Too bloody right it’s dangerous when you consider how close my dad is standing to the course, with nothing but a bit of grass and maybe a small wooden fence between him and some racing cars!
This is from the 6th August 1956, at the Television Trophy at Brands Hatch. It’s a Formula 3 race, and the information my dad recorded on the back of a print of this wonderfully detailed:
#2 Cooper Norton. Stuart Lewis-Evans
#6 Cooper Norton, George Wicken
#1 Cooper Mk IX Norton (Cooper Car Co) Jim Russell
#36 Cooper MK IX Norton, Ivor Bueb
And amazingly, there is a website that confirms it all.
It’s amazing to see how close they were to the action, and the complete absence of any safety features. I know drivers were killed all the time in those days, but you have to wonder how many spectators died as well. I was going to say that I thought things might have changed after the huge fatal accident at Le Mans, when 84 spectators were killed, but it turns out that happened the year *before* this race.