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Crystal Palace Circuit History of a lost race track
In this Circuits of the past video the history of the Crystal Palace Circuit.
The Crystal Palace Circuit was a racing circuit located in the Crystal Palace Park in London, England.
The name Crystal Palace comes from a cast iron and plate glass structure exposition centre which was built for the 1851 Great Exhibition. The original location was actually Hyde Park. But in 1878 it was relocated to a new park in Southern London, which was named Crystal Palace Park.
In november 1936 the Crystal Palace was destroyed by a fire. The building was never rebuilt, but the ruin is still in the Crystal Palace Park.
The Crystal Palace Circuit opened on May 21, 1927 with a race for motorcycles. For the 1 Mile track they made usage of existing roads through the park. The bends were covered by an asphalt layer, but the straights were gravel roads.
I december 1936 - short after the fire that destroyed the Crystal Palace - they start improvements to the circuit. The layout was extended to 2 Miles and the full track was now covered with an asphalt layer.
On July 17, 1937 the First ever London Grand Prix was held at the improved Crystal Palace Circuit. The race was won by Prince Bira from Siam, who would also win the First ever race at the Dutch circuit of Zandvoort in 1948.
The Crystal Palace Circuit hosted also the First ever race event that was covered by the BBC. That was the 1937 International Imperial Trophy which was also won by Prince Bira.
After World War Two, racing continued at Crystal Palace in 1953. The loop on the infield was bypassed, which reduced the lengt of the circuit to 1.39 Miles.
Because noise complaints from local residents, racing event were reduced to only 5 per year in the 1950’s.
In 1960 the Start/Finish was moved from the Stadium Straight to the Terrace Straight, in front of the Crystal Palace ruin.
The Crystal Palace Circuit hosted races for sports cars, saloon cars, Formula Three, Formula Two, and non-championship Formula One races.
In 1970 the maximum race events expired to 14 days per year.
But when safety became an issue in the early 1970’s, the Crystal Palace Circuit was criticized for being too dangerous. Improvements were made but the track was found no longer suitable for most race series after the 1972 season.
Untill 1974 the Crystal Palace Circuit was used for club events. But after the 1974 season it closed forever.
However, since 1997 a part of the old Crystal Palace Circuit is used for annual sprint races in May. Unfortunately the 2020 event was canceled because of the COVID-19 crisis.
Today most of the track is still there. A part is used as access road for the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. Another part has been narrowed and is now only open for cyclists and pedestrians.
The old Crystal Palace Circuit also played a role in the 2013 movie Rush, about the 1976 Formula 1 season and the battle between Niki Lauda and James Hunt.
They used the Crystal Palace ruin as background for some scenes. But the action on track was filmed at Cadwell Park.
More about the racing circuits from the past on the website:
www.circuitsof... (English)
www.circuitsof... (Nederlands)
Special thanks to Simon Smith for the voiceover. Visit also his channel: / higherplaingames
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