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racing travels #40

racing TRAVELS:   During the 1960s my dad travelled all over Europe with his racing team.  The header photo shows him with his VW van with his racing car on the back.  He usually took two mechanics with him who were friends of his who just loved racing and volunteered their services for a free holiday abroad!  He went to all the big racing circuits:  Hockenheim, Nurburgring and Monza, travelling across Europe to get to them.  He always came back with lots of funny stories to tell.  Because the van he used wasn't brand new it would sometimes break down but at least he had two mechanics with him - however, getting parts wasn't easy in the 1960s, especially...

Moving in - to a stately home! #2

MOVING IN -  TO A STATELY HOME!   My parents took vacant possession of Hoar Cross Hall in 1970 and the whole process of moving house was done over the summer months. We lived about 20 miles away in an old vicarage with a large garden and lots of outbuildings. This house was about 200 years old and they say Bonnie Prince Charlie marched past it on his way to battle back in the day, for all you history buffs out there! Actually I love history and I think my interest was fuelled by living in these historic houses as a child. My dad used to be a racing driver in the 1950s and before that he did motorcycle racing, often at nearby Donington Park. During the 1960s h...

An Englishman's Home is his Mansion! #2

AN ENGLISHMAN'S HOME IS HIS MANSION! My parents took vacant possession of Hoar Cross Hall in 1970 and the whole process of moving house was done over the summer months. We lived about 20 miles away in an old vicarage with a large garden and lots of outbuildings. This house was about 200 years old and they say Bonnie Prince Charlie marched past it on his way to battle back in the day, for all you history buffs out there! Actually I love history and I think my interest was fuelled by living in these historic houses as a child. My dad used to be a racing driver in the 1950s and before that he did motorcycle racing, often at nearby Donnington Park. During the 1960s...

Eat, Drink & Be Merry #11

...t his old racing car in one of the rooms with a display of photos and newspaper cuttings from his sixties tours around Europe’s race tracks. This appealed to the male visitors while the ladies enjoyed the ever increasing collection of Victorian costumes around the house along with an antique sewing machine and a musical box which played lovely tunes when wound up. My dad displaying his racing car on the drive   Apart from the bank holidays though we didn’t get huge amounts of visitors and my parents started to think of other things they could do. They had heard about mediaeval banquets being run at a place called Coombe Abbey near Coventry and went a...

To the Manor Born #77

...an tours, racing at all the well-known circuits, he would test his racing car by driving it around the village in the early hours of the morning when no-one was about!  No-one, that is, except the local Police who would constantly arrive at our doorstep informing him very politely not to keep doing it!   I think they viewed him as an English eccentric – even if he wasn’t ‘to the manor born’. From this house we moved to Hoar Cross Hall in the 1970s and a whole new adventure was about to start for us all as told in my blogs ‘Growing up in a stately home’.   Don't miss next month's blog - 'Meet the Neighbours - Blithfield Hall' A new series of b...

Moving On #33

...in motor racing never waned; he often went to local races with his friends.  Gavin eventually moved out to live near Norwich with his girlfriend Helen, and they married in 1991.  He joined a motor racing team over there and went on to have a very successful career in racing, eventually running his own GP2 motor racing team, iSport International, who became world champions.  He also takes amazing photographs of wild animals and birds for a hobby – check out his photography website Piers stayed with my dad and used the large workshops at the new house for renovating cars and selling them, following in my dad’s footsteps, as amongst other things, this is...