop in at Cheddar for a coffee.
From there we drove through the Gorge and the winding lanes to the track.
Once inside, we based our selves on the pit turn , where I used to watch 50 years ago.
The program consisted of BriSCA F2 , Bangers and Reliant Robins.
We’d prearranged to meet my buddy, Rob Sellar and his partner, Donna
I’d also arranged to meet up with another old friend , Graham Bunter.
Graham a former F2 driver took over as promoter at the track in the late 1970’s, when Gerry Dommett passed away.
Back in the late 1970’s I was dabbling in F2 and raced there a few times.
Graham Bunter # 728 , was always noted for his immaculate stock bodied cars.
Flashback to the defunct Weymouth Stadium in 1976.
FLASHBACK TO 1977 and the , defunct Newton Abbott Racecourse, where we are parked side by side in the pits.
He has always been a great ambasader for the sport of BriSCA F2 and was also the publisher of the F2 Review Magazine, which gave me my first baby steps into the field of racing media.
When I knew that I was going to the Mendips, I asked Graham in advance, if it was OK to take a few pics on the middle . He gave me the thumbs up so I’d packed my Hi Viz vest .
Before going on the center , I took some outside shots and wandered the pits.
While I was in the pits I discovered two drivers , whose family names were familiar. Charlie Guinchard and Josh Hampstead the grand childeren , of Peter Guinchard and George Hampstead that raced in the 70’s when I was doing it.
Charlie went on to win the Feature .
It was great for me to return to the Mendips Raceway after all those years.
We decided not to stay until the end of the show, as we had accommodation booked in the nearby seaside resort of Weston Super Mare.
After checking into the Premier Inn , and having an early supper, we drove down to the beach to chill out with a coffee.
Tuesday 5th of May
Our plans for the day were to visit the ‘bell ringing’ Swanns , a tourist attraction at Wells, in Somerset.
What we wanted to see, didn’t start until 2-00pm, so decided to kill time by looking around nearby Glastonbury. The best route , avoiding the tiny winding roads was to take the M5 for a about 12 miles south.
This route , resulted in our day being ruined.
We joined the M5 at the Weston Super Mare , junction at 9-15 am and eventually exited at about 1-15 pm. The traffic had come to a halt and we only moved forward a few yards at a time. It was utter chaos.
We learned on the radio that a fuel tanker had turned over and the motorway was closed. I hate to say it , but British roads are a complete ‘shXt show’ these days . There are far too many vehicles, in such a small space. The infrastructure hasn’t progressed to cope with the situation. Very few motorways have ‘hard shoulders’ or safety lanes and gaps in the central reserve for the police to administer safe ‘U’ turns or diversions are rare.
Basically we were trapped for four hours until we slowly edged off at the next available exit. By then it was too late for us to make it to Wells , so decided to head back to Havant.
On route, we did manage to pass Stonehenge , before it was too dark , and in time to get a picture.
We got back into Havant , around supper time , after a new ‘life experience’ for both of us .
We have never been held up and trapped in traffic for that long before (four hours) , and hope I never have to do it again.
That’s it for PART ONE of my trip to Europe, PART TWO to follow in the next BLOG.