Joined Apr 2008
7K Posts | 3K+
Out of Nowhere
http://youtu.be/SLovgYl0Tec
Amazing the attendance that these events would pull. It was a popular event which was well publicised. Through persistently pestering my parents to take me they eventually relented and I went to several including Oulton and Donington. Weird to see such a full Mallory Park. I remember being in that crowd that day very well - the cheer for Bazza, watching the grids assemble in the sunshine standing outfield on the banking over the Kirkby Straight eating a 99 with flake.
Nice shot of Edwina's as it used to be. Devil's Elbow was and still is horrendous. When this was filmed there was no bus stop chicane after Shaw's hairpin to slow the entry. I had a very nasty unintentional slide down there during a track day through not short shifting and pinning it in second. Might be a quick lap but it's hard to generate/retain heat in the left hand shoulder of the tyre. The shots at 1:50 & 2:05 illustrate just how dodgy this used to be. Zero run off, negative camber and some cursory straw bails lining the armco almost as an afterthought. No coincidence there's a Doctor parked in the foreground.
Also spotted Randy with a shock of curly hair, and Wes Cooley with a page boy cut.
I could well be wrong about this but I'm sure that Jim Redman had a major issue with the circuit and at some point in his career may have even refused to ride. Ago described it as deceptively easy, that its ostensible simplicity and benign technical level belied its difficulty and murderous intent.
Prior to the Donington Park Day of Champions, the Riders for Health organised 'Ride In' - usually lead by Steve Plater or Niall Mackenzie, used to go from The Victoria a biker pub in Coalville, (hometown of Harry Stafford). From 2008, from memory the final two years hosting the GP, it went from Mallory. Participants signing up would get two laps of Mallory Park culminating in several banzai laps of Donington on arrival. Because you had to wait at Doni to get on track every year some ... would invariably bin it in spectacular style on cold tyres. Once on track, everyone overtook the pace car and went bat .... - a two lap track day. I remember a Pan European of all things going down at the Melbourne loop and carted home in a wheelbarrow. The billiard table like track surface at Doni made Mallory look like a driveway laid by a pikey in comparison.
Mallory shouldn't be operating anymore. For years it has been contravening a local agreement on noise regulations which the crusade by those living adjacent to the circuit have now cottoned on to. Much like Brands it is under a continual assault by the nimby's. Michael Rutter himself used to be a resident of Kirkby Mallory but I think he's long gone.
I've ridden the track many times, attended some great races, loved the place and in equal measure loathed it when in 2007 it prematurely claimed the life of the brilliant Ollie Bridewell during a wetpractice session in BSB. Ive seen Gerrads, once the longest right hander in the country butchered and Edwina's ruined by similar 'chicanery' (actually, that's unfair..it was ultimately in the interests of safety although it screwed with the flow of the racing).
Despite my love hate relationship with my local circuit I'd be sorry to see it go - great place for anglers too...but ....! for the few track day's I still infrequently do these days I need no reminder of the fact that Doni's also on my doorstep and a far better ride.
Amazing the attendance that these events would pull. It was a popular event which was well publicised. Through persistently pestering my parents to take me they eventually relented and I went to several including Oulton and Donington. Weird to see such a full Mallory Park. I remember being in that crowd that day very well - the cheer for Bazza, watching the grids assemble in the sunshine standing outfield on the banking over the Kirkby Straight eating a 99 with flake.
Nice shot of Edwina's as it used to be. Devil's Elbow was and still is horrendous. When this was filmed there was no bus stop chicane after Shaw's hairpin to slow the entry. I had a very nasty unintentional slide down there during a track day through not short shifting and pinning it in second. Might be a quick lap but it's hard to generate/retain heat in the left hand shoulder of the tyre. The shots at 1:50 & 2:05 illustrate just how dodgy this used to be. Zero run off, negative camber and some cursory straw bails lining the armco almost as an afterthought. No coincidence there's a Doctor parked in the foreground.
Also spotted Randy with a shock of curly hair, and Wes Cooley with a page boy cut.
I could well be wrong about this but I'm sure that Jim Redman had a major issue with the circuit and at some point in his career may have even refused to ride. Ago described it as deceptively easy, that its ostensible simplicity and benign technical level belied its difficulty and murderous intent.
Prior to the Donington Park Day of Champions, the Riders for Health organised 'Ride In' - usually lead by Steve Plater or Niall Mackenzie, used to go from The Victoria a biker pub in Coalville, (hometown of Harry Stafford). From 2008, from memory the final two years hosting the GP, it went from Mallory. Participants signing up would get two laps of Mallory Park culminating in several banzai laps of Donington on arrival. Because you had to wait at Doni to get on track every year some ... would invariably bin it in spectacular style on cold tyres. Once on track, everyone overtook the pace car and went bat .... - a two lap track day. I remember a Pan European of all things going down at the Melbourne loop and carted home in a wheelbarrow. The billiard table like track surface at Doni made Mallory look like a driveway laid by a pikey in comparison.
Mallory shouldn't be operating anymore. For years it has been contravening a local agreement on noise regulations which the crusade by those living adjacent to the circuit have now cottoned on to. Much like Brands it is under a continual assault by the nimby's. Michael Rutter himself used to be a resident of Kirkby Mallory but I think he's long gone.
I've ridden the track many times, attended some great races, loved the place and in equal measure loathed it when in 2007 it prematurely claimed the life of the brilliant Ollie Bridewell during a wetpractice session in BSB. Ive seen Gerrads, once the longest right hander in the country butchered and Edwina's ruined by similar 'chicanery' (actually, that's unfair..it was ultimately in the interests of safety although it screwed with the flow of the racing).
Despite my love hate relationship with my local circuit I'd be sorry to see it go - great place for anglers too...but ....! for the few track day's I still infrequently do these days I need no reminder of the fact that Doni's also on my doorstep and a far better ride.
