There hasn't been an Indy car run at Brands Hatch since 1978 when Rick Mears recorded a rainy victory in what was then the United States Auto Club.

But this weekend's inaugural CART show at the famous road course in England is more like a homecoming for eight of the 19 regulars in the champ car lineup.

	A former driving instructor at the track, Adrian Fernandez has much experience at Brands Hatch.

Obviously, none of them competed in '78, but Adrian Fernandez, Roberto Moreno, Mario Haberfeld, Darren Manning, Jimmy Vasser, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Oriol Servia and Patrick Lemarie all have fond memories of a track where many of them cut their racing teeth.

"That is the place basically where my dream started in terms of my international career," said Fernandez, who was a driving instructor at Brands Hatch in the early '80s. "Going back there as an owner and driver is going to be very special.

"I love the track and I think it is going to be a very well received since it's so close to London."

Haberfeld, who won the British Formula 3 title in 1998, has one very special reason he's looking forward to Brands.

"It's the only track on the whole (Champ Car) calendar that I've been on," said the 27-year-old rookie from Brazil who lived in England for eight years "I had two pole positions in Formula 3000 at this track. It should suit our Reynards very well, so we are really looking forward to it."

Moreno used Brands as his springboard into Formula One.

"It was a very important place when I was building myself as a driver," said the 44-year-old Brazilian who spent seven seasons in F1 before coming to CART full-time in 1996. "My first time driving there I had the pole and finished first and in 1980 I won the Formula Ford Festival there.

"That got me noticed and my career took off."

Moreno competed in F1 when it used to run the breathtaking 2.6-mile road course at Brands but, like USAC did, CART will be running on the 1.2-mile, seven-turn "short course."

Manning, the local favorite who grew up in North Yorkshire and resides in London, logged many miles at Brands Hatch in junior formulas and knows CART's initial race will be a fast one.

"It's going to be the closest thing to an oval we've run on because there are some seriously fast corners like Paddock Hill Bend and Surtees Kink, which will be plenty challenging too," said the 28-year-old Brit who made his impressive CART debut last year on the oval in Rockingham, England.

"I know the Formula 3 cars get around the short course in 41 seconds and I imagine we'll be running 37s. It's going to be quick."

Because it's such a short circuit, CART has decided to abandon its usual road course qualifying rules (everyone runs together) in favor of a single-car qualifying -- taking the best of two laps.

"I think that's a good idea because it's pretty tight and this should also be something special for the fans," said Vasser, who ran the small circuit in a Formula Ford in the early '90s and also competed on the big track in F3000.

"I think it's going to be a fun place to race, but very physically demanding."

While a general feeling of nostalgia sweeps over the CART paddock, everyone is also very aware that past history won't have any bearing on their current dilemma: beating Paul Tracy.

Tracy has won the first three races of 2003 and will be trying to tie Al Unser Jr. (1990), Alex Zanardi (1998) and Cristiano da Matta (2002) for the CART record of consecutive victories.

"People keep asking me how long we can keep this winning streak alive, and I don't even think about it in terms of a streak," said the 33-year-old Canadian. "Everyone on Team Player's just focuses on the next race and what we can do to be in a position to be in front at the end.

"I know we're all on the same page and that's really helped since it's our first season together."

Following Monday's 165-lap race, CART will make a quick trip to Lausitz, Germany and run the EuroSpeedway oval on May 11.