Originally, it was a beautiful structure that housed the 1851 Great Exhibition. It had 990,000 square feet of space, enough sheet glass that interior lighting wasn’t necessary, and survived until a fire in 1936 leveled it. What had been the Crystal Palace and the lands surrounding it is now more of a park than anything else, but between 1927 and 1972, there was a racetrack on the grounds. The Crystal Palace Circuit was barely a mile and a half long by the time the 1971 British Saloon Car Championship ran that year’s race, and it was obvious that ripping around a park at good speeds was not the best way to go about with a touring car race.

The best way to approach this race, for those unfamiliar with the series, is to view it as a European Trans-Am series with mixed classes running the same race. You’ll see a Camaro and Mustang in the field, but you’ll also note Ford Capri RS1600s hanging right on their heels, Vauxhall Vivas in the mix and Mini Coopers working the hell out of the engine and keeping pace with the big boys. There is no walkaway winner…this will be a 1-2-3 battle to the bitter end!