BRITISH GP CAMPSITES
The campsite at the British Grand Prix is a sensible affair these days, but in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s it was utter mayhem. We get first-hand accounts from some of the reprobates responsible for the carnage
Motorcyclists can be a rowdy, rebellious lot. And when you get enough of them together, chaos often ensues. Mostly light-hearted, high-spirited chaos – of the kind that was once habitual on the campsites at the British Grand Prix. And, quite appropriately as these occasions were celebrations of the internal combustion engine at their heart, they often involved fire.
The first British GP I attended was the very first, in August 1977. On Saturday evening, a few thousand of us took Towcester by storm – pubs jammed solid, wheelies here and mayhem there. The town didn’t know what had hit it. And although we didn’t burn the place down, the locals looked at us like we were about to.
We saved the pyrotechnics for later. The bloke running our campsite near Stowe corner foolishly made himself unpopular, earning himself the nickname Kamp Kommandant. That led to his Portakabin HQ being burned to the ground in the wee small hours.
That kind of thing went on into the 1980s, through the 1990s and the 2000s, when a bit of rave spirit spilled into the campsites. After this, the Fun Police finally stepped in to stop this orgy of disgraceful, dangerous behaviour and mindless enjoyment.
The stories that follow are the testaments of those who were present to witness (and take part in) those wild times.
