One thing I shall do at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed is to count how many people each team brings along. Nobody gets away with fewer than a dozen and all they are doing is sending a car up a hill just over a mile long and the car goes up five times.

Arrows was one of the three F1 teams to support the first Festival in 1993. Under the contract Arrows had with Cosworth, three Cosworth engineers had to be present. It was then a two day event so we are talking three miles of running.

In the early 1980s, one of the attractions of the Marlboro British Formula Three Championship was that the top three in the series had a test in a McLaren. These tests were conducted with the thoroughness that we had already come to expect from McLaren under Ron Dennis, they were serious sessions.

I attended a couple and they lasted from nine till five, with an hour for lunch. Formula One teams did not bring a catering unit to a test. Tyrrell's catering staff was Steve Lydon (later of the HSCC) and his girl friend, and Steve had to have a proper job. Lunch was at the circuit's greasy spoon. I have seen Niki Lauda queue in the canteen to get his cholesterol upgraded.

McLaren would arrive mob handed for these tests, that meant three mechanics and a couple of stop watches. That is how basic it was and McLaren, remember, was a top team.

The Onyx F2 team ran a works related March in 1981. I knew the entire team: Mike Earle, Greg Field and Martin Dixon. Onyx was a serious outfit which made it to Formula One just eight years later and scored a podium in its first season.

In 1983, Martin Brundle had one of the Marlboro McLaren test sessions and he went home aching because he had experienced forces he'd never known before. He went to the gym and worked on all the bits that hurt because he had another F1 session on the horizon.

At the time, there was worry among British enthusiasts that Brits seemed not to be getting into F1. There were the usual money woes and the fact that there had been a scholarship scheme sponsored by Renault and Elf which saw the emergence of the likes of Arnoux, Lafitte, Pironi, Prost and Tambay. The paddock was suddenly filled with French drivers.

A couple of enthusiasts, Steve Sydenham and Rojer Finch, organised a campaign called "Racing For Britain". You could join for £7.50 and you felt part of something bigger. Steve and Rojer did an amazing job, they roped in team owners and leading drivers, and arranged concessions for members.

Like other hacks, I paid my subs and wrote for the newsletter free of charge. A lot of the British motor racing community joined in, from young fans to team owners, and there was an amazing feel good factor.

Promising drivers, up to Formula Three, received financial help and they were selected by a committee comprised of serious citizens. Steve Sydenham was a large character with an infectious enthusiasm, while Rojer tended to work in the background. Quite a few drivers owe Steve and Rojer something.

Racing For Britain had Ken Tyrrell on board and he promised an F1 test for the Brit who finished highest in the 1983 F3 series. That was Martin Brundle, and I was one of the two outside spectators at the test.

Danny Sullivan went out in a Tyrrell 011 to set a time. Martin went out and pulverised the time. Ken was over the moon. He and Martin were huddled together over lunch in the greasy spoon while mechanics were preparing a current Tyrrell 012. Tyrrell would have fulfilled his promise had he run Martin in the morning only, but Ken covered his bases.