Trevor Hopkins. It is approximately 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. History Origins – 1940s 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 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. 1950s Following World War II, cinders were laid on the track of what was by then known