Pure theatre

Sir,

Your November editorial considered reasons why and how watchable motorsport may develop in coming years. What you didn’t address is why people want to watch.

Surely the pure theatre of seeing drivers balance cars with steering wheel and throttle brings not just an adrenalin rush but an urge to buy another ticket and come again. Historic racing is strong in this area: anyone who saw Ludovic Lindsay in Remus win in the rain at Goodwood a couple of years back, or has watched Rod Jolley in his Cooper, will know what I mean. When these two get out of their cars they are usually smiling with pure pleasure.

Hillclimbing is similar: 2001 champion Graeme Wight Jnr, Tim Mason, Roger Moran, Tim Coventry and Martin Groves hurling single-seaters up narrow lanes gives similar pleasure to ‘car control junkies’, and spectacular viewing points are easy to find.

Some areas of modem racing have been allowed to develop in ways that miss this point And for the avoidance of doubt, urging the drivers to run into each other every now and again, as seems to be the case in some sorts of modem racing, is not the answer.

Do the men in charge of directing British motor sport comprehend all this?

I am, Yours etc,

Sheridan Thynne,Reading ,Berkshire