SILVERSTONE AT 70

Top Ten memorable moments on track

With Brooklands and Donington Park out of action following WW2, the attention of British motorsport fans shifted instead to the disused airfields that were then dotted around the UK. In June 1948, the Royal Automobile Club announced that it had arranged to lease one of those from the Air Ministry, and only a few months later Silverstone hosted its first Grand Prix. That inaugural event was won by the Maserati of Luigi Villoresi, and the circuit used parts of the old runways as well as the perimeter road. For the following year, the runways were abandoned and Silverstone assumed the basic outline that it would retain until 1991.

It was a simple but fast layout, and anyone who saw Ronnie Peterson going through Woodcote, or Nigel Mansell at Stowe, is unlikely to forget the experience. No doubt countless drivers have fond memories of the old Club Circuit, too, the design of which encouraged all sorts of final-corner derring-do. Even some Silverstone test sessions are remembered decades later, such as Ayrton Senna’s 1983 try-out for Mclaren.

Our shortlist focuses on the major meetings, but hopefully it goes some way to honouring the circuit’s long and illustrious history.