The Davenports were a family of significant landowners in the north-west of England whose antecedents can be traced back to the time of the Norman conquest. Orm de Davenport lived close to what is now Marton, and his name derives from the Norman French Dauen-port meaning "the town on the trickling stream", referring to his home on the River Dane. In 1160, the family became responsible for Macclesfield Forest, and in the early 13th century Vivian Davenport became its Grand Sergeant. The family's achievement of arms has, as the crest, a felon's head with a rope around the neck, which is said to represent the family's power over life and death during this period. The Davenports acquired land throughout the area, notably at Wheltrough, Henbury, Woodford and lastly at Bramhall through marriage.
The Davenports held the manor for around 500 years, and it is likely that they built the current house after their accession. The first William Davenport was lord of the manor from 1478 to 1528, and one of the first recorded trustees of Macclesfield Grammar School. It is possible that he was heavily involved in the final battle of the Wars of the Roses at Bosworth and thereby instrumental in gaining the crown for Henry VII, who rewarded him with a pension of 20 marks per year payable for his lifetime. According to Dean, it was during this first William's tenure that Bramall may have been vandalised by a man named Randle Hassall, who destroyed all or part of nine houses and stole the timber. This gives credence to the theory that Bramall was rebuilt, replacing or partially replacing an older building.
The third William Davenport, who succeeded his father of the same name in 1541, took part in what later became known as The Rough Wooing, a series of attacks against Scotland ordered by Henry VIII. He was knighted in Scotland for his efforts at the burning of Edinburgh in May 1544. The fifth William Davenport inherited Bramall in 1585 from his father of the same name, and lived there with his wife Dorothy for over 50 years. The first marriage in Bramall's chapel was recorded in 1599, between William (aged 15), eldest son of the fifth William and Dorothy, and Frances Wilbraham (aged 11). On 22 April 1603 the fifth William Davenport was knighted by James I and VI at Newark (where the king was staying on his journey from Edinburgh to London) and later became the High Sheriff of Cheshire and a commissioner of the Hundred of Macclesfield. During the tenure of the fifth William, many alterations were made to the building, including the addition of a room above the Great Hall (which would later become the Withdrawing Room), and a long gallery. The internal decorations were also updated with additions such as wall paintings and portraits.
The sixth William succeeded his father in 1639 shortly before the English Civil War broke out. He was a Royalist, though said not to have been a particularly dedicated one. Many of his tenants became Parliamentarian soldiers, and over the next three years he had numerous visits from Parliamentarian soldiers, mostly seeking to acquire goods such as horses and weapons for the war, and using the house for quartering soldiers. Bramall was also host to Royalist soldiers, who confiscated some of the Davenport property for use in the war. William Davenport was at one point charged with delinquency, and ordered to pay a fine of £750 (equivalent to £140,000 in 2022), and soldiers continued to use Bramall Hall because of its convenience.


The house and grounds are open to the public and are run by SMBC. Visitors may take an official tour of the house or explore it at their own pace on a self-guided basis. The public is able to wander the grounds freely at all times. Events and club meetings are held in the house and grounds throughout the year,< and local schools often visit to experience life in a particular era. The house is licensed for wedding and civil partnership ceremonies, and has been used as a background for television series and films, including Prank Patrol, Cash in the Attic, Coronation Street, The Making of a Lady and The Last Vampyre.
Currently the house is named "Bramall" while the park is named "Bramhall", though there remain some local inconsistencies. However, both have been spelt as "Bramhall", "Bramal" and other variations over the years. The Domesday Book used the spelling "Bramale", which led Charles Nevill to prefer "Bramall", a convention maintained by Hazel Grove and Bramhall Urban District Council when it acquired the property. Stockport Council consistently refer to the hall as "Bramall" and the park as "Bramhall" respectively.


There has been a settlement at Bramhall since Saxon times. According to Alfred Burton, who wrote about Bramhall in the late 19th century, the house has not always been in the present location, and was originally at Crow Holt Wood. This theory was rejected by another historian, Frederick Moorhouse, who became convinced in 1909 that Crow Holt Wood was a place where animals would have been taken to be sorted. There is no conclusive evidence to support either theory. Today the house is situated at the top of two valleys to its south and east sides, which two streams run through. It is a grade I listed building, and the oldest parts date from the late 14th century, with later renovations dating from the 16th and 19th centuries. It was originally accessed from the east side – the drive followed the route of the Ladybrook stream, then uphill towards the chapel on the south side, reaching the courtyard on the other side. The main entrance is now on the side of the courtyard, in the west, because of the restructuring of the drive in 1888. The current layout of the house can clearly be seen from the west side of the building, in the courtyard: the service wing is on the left, the Great Hall is in the centre, and the Banqueting Hall is on the right. Before the 19th century, the courtyard was enclosed by a gatehouse which was taken down between 1774 and 1819, because of its being neither required nor in vogue.
The house is built with stone foundations, and the main structure is made of oak timbers, joined together using mortice and tenon joints, and held in place with oak pegs. Wattle and daub or lath and plaster are used to fill the spaces between the timbers. The black and white appearance from the timber framing construction dates from the Tudor period, though some parts have been repaired in later years.


The Ballroom, also known as the Upper Banqueting Hall, has an arched roof and according to Dean likely dates from the 16th century. It contains rare 16th-century wall murals, including one which according to Dean may depict the nursery rhyme "Ride a cock horse", and another along the east wall depicting a man playing a mandolin. Above the chapel is the Chapel Room, also known as the Queen Anne Room, the Priest's Room, and Nevill's Room. It had been two rooms, a state bedroom and ante-room, but was almost totally transformed in the late 19th century into one larger room. A blocked-up door next to the fireplace was thought to have been a priest hole, but is more likely to have been the entrance to the first floor of the house from an external staircase before the wing was restructured, probably in the late 16th century or the early 17th century.
North of the Chapel Room is the Paradise Room, whose name derives from the bed hangings which include embroidered images of Adam and Eve and their fall from paradise, as well as the use in Tudor times of the name "paradise" for a favourite room, often a bedchamber. This room has panelled walls, and a fireplace with a cupboard on the right hand side. On the other side there is a small recess, which was described in an 1882 newspaper as "a dark passage which is said to lead to some region unknown". It is possible that this was a priest's hide, adjacent to the Chapel and Chapel Room. Less romantically, it may, alternatively, have been a garderobe or privy. This room became associated with sightings of ghosts in the 19th century, and legends of a secret passage that led from the room outside or to the Chapel arose, though no such passages exist.
The largest room on the first floor is the Withdrawing Room, situated above the Great Hall. It has an elaborate plaster ceiling, and the overmantel above the fireplace bears the arms of Queen Elizabeth I. The frieze of the Withdrawing Room incorporates shields of arms representing marriages of the Davenports.
The northern wing of Bramall came to be the service wing with the kitchen, scullery, butler's pantry, dairy and store rooms on the ground floor and the servants' bedrooms in the attic.


The ground hosted its first football match on 29 December 1862, between Sheffield F.C. and Hallam F.C. The game was played to raise money for the Lancashire Distress Fund during the cotton famine and ended 0–0.
As Sheffield's main sporting stadium it held all the most important local matches. Bramall Lane hosted the semi-final, final and second-place playoff of the 1867 Youdan Cup (won by Hallam). This was followed by the Cromwell Cup a year later, which was won by a newly formed team called The Wednesday. By 1877, a crowd of 8,000 watched The Wednesday beat Hallam in the Sheffield Challenge Cup. Bramall Lane effectively became The Wednesday's permanent home between 1880 and the opening of their new stadium at Olive Grove in 1887.
The first inter-association match, between the FA (often referred to as the London FA) and Sheffield FA, was also held at Bramall Lane on 2 December 1871.  It was won, 3–1, by the home side, who also arranged a number of games with other Associations including regular fixtures against the Glasgow FA (the first in 1874 and the last in 1957).
On 22 March 1889, six days after 22,688 people paid to watch the FA Cup semi-final between Preston North End and West Bromwich Albion, it was decided to create a home football team to play at Bramall Lane. It was named Sheffield United after the cricket team.


Bramall Lane was one of several venues used for the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 tournament. It was used to host Group C matches, alongside Leigh Sports Village, and a semi-final, which involved England.


Sheffield railway station is under a mile from the ground. As is Sheffield Interchange, which is a bus station and a National Express Coaches hub.
Sheffield's light rail tram network called the Supertram runs east of the ground. The nearest stops are: Granville Road/Sheffield College or Park Grange Croft. Both stops are 0.5 miles walking distance and either stops can be used in both directions. The ground is also visible from the viaduct which connects the two stops. The Blue route and the Purple route serve these stops. Both routes go to/from the city centre.
There are bus links outside the ground with bus stops on Shoreham Street and Bramall Lane. Other bus stops located near the ground are on Charlotte Road, Queens Road and London Road. All buses from these locations will go to/from the city centre.


The stadium is located near Route 6 of the National Cycle Network with numerous cycle paths and lanes surrounding the stadium which connect to it. Bramall Lane roundabout has an underpass for easy access to/from the city centre for cycles and pedestrians, with Bramall Lane itself having an on-road cycle lane running its length. Shorham Street is a signed cycle route and St. Mary's Gate (A61 Ring road) has a traffic free cycle path. There are various secured and unsecured bike parking facilities close to the ground.


The original Bramante staircase, in the Pio-Clementine Museum, was built in 1505 to a double helix design by Donato Bramante. It connects the Belvedere palace of Pope Innocent VIII to the outside and stands in a square tower of that building.
The Bramante Staircase features granite Doric columns and a herringbone paving pattern, and was designed to allow people and pack animals to ascend and descend without interruption.
The stair is cited as the inspiration for Antonio da Sangallo the Younger's design for the double helix passageway at the well of San Patrizio  in Orvieto, to solve a similar logistical problem.
The staircase was built to allow Pope Julius II to enter his private residence while still in his carriage, since walking up the several flights in heavy papal vestments would have been onerous.
It is not generally open to the public, though specialist tours do visit.


Bramham Park is a Grade I listed 18th-century country house in Bramham, between Leeds and Wetherby, in West Yorkshire, England.
The house, constructed of magnesian limestone ashlar with stone slate roofs in a classical style, is built to a linear plan with a main range linked by colonnades to flanking pavilions. The main block is of three storeys with a raised forecourt. The house is surrounded by a 200 ha (500 acre) landscaped park ornamented by a series of follies and avenues laid out in the 18th-century landscape tradition, surrounded by 500 ha (1235 acres) of arable farmland. Bramham park is used annually for the Leeds Festival.


Bramham is a product of a grand tour; its creator Robert Benson, later Lord Bingley, completed his formal education with a grand tour in 1697, and whilst in Italy he began to envisage his new mansion in the Palladian manner complemented in a landscaped park, in the fashion made popular by Le Nôtre in France in the late 17th century.
The architect of Bramham is unknown, although it is speculated that Giacomo Leoni was involved  (Leoni was responsible for the rebuilding of Lyme Park in an Italianate style in the neighbouring county of Cheshire some years later). However, Leoni did not arrive in England until several years after the completion of Bramham. Other names suggested include those of James Gibbs, Thomas Archer and James Paine. It is known that Paine designed the stables which flank the corps de logis, but the other contenders were too young. The only chronological possibility is Thomas Archer (1668–1743). The most likely scenario is that Bramham is the work of Robert Benson himself, probably working with a local draughtsman.  While it is also quite possible that Benson was inspired by drawings taken from Palladio's books, the design of the house suggests that Benson was more inspired by the restrained Baroque style then popular in France, the style in which Mansart's Versailles was constructed between 1678 and 1684. Indeed, it has been speculated that Versaille's landscape architect André le Nôtre had a hand in the design of Bramham's landscaped park.
The architect William Talman has also been suggested as a possible architect, and he was indeed working on Chatsworth House some sixty miles away from Bramham at this time.  However, unlike Chatsworth (which is far larger), Bramham is given flanking wings more in the Palladian style, linked to the house by short colonnades. The flanking wings contained the kitchen in the south wing, and the chapel in the north, thus – as at the Baroque Blenheim Palace – balancing both spiritual and bodily needs equally. However, while Campbell's drawing of Bramham show the never-executed statuary on the roof and near-perfect proportions, the reality of the executed design suggests a less professional hand than Talman's. Two low projecting wings from the corps de logis complicate the design, while the two colonnades are not quite long enough to give the flanking wings the independence from the main house to allow their design to be fully appreciated.


The Brandenburg Gate was built in the south-western part of Königsberg in 1657, with the strengthening of the city walls at the intersection with the road leading to the castle of Brandenburg (now the village of Ushakovo). Due to lack of funds a mere wooden gate was erected. Some hundred years later the gate was torn down and replaced by a brick structure by order of King Frederick II of Prussia. During restoration work in 1843 the gate was significantly altered and decorated with sharp decorative pediments, cruciform sandstone color, stylized leaves on the tops, coats of arms and medallions. Sculptures of Field Marshal Hermann von Boyen (1771–1848), a war minister and reformer of the Prussian army, and Lieutenant-General Ernst von Aster (1778–1855), chief of the engineering corps, and one of the initiators of the second strengthening of the city walls, were added as well.
The Brandenburg Gate is the only gate of the still existing gates of Kaliningrad that performs its original transport function. The structure has been restored and is protected by the state as an architectural monument.


Though built in the middle of the 19th century, the Königsberg gates were neogothic in style. The Brandenburg Gate expresses the Gothic motifs particularly vividly. The pediments in the form of arrows give this gate, which is in fact rather low, a sense of height. The gate is richly decorated with decorative elements, such as the high relief stone and stylized flowers.


Brands Hatch offers two layout configurations. The 1.198 mi (1.928 km) "Indy Circuit" layout is located entirely within a natural amphitheatre offering spectators views of almost all of the shorter configuration from wherever they watch. The 2.433 mi (3.916 km) "Grand Prix" layout played host to Formula One racing, including events such as Jo Siffert's duel with Chris Amon in 1968 and future World Champion Nigel Mansell's first win in 1985. Noise restrictions and the proximity of the Grand Prix loop to local residents mean that the number of race meetings held on the extended circuit are limited to just a few per year (usually for higher-profile series such as the BTCC and the BSB).
The full Grand Prix circuit begins on the Brabham Straight, an off-camber, slightly curved stretch, before plunging into the right-hander at Paddock Hill Bend, with gradients of 8%. Despite the difficulty of the curve, due to the straight that precedes it, it is one of the track's few overtaking spots. The next corner, Druids, is a hairpin bend, negotiated after an uphill braking zone at Hailwood Hill. The track then curves around the south bank spectator area into the downhill, off-camber Graham Hill Bend, and another, slightly bent stretch at the Cooper Straight, which runs parallel to the pit lane. After the straight, the circuit climbs uphill though the decreasing-radius Surtees turn, before moving onto the back straight where the track's top speeds can be reached. The most significant elevation changes on the circuit occur here at Pilgrim's Drop and Hawthorn Hill, which leads into Hawthorn Bend (with some parts approaching 7%). The track then loops around the woodland with a series of mid-speed corners, most notably the dip at Westfield and Dingle Dell and the blind Sheene curve. From there the track then emerges from the left hand and cambered Stirlings Bend onto the short straight to Clearways and rejoins the Indy Circuit for Clark Curve with its uphill off-camber approach to the pit straight and the start/finish line.
The British Rallycross Circuit at Brands Hatch was designed and constructed by four-times British Rallycross Champion Trevor Hopkins. It is approximately 0.9 mi (1.4 km) long and was completed around 1981. Unlike earlier rallycross courses at Brands Hatch, cars start on the startline then veer right and downhill on the loose at Paddock Hill Bend. Through the left-right Esses at the bottom, the circuit rejoins the Indy Circuit to travel up and round Druids hairpin, before a 90-degree left through Langley's Gap and across the knife-edge, rejoining the Indy Circuit, but travelling anti-clockwise. From Cooper Straight, the cars swoop up the old link road and back to Paddock.


Brands Hatch was originally the name of a natural grassy hollow that was shaped like an amphitheatre.
Although the site was originally used as a military training ground, the fields belonging to Brands Farm were first used as a circuit by a group of Gravesend cyclists led by Ron Argent, with the permission of the local farmer and landowner, Harry White. Using the natural contours of the land, many cyclists from around London practised, raced and ran time trials on the dirt roads carved out by farm machinery. The first actual race on the circuit was held in 1926, over 4 mi (6.4 km) between cyclists and cross-country runners. Within a few years, motorcyclists were using the circuit, laying out a three-quarter-mile anti-clockwise track in the valley. They also saw the advantage of competing in a natural arena just a few hundred yards from the A20, and with the passage of time, a kidney-shaped circuit came into use. The first motorcycle races were "very informal" with much of the organisation being done on the spot. Initially, the racing was on a straight strip approximately where Cooper Straight came to be when the track was tarmacked. Brands Hatch remained in operation during the 1930s, but after being used as a military vehicle park and being subject to many bombing raids during World War II, it needed much work before it could become a professional racing circuit.
In 1932, four local motorcycling clubs joined forces (Bermondsey, Owls, Sidcup and West Kingsdown) and staged their first meeting that March.
Motorcycle racing quickly resumed after World War II and in 1947, Joe Francis (managing director of Brands Hatch Stadium Ltd.) persuaded the BBC to televise a grass track meeting, the first motorcycle event to be televised on British TV.


Following World War II, cinders were laid on the track of what was by then known as Brands Hatch Stadium and motorcycle racing continued. That was until 1950 when the 500 Club managed to persuade Joe Francis, that the future for his stadium lay in car and motorcycle road racing. The group behind 500 c.c. single-seater racing cars was the 500 Club and it, together with the owners, invested the sum of £17,000 on a tarmac surface.
Thus Brands Hatch was born as a motor racing venue, and on 16 April 1950, the opening meeting was scheduled for the first purpose-built post-war racing circuit in England, approval having been given by the RAC following a demonstration by a handful of 500s in February. Amongst those giving the demonstration was a very young Stirling Moss. The Half-Litre Car Club for 500 cc Formula 3 organised that first race on 16 April, with 7,000 spectators coming to witness these cars complete in 10 races. The first victory went to a man who was to become a legend in Formula 3, Don Parker. Before the year was out, five meetings had been held, with the events running to a similar programme. The June meeting was a Moss benefit for he won all five races he entered in the Works Cooper and a set a new lap record. The August Bank Holiday meeting saw for the first time, involvement of the national press with the Daily Telegraph sponsoring the main event of the day. The old cinder track had been 0.75 mi (1.21 km) in length, but the tarmac circuit was lengthened to 1.000 mi (1.609 km) and now ran anticlockwise. The Maidstone & Mid-Kent Motor Club invited a number of sports car drivers to test the circuit on 5 November, this being the first time that any car other than a 500cc had used it, and they ran clockwise.
In 1951, season included seven car meetings, all for Formula 3 and they were again organised the Half-Litre Car Club to which the 500 Club had changed its name since becoming a Limited Company. In February, the Aston Martin Owners Club tested some 1.5-litre sports cars at Brands Hatch preparatory to the full International season starting.
The 1952 season saw the emergence of Stuart Lewis-Evans. Les Leston raised the lap record to 71.15 mph (114.50 km/h) (50.6sec) – the first time that 70 mph (110 km/h) had been exceeded.
1953 saw the introductions of raised spectator protection banks. This was to be Parker's year for he won the Autosport Formula 3 Championship taking seven races at Brands on his way the title. Some 50,000 people packed into the Daily Telegraph International and as the season came to an end Parker raised the lap record to 74.38 mph (119.70 km/h) (48.4secs). During 1953, the Universal Motor Racing Club was established, with a racing school set up at Brands Hatch. The Half Litre Club, later to become the British Racing and Sports Car Club (BRSCC), ran many races throughout the 1950s and firmly established the venue as one of Britain's top racing circuits.
The track continued to expand during 1953 and 1954, with the addition of Druids Bend by lengthening the circuit, a pit lane and spectator banks and reversing the racing direction to clockwise. While Formula III racing was unquestionably close and exciting, it did have its limitations and now the paying public wanted some variety and more powerful cars to watch. The change in direction of racing traffic resulted in the creation of Paddock Hill Bend a fast sweeping downhill right-hander. At the bottom the Paddock Hill, a quarter-mile extension to the circuit was added which took the competitors up the other side of the valley to a right-hand hairpin, which is called Druids Hill Bend. This new section re-joined the old track at another tricky corner, Bottom Bend, and the result was a circuit lengthened to 1.240 mi (1.996 km).
The first race winner on the revised track was Stuart Lewis-Evans, at the wheel of a Cooper-Norton Mk.8, with a new name at the inaugural meeting. That name was N. G. Hill who was a 'graduate' of the racing school.
As the season progressed larger engine machines began to appear starting with small and medium capacity sport cars, then Formula Libre machines. However, most races were still run for Formula 3 and 1954 saw the first of what was to become the traditional Boxing Day meeting down in Kent. A total of 15,000 spectators arrived at the Christmas meeting to watch a programme of seven races with the added attraction of ox-roasting and Stirling Moss.
It was Jim Russell's year, for he dominated the Formula 3, winning the Autosport National Championship, as well as four of the meeting. Cooper T39s and Lotus Mk.9s dominated sports car racing while Archie Scott Brown had a stranglehold on the over 1,900 cc class, driving either the works Lister-Bristol or Louis Manduca's Jaguar C-Type.
At the August Bank Holiday meeting spectators could avail themselves of the only permanent grandstand at a British motor sport circuit; it had been purchased second-hand from the defunct Northolt pony-trotting stadium and for the 1956 season, a telephone system was installed linking race control, the grandstand and the marshals' posts, while a modern hospital was opened at the circuit, complete with operating theatre.
As larger-capacity cars become more common, 500 cc racing began to decline, but the formula still gave close, exciting racing. The first year that public car race meetings were organised by other than the BRSCC was 1956 – in June, the 750 Motor Club joined forces with the Club Lotus to offer a mixture of races, including, for the first time at Brands, saloon cars. This was also the year the Brands grew up, running Formula One cars for the first time on 14 October. Initially, a long-distance race was planned, but in the end a 15-lap race was run which attracted four work entries from Connaught (B-Types for Archie Scott Brown, Les Leston, Jack Fairman and Stuart Lewis-Evans) opposed by privately entered Maserati 250Fs driven by Roy Salvadori and Bruce Halford and a selection of independents. Archie won from Lewis-Evans, setting a new lap record in the process at a speed of 75.66 mph (121.76 km/h). Politics caused the cancellation of the Boxing Day meeting that year due to the Suez Crisis.
As a result of Suez affair, forecasts for 1957 season were gloomy, but the programme ran as planned, the two feature meeting of the year being run for the new Formula Two on Whit Sunday and August Bank Holiday. The year saw a continued diversification at BRSCC meetings with fewer 500cc events and more sport-racing machinery. The Kentish 100 was the biggest event yet run at the circuit for Formula Two with two 42-lap heats and attracted a truly International field. Formula Two featured at other meetings but at the August Bank Holiday meeting, Formula 3 proved that it was not yet dead as it was run as the feature event for the Daily Telegraph Trophy.
Jim Clark made his Brands Hatch debut at the Boxing Day event, when he drove the Border Reivers-entered Lotus Elite into second place behind Colin Chapman. At the August Bank Holiday meeting in 1958, an 1,100cc sports car became the first to lap Brands Hatch in under a minute. Its creator had been unable to afford to purchase a Lotus, so had designed his own car; the car was called a Lola and its creator was Eric Broadley.
The highlight of the 1959 season was again the Kentish 100, with no less than 40 drivers (including 10 Grand Prix names) fighting for just 16 grid positions. Jack Brabham won both 42-lap heats driving the works Cooper-Climax. The feature race at the Boxing Day meeting was for Formula Junior, a new International Formula for single-seater racing cars using production engines up to 1,100 cc; works entries were received from Elva, Gemini, Lola, Cooper and Lotus. This new formula was to prove the death-knell of 500 cc racing.


In January 1960, Kent County Council gave planning permission for the extension of Brands Hatch – an extension which would double the length of the track offering a choice of long or short circuits. The new 2.650 mi (4.265 km) track used, all of this existing one with the extension of Kidney Bend; South Bank became a long, uphill 160° sweep out into the country and making the approach to Clearways very much faster. From South Bank there followed a long straight dipping into and out of the next valley to the right-hand Hawthorn Bend followed by Portobello Straight to Westfield Bend leading to the dip to Dingle Dell, Dingle Dell Corner and the difficult left-hand Stirling's Bend. A short straight then brought the circuit back to Clearways at much higher speed than hitherto. John Hall said, "For the first time ever, Britain will have a Grand Prix track within 20 miles of London.'"
The new track was planned to be completed in time for the August Bank Holiday meeting and was ready for testing in June. The debut of the new track came in August as planned, with works entries from BRM, Cooper, Ferrari, and Lotus together with independents such Yeoman Credit Racing, Scuderia Eugenio Castellotti and Scuderia Centro Sud. Record traffic jams were reported on the A20, and the huge crowd saw the non-championship Silver City Trophy Formula One race won by Jack Brabham in the works Cooper-Climax by just 4.4 seconds from Graham Hill in the BRM P48, after the gearbox of Jim Clark's Lotus expired after leading 22 of the 50-lap race. The fastest lap was set jointly by Clark and Brabham, in 1min 40.6sec, at a speed of 94.82 mph (152.60 km/h).
Clark had his revenge a few weeks later when the circuit saw Formula Two cars performing in the Kentish 100 with a hard-fought win over Dan Gurney; both were driving Lotus-Climaxes, Clark's was a works car and Gurney's a private entry.
Soon after, the track was sold to Grovewood Securities Ltd., and John Webb put in charge of Motor Circuit Developments to manage the circuit.
This was the year of the new 1.5-litre Formula One and on 3 June 1961, the Silver City Trophy, was contested over 76 laps of the GP Circuit by Grand Prix cars. Entries were received from Cooper, Lotus, BRM, UDT-Laystall and Yeoman Credit. Victory went to Stirling Moss driving the pale green UDT-Laystall Lotus 18/21 Climax from Jim Clark abroad the works Lotus 21 Climax and Tony Brooks driving the BRM P57 Climax. The 7 August meeting saw the Guards International Trophy for Intercontinental Formula cars. In effect the redundant 2.5-litre F1 cars from pre-1961. The race was a 76-lap affair over the GP Circuit; Jack Brabham won in the works Cooper T53-Climax from Jim Clark (works Lotus 18-Climax) and Graham Hill (BRM P57).
The following year 1962 did not see any major meetings at Brands, but on 1 October, the longest race staged so far took place. This was the Motor-sponsored Six-Hour Saloon race. The field of 35 entries included some foreign entrants and victory went to Mike Parkes and Jimmy Blumer driving a 3.8-litre Jaguar Mk II; the German pairing of Peter Lindner and Peter Nöcker in another Jaguar from a Mini-Cooper driven by John Alvy and Denny Hulme, a New Zealand mechanic employed by Jack Brabham.
The Club Circuit had six meeting during 1962, and witnessed the coming of Formula Junior. At the Easter Monday meeting, a Formula Junior race saw the lap record tumble to 55.6secs and the first-ever 80 mph lap (actual speed was 80.29 mph (129.21 km/h)) by John Fenning, abroad a Lotus 20-Ford. The 'Trio' meeting in July saw the end of an era when a 500 took the chequered flag for the last time with Mike Ledbrook, driving a Cooper-Norton Mark 8 in the 500 and 250cc race. At the Boxing Day meeting, Hulme won the Formula Junior race driving the prototype Brabham BT6-Ford, setting a new outright lap record at 54.8secs by having speed of 82.06 mph (132.06 km/h).
The winter of 1962/63 was severe, causing the cancellation of most sports, which resulted in empty television screens on occasions. The lack of sport to show, virtually created Rallycross for on 9 February a rallycross-type event was staged on the slushy Brands Hatch car parks in front of the TV cameras (not the Rallycross Circuit used in the 1980s and 1990s). The event had been quickly organised by Raymond Baxter of the BBC and the London Motor Club, and saw Timo Mäkinen win easily in the works Austin-Healey 3000.
The second Motor-sponsored Six-Hour saloon car race, was a round on the inaugural European Touring Car Challenge. It was run in appalling conditions on 6 July. The large crowd witness the favourite, a 7-litre Ford Galaxie driven by Dan Gurney and Jack Brabham floundered in the wet and the Jaguar dominated the race. Victory went to Roy Salvadori and Denny Hulme from Peter Linder and Peter Nöcker after the winners on the road, Mike Salmon and Pete Sutcliffe being disqualified for engine irregularities. The Guards Trophy was run for sports cars and went to Roger Penske driving his Zerex Special, which was based on a Cooper F1 chassis.
The British Grand Prix came to Kent in 1964 and was to be shared with Silverstone in alternate years until 1986. Also the race was given the courtesy title European Grand Prix and the management rose to the occasion. The date was 11 July, a cool and dry day which saw Jim Clark at his best in the Lotus 25 winning by 2.8secs from Graham Hill in the BRM P261, who was followed home by John Surtees in the V8 Ferrari 158; fourth and one lap down was Jack Brabham driving a car bearing his own name. A further lap down in fifth place was Lorenzo Bandini in the V6 Ferrari with Phil Hill taking the final World Championship point in a Cooper. The race average was 94.14 mph (151.50 km/h) and Clark set the fastest lap at 1min 38.8secs (96.5 mph (155.3 km/h)). The Motor Six Hours had its third and final running on 6 June (still a round of the ETCC), with victory going to the Alan Mann-entered Lotus-Cortinas of Sir John Whitmore/Peter Proctor and Henry Taylor/Peter Harper.
The 1964 season was the busiest so far for Brands Hatch, with 14 car race meeting alone; the British Automobile Racing Club (BARC) organised its first meeting in Kent, while the London Motor Car Club organised one in June. The year's Guards Trophy went to Bruce McLaren driving for Cooper in a 3.9-litre Oldsmobile-powered sports car.
During the Lombank Trophy Race of 27 December 1965, held at Brands Hatch, racer George Reid Crossman was killed during the last race of the Formula 3 Season. [race day program]
With the Grand Prix not due back at Brands until 1966, they promoted a non-championship Formula One race to be known as Race of Champions sponsored by Daily Mail.The race was run in two 40-lap heats with victory going to Jim Clark (Lotus 33), while his teammate Mike Spence, won the second and taking the overall victory. The first 100 mph lap was set by Clark in 1min 35.4secs. The longest race ever run at the Kentish Circuit took place on 22/23 May, this being the Guards 1000 consisting of two 500-mile races for production saloon cars. The overall winner was the works MG MGB of John Rhodes and Warwick Banks.
The British Grand Prix returned in 1966, the inaugural year of the 3-litre Formula One. The works Brabham-Repco BT19 were first and second in the hands of Jack Brabham and Denny Hulme; Brabham completed the 212-mile race in 2hrs 13mins 13.4secs (95.49 mph (153.68 km/h)) lapping everyone except Hulme in the process. Third was Graham Hill in the BRM P261 from Jim Clark (Lotus 33) with Jochen Rindt fifth in the Cooper-Maserati and in sixth position, a further lap adrift, was Bruce McLaren in the McLaren-Serenissima. The event was notable for the only F1 appearance of the Shannon SH 1 in the hands of Trevor Taylor which lasted just one lap. This was also the year that the FIA decided the end had come for Group 7 sports cars with their massive motors; John Surtees won the Guards Trophy on August Bank Holiday Monday driving the 6-litre Lola T70. The Motor Show 200 for Formula Two cars saw a young Austrian named Jochen Rindt win in the Roy Winkelmann-entered Brabham BT18.
The 1967 Race of Champions (still sponsored by Daily Mail) saw the first of two major victories by American cars at Brands when Dan Gurney brought the Eagle-Weslake T1G over the line first by 0.8 seconds from Lorenzo Bandin's Ferrari 312/67. So good was the public's response to the race (run in two 10-lap heats and a 40-lap final) that John Webb decided to make the race an annual event. The other great American victory was to come when the be-winged 7-litre Chaparral 2F-Chevrolet driven by Phil Hill and Mike Spence won the BOAC 500 run over 211 laps of the Grand Prix Circuit at an average speed of 93.08 mph (149.80 km/h), from the Ferrari 330-P4 of Chris Amon and Jackie Stewart. These two had lapped the rest of the field twice, third place going to the Jo Siffert/Bruce McLaren Porsche 910. The year saw many firsts; in July, Tetsu Ikuzawa became the first Japanese ever to win a race in Britain, the first Mini Festival was run at Whitsun and the Mini-Seven Club ran the first ever all-saloon car meeting in February. But the biggest 'first 'was the arrival of Formula Ford which was to become the providing ground and starting place for so many drivers. The first Formula Ford race was run on 7 July and was won by Roy Allan in a Lotus 51.
1968 proved to be a busy season, with no less than five International meetings; the first was the Race of Champions followed by the BOAC 500, the British Grand Prix, the Guards Trophy, and the Motor Show 200. The former race gave the McLaren marque its maiden Formula One victory when Bruce, driving his own car, led home the field ahead of Pedro Rodríguez in the BRM P133 and his new team-mate, Denny Hulme. Sponsorship on racing cars was just beginning and a television executive was distressed by the 'sailor man' on the side of the Gold Leaf Team Lotus and threatened to withdraw television coverage if the offering item was not obscured, so Graham Hill was black-flagged to have the decal covered!
It was March 1968 at a minor club meeting when 17-year-old racer Barry Sheene lined up on the starting grid, on a works 125cc Bultaco, for his first race. It was an impressive debut by anyone's standards. Sheene had worked his way up to second place and threatening the leader, Mike Lewis, when the bike seized and spat its rider off over the handlebars. A rostrum position in the day's 250cc race was a great achievement, but an even better was not very far away. Just one week later, and again at Brands, Sheene took his first race win, and he did it is style by an incredible 12 seconds. And the best was yet to come, for he dominated a field of 350cc machines, riding special 250cc Bultaco (with an enlarged 280cc capacity).
The Manufacturers' World Championship came to Brands in early 1968, followed by the BOAC 500 on 7 April. The winner was the Ford GT40 Mk.1 of Jacky Ickx and Brian Redman from the Porsche 908 of Gerhard Mitter and Ludovico Scarfiotti, these two being the only cars to complete the full race distance of 218-laps. Two laps further down in third was another 907 driven by Vic Elford and Jochen Neerpasch and fourth place went to another GT40, driven by Paul Hawkins and David Hobbs.
Three months later came the British Grand Prix on 20 July, won by Jo "Seppi" Siffert. Siffert's victory was noteworthy in that he won in a Lotus 49B which was delivered new to the circuit on the first morning of the meeting. It was completed in the paddock and was entered by the Walker-Durlacher team – a private entrant winning a Grand Prix. In second place just 4.4 secs behind was Chris Amon (Ferrari), with his teammate Jacky Ickx third. Fourth was Denny Hulme in a McLaren M7A, from Surtees in the Honda RA300 one lap down, and Jackie Stewart a further lap down in the Matra-Ford MS80.
Easter Monday 1969 saw another brainchild of John Webb and the BRSCC's Competitions Director Nick Syreett come to fruition. This was Formula 5000 which was based upon the American Formula A, the cars being single-seater chassis powered by American V8 and V6 stock-block engines of up to 5-litre capacity. The need for the new formula was caused by the escalating costs of Formula Three, Formula Two and the decreasing number of non-championship Formula One events as more and more countries demanded a Grand Prix. The winner of the first Formula 5000 race was Peter Gethin driving a McLaren M10A with Chevrolet power.
Indianapolis-style single-car qualifying was introduced for the 1969 Race of Champions, but it simply did not catch on – perhaps it did not have the glamour of the Indy 500; Jackie Stewart won the race in the Matra MS80 owned by Ken Tyrrell and went on to win his first World Championship with it.
The BOAC 500 was once again the British round of the Manufacturers' World Championship and was a Porsche benefit, 908s taking the first three places, the winners being Jo Siffert and Brian Redman; the second place car of Vic Elford and Richard Attwood was two laps behind, with Gerhard Mitter and Udo Schütz third.


The International race calendar for 1970 opened with the Race of Champions. March Engineering made its Formula One-winning debut when Jackie Stewart won driving Ken Tyrrell's March-Cosworth 701.
The British Grand Prix returned to Brands Hatch on 19 July and saw victory go to Jochen Rindt by less than 33 seconds from Jack Brabham, who had run out of fuel. The Austrian driver of the Lotus was then disqualified following a protest over an aerofoil, but was reinstated before the evening was out. Third place went to Denny Hulme in the McLaren from the Ferrari of Clay Regazzoni; a lap down in fifth spot with the March of Chris Amon with Graham Hill sixth in the other Lotus. Rindt's winning speed was 108.69 mph (174.92 km/h).
Although the World Championship sports race was now BOAC 1000, but measured in kilometres, not miles, it was another Porsche benefit, the fearsome 917s taking the first three places from a 908; the first car home was the Pedro Rodríguez/Leo Kinnunen car from Vic Elford/Denny Hulme and Richard Attwood/Hans Herrmann. The 908 was driven by Gijs van Lennep and Hans Laine. The race was run over 235 laps at a speed of 92.15 mph (148.30 km/h).
By 1971, the ownership of Brands Hatch was in the hands of Motor Circuit Developments (MCD), which saw the arrival of another MCD-inspired single-seater formula in the shape of Formula Atlantic. The BOAC 1000 saw Alfa Romeo take their first major success in 20 years, with the chequered flag being taken by the 33TT3 of Andrea de Adamich and Henri Pescarolo, who completed the 235 laps at a speed of 97.17 mph (156.38 km/h). They were followed home by the Ferrari 312PB of Jacky Ickx and Clay Regazzoni, with the Porsche 917 of Jo Siffert and Derek Bell a further three laps down in third.
Motor Racing is a dangerous game and there had been some fatalities at Brands including the deaths of George Crossman, Tony Flory and Stuart Duncan in the mid-60s. But in October 1971, the season drew to its close with the death of a major driver. Jo Siffert died in an accident in the Rothmans World Championship Victory Race. This non-championship event for Formula One and Formula 5000 cars was arranged to mark Jackie Stewart and Ken Tyrrell's joint World Championships. The race was 40 laps in length; 'Seppi' lost control of his BRM P160 on lap 15, hit the bank at Hawthorn Hill, the car was engulfed in flames and he was asphyxiated before he could be extricated. The circuit came under a great deal of criticism, and it was agreed that a three-year programme of major safety modifications around the track would be commenced before the start of the 1972 season.
The 1972 season was a particularly busy one, with Formula One visiting twice for the Race of Champions on 19 March sponsored by Daily Mail and the John Player-sponsored British Grand Prix on 15 July (bearing the title European Grand Prix), while the BOAC 1000 was the British round of the World Championship of Makes. On 16 April, what was to be the last BOAC 1000 resulted in a complete Italian benefit race with Ferrari and Alfa Romeo filling the first six places. The 235-lap race was won by Mario Andretti and Jacky Ickx in a Ferrari 312PB, with the average race speed of 105.12 mph (169.17 km/h), from Tim Schenken and Ronnie Peterson, a lap down in a similar car. The first Alfa home completed the podium, was the 33TT3 of Rolf Stommelen and Peter Revson. And so to July, 76-laps of the Grand Prix Circuit adds up to just a few hundred yards over 200 miles which Emerson Fittipaldi completed in 1hr 47:50.2secs (108.67 mph (174.89 km/h)), driving the John Player Special Lotus-Cosworth 72D, from Jackie Stewart (Tyrrell-Cosworth 003), Peter Revson in the Team Yardley McLaren-Cosworth M19A, Chris Amon in the Matra-Simca MS120C, Denny Hulme Team Yardley McLaren-Cosworth M19C, with Arturo Merzario taking the last point in the Ferrari 312B2.
The following year, 1973, was less hectic; the BOAC 1000 was cancelled when the date offered by the FIA was unsuitable, and the year had an unfortunate Race of Champions. Peter Gethin driving a Formula 5000 Chevron-Chevrolet B24 beat the Formula One cars and James Hunt made his F1 debut in Hesketh Racing's March 731. Before the start of that season, £50,000 was spent upon a new grandstand adjoining the Grovewood Suite, while opening seating and new pits were built to comply with FIA requirements. There were also improvements made between Westfields and Stirlings.
It rained again during the Race of Champions in 1974, and the more nimble Formula One cars showed their heels to the Formula 5000 contingent; the winner was Jacky Ickx driving a Lotus-Ford 72E. The Grand Prix circus returned to Brands for a race on 20 July, and the RAC (who organised the race) came in for censure from the FIA for allowing the pit lane to be blocked during the race, thus preventing Niki Lauda from rejoining at the end to claim fifth place, which he was awarded on appeal. The winner was Jody Scheckter in a Tyrrell-Cosworth 007 who covered the 199.75 mi (321.47 km) race at an average pace of 115.73 mph (186.25 km/h), from Emerson Fittipaldi (McLaren-Cosworth M23B), Jacky Ickx (Lotus-Cosworth 72E), Clay Regazzoni and Niki Lauda (Ferrari 312B3) with Carlos Reutemann (Brabham-Cosworth BT44) in sixth.
The BOAC 1000 had become the British Airways 1000 and was dominated by the works Matra-Simca MS670C which finish first and second; first home were the Jean-Pierres – Jarier and Beltoise – with Henri Pescarolo and Gérard Larrousse second. Third, no less than 11 laps down, was the Gulf-Ford GR7 of Derek Bell and David Hobbs.
The winter of 1974/5 was mild, which was fortunate, allowing both tracks to be resurfaced in their entirety and completed in time for the opening event of 1975.
Tom Pryce had made a name for himself at Brands, driving Formula Ford and Formula F100 cars. He came to the British Airways/Daily Mail Race of Champions on 16 March as a works driver for the UOP Shadow. He drove the DN5; Pryce carved his way through the field, closing upon Jody Scheckter's Tyrrell-Cosworth when Scheckter's engine blew. This was Pryce's first and only Formula One win - he died a little over two years later during the 1977 South African Grand Prix.
It was again Grand Prix year in 1976, and notwithstanding the money already spent, another £100,000 was expended on the track and safety work; the major change was a realignment of Paddock Bend, which resulted in a slight shortening of the circuit to 2.614 mi (4.207 km). Bottom Straight was also realigned making it straighter; this was all done to expand the cramped pit facilities. It was at this time that name changes occurred; Pilgrims became Hailwood Hill, Bottom Bend became Graham Hill Bend and Bottom Straight became Cooper Straight. The Grand Prix took place on 18 July and was somewhat controversial. Following a first-lap accident the race was stopped. This year's Race of Champions winner and national hero, James Hunt was involved so he took over the spare McLaren M23D, which he won, but was later disqualified by the FIA, as it was deemed that he had not completed the first lap. Ferrari's Niki Lauda was declared the winner from the Tyrrell of Jody Scheckter and John Watson's Penske PC3. Tom Pryce brought the Shadow home in fourth.
On 25 September, the second British round of the World Championship of Makes arrived for the Brands Hatch Six-Hours; it was run in a deluge which caused it to be stopped for an hour and it was eventually run over 103 laps – 269 miles – which Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass won at 97.696 mph (157.226 km/h) driving a Porsche 935/2 Turbo. The race totally dominated by the Stuttgart marque, the first five places going to Porsche 935 Turbos – a 934 Turbo was sixth with a Carrera seventh. A little relief came with the eighth-place BMW 320i, two more Porsches rounded out the first ten. In November, Brands Hatch took over the running of the annual Formula Ford Festival (which it still holds to this day) from Snetterton. This was won by Irishman Derek Daly in a Hawke DL17.
1977 was a quiet year, with James Hunt retaining his Race of Champions crown for McLaren. The event was not held in 1978, but this was a Grand Prix year. It was also a year to remember for it was also Indy year. Controversy again loomed at the Grand Prix, but trouble was averted; Niki Lauda had won the Swedish Grand Prix driving the Brabham BT46B 'fan car', but before it arrived in Kent, the car was banned by the FIA. Despite this, Lauda still finished second, in the conventional Brabham-Alfa Romeo BT46, behind the Ferrari 312T3 of Carlos Reutemann, with the other Brabham of John Watson in third. Fourth went to Patrick Depailler in a Tyrrell-Cosworth 008, with Hans-Joachim Stuck fifth in a Shadow-Cosworth DN9 and Patrick Tambay sixth, in a McLaren-Cosworth M26.
12 March 1978, saw the return of the European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) to Brands Hatch. Of the four BMW's entered, two did not even make the start. The other two were a Luigi car, entered by BMW Italia for Tom Walkinshaw and Umberto Grano, and the Jolly Club pairing of Carlo Facetti and Martino Finotto. The latter were the quickest car, but hopeless pit stops, saw the Luigi car took over the lead on lap 117 (out of 120) and take the spoils. Third was the VW Motorsport Scirocco of Richard Lloyd and Anton Stocker, as well as their class victory.
Important through the Grand Prix is, the high-spot of the 1978 season at Brands Hatch and Silverstone was the coming of the USAC Champ Car. John Webb had gone to America to witness the organisation of Indy Racing at first hand and as a result of that visit two rounds of the USAC National Championship were in England. The Silverstone race was wet and the Brands one dry. The costs were £500,000 but, unfortunately the race did not capture the imagination of the British enthusiasts, despite the appearance of such legendary names as A. J. Foyt, Rick Mears, Tom Sneva and Danny Ongais. The Brands race was run on the Club Circuit which was then renamed the Indy Circuit in honour of the guests. The race was won by Mears (Gould Penske), from Sneva with the fastest lap going to Ongais at 104.66 mph (168.43 km/h) (41.4 secs.) – a new outright record.
1979 saw the return of the Race of Champions on 15 April, however the contained only seven regular cars that completed in the World Championship, while the rest of field was made up of entrants from the British Formula One Championship. The spoils of victory went to way of Ferrari, with Gilles Villeneuve winning in a modified 312T3. Second was Nelson Piquet in a Brabham-Alfa Romeo BT48, from Mario Andretti's Lotus-Cosworth 79 in third. Also, this year the World Championship of Makes arrived for again the Brands Hatch Six-Hours with victory going to Reinhold Joest and Volkert Merl in their Joest Racing Porsche 908/3 Turbo.
The Jolly Club pairing of Carlo Facetti and Martino Finotto, were out of luck again, when the ETCC landed in Kent for the Brands Hatch 500 km. They lost the lead of the race they had comfortably headed for 100 of a scheduled 120 laps, when the gear lever broke. Once again the rival Luigi team were on hand to take a well deserved win, this time being driven the Belgian team of Raymond van Hove, Jean Xhenceval and Pierre Dieudonné with the familiar BMW CSL.


The circuit did not see a Race of Champions in 1980 – the Formula One calendar was now so full that the teams could not afford a week to run in a non-championship race and henceforward, British fans would have only one opportunity to see current F1 cars in action per year. A little piece of motor racing history was written when Desiré Wilson became the first woman to win a Formula One race when she won a round of the British Formula One Championship, driving a Wolf WR4.
27 April 1980, saw the final ETCC race at Brands Hatch, literally saw Harald Neger blow away victory in his Racing Corporation Vienna BMW 635CSi. The Austrian stormed through the field in lap one, following a bad practice, but the engine had been over-revved. Now the Eggenberger Motorsport BMW 320s took over, and after Hans-Jürg Dürig had to retire with a broken seat, Siegfried Müller Jr. and Helmut Kelleners won the race, with an older BMW 3.0 CSi second with the Belgian pairing of Michel Delcourt and Jean-Marie Baert.
Ayrton Senna da Silva's European car racing debut, 1 March 1981 was impressive, but not sensational, finishing fifth during a P&O Ferries Championship (Formula Ford 1600), driving a Van Diemen RF80. A fortnight later competing in the Townsend Thoresen Championship, Senna totally dominated the race despite a very heavy downpour, winning by 9.4 seconds during 15-lap race on the Indy Circuit. This time driving a Van Diemen RF81. Few knew beforehand that this race would make history – Senna first win.
On 16 March, the Brands Hatch Six-Hours was run and saw a healthy invasion of Italian cars; Lancia Beta Monte Carlos in the hands of Riccardo Patrese and Walter Röhrl, with Michele Alboreto and Eddie Cheever taking the two places for Lancia Corse, the winning car being the only one to complete the full race distance of 147 laps, at 99.384 mph (159.943 km/h). In third spot a further lap down was the De Cadenet LM of Alain de Cadenet and Desiré Wilson. This was Alan Jones's World Championship year and on his way to the crown he won the Marlboro British Grand Prix on 13 July, in a Williams-Cosworth FW07B from Nelson Piquet and Carlos Reutemann. Piquet's Brabham-Cosworth BT49 split the two Williams, Derek Daly and Jean-Pierre Jarier filling the next spots for Tyrrell, with a young Frenchman, Alain Prost for McLaren in sixth. There was a slimmed down calendar in 1981 with but one International, the emphasis being on top-class national racing.
By contrast 1982 was extremely busy. The highlight of the year was the Marlboro British Grand Prix and it was voted the best of the year by the members of the Formula One Constructors Association. Once again the Grand Prix was run over 199 mi (320 km) (76 laps), the winner being Niki Lauda in the McLaren-Cosworth MP4/1B from the Ferrari 126C2 of Didier Pironi and Patrick Tambay. The winner speed was 124.650 mph (200.605 km/h).
It was a non-Grand Prix year at Brands in 1983, but the Marlboro Daily Mail Race of Champions was successfully staged on 10 April, notwithstanding the fact it was only a week before the French Grand Prix and clashed with a tyre test at Paul Ricard. It was also the last non-championship F1 race to be held in the sport's history. It was won by the reigning world champion Keke Rosberg in the Williams FW08, who narrowly beat Danny Sullivan in his Tyrrell. Meanwhile, former world champion Alan Jones finished third in his last drive for Arrows. To bring some real excitement, noise and spectacle back into British motor racing, the BRSCC invented Thundersports. The new series had its debut on Easter Monday and the country's first major sport car race since the mid-1970s was a resounding success. Then, the year turned into a Grand Prix one after all; following the cancellation of the proposed New York Grand Prix, John Webb lobbied FISA in company with the RAC MSA and was granted the opportunity to run the Grand Prix d’Europe on 25 September, thus giving Britain its second Grand Prix that season.
The full circus arrived in Kent and Elio de Angelis placed his Lotus-Renault 94T on pole position; the race was 76 laps/199 miles long which Nelson Piquet in the Brabham-BMW BT52B won at 124.411 mph (200.220 km/h). Alain Prost followed him home 6 sec later in the Renault RE40 with Nigel Mansell in the second Lotus in third.
In 1984, Brands become the first British circuit to hold Grands Prix in three consecutive years since the 1950s. This was officially the year for Kent to host the British Grand Prix but it was fraught with politics as Tyrrell was adjudged by the sport's governing body to have infringed the rules at the Canadian Grand Prix and was excluded from the remainder of the season. A court injunction ensured that the cars started their home race, but Stefan Bellof and Stefan Johansson qualified the cars on the back row of the grid, the former finishing 11th but Johansson being eliminated in a first-lap accident. The win went to Niki Lauda, driving a McLaren-TAG MP4/2. Second was Derek Warwick in the Renault RE50 and Ayrton Senna driving the Toleman-Hart TG184 into third place. Lauda's winning speed was 124.382 mph.
1984 saw the return of the European Formula Two Championship, the first visit since Jochen Rindt's win in 1967, which was also the last race for this category before being replaced by Formula 3000. 23 September turned out to be very wet, with the original race lasting only 16 laps being stopped due to heavy rain. The remaining 31 laps were run later in the day, with Philippe Streiff in an AGS-BMW winning on aggregate from the Martini-BMW of Michel Ferté and Roberto Moreno in a Ralt-Honda.
On 22 September 1985, Brands Hatch hosted the second British round of the World Endurance Championship in the form of the Brands Hatch 1000km. It was to be another Porsche benefit, which the Stuttgart cars taking a 1–2 finish; first was the 962C of Derek Bell and Hans-Joachim Stuck (who jointly took the driver's title) with the identical car of Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass second – these two were the only cars to covered the full race distance of 238 laps. Five laps down in third was the Lancia-Martini LC2 of Bob Wollek/Mauro Baldi/Andrea de Cesaris.
A fortnight later, for the second time in three years, Britain staged two Grands Prix in one season; in July, the British Grand Prix was held at Silverstone, but the loss of a race in New York City made a date available in Europe towards the end of the season. The management team led by John Webb made a bid for it and won the right to host the Grand Prix d’Europe on 6 October. It was fitting that Nigel Mansell should score his first Grand Prix on this occasion, at the wheel of a Williams-Honda FW10B, completing the 75 laps of the Grand Prix Circuit, at a speed of 125.795 mph (202.447 km/h) from Ayrton Senna's Lotus-Renault 97T and teammate Keke Rosberg in the other Williams. Alain Prost brought his McLaren-TAG MP4/2B home in fourth, to win become the 1985 World Drivers' Championship.
In October that year, rumours started to circulate regarding the future of Motor Circuit Developments; at the time the property of Eagle Star Holdings which had been sold to British American Tobacco. This caused some alarm as to the future of the circuits. Thanks to the efforts of John Webb, enter John Foulston! He was the Chairman of Atlantic Computers plc and a staunch enthusiast and Historic and Thundersports racer. His bid of £5.25m secured the future of Brands Hatch, Oulton Park and Snetterton for 'the foreseeable future'. Early in 1987, he added Cadwell Park to his fold which was now known as the Brands Hatch Leisure Group.
The Kentish Circuit was to host the Grand Prix only once more and that was on 13 July 1986 (making five years in a row), after which it was to be run continually at Silverstone. The reason for this was that the international motorsports governing body at the time, FISA, had instituted a policy of long-term contracts with circuits. Brands Hatch was perceived as a poorer facility, and it did have very little run-off and room to expand, something Silverstone as a former World War II airfield had in acres. Silverstone and the BRDC had signed a seven-year contract with Formula 1 and FISA at some point in 1986, to run from 1987 to 1993. The 1986 race saw Piquet take pole at 140.53 mph (226.16 km/h), the fastest lap ever recorded at Brands up to that point, and 22 mph faster than the pole time set for the 1976 race on the same layout. Race day saw a major first lap accident at Paddock Bend where Jacques Laffite (Ligier-Renault JS27) broke both legs after going head-on into the wall on the right side of the track, which spelt the end of his F1 career and Brands Hatch as a Formula One circuit. It was his 176th Grand Prix, equalling Graham Hill's record. Nigel Mansell's Williams-Honda FW11 had rolled to a stop shortly after the start but, as a result of the race stoppage, he was able to use the spare Williams (which was set up for his teammate Nelson Piquet) and he took the restart, eventually winning from Piquet. Mansell won at a speed of 129.007 mph (207.617 km/h). Alain Prost was third in his McLaren-TAG MP4/2C with fourth going to René Arnoux in the other Ligier, with the Tyrrells of Martin Brundle and Philippe Streiff taking the final points.
A week later, the World Sports Car Championship contingent arrived in Kent for the Brands Hatch 1000. The first three places were taken by Porsche 956s, the winning car of Bob Wollek and Mauro Baldi (Richard Lloyd Racing Porsche 956 GTi) being the only car to complete the 238 laps, at a speed of 104.608 mph. Second home was Joest Racing's 956 of Derek Bell, Hans-Joachim Stuck and Klaus Ludwig, with the Brun Motorsport 956 of Thierry Boutsen and Frank Jelinski third, four and five laps down respectively.
Almost exactly a year later, Brands echoed to the sound of the sports car, although the championship was now called, World Sports-Prototype Championship for Teams (WSPC) and the race was the Shell Gemini 1000 run on 26 July 1987. This was the year of the 'big cats', with the Tom Walkinshaw Racing run Silk Cut Jaguar team and their XJR-8 of Raul Boesel and John Nielsen, who won at an average speed of 111.80 mph (179.92 km/h) with the Richard Lloyd Racing entered Porsche 962GTi of Mauro Baldi and Johnny Dumfries second, these two being the only cars to run the full distance. Third, no less than nine laps adrift, was Jan Lammers and John Watson's XJR-8.
If the Grand Prix was lost to Brands, large-capacity single-seater racing cars were not entirely so and on 23 August, the Intercontinental F3000 Championship was run, as the early years of the championship, the cars were all Cosworth-powered Lolas, Marches and Ralts. The race was over 45 laps, making a distance of 117 miles, which Julian Bailey won at 119.30 mph (191.99 km/h) in a Lola T87/50. In second place was Maurício Gugelmin, followed by Roberto Moreno, both Ralt RT21-mounted, with Stefano Modena and Yannick Dalmas.
The big sports cars returned again on 24 July 1988. The 'big cats' were victorious again, this time using Jaguar XJR-9s, driven by Martin Brundle, John Nielsen and Andy Wallace. They were the only car to complete the full race distance, averaging 112.31 mph (180.75 km/h). in second place was the Joest Racing Porsche 962C of Bob Wollek and Klaus Ludwig, with third going to Mauro Baldi and Jean-Louis Schlesser in their Sauber-Mercedes C9 .
A little under a month later, the F3000 brigade arrived. Practice was marred by a series of worrying accidents, but Johnny Herbert took pole position with his teammate Martin Donnelly alongside in the Eddie Jordan Racing Reynard 88Ds. In the race, they were in a class of their own with Herbert taking a huge lead as the race was stopped following an accident at Paddock Bend. At the restart Donnelly moved into the lead from Pierluigi Martini, but Gregor Foitek and Herbert touched, resulting in a bad accident and a second stoppage. Herbert was seriously injured, suffering major leg fractures. At the third start, Donnelly went away to score a debut win in the Formula, at 120.8 mph (194.4 km/h), from Martini in a March 88B and Mark Blundell in a Lola T88.
On 23 July 1989, the WSPC contenders arrived in Kent, for the Brands Hatch Trophy. Following changes to championship rules, the race distance was down to 115 laps of the Grand Prix Circuit, making a race distance of 299 miles, which was won by the Sauber-Mercedes C9 of Mauro Baldi and Kenny Acheson, at an average speed of 111.15 mph (178.88 km/h). into second place came a Porsche 962C contested by Bob Wollek and Frank Jelinski, from the second Sauber of Jean-Louis Schlesser and Jochen Mass. The British cars were placed fourth and fifth, the Aston Martin AMR1 of David Leslie and Brian Redman beating the Jaguar XJR-11 of Jan Lammers and Patrick Tambay.
A month later, on 20 August, the International F3000 Championship was held over 48 laps of the Grand Prix Circuit, which Martin Donnelly won the second successive year in a Reynard-Mugen 89D at 120.66 mph (194.18 km/h). Second was teammate Jean Alesi, followed by Érik Comas in a Lola-Mugen T89/50.


Exactly a year later on 19 August 1990, the F3000 cars were back to contest the eight round of the Championship. Allan McNish won the 125-mile race at 108.26 mph (174.23 km/h) in a Lola T90/50 with a Mugen engine, followed by Damon Hill in an identical car, with a Cosworth power plant. The final step of the podium was taken by Marco Apicella. The Sports Prototypes did not return to Kent in 1990, going to Donington Park instead.
The 1991 International F3000 Championship returned on 18 August for another 125-mile race around the Grand Prix Circuit. Reynard 91Ds filled the first three places, first home being Emanuele Naspetti at 123.9 mph (199.4 km/h), driving with Cosworth-power, from Alex Zanardi in a similar car. Third went to Christian Fittipaldi in the Pacific Racing Mugen entered Reynard.
International motor racing returned for the 1996 BPR 4 Hours of Brands Hatch, when a round of the BPR Global GT Series for GT1 and GT2 sports cars was staged there on 8 September. The Porsche 911 GT1 of Hans-Joachim Stuck and Thierry Boutsen led home three McLaren F1 GTRs driven by Andy Wallace/Olivier Grouillard, Pierre-Henri Raphanel/Lindsay Owen-Jones and John Nielsen/Thomas Bscher.
In October 1999, Octagon commenced negotiations for the purchase of Brands Hatch Leisure Group: in December agreement was reached, control of Brands Hatch, Cadwell Park, Oulton Park and Snetterton passing to the new owners. Octagon obtained the right from the FIA to run the British Grand Prix from 2002 and announced the intention of rebuilding the Grand Prix Circuit, whilst at the same time negotiating with the British Racing Drivers Club to run the Grand Prix at Silverstone. An agreement was reached which ensured that the Grand Prix will be run at Silverstone for 15 years. This in turn means, that the gloriously challenging Grand Prix Circuit at Brands Hatch will not be altered greatly.


The circuit currently has a curfew of 18:30 due to a housing estate built near to Clearways bend. Race engines cannot be started until after 08:30 and must be turned off by 18:30. Despite this, Brands Hatch holds race meetings on almost every weekend during the motorsport season, ranging from small club series to major international races attracting up to 50,000 spectators.
After Octagon failed to obtain the necessary planning permission and subsequent leasing of the British Grand Prix to Silverstone, this left Brands Hatch without any top-line single-seater racing. However, high-profile single-seater did return in 2003, when the London Champ Car Trophy, a round of the CART Series was held at the circuit. Despite attracting around 40,000 spectators to see Sébastien Bourdais (Newman/Haas Racing Lola) win, the race was not retained for subsequent seasons.
Over the winter of 2002/03, the Dingle Dell chicane was reprofiled and removed. The motorcycle racing governing body (FIM) requested the change ahead of the World Superbike Championship visit in August, but it also allowed the installation of extra gravel traps should the CART be switched from the Indy Circuit to the Grand Prix configuration. Shortly after completion, Barry Sheene died, so the new complex was renamed the Sheene Curve.
One of the biggest developments in the circuit's history occurred in January 2004, when Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision company completed the purchase of Brands Hatch and the other Octagon venues (Cadwell Park, Oulton Park, and Snetterton). Palmer immediately implemented a programme of improvements to the venue, designed to heighten customer experiences both for spectators and competitors.
25 September 2005, the inaugural A1 Grand Prix of Nations was held at Brands Hatch. A1 Grand Prix was a single-seater one-make series where the drivers represented their nation, as opposed themselves or a team. The first race, an 18-lap Sprint saw Nelson Piquet Jr. lead flag-to-flag to win for A1 Team Brazil, ahead of Alexandre Premat (France) and Matt Halliday (New Zealand). The 35-lap Main race also went to Piquet Jr. with Australia's Will Power second, and Mexico's Salvador Durán third.
On a rainy and cold 21 May 2006, SEAT and Chevrolet shared the honours on the first visit of the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC)'s to Brands Hatch. Despite the weather, a good crowd came to the circuit to witness two races that were both run on soaked asphalt. SEAT Sport secured a 1–2–3 finish with Yvan Muller taking the flag ahead of teammates Peter Terting and James Thompson. Alain Menu was welcomed back to the pits as a hero by the RML garage at the end of Race 2 as he achieved the team's first WTCC victory. SEAT's Rickard Rydell finished second on the podium with fellow SEAT driver, Thompson obtaining another third place of the day.
2006, also saw the first visit of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) on 2 July. In the warm English sunshine, 21,500 fans witnessed Tom Kristensen, who seemed to be a sure winner in his Audi A4, but he had 16 of the 85 laps to go, when his car shot off with problems. The winner was the Swede, Mattias Ekström. Second and third were Jamie Green and Bernd Schneider.
The A1 Grand Prix cars returned on 29 April 2007, for the finale of their 2006/07 season. This time Great Britain was victorious in the Sprint with Robbie Kerr driving, with Nico Hülkenberg (Germany) and Enrico Toccacelo (Italy) third. Hülkenberg reversed the result in the Main to win from Kerr with Toccacelo again in third.
A perfect pit stop strategy, great overtaking manoeuvres and a vast experience enabled Bernd Schneider (AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse) to take the DTM victory when the series visited in 2007. Only 0.543 seconds behind was Martin Tomczyk, with third going to Mattias Ekström, both driving Audi Team Abt Sportsline entered A4s.
23 September 2007, saw Alain Menu claim victory in Race 1, after not putting a wheel wrong all race. The Chevrolet driver came under pressure from N.Technology's James Thompson on numerous occasion but the Alfa Romeo never got close enough to overtake, Third across the line was Colin Turkington's BMW. Race 2 saw Andy Priaulx take his first ever win at the wheel of a touring car at Brands. The man from Guernsey lead home Félix Porteiro (BMW) and Robert Huff (Chevrolet).
Brands Hatch held the finale again on 4 May 2008. Like the previous season, Robbie Kerr won the Sprint race the American, Jonathan Summerton and Ireland's Adam Carroll taking the next two steps on the podium. The Main race went to way of Team India's Narain Karthikeyan from Kerr in second and Neel Jani (Switzerland) third.
WTCC witnessed BMW and Chevrolet share the glory when they returned to Kent for the WTCC Race of UK, 27 July 2008. Jörg Müller of BMW Team Germany and Alain Menu for Chevrolet claimed a win each. The German inherited his win when Robert Huff (Chevrolet) went off while leading. As for Menu, this was his third WTCC win at Brands in three years, closely followed home by Félix Porteiro and Alex Zanardi in third.
31 August 2008 saw unstable weather conditions, and Timo Scheider (Audi Team Abt Sportline) defended an extremely narrow lead against the Mercedes driver, Paul di Resta. In front of a weekend crowd of 26,800, Mattias Ekström recovered with a drive to finish third.
Brands Hatch has held sixteen Superbike World Championship, since 1993, when Giancarlo Falappa's double victory in the pouring rain, including two rounds in 2000. Brands has featured in many of the pivotal moments in the championship's history, including Carl Fogarty's double victory in 1995, and more recently James Toseland's double in 2007, not forgetting Shane 'Shakey' Bryne's double as a "wildcard" entrant back in 2003. The last visit in 2008 saw Ryuichi Kiyonari take his first two World Superbike wins of his career, although this was overshadowed by the death of Craig Jones in a supporting World Supersports race. Unfortunately, the circuit owners, MotorSport Vision and the championship organisers FG Sport decided not to return to Brands Hatch in 2009, over a dispute about an increased sanctioning fee.
Back in 1999, the event was dominated by Fogarty's fan, his following was enormous. He would attract a record crowd of 100,000 spectators to Brands (unofficially, the figure was nearer 120,000). The grandstands were red with Ducati jackets and shirts. The flags were covered with the menacing image of the "Foggy Eyes" and Union Jacks. Despite all this support the American, Colin Edwards (Honda) taking the double.
2009 saw the last A1 Grand Prix, and this was held at Brands Hatch, following the cancellation of the final round in Mexico. Adam Carroll won both races for A1 Team Ireland. The Sprint podium was completed by Team India's Narain Karthikeyan and Mexico's Salvador Durán, with Holland's Jeroen Bleekemolen and Swiss driver Neel Jani doing the same in the Main race.
Once again Alain Menu proved to be one of the men to beat when the WTCC revisited Brands in 2009; the Swiss overtook his teammate Robert Huff in the early stages of Race 1 and added another victory to his impressive tally on this track. Huff finished second from an aggressive Andy Priaulx (BMW). Augusto Farfus (BMW) turned pole into victory in Race 2, with teammate Jörg Müller following him home in second. Gabriele Tarquini (SEAT) won a tough fight for third with Priaulx and Rickard Rydell (SEAT).
DTM returned to Kent for their annual visit on 6 September 2009. Paul di Resta delivered a timely victory for HWA Team and Mercedes-Benz, after he made a good start from pole position, as he fended off the first corner challenge of Timp Scheider's Audi, to claim Mercedes' 150th DTM win.


On 18 July 2010, Yvan Muller and Robert Huff gave RML's Chevrolet a 1–2 finished the WTCC Race 1 of UK, ahead of Independent runner, Colin Turkington's Team RAC BMW who drove a great race to take the final podium position from Alain Menu on the penultimate lap. BMW Team RBM's Andy Priaulx converted pole position into a Race 2 win on home turf. Turkington went one better in race two to bring his BMW 320i across the line in second to complete a great result for British drivers. Gabriele Tarquini secured the final podium spot for SR-Sport and SEAT.
With an impressive display, Paul di Resta takes another DTM in 2010. After 98 laps, he crossed the finish line with his AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse, 7.4 seconds ahead of his teammate Bruno Spengler, thus repeated last year's victory. Double champion, Timo Scheider (Audi) completed the podium.
Martin Tomczyk headed an Audi 1–2–3 in a wet race at Brands Hatch, on 4 September 2011. Mattias Ekström secured second, just two seconds behind and closing. Edoardo Mortara was third, just two seconds ahead of top Mercedes driver, Gary Paffett in fourth.
On 20 May 2012, Gary Paffett (Mercedes-Benz AMG C-Coupé) won his home DTM race, from pole position. His margin of victory over Bruno Spengler BMW M3 DTM was five seconds. Mike Rockenfeller completed the top three in the Team Phoenix Audi A5 DTM, making it three different manufacturers on the podium. This was Mercedes' fourth win out of seven races at Brands Hatch.
The DTM competitors returned to Brands, May 2013, where Mike Rockenfeller dominated with a lights-to-flag win, in his Audi RS5. The reigning champion, Bruno Spengler was second for BMW with his fellow Canadian, Robert Wickens taking third for Mercedes-Benz. However the DTM cars did not return in 2014, as the series expanded into Eastern Europe and China. DTM chief, Hans Werner Aufrecht said that "while Brands and Zandvoort had been good venues for the championship, Hungary and China were stronger markets". Meanwhile, Jonathan Palmer, head of Brands owner MotorSport Vision, said the decision to part with the DTM was a mutual one. "We have enjoyed hosting DTM at Brands Hatch for eight years but we have agreed with ITR that it's time for the event to move on. We witnessed great races at these circuits and have to say thank you for the good cooperation," he said.
After a four-year hiatus, it was confirmed that DTM would return to Brands Hatch in August 2018, this time competing on the full Grand Prix layout.
The British Superbike season finale has also been regularly hosted at the circuit, with the 2011 deciding round proving particularly dramatic, as Tommy Hill and John Hopkins frequently overtook each other on the final lap, with Hill emerging as the champion by 0.006 of a second. Brands Hatch typically hosts three rounds of the series, including two events on the Grand Prix circuit.
The opening and closing rounds of the British Touring Car Championship are also held at Brands Hatch, with the champions typically crowned at the circuit in October.
Brands Hatch had hosted Britcar's 'Into the Night' race from 2008 to 2011. After a four-year hiatus, it hosted the final round of the 2016 season in the night again and this event continues annually.
Truck racing has also developed into a large family-friendly event, with the series final event of the year concluded with a large fireworks display which attracts huge crowds.
The circuit also hosts a major events on the historic racing calendar on May Bank Holiday: the Masters Historic Festival.
Despite the curfew, the early evenings during the autumn months allow some racing to take place in darkness and the Britcar 'into the night' race has been a regular on the calendar, with the Lotus 1000 km reviving a tradition that started in the 1960s with the BOAC sportscar races.
The circuit has also launched a number of innovative themed festivals celebrating motorsport of different cultures, including the American SpeedFest, Festival Italia and Deutsche Fest. The American SpeedFest, launched in 2013, features the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series has become one of the venue's biggest events of the year. These festivals feature large off track entertainment areas, running concurrently with the on track racing.


Current
April: British Truck Racing Championship
May: GT World Challenge Europe, British Touring Car Championship, F4 British Championship, Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain, FIA Masters Historic Formula One Championship
June: NASCAR Whelen Euro Series NASCAR GP UK, Touring Car Trophy
July: British Superbike Championship, Brands Hatch Superprix
September: British GT Championship, GB3 Championship, GB4 Championship
October: British Touring Car Championship, F4 British Championship, British Superbike Championship, Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain
November: Britcar, British Truck Racing Championship, Brands Hatch Night Races
Former
2012 Summer Paralympics (2012)
A1 Grand Prix (2005, 2007–2009)
BPR Global GT Series (1996)
Champ Car London Champ Car Trophy (2003)
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (2006–2013, 2018–2019)
European Formula 5000 Championship (1969–1975)
European Formula Two Championship (1967, 1984)
European Touring Car Championship (1963–1964, 1978–1980)
International Formula Master (2006–2009)
FIA Formula 3 European Championship (2012–2013)
FIM Endurance World Championship (1966–1968, 1978–1979, 2001)
Formula 3 Euro Series (2006–2010, 2012)
Formula One
British Grand Prix (1964, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986)
European Grand Prix (1983, 1985)
Formula Renault Eurocup (2004–2007)
International Formula 3000 (1987–1991)
Sidecar World Championship (1999–2003, 2005, 2007, 2015)
Superbike World Championship (1993, 1995–2008)
W Series (2019)
World Sportscar Championship (1967–1972, 1974, 1977, 1979–1982, 1984–1989)
World Touring Car Championship FIA WTCC Race of UK (2006–2010)


Aside from circuit racing, Single Stage Rally uses the tarmac and other inner sections of the circuit like the pits and other roads at the venue. The annual Modified Live and Race Car Live events also follow an exhibition format.
The circuit has hosted the Motocross des Nations four times.
In 2011, it also hosted one of the rounds of the Mini 7 Racing Club season.
During the week the circuit offers some general test days and driving experiences, and can also be hired out for private testing and track days.
Since 2015, Brands Hatch hosts the Revolve24 Circuit Challenge, an ultra-distance cycling event featuring 24-hour, 12-hour and 6-hour races for soloists and relay teams up to 8 riders.


Brant Point Light is a lighthouse located on Nantucket Island. The station was established in 1746, automated in 1965, and is still in operation. The current tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 28, 1987; it has the distinction of being the tenth light on the point, in addition to several range lights. Four of the others burned or blew down, two were condemned, two were unsatisfactory, and the remaining one stands unused.


At a town meeting at Nantucket on January 24, 1746, the sea captains of the island spoke out for a lighthouse and the sum of 200 pounds was voted "in supposition that the owners of or others concerned in, shipping will maintain a light therein", but the town actually paid for its maintenance. The wood 1746 tower burned in 1758.
Town meeting authorized a new light, which was completed in 1759, which lasted until 1774. From the March 12, 1774, issue of The Massachusetts Gazette and the Boston PostBoy and Advertiser, "We hear from Nantucket that on Wednesday the 9th of March Instant (1774) at about 8 o’clock in the Morning, they had a most violent Gust of Wind that perhaps was ever known there, but it lasted only about a Minute. It seemed to come in a narrow Vein, and in its progress blew down. and totally destroyed the Light-House on that Island, besides several Shops, Barns, etc. Had the Gust continued fifteen Minutes it is thought it would not have left more than half the Buildings standing, in the Course that it passed. But we don’t hear of any Persons receiving much hurt, nor much Damage done, except the loss of the Light-House which in every respect is considerable."
Town meeting promptly agreed to rebuild the lighthouse for the third time "as High as the former one that blew down lately at the Town’s Expense." The town petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts (the Legislature, not a court) for permission to levy tonnage dues, and, beginning August 1, 1774, it was ordered that any vessel over 15 tons was subject to a charge of 6 shillings the first time each year it entered or left Nantucket Harbor. In 1783, the lighthouse burned.
The first three lighthouses had been built with more of eye to economy than quality, but the fourth had no quality at all. It was simply a wood lantern with glass windows hoisted between two spars. This lamp was very dim and was often compared by mariners to a lightning bug; hence it received the name "bug light" and was replaced in 1786 by a slightly more elaborate structure, a frame, fitted at the top for lamps. This was wrecked in a heavy storm in 1788.
In August 1789 Congress voted to transfer the colonial lights to the Federal Government. Between then and 1795, another tower was erected on Brant Point. According to a "Memoranda of Cessions by Massachusetts," dated 1795, "The lighthouse on Brant Point with the tenements and land thereto belonging, owned by the State, was ceded to the United States in 1795."
This building, the sixth to be erected on this site, was also cheaply built and was condemned in 1825.  A small tower framework, the seventh light, was built on top of the keeper's dwelling in 1825. This had eight lamps arranged in a double row, six in the lower series and two in the upper tier.  Behind each of these lamps were 12’ 2-inch reflectors.
On November 9, 1853, C. A. Ogden, Major, Topographical Engineers, recommended to the Lighthouse Board that they build a tower for a second-class lens light which would cost $15,000. "The frame of the light tower at Brant Point is so completely rotted as to require reconstruction with the least possible delay," the letter continued, "and believing it to be the wise policy of the Board to make all its future construction permanent, I have asked the above amount for the tower. The dwelling house is much decayed, but has a nearly new roof and weather boarding on it, and may last for some years yet." A similar recommendation to the Board dated October 22, 1853, from Even W. Allen, Collector and Superintendent, District of Nantucket, reads in part "The whole establishment at Brant Point is very much out of repair, and from the age, material, and construction of the building, I should not consider it good economy to repair it; the interests of the Government and all concerned, seem to demand a more permanent and commodious structure." On August 3, 1854, Congress appropriated $15,000 "for rebuilding the lighthouse at Brandt’s Point, Nantucket, State of Massachusetts." The tower was described: "The foundation of the tower is of concrete cement two feet thick, and 18 feet in diameter. The base is of hammered granite, laid in courses two feet thick to the height of 12 feet. The interior of the base forms a cistern, where water may be caught for household purposes. The column forming the tower is of brick laid in cement, with an airspace within the walls for ventilation. The lamp is of cast iron, with 12 lights of plate glass. A circular iron stairway winds its spiral way up to a floor of iron, where rests the lantern, 58 feet above the foundation and 47 feet above the ground."
The fourth order Fresnel lens was first lit on December 10, 1856. The tower is still in place, with its lantern gone, on the grounds of the Coast Guard base. During its active period, it was the front light of a range formed with the Nantucket Beacon; this range was replaced by the Nantucket Harbor Range Lights.
In 1900 a fixed red light was installed at the extremity of Brant Point, 600 ft (200m) from the 1856 tower, it having been found necessary to move the light outward, owing to changes in the channel. This was the ninth light to be located on the Brant Point site in addition to the Nantucket Harbor Range Lights.
In 1901 a new tower, the tenth light and seventh tower, was built at the extremity of the point, and the light exhibited there for the first time on January 31, 1901. There was originally a fog bell at the station. That tower, now fitted with a fog horn, is still in use.
In 1887 a dispute surfaced over the boundaries of the lighthouse site. This was settled in 1901 when five lots, totaling 5.9 acres (2.4 ha), containing three summer houses and part of a hotel, were sold by the Federal government as no longer needed for lighthouse purposes.
Mystic Seaport Light was built in 1966 as a replica of the 1901 Brant Point Light.


The S-shaped pier is 137 metres long and about 7.5 metres wide along the span or deck. It features a walkway and lighted lookout tower elevated four meters above the deck. The lookout tower or the raised platform, accessible by a circular staircase, is located on the fifth span of the deck (a circular node with a diameter of 20m). This raised platform also supports a 12-metre beacon made of tubular structural steel framing on the center.
The pier, as part of Spencer Smith Park, is open between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. The pier is not maintained during winter, which is why it is not suggested to go to the pier during this season, especially in harsh and extreme weather. The pier is not open for motorized vehicles, except for city maintenance vehicles. At this time, there is no docking feature yet on the pier; although the City Council is intending to add one on later dates. Fishing and biking are allowed on the pier and park. Climbing, diving or swimming is not permitted on the pier, as well as skateboarding on benches and rails. Alcoholic beverages are not allowed on the pier.
The maximum number of people safely permitted on the pier is 2,100.


The Brasília National Park (Parque Nacional de Brasília) is a national park located in the northwest of the Federal District and in the center of the state of Goiás, in the Brazil. The park covers an area of 423.83 square kilometres (163.64 sq mi), with territory distributed by the administrative regions of Brazlândia, Brasília and Sobradinho, in the Federal District and by the municipality of Padre Bernardo, in Goiás. It is administered by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio). It is the largest park in an urbanized area in the world.


The park is in the northwest of the Federal District in the center-west region of Brazil. Its boundaries have been fixed and also fenced. The park is divided into Intangible, Primitive, Extensive, Intensive, Special and Recuperation zones from the development perspective.
The terrain is an undulating plateau with geological formations of quartzites and limestones. It has many caves and several springs. Apart from the springs, the source of water supply to the park is also through a reservoir. The most prominent features of the park are the pools formed from water wells. Several creeks flow through the park, including the Bananal, Torto, and Santa Maria Creeks. Because of the large number of springs, its nickname is Agua Mineral (mineral water); the water is reported to have healing properties. There are many trekking trails through the park.


The monastery was founded and endowed in 1024 by Pfalzgraf Ezzo, count palatine of Lotharingia of the Ezzonian dynasty and his wife Matilda of Germany, a daughter of Emperor Otto II and Theophano. Ezzo and Matilda were buried here, as were their two eldest sons Liudolf, Count Palatine of Lotharingia (d. 1031) and Otto II, Duke of Swabia (d. 1047).
From 1065 until his death in 1091, Wolfhelm of Brauweiler, later Saint Wolfhelm, was abbot here. His relics were enshrined in the abbey church, and miracles were reported at his tomb, but all traces of them were lost centuries ago.
The present abbey church, now the parish church of Saint Nicholas and Saint Medardus, is the third building on the site, built between 1136 and 1220 or later. The abbey was dissolved in the secularisation of 1803. The premises were subsequently used, under a Napoleonic law, as a hostel for beggars, and from 1815 under the Prussian regime as a workhouse.
From 1933 to 1945 the buildings were used for the internment, torture, and murder of political and social "undesirables" by the Gestapo and the civil authorities of the Nazi government. Prisoners included Konrad Adenauer, the former mayor of Cologne and first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. From 1945 to 1949, it was an open camp for displaced persons administered first by the British Army and then by UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration).
The abbey buildings are now used by the Rheinisches Amt für Denkmalpflege ("Rhenish Department for the Care of Historic Monuments"). It hosts various events such as concerts, fine arts exhibitions, symposiums, and theatre performances on the abbey grounds.


The Brayford Pool is a natural lake formed from a widening of the River Witham in the centre of the city of Lincoln in England. It was used as a port by the Romans – who connected it to the River Trent by constructing the Foss Dyke – and has a long industrial heritage.
Today, the waterfront surrounding the pool is home to a range of hotels, restaurants, bars, entertainment venues and a modern University (the University of Lincoln). There is also a year-long programme of events on the waterfront including vehicle displays, music evenings and carnival parades.


The Pool has been the focus of Lincoln's urban regeneration since the early 1990s. It is now overlooked by bars,  restaurants, a cinema and, most significantly, the University of Lincoln.  The only reminder of the past is the Royal William public house, a traditional pub housed inside a listed building.  The Pool is used as a marina by houseboats and pleasure craft, as well as by anglers and kayakers.
The Brayford Pool is known for its large population of mute swans (Cygnus olor). The swans made the news in 2004, over concerns about the animals' diet and overall health, as well as the appearance on the Pool of a number of Australian black swans (Cygnus atratus).
Also located on the Brayford Pool is the Lincoln Unit of the Sea Cadet Corps - T.S. Wrangler.
Brayford Island is in the Pool.


Rising as the Enoggera Creek that drains the D'Aguilar Range in the D'Aguilar National Park, Breakfast Creek forms near Herston where it flows a short meandering course of 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) before reaching its confluence with the Brisbane River at Newstead, next to Newstead Park.  Travelling up the Brisbane River the creek is the first to join the river on its northern banks.
The heritage-listed Breakfast Creek Hotel is located near the confluence with the Brisbane River and is known for serving XXXX beer exclusively from wooden barrels.
The shorter race in the annual Bridge to Brisbane fun run starts at the Breakfast Creek bridge.


While several routes exist, most hikers take the white-blazed route up the mountain's west face that begins on the West (Southbound) side of Route 9D near the tunnel. After circling around to cross above the tunnels, it begins a steep, rocky and challenging climb up to the first bump of the mountain, about 720 feet (219 m) above the river, where there are sweeping views of the river and Highlands. It continues in a similar fashion over the remaining bumps until it reaches the summit, but keeps on going and becomes a trail that travels over several other summits, and eventually peters out. However, there are other small trails that lead down from the white trail, as there are blue, red, and green trails that ascend from the various other summits that the white blazed trail crosses over. They serve as a shortcut to the base of the mountain.
The Ninham Trail, named after former Wappinger chief Daniel Ninham, opened in July 2021 as an alternate route to ascend Breakneck Ridge and to provide a safer option for less experienced hikers to descend the mountain. The new trail has more than 500 stairs made from stones hand cut from Breakneck Ridge. After the opening of the Ninham Trail, the Breakneck Ridge ascent (white trail) was converted to a one-way, up only trail.


Brean Down is a promontory off the coast of Somerset, England, standing 318 feet (97 m) high and extending 1.5 miles (2 km) into the Bristol Channel at the eastern end of Bridgwater Bay between Weston-super-Mare and Burnham-on-Sea.
Made of Carboniferous Limestone, it is a continuation of the Mendip Hills. Two further continuations are the small islands of Steep Holm and Flat Holm. The cliffs on the northern and southern flanks of Brean Down have large quantities of fossils laid down in the marine deposits about 320–350 million years ago. The site has been occupied by humans since the late Bronze Age and includes the remains of a Romano-Celtic Temple. At the seaward end is Brean Down Fort which was built in 1865 and then re-armed in the Second World War.
Brean Down is now owned by the National Trust, and is rich in wildlife, history and archaeology. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest due to both the geology and presence of nationally rare plants including the white rock-rose. It has also been scheduled as an ancient monument.


The Mendip Hills, of which Brean Down forms the most westerly part, are the most southerly Carboniferous Limestone upland in Britain. These rock strata were laid down during the early Carboniferous period, about 320–350 million years ago. Subsequently, much of northwestern Europe underwent continental collision throughout the late Paleozoic era, culminating in the final phases of the Variscan orogeny near the end of the Carboniferous period, 300 million years ago. This tectonic activity produced a complex suite of mountain and hill ranges across what is now southern Ireland, south-western England, Brittany, and elsewhere in western Europe. As a result of the Variscan mountain-building, the Mendip area now comprises at least four anticlinal fold structures, with an east-west trend, each with a core of older Devonian sandstone and Silurian volcanic rocks. West of the main Mendip plateau the Carboniferous Limestone continues in Bleadon Hill and Brean Down, and on the islands of Steep Holm and Flat Holm.
Brean Down is just over 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) long and runs in an east-west direction near the mouth of the River Axe opposite Uphill Cliff. The flat area on the top of the peninsula may represent a raised bench laid down when the sea level was much higher than it is today, as the highest point of the promontory is approximately 97 metres (318 ft) above sea level. The cliffs on the north and south faces are rich in fossils that include corals, seashells and crinoids, which supports the theory of the marine deposition of the rocks. 13 separate layers have been identified in the 'sand cliff' on the south side, the lowest five dating to the millennia of the last glaciation.