Chariot Racing at Wembley Stadium?

The other week I mentioned how a Roman Circus had recently been unearthed in Colchester, England. Probably the most well-known movie example of "a day at the races" is the chariot scene in Ben Hur. The Colchester site has been likened to the Wembley Stadium of its day - how awesome is that! And here is that famous chariot race



I don't know how many times I've watched this movie as I was growing up but I've yet to see the infamous red car in the background! Has anyone else seen it, or is it an urban legend?

Chariot Racing in Camulod

Forbidden is set in AD 50 in Cymru (present day Wales). The book I'm working on at the moment starts off in Cymru, but Morwyn and Bren travel to Camulod (Roman Camulodunum), present day Colchester in the East of England. During the very early years of occupation Camulod was the capital of Britannia, and Londinium (London) only became the capital after the Boudiccia rebellion razed Camulod to the ground in AD 61.

Colchester has a unique heritage with visible remains of the Roman walls, the Temple of Claudius, the Roman theatre and other sites. In a bid to preserve another piece of recently unearthed Colchester Roman history, a consortium is trying to buy the Victorian Sergeants Mess building on the former Cavalry barracks - and the gardens under which lie the starting gates of Britain's only discovered chariot racing circus. This is the only one in the Roman Empire discovered north of the Alps.

I found out about the circus from this site, and there's a lot of fascinating bits of information over there. If only I could go visit Colchester and explore all the ancient sites. Why didn't I appreciate this history more when I was living in England??