All revved up with places to go

Vicki Butler-Henderson is happy to see return of motorsport after its long shutdown

It has taken a while, but the doors to the motorsport world are now open.

The UK’s tracks can play host to racers once more, from grass roots to top end championships – and last weekend was a bonanza one.

The British Touring Car Championship turned its first wheels at Donington Park in Derbyshire, the British GT went into action at Oulton Park in Cheshire and the Formula One British Grand Prix put on a spectacle further south at Silverstone.

There is to be a second Silverstone race this weekend which will celebrate the 70th birthday for F1 and while the sport’s first World Championship race was held at the Northamptonshire circuit and attended by the parents of our Queen – King George VI and Queen Elizabeth – sadly no spectators are allowed this year.

Despite no crowds to cheer him on, Lewis

Hamilton’s seventh Silverstone GP victory happened just four days ago. His victorious Mercedes-Benz is a world away from the cars that raced at the track in 1950.

Today, the cars are powered by a 1.6-litre engine with a turbocharger and electric motors that combine to produce around 900hp. The inaugural British GP was won by the Italian package of Giuseppe “Nino” Farina and a dominant Alfa Romeo 158 and his car was powered by a 1.5-litre supercharged engine with 350hp.

Twenty years before the F1 World Championship was born, my grandfather, LionelB-H,racedaFrazer Nash at venues such as Brooklands circuit in Surrey. In the 1930s he and his rivals roared around the near-three miles of track, which is steeply banked at either end up to 30ft high, with barely a piece of leather acting as helmet.

One mistake and they could be fired off into the solid mass of trees over the track’s top edge. Chilling stuff.

I have been really blessed to sit in my grandfather’s actual machine and at Brooklands for an extra slice of nostalgia and it is not a car I would fancy racing. It’s as far from ergonomic as you can get, with the gear lever on the outside of its body, for starters.

But driving it that day was one of the most sentimental experiences I have ever had and I remain in awe of him and all who raced at that time where the word “safety” barely existed.

However, when Lewis Hamilton took the chequered flag on Sunday, he crossed the finish line with three working wheels and sparks flying out from under the fourth.

Motorsport – welcome back.

THRILLS AND SPILLS: Lewis Hamilton limps to victory, above, and Josh Cook at the British Touring Car Championship

Vicki in the passenger seat of her grandfather’s Frazer Nash and Lionel Butler-Henderson himself in car 85