In 1968 I went to the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch .General admission for the day was 10 shillings sterling .Using the official inflation indices this equates to 6 pounds 50 pence in today's money - A$ 9.70(US $10.20) . And for our 10 shillings back in 1968 we got great supporting races before the main event .
So the price of general admission to a grand prix has increased by 10 times in real terms between 1968 and 2012 .Of course some of this has gone into better facilities ( the toilets are cleaner) but much of it has gone into the coffers of the formula one "financial gnomes".And let's not forget that the state government in Victoria also tips in A$50m every year to support the grand prix .It really is a disgrace .The fans and the Victorian taxpayers are paying through the nose for the circus.
The 1968 British Grand Prix was a fantastic race won to everyone's surprise by Jo Siffert in Rob Walker's Lotus Ford . Rob Walker was a privateer . Imagine that today -- a private formula one entrant.Siffert was 4.4 seconds ahead of Chris Amon in a Ferrari .The entry list makes me tear up just reading it .
I still have the poster for that race stuck on my garage wall by blutack .
Better still I have a wonderful atmospheric shot of Siffert racing to victory I took from the inside of Kidney Bend from the general admission enclosure -- no catch fencing then .The shot was taken on my Leica 3A with a 50mm 2.8 Elmar lens on Ilford FP3 film home processed in ID11.
What a great, moody and evocative shot. Times past? Yup, they were OK.
ReplyDeleteI seem to recall the Concorde Agreement between the F1 teams and the Ecclestone Empire is due for renewal soon. What's the betting they all sign-up like sheep, instead of doing what is right for F1?
2014 and we'll have turbos back - already Ferrari are whining because they don't use small engines in their cars and therefore there's no benefit in developing a new engine. Wonder what they'll do?
I bet VW/Audi, Honda and Renault aren't thinking that.