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Motor racing Days #9

MOTOR racing DAYS:            Although my blogs are about living at Hoar Cross Hall, I would just like to give a bit of background about my dad’s racing career in the years leading up to moving to the Hall as this will set the scene for later instalments of my story. As mentioned in my first blog my dad used to be a racing driver but he actually started off racing motor cycles in the 1930s.   Because of this he became a despatch rider during the Second World War and spent a lot of time in North Africa.  After the war he started racing at nearby Donington Park and he raced there up to the beginning of the 1950s.  After that he moved onto cars and dr...

RACE TRACK ‘AFTER PARTIES’ #27

RACE TRACK ‘AFTER PARTIES’ Because my dad used to be a racing driver he was often invited to parties and open days at various racing circuits.  He naturally knew lots of racing people and on this particular occasion he was invited to an Open Day at Donington Park.  Tom Wheatcroft, a local entrepreneur, had bought Donington Park in the 1970s as he owned the largest collection of Grand Prix cars in the world at that time.  In 1973 he opened a museum there to house them all and called it the Donington Grand Prix Exhibition.   Donington became the favoured home of the British round of the MotoGP motorcycling championships but he was really hoping to bring F...

"He's behind you!" #66

During the 1970s Hoar Cross Hall was used from time to time for local community activities and one such event was the production in 1978 of a traditional pantomime, ‘Midnight and a Journey back to Happiness’.   It was written by local people, Robert Leighton from Yoxall and the Hon. Alexandra Meynell, daughter-in-law of Mrs Jean Meynell whom we had purchased the Hall from.  The words and music were written by local songwriter, David Matthews, who had written songs for quite a few pop artists during the 1960s, his most famous being Matt Munro’s ‘We’re gonna change the world’.  So off to a good start there! For those of you who don’t reside in t...

Like father, like sons #20

...d's first racing car in the 1950s     Gavin in his FF2000   At the end of 1987 he finished racing and went into engineering in Formula 3, then onto Formula Ople working for teams in Norfolk.  Here he ran drivers to British and European championship success then went onto Formula 3000 (Formula 1 support) and won the championship in 2001 with the Williams Junior team based in Norfolk. In 2005 he set up iSport and started to do Formula 2 (GP support series).  This ran for 10 years before commercial pressures forced it to close. During that time however they got 7 drivers to Formula 1, won 4 championships and had over 80 podium finishes!  Nowadays...

Race Day Parties! #25

...onsored a racing car there. We both dressed up in our mediaeval costumes and became ‘Grid Girls’ for the day which was also a lot of fun when you’re only 16 and the world’s media is focused on the race track that you’re standing on!   Don’t miss next week’s instalment: 'See you in Court'   If you would like to follow my story from the beginning, please click here and feel free to share with your friends.   Please subscribe to my youtube channel and follow me around my childhood home, bringing my blogs to life on my 'Tour of the House'.   Click here for this!  ...

Panto Pranks! #23

...PANTO PRANKS!       During the 1970s Hoar Cross Hall was used from time to time for local community activities and one such event was the production in 1978 of a traditional pantomime, ‘Midnight and a Journey back to Happiness’.   It was written by local people, Robert Leighton from Yoxall and the Hon. Alexandra Meynell, daughter-in-law of Mrs Jean Meynell whom we had purchased the Hall from.  The words and music were written by local songwriter, David Matthews, who had written songs for quite a few pop artists during the 1960s, his most famous being Matt Munro’s ‘We’re gonna change the world’.  So off to a good start there! For those of you...