1948 British Grand Prix
The Royal Automobile Club International Grand Prix was a motor race held on 2 October 1948, at Silverstone Airfield, Northamptonshire, UK. Although it did not have official Grande Épreuve status, it is commonly cited as the first British Grand Prix of the modern era.
Held two years before the inauguration of the FIA World Championship, the 65-lap race was run under the new Formula One regulations which effectively replaced the pre-war Grand Prix motor racing standards. Winner was the Italian Luigi Villoresi, in a Maserati 4CLT/48. A 13-lap 500 cc race, preceding the Grand Prix, was won by Spike Rhiando in a Cooper. Stirling Moss failed to finish after mechanical problems.
The race meeting marked the opening of the Silverstone Circuit, although at the time the site was only on a one-year loan to the RAC from the Air Ministry, having been a bomber station during World War II.
Read more about 1948 British Grand Prix: Background, RAC 500 Cc Race
Famous quotes containing the words british and/or grand:
“Much of what passes for quality on British television is no more than a reflection of the narrow elite which controls it and has always thought that its tastes were synonymous with quality.”
—Rupert Murdoch (b. 1931)
“We are now going through a period of demolition. In morals, in social life, in politics, in medicine, and in religion there is a universal upturning of foundations. But the day of reconstruction seems to be looming, and now the grand question is: Are there any sure and universal principles that will evolve a harmonious system in which we shall all agree?”
—Catherine E. Beecher (1800–1878)