A Magnette at the Palace

Report by Malcolm Eades

Petrol-heads who parted with £10.00 at the entrance to the Sevenoaks and District Motor Club’s “Motorsport at the Palace” event were handsomely rewarded with two days of excellent sprinting on a tight little track nestling in the natural amphitheatre at Crystal Palace.

In case you missed it, I’ll just repeat that entry fee: just ten pounds, including parking the car!! As the day proved, this excellent two-day club event would have been good value at twice the price. The sprint track includes a section of the old motor racing circuit so anyone “of a certain age” will be full of nostalgia hearing again the roar of engines in this attractive wooded and grassy-sloped venue with so much history behind it. With a field that ranged from Norton-engined single-seaters through a predictable assembly of MGs, Minis, Escorts and Lotuses to Ferraris and full racers, there was something to suit every taste. And apart from the on-track activity there was a display of club and spectators’ cars that offered a tasty selection of desirable classics. The Alfa Romeo Montreal was probably the pin-up that I would have taken home, even faced with a choice of prancing horses. For the Magnette enthusiast there was a special treat in the competitors list: Darren Brock’s very modified 1954 ZA (KAE13/9320 reg’d 225 FMK).