My Private Nordschleife
A Digital Free Childhood
They asphalted over the dirt road. It became a fastrack to my future.
Ever since I saw it on the TV aged nine, I was fascinated. The cars were sleek, the speed was exciting and the commentary was explosive. What ever Formula One was, it was noisy, dangerous, rebellious and intoxicating.
My mum didn’t like the racing. But whenever the driver Graham Hill was being interviewed, she was watching.
My brother and sister were quite a bit older and had no interest in anything I liked as a default position. I had a couple of friends at school and limited access to anything else except the TV.
On Saturdays there were two sports shows. Grandstand on BBC1 and World of Sport on ITV. This was England in the seventies and that was it.
These shows covered some important circuit races but mostly it was the RAC Rally. This annual event took place between small teams with modified road cars in the big English forests. Elite, professional drivers were entered by manufacturers such as Ford and Vauxhall. The cars were not too different from those I could see in the local showrooms.
The best program of them all was broadcast about every three weeks on Sunday afternoons. Through the…
