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CYCLING THROUGH THE MUSHROOMS

The Brands Hatch story began not with cars but with bicycles. In 1926, a group of cyclists led by Ron Argent were riding through Kent when they discovered a mushroom field at Brands Hatch Farm. Argent saw the dipping and curving natural bowl as a perfect venue and set about delivering a unique race that pitted cyclists against cross-country runners.

That rather unusual beginning showcased the venue’ s true DNA and by the early 1930s a rough anticlockwise grass track route had been laid out across the landscape. Bikes and feet gave way to motorcycles and crowds grew rapidly as tens of thousands gathered to watch riders taking on the challenge.

A transition to tarmac in 1950 – funded by the 500 Club and circuit owner Joe Francis – marked the moment Brands Hatch became a true car racing venue. Four-wheeled machines and their drivers arrived – among them a young Stirling Moss – and the circuit began to evolve into the shape and form that is still recognisable today.

A reversal to clockwise running in 1954, and the addition of Druids corner, effectively created the Indy layout, then six years later planning permission was granted to extend the circuit into the surrounding woodland, doubling its length and transforming it into a much larger venue suitable for even more varied forms of motorsport.

The new section did not overwrite the old, continuing the natural flow as

Early racing featured mostly motorcycles and used a grass track

it threaded through the landscape. The extension was organic – and what is most striking now is how little it has changed. The bowl, the hill, the trees; much of what remain is still, essentially, in the same place those cyclists found it a century ago.

GRAND PRIX GLORY

Brands Hatch gained international status in the 1960s, when it turned from a local track into a host circuit for Grand Prix racing. It made its debut on the sport’ s biggest stage in 1964, when 25 of the era’ s classic cigar-shaped machines lined up for the British Grand Prix, that year designated as the European Grand Prix.

British stars Jim Clark and Graham Hill locked out the front row in British-built Lotus and BRM cars, but it was American Dan Gurney’ s Brabham that challenged Clark off the line, with Motorsport magazine reporting:“ Clark could hear the shriek of Gurney’ s tyres alongside his

left ear, but neither gave up and wheelto-wheel they raced up towards Druids Corner.”

The Scot retained the lead and when Gurney’ s car expired, Hill took up the attack, hounding for lap after lap. Clark stayed steady to take the win, with an all-British podium completed by John Surtees in his Ferrari. In the support races, meanwhile, a young Jackie Stewart shone, claiming a podium in the saloon car race and winning in the GTs.

The circuit continued to alternate British Grand Prix duties with Silverstone until 1986, also holding European Grands Prix in 1983 and 1985. Its 14 F1 races saw notable wins for Jochen Rindt in 1970, Emerson Fittipaldi in 1972 and, in 1985, the debut victory of British hero Nigel Mansell, whose popular success sent huge cheers reverberating through the trees.

Brands Hatch excelled in delivering F1 moments that were as vivid as they were

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