Pete's Stock Car Pages

In 1972 I was taken to my first motor sport event, the "S.T.P. Daily Mail Race of Champions" for Formula One Grand Prix cars at Brands Hatch in Kent. The race was won by a young Emerson Fittipaldi who was to become the 1972 world champion. I'd got the motor racing bug. I'm now a fan of all types of motor and motor cycle sport. Over the years my passion has taken me as far as Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix, and as close as my home town for Lawn Mower Racing. I have seen all types of the sport first-hand and have a particular interest in Oval Racing, especially BriSCA Formula One Stock Car Racing.

In 1975 a Formula One Stock Car Racing north / south "split" took place. That was good for fans in the south like me. We could get to see the big cars race at local tracks. It is an interesting period for the sport. Until the end of 1979, there were two sets of promoters and two sets of drivers organising the racing of identical specification cars, and yet one side seemed to totally ignore the existence of the other. On these web pages, I have tried to draw together the strands of information available to paint a picture of the racing in London and the South of England before, during and after this period.

In 1996 old grudges and disagreements were finally put to rest and unlimited capacity Formula One Stock Cars returned South. Their appearances at Wimbledon Stadium have delighted the southern based fans. I have been track-side and have summarised the action from these great Wimbledon meetings.

Acknowledgements and Credits

I would like to thank Dave Carter (photo credit DC) of Rolling Start fame for supplying me with the superb pictures from Wimbledon, West Ham and Wembley, and Colin Casserley (CC) for lots of SCOTA information and some great photos from the early SCOTA days. Ian Silver (IS) kindly provided me with some excellent SCOTA photos as well as detailed SCOTA fixture information. Rick Young (RY), now resident in Canada, has sent me lots of great recollections from the SCOTA era and southern scene since the sixties. Rick has also sent me, via Colin Herridge (CH) some great photos. Colin, too, has sent some photos from his collection as has Pete Tilden.

From the Netherlands, Marcel Derksen (MD) has sent me details of NACO drivers who raced in the UK with SCOTA and a superb shot from a SCOTA World Final. Dave Hopkins tracked down, and sent me, a tune that many people ask me about and Mirko Karner from Germany, Paul Flowers, Peter MacLeod, Mike Perkins and Roger Biggs sent me more theme tune information. Jimmy Hill found many other theme tunes for me.

I'm thankful to Jon Driscoll (JD) for photos and SCOTA memories and to David Humphries (DH) for recollections and photos of F1 stockcars at Brands Hatch. Gary Lecroissette (GL) has fond memories of Staines in the fifties and he has some great images which he's kindly sent me. I have been able to illustrate one of my favourite tracks thanks to information and photos supplied by Mike Andrew (MA), Neil Thomson (NT) and Chris Hill (CH).

Many thanks to Nigel Anderson, author of the fine F1 feature in Spedeweek 37/04, for sending me detailed SCOTA and F1SCA fixtures and results. And thanks too to Jerry Fisher, with Ringwood connections and author of Rendezvous Ringwood, for details on the fine Matchams Park track.

Richard Bourne (RB) remembers the first World Champion and, thanks to him, I have been able to include recollections from the early days of the sport. Martin Taylor was a fan of the sport in the early days too, and he has clear memories of the Kent tracks.

Thanks to Mike Winterton for a superbly written piece on the joys of 1970's Stockcar Racing in the Midlands. Mike's dad Phil Winterton took photos at Brafield which he kindly sent me to illustrate Mike's story.

I admire the historical research of promotor and journalist Keith Barber and acknowledge his inspiration, dedication and loyalty to BriSCA F1.

I have had many stockcar fans, drivers and those connected with the sport from all over the world giving me new information, correcting errors and filling in gaps. Thank you. If anyone can help with information, photos, corrections or anything else, I'd love to hear from you.

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