Hakkinen, Hill and a Kitten......

Some of us have incredible memories allowing us to recall with pin point accuracy what happened in our past........but I'm not quite one of those gifted souls! I have however pieced together recollections of my first motor sport event, although the emotions I felt are crystal clear.

I guess I must of shown some interest in the world of motor racing (at least enough to be noticed by my parents) because on Easter Monday 1988 my dad took me to Thruxton to see my first race meeting. Thruxton was the closest motor racing venue to where we lived at the time, and by total coincidence one of the fastest circuits in the UK; quite the venue for young me to experience live motor sport.

The Easter race meeting was clearly a very popular event, and as we got closer to the circuit so the volume of traffic , cars of like-minded motor racing fans, increased. Within the last mile or so to the track we found ourselves in a large slow moving queue of cars, and to our pleasant surprise whilst in the queue a neighbouring car offered a few free tickets to the race, courtesy of Jack Brabham garages.

Before we could see any fast moving racing cars we heard the incredible noise - flat out formula cars heading around the track. Our car parked, programme purchased (31 years later an aid to my memory!) and we headed towards Allard corner (at the end of the start / finish straight) to see what all the noise was about.

Its fair to say that the noise, sight and smell ( a mixture of burning rubber and exhaust fumes) have had long lasting impression on me; prior to this experience I was interested in motor sport, but after a matter of minutes I was hooked.

Looking back at the programme, which with the tickets I still possess, I see that my dad and I recorded the results of the days races (including totally unguided predictions of who we wanted to win each race), and we were treated to watching a number of significant future Formula One stars at the time working their way to what could be considered the pinnacle of open wheeled motor sport. These included double world champion Mika Hakkinen, world champion Damon Hill and a number of other drivers

including Eddie Irvine, Martin Donnelly, David Brabham, JJ Lehto, Alan McNish and Phillipe Adams.

However the real star of the day was for me a rather unlikely car – a Reliant Kitten (like its 3 wheeled relative, only with 4 wheels, and in this particular case a light weight fibre glass body and a race tuned 1 litre engine). Competing in the Wendy Wools Saloon car race this unusual racing car appeared to be successfully competing with far faster, and in my young eyes, far more suitable racing cars at speeds well in excess of 120 miles per hour around the back of the circuit.

Whilst the experience took my interest in motor sport to a whole new level , igniting an immediate passion for all things racing, unlike other sports I wasn’t quite sure who to support. The drivers, the teams, the underdogs in each race ? Even at this early age and at my first race meeting this was a problem I was keen to solve.

In other sports such as football its all about following the local team (or one that you dad supports), but in the world of motor sport this was something different…….but if the day had taught me anything then the spectacle of a Reliant Kitten punching well above its weight almost certainly cemented a view I probably still hold – supporting the underdog might not lead to endless success, but it was exactly what I wanted to do.