Brooklands - a lost bastion

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Brooklands - a lost bastion

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Created on June 1, 1980

Text:

Wilson McComb

Photos:

Daimler AG

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Talbot Owners Club - Courtesy Bonhams

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Wilson McComb

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Archiv

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Mercedes 120 HP (1907) - Race on the Brooklands track - Prix de la France on August 5, 1907 - Winner Dario Resta (starting number 3), 2nd place J.E. Hutton (starting number 9)

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Start of the double 12-hour race in 1930

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Opening race on the Brookland track of the Automobil Racing Club on July 6, 1907 - from the first day of racing at Brookland

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Mercedes 120 HP (1907) - J. E. Hutton wins the race for the Montague Cup at the inaugural race on the Brooklands track

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Mercedes 80 HP (1911) - Starting scene of the racing cars, C. L. E. Geach wins the 10.5-mile race on the Brooklands track on April 17, 2011

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Mercedes 80 HP (1911) - Winner C. L. E. Geach al sWinner of the Easter race on the Brooklands track on April 17, 1911

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Benz 200 HP (1909) - Victor Héméry sets two new world records on the Brooklands track on November 8, 1909 in the 200 HP Benz

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Benz 200 HP (1913) - the 200 hp Benz with which Colonel Hornsted was on the record hunt at Brooklands in 1913 and 1914

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Benz Blitzen-Benz (1913) - L. G. "Cupid" Hornsted on record rides on a modified Blitzen-Benz with 200 hp on December 22, 1913 on the Brooklandsbahn

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Morgan Three Wheeler (1912) - H.F.S. Morgan at the start of his record-breaking journey at Brooklands in November 1912 - he covered 59 miles and 1120 yards in the following hour

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Morgan Three Wheeler (1929) - C.T. Jay wins the Cyclecar Grand Prix at Brooklands with C. Curtis at an average speed of 64.7 miles per hour on a racing Morgan with an air-cooled J.A.P. engine

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Start of the British Empire Trophy 1934 at Brooklands

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Two K3s, the Hall brothers and, with hat, Cecil Kimber. Brooklands 1934

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Brooklands 1934 - Wisdoms Standard K3 with No. 20 - next to it the specials of Eyston and Horton

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Talbot AV 105 (1934) - on a record drive at Brooklands in 1937

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Talbot AV 105 (1934) - at Brooklands in 1937

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Talbot AV 105 (1934) - Record drives at Brooklands in 1937

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Summary

Brooklands Racecourse was the oldest permanent racecourse, built in the early 20th century on the initiative of a wealthy engineer with foresight, as he wanted to secure the future of the British motor industry. This obviously did not succeed, but the closure of the Brooklands track in 1939 had other reasons. And although there have been repeated attempts since then to restore the track to its former glory, the efforts failed due to a lack of money and personnel squabbles, as this report from 1980 succinctly recounts.

This article contains the following chapters

Memorial or headstone?
The world's first race track
A monumental building
Freehand driving
Designed for 90 miles
Cracking concrete
Not visually spectacular enough?
With additional circuit
Not popular with spectators and drivers
Records for the ages
No resurrection possible
Saving what can be saved
The trials and tribulations of the Brooklands Society
Lack of money

Estimated reading time: 16min

Preview (beginning of the article)

On July 6, 1957, I stood with other motoring journalists at Brooklands in front of a tall monument covered by a checkered flag. 50 years had passed since the first race on this famous circuit. The owners of the site, Vickers-Armstrong Ltd, had asked Lord Brabazon of Tara - who drove an 8-liter Minerva in the first race at Brooklands - to unveil a memorial stone, erected in memory of the glorious years 1907 to 1939. Lord Brabazon did not offer any words of thanks, however, but openly described the memorial stone as a "tombstone - clearly evidence of a guilty conscience". "These remains of the old racecourse around us are the decaying skeletons of one of the most significant projects that ever existed," he said. Brabazon was expressing a feeling that was undoubtedly shared by everyone present. To understand these bitter feelings, you need to know how the racecourse came into being and how it was lost to the motoring world after 40 years.

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