An Afternoon at Brands Hatch Circuit

[Canadian Turbo]

Living in South East London makes you close to some things and not so close to others but one thing that is quite close to my house is Brands Hatch racetrack, and by close I mean it is about 12 miles from my door to the circuit. Now since I do not drive here I have never had the pleasure of visiting this historic track as that 12 miles makes for a grueling journey by public transport, but that all changed this past weekend. A couple of friends also live in the area and they suggested visiting the track for the final weekend of the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season and of course I jumped at the chance as I am always up for a motor sport experience so Sunday morning we made the big trip (20 minutes with traffic) and arrived for a full afternoon of races.

These are some of the pictures I took through the day, just taken on my phone with no adjustments, I just thought I would share some of the excitement. There was three rounds of the BTCC and plenty of support races from MSA Formula, Ginetta Juniors, Ginetta GT Supercup, Clio Cup and Carrera Cup races meaning the track was not clear for much of the day. The early visit in the season uses the Indy circuit layout and this final round uses the full Grand Prix layout.

Thanks for looking!!

The main straight between races



Ginetta GTs taking the grid



Paddock Hill Bend



Looking back up Paddock Hill



BTCC Race 2 first corner action





Walking around the support race paddock





Classic Renault



This guy was just hanging out in the lot









A cool crew vehicle







MSA Formula action





Inside Druids hairpin



Top of Druids hairpin





Final race of the day and the BTCC season with the championship and some first lap carnage









And finally just a nice car on the way out!

[RSS]

Re: An Afternoon at Brands Hatch Circuit

Not sure about the longer track much prefer the classic length even though it is a really short lap.

Had the MSA series switched over to the Formula 4 cars yet? or where they still in that weird ecoboost Formula Ford configuration?

[Geobmx4life]

Re: An Afternoon at Brands Hatch Circuit

What an incredible incredible place to be able to go hang out....and so close!

[Canadian Turbo]

Re: An Afternoon at Brands Hatch Circuit

Not sure about the longer track much prefer the classic length even though it is a really short lap.

Had the MSA series switched over to the Formula 4 cars yet? or where they still in that weird ecoboost Formula Ford configuration?

They do the short version at the beginning of the season so it would be fun to check that out and compare, also with the elevation of the area if you get a good grandstand seat you can pretty much view the entire track in the short length from one spot.

I believe they were still running the ecoboost's, end of season so perhaps this was the last race for it all.

What an incredible incredible place to be able to go hang out....and so close!

Yes it is amazing to think this place is so close and all the racers and cars that have been there over the years. They also offer some driving experiences, and a couple of sessions in an M4 sounds like a lot of fun!

[Chris]

Re: An Afternoon at Brands Hatch Circuit

Awesome pics, Blair! What a cool experience.

[PRY4SNO]

Re: An Afternoon at Brands Hatch Circuit

Looks like a great way to spend the weekend!

[witchcraftz]

Re: An Afternoon at Brands Hatch Circuit

Nice pics, looks like a great time!

[Wildfire]

Re: An Afternoon at Brands Hatch Circuit

This is awesome. Oddly enough I was driving around BH on Grand Turismo over the weekend.

Blair, I was at Castle Comb about ten years ago. Its down the M4 just past Swindon.

Being at race track is awesome. The roar of the exhausts are totally different from what you hear on TV and you can smell of the octane. The cars go really fast and they do messup. Its exhilarating to see drivers slamming on the brakes, making split second decisions right in front you that could end up in a crash or taking the chicane penalty.