Past British legends of motorsport have always done their bit to impress on the home leg – from Damon Hill’s 1994 win at Silverstone to Jonathan Rea’s impressive win at Donington during last year’s World Superbikes Championship on the way to a respectable 5th-place finish.

With this weekend’s British MotoGP at Silverstone, it’s a great chance to find out what our British hopes can achieve on the track, and who could potentially follow in the footsteps of the greats like Geoff Duke and Barry Sheene.

With this in mind we’re sad to report that, even with the likes of hot young talent Cal Crutchlow flying the flag, seeing a British domination of the track like we enjoyed in the 60s and 70s does seem a long way off at the moment. In terms of recent MotoGP events at Silverstone, the pace has very much been set by Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo with two wins out of the previous three, while Italian Andrea Dovizioso and Australian race legend Casey Stoner have also made good showings in recent years.

Cal Crutchlow, meanwhile, has only a sixth-place finish to his name - which he achieved from a starting position at the back of the grid no less with a broken leg– from last year’s event. Backed only by a 14th-place finish from fellow Brit James Ellison at the 2012 race, and the pickings are pretty slim for our British hopefuls.

In fact, you won’t find home success at the British MotoGP since the mid-1970s; well before the days of Silverstone and Donington before it, back to when the Isle of Man TT was a key contributor on the racing calendar. At this time the track had become notorious for its safety issues which had put paid to the careers – and even lives – of many notable riders. After the sad loss of his friend at the IOMTT in 1972, Giacomo Agostini announced he would never race there again; other riders joined the boycott until the decision was officially taken to remove the Isle of Man from the official schedule of the world championship – moving the British leg to Silverstone in 1977. Despite not entering the 1976 event himself, Barry Sheene won the title that year and again the next – but this was to be the last title reign of a British rider; his win in Sweden’s curtain-closing race was also the final one by a home rider to this day.

With a seventh-place finish in last season’s proceedings, as well as four podium finishes so far in this, the view on 27-year old Crutchlow is one of potential for the future. However, since announcing his upcoming move to Ducati for the next two seasons, pundits have become nervous about his chances of bringing back a long, long-awaited world title. Given the difficulties faced by riders in recent years, Ducati has not adapted well to the tests in a way that most manufacturers have. The one man ever to win a title on a Ducati was Casey Stoner, who had already sealed his legendary status before then. Even without the pressure to deliver from us Brits, Crutchlow will need a little something extra if he’s to win a title on the Desmosedici.

“If a seven-time MotoGP World Champion like Valentino Rossi couldn’t tame the Ducati beast, it’s unlikely at this point that a rider with Crutchlow’s albeit impressive record could take the Italian bike to the next level,” said Paul Turner from bike experts Carole Nash.