A1 Grand Prix began at Brands Hatch, 23-25 September 2005. To celebrate the series not turning 5, over these three days, I’m looking back at what seemed like such a good idea.

“Firstly, I would like to thank each and every person who is attending this race meeting, to see history in the making. Here at Brands Hatch, where the past meets the future, the first World Cup of Motorsport will begin.

“Thank you for believing in a dream and coming here this weekend to see that dream turn into a reality. I hope that we can provide you with lasting memories of a historical day that will add value to your lives.

“Please be ready to hear the words that will start this momentous day. You will hear, for the first time, in the right place, at the right time: ‘Gentlemen, for the pride of your nations, start your engines’.”

Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum
Founder, President and Chairman of A1 Grand Prix

That’s the introduction to the programme for that first meeting of A1 Grand Prix five years ago. I’m still astonished that they stuck with that “for the pride of your nations” nonsense, which really was first class toss.

But putting that aside, it’s hard not to be won over by the concept, even now. And you can’t argue with a man like Sheikh Maktoum, who got the idea after he “came second in the Middle East leg of the Land Rover G4 challenge”.

He sold the idea to some pretty impressive people too: the programme proudly carries a photo of Nelson Mandela – who “lent his support to A1 Grand Prix” – with football stars Ronaldo and Luis Figo, seat holders of A1 Team Brazil and A1 Team Portugal respectively.

It’s easy to point out that, by the final 2008-09 season, those famous footballing names had departed as seat holders. So had the likes of Niki Lauda, Willi Weber and John Surtees. But Alan Jones, Emerson Fittipaldi and Jan Lammers remained, and had been joined by Michael Andretti.

Maybe it all started to go wrong when Sheikh Maktoum left the series, after the first season. The series came under the control of Tony Teixeira, who later went ahead with the apparently advised-against ‘Powered by Ferrari’ car, which was involved in the whole mess in Australia a year ago, which in rapid fashion led to the death of A1GP. There were rumours earlier this year that the series may yet make a comeback.

We’ll see, but I want to concentrate on happier things, so back to the programme.

Flicking through the entry lists of the support races – Ferrari Formula Classic, FIA Thoroughbred Grand Prix Championship, MSV Formula Ford 1600, Powertrain Caterham Challenge, Tag Heuer GT250, AVO Ginetta Championship, Formula Palmer Audi – there are some familiar names: Steven Kane, Dave Pinkney and Alister McRae, for example.

There are a couple of mentions in the programme for a certain Lewis Hamilton too. But, back in 2005, they were in the context of having beaten A1 Team Great Britain driver Alex Lloyd to the 2003 Formula Renault UK title, and having dominated European F3 in 2005 with Team ASM – the team running the A1 Team Brazil car.

Back to the support races, it’s not surprising to see some MotorSport Vision series in there, given that Jonathan Palmer’s company had only 18 months earlier taken over Brands Hatch, as he pointed out in his introduction to the programme. He ended that introduction:

“Thank you for being part of history in the making.”

A1GP wasn’t scheduled to come to Britain at all in the aborted 2009-10 season, Brands Hatch having not been interested for the now obvious financial and stability reasons. Palmer’s words to Kent News in 2009 nicely sum up feelings towards A1GP:

“We hosted the very first race of the series and it was a wonderful occasion for the sport and us. It is sad that it won’t be back in 2010, but crowds have been falling and we saw a significant drop at this year’s event.”

But let’s be happy. On Friday I’ll have a look at the drivers that came through A1GP, and on Saturday I’ll remember that sunny first meeting at Brands Hatch.