F1? Pah, this is much more exciting

I'VE just missed F1's most exciting race in ages.

Ferrari clutching its first win all season, Brit favourites Button and Hamilton both out in the early stages, Brawn's dream-come-true turning slightly more sour; I saw none of it, and I don't care.

While all of you were cheering Jenson on from the living room, I was stood in a mucky field just outside Carnforth, being rained on. My palms were plastered in the rubbery filth you only ever find on the tyre treads of decades-old HGVs, and my eardrums were knackered, destroyed from hours of sonic bombardment. Yet I was missing F1 for something much more exciting; banger racing!

Warton Stock Car Club is like some Arctic Monkeys ripposte to the stadium-rock smoothness of the F1 world tour, and about as noisy. You stand by some terminally rusty steel fencing - forget anything so sophisticated as seats - scoff chips, and listen to what used to be Ford Capris blow your ears to pieces.

And that's just the warm-up act.



Sure, sitting down to watch Brawn win is a nice afternoon, but if you want a great one you want to see fifteen caravans get torn to pieces in a matter of seconds. Actually, you need to, because no televised motorsport is this much fun. It's not big and it's not clever, but I haven't laughed so much in ages.

A friend our little group had gone along to support had spent hours decorating a dying Volvo V70 and stupidly-named caravan - Rapier Sprite or something - in the sort of dazzingly bright colours that haven't been seen in F1 in years. Both were ruined beyond recognition within a minute, and the crowds loved it.



Forget watching F1 from the sofa. Get out there, watch the Sierras and Granadas go out in style, and laugh yourself silly.

Or tape the Grand Prix, and do both...