G
Graham Smith
Guest
I found this on another site, and thought some on our forum website might find it interesting…
In the years straight after the second World War there was a great hunger for motor racing in the UK but an equally great shortage of race tracks.
Redundant airfields were a great place to start (Silverstone, Thruxton, Croft, Goodwood and Snetterton all started this way) but the army camp at Blandford in Dorset also fitted the bill. A circuit was laid out for a race around the perimiter of the base. With fast corners and no chicanes it was a very quick track.
However a serving army officer, Major Peter Braid, entered his F3 car, which were in those days rudimentary space frame cars powered by 500cc motor cycle engines.
During the race Baird lost control of his car and careered off the road. There had been a serious accident in the sports car race earlier in the day which had demolished a bus shelter and the hapless Major was launched off the remains of the shelter and landed on the roof of the Battalion Headquarters, relatively unhurt.
It was going to need some serious manpower to get the car down (they had that on an Army camp!) but the car stayed on the roof for the rest of the afternoon!
In the years straight after the second World War there was a great hunger for motor racing in the UK but an equally great shortage of race tracks.
Redundant airfields were a great place to start (Silverstone, Thruxton, Croft, Goodwood and Snetterton all started this way) but the army camp at Blandford in Dorset also fitted the bill. A circuit was laid out for a race around the perimiter of the base. With fast corners and no chicanes it was a very quick track.
However a serving army officer, Major Peter Braid, entered his F3 car, which were in those days rudimentary space frame cars powered by 500cc motor cycle engines.
During the race Baird lost control of his car and careered off the road. There had been a serious accident in the sports car race earlier in the day which had demolished a bus shelter and the hapless Major was launched off the remains of the shelter and landed on the roof of the Battalion Headquarters, relatively unhurt.
It was going to need some serious manpower to get the car down (they had that on an Army camp!) but the car stayed on the roof for the rest of the afternoon!