A lesser-known fact about one of the most celebrated horseracing venues in Great Britain is its glorious car racing past, when it hosted five editions of the British Formula One Grand Prix in 1955, 1957, 1959, 1961, and 1962. The old Motor Racing Circuit borders with the horse track. The Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool is feverishly preparing for one of the season’s main horse events on April 8th – 10th. If you love the four-legged in addition to the four-wheeled runners, have a look at bet-grand-national.co.uk sign up offers and take your pick. As for the old Motor Racing Circuit, last year the chance to drive a car for 3 laps of a real Grand Prix historic track was already sold out before winter was over. The 65th Anniversary Parade of the other racecourse at Aintree, on July 16th, was very successful.
An emotional wave carried the event, since the legend of Formula One, sir Stirling Moss, passed away on Easter Sunday, aged 90. In the eyes of the public, Moss was probably Britain’s most famous racing driver of all time. He started his career in 1948, as a kid of 19, though his first car had come long before, as a gift from his father Alfred when he was barely nine years old. Moss senior was himself a racing driver, though amateur, and the one who gave his son his original name as a good luck charm. His father’s 328 BMW, DPX 653, was the first car that young Stirling drove in a race. But he soon bought himself a Cooper 500, a proper racing car, using the money prizes he won as a horse rider. That’s it, Moss was a skilled, competitive horse rider before making history in car racing.
Moss raced from 1948 to 1962, when he crashed his Lotus heavily during the Glover Trophy at Goodwood. He was in a coma for a month and partially paralyzed for six. He gave up professional racing as a consequence, feeling he was not the same as before despite his physical recovery. He had won 212 of the 529 races he ran in his relatively short career, including 16 Formula One Grand Prix. The one in 1955, his first World Championship victory was the first of those organized in Aintree. On that occasion, Moss was the first British driver to win a Grand Prix.
The Aintree Motor Racing Circuit was built specifically for the Grand Prix. The 3-mile track was opened in 1954 by Earl Howe and Raymond Mays. After the first edition in 1955, the 1957 race saw the first British driver’s victory driving a British car (Moss had driven a Mercedes W196), when Moss and Tony Brooks shared a Vanwall. The event was also honored with the title “Grand Prix d’Europe”. Aintree hosted three more Grand Prix events (1959, 1961, 1962) and a further eleven non-Championship Aintree “200” Formula One events.
Since then, more modern racetracks have taken over the role of hosts of Formula One races. Nevertheless, the track is still alive: for over twenty years Liverpool Motor Club has been running its season of highly popular Sprints on the Club Circuit at the historic Aintree Motor Racing Circuit.
Not to be too critical but ‘Sterling’ is spelt Stirling & ‘Godwood’ is Goodwood. Always interesting to read the history of Aintree but rarely if ever is anything ever said in respect of my uncle H. J. Morgan (John Morgan) who was Race Organiser & Clerk of The Course for all five British Grand Prix held there. It was John who waved the Chequered Flag for Moss at the end of the 1955 race, and for Clark at the 1962 race. John had many accolades not least of course, being Vice President of the BARC, he also owned & ran Londons’ famous Steering Wheel Club.