Brooklands today

[Graham]

Just what is the state of Brooklands nowadays? Hasn't any bloke like Tom Wheatcroft thought about resurrecting it, or is it now like the old Monza - scarcely visible?

Surely a 'Brooklands Revival' could give the vintage cars a blast in their contemporary surroundings like Goodwood, and might also give us, mere modern mortals, a chance to understand the beginnings of our sport and the fury of straight-eights, sixes and twelves pummelling their woefully inadequate tyres??

I for one would love to experience the sight of Rileys, ERAs, Bugattis, Bentleys, Alfas, etc blasting around the banking.

Is that a pipe dream now we live in times of economic and ecological restraint?

If it took such hard campaigning to save the Monza banking, what chance the Britons? Or have we Brooklands and motorsport ingrained in our hearts more thoroughly than the Italians?

I dunno - I can only wish...

[Peter Mallett]

Dunno about today G bloke, but yesterday there was only about a quarter of the circuit left!!!!

It was originally developed to test motorcycle engines. It took a short while to turn it into a multi-purpose circuit. It was the only banked circuit outside of the USA for a while. Monthlery and Monza followed soon after though. Tim D will correct me here.

You should make a trip to Weybridge and then try and walk up the members banking. Make sure its a dry day though.

Barnes Wallace (famous WW2 scientist chappy), built some bombs and indeed bombers, there.

The museum is well worth a visit.

[Bluebottle]

The ressurection of Brooklands would require the demolition of the local branch of Tesco to start with...not to metion the local N.I.M.B.Y brigade who write letters to M.P's, The Times newspaper etc etc every time someone starts an engine on the site.
I drove my old Dutton (a Melos, for anyone who knows Duttons..) along Members Bank a few years ago- great fun, but I cracked the spring seat on one of the rear dampers. It didnt comletely break until I was arriving home!

[Dan Friel]

Not too much of it left.. but still very visible. You can park in M&S car park and walk along lots of it - don't do it when it's frosty, bloody slippery and send the girlfriend shopping at the same time!!

Almost got to the museum, a bit expensive though.. But must be worth a visit.

MG Midget day on October 1, if anyone's interested..

[Graham]

Speaking of Midgets, I didn't see yours at Combe last time out. I saw a mucky yellow baby food colour Midget along by Folly and a nasty Allegro green example, almost rusted out, somewhere behind Bobbies.

[TimD]

Ah, where do I start about Brooklands...?

First of all, the fact that large companies were allowed to demolish huge swathes of the circuit sums up all that was bad about Britain in the 1970s/1980s. There is indeed a supermarket built in a gaping hole in the Byfleet banking. Oh for a bulldozer and half a ton of gelignite....

The Members Banking is also incomplete, having been sawn off at the eastern end to make way for an office block for Gallaghers, and the western end blended into the Hennebique bridge, which collapsed after storm damage in 1969.

Here is the only real opportunity for any track restoration. The Brooklands Society (TimD is member 2179) is trying to raise lottery funding for a recreation of that bridge. It was a unique structure, being both banked race track, and river bridge, constructed of stressed concrete. It is worth replacing in itself, and if it joins up another bit of banking, so much the better...

The rest of the banking is now a listed national monument. No one can do any more damage to it now, thank goodness.

Another problem with recreating the circuit is that the site has a very real wartime aviation heritage to be commemorated. The last of the aircraft assembly hangars which survives is the one which was constructed slap bang in the middle of the start/finish straight. If any attempt were made to move it, the aviation heritage lobby would (rightly) kick up a stink about it. The building is serving a valuable purpose today, as it houses a beautifully reconstructed Vickers Wellington bomber, built at Brooklands during the war, and dredged up from its crash site in Loch Ness in 1986.

Peter is quite right. The hangar also houses a Barnes Wallis "bouncing bomb".

The nearest thing to a "Brooklands Revival" is the Brooklands Society Annual Reunion. This takes place in early July (sorry folks, it was 3 weeks ago, and it was great).

Like-minded enthusiasts use this day to wheel out as much Brooklands-related machinery as possible for a quick blast around what is left of the members banking. One can't get too exuberant, because there is a housing estate built right in the shadow of the banking perimeter, and quite apart from the noise considerations, the consequences if a car went over the top are absolutely unthinkable.

A couple of years back, Stanley Mann, Bentley dealer extraordinaire, took a blower Bentley to well over 100mph at the top of the banking, and came down to find that he had accumulated several large bushes, shrubs and small trees from the very rim of the bank in his supercharger. Ridiculously dangerous, but stirring stuff.

This year's award for superannuated delinquent of the day went to Keith Schellenberg, who took the Bentley Barnato Hassan special up the test hill at such velocity that he managed a flight of some considerable distance at the summit. I talked to him afterwards, and he said that it was only when he was doing 70mph, and was utterly committed, that it suddenly occurred to him of the consequences if he got it wrong.

All in all, a fabulous day out, and one I can heartily recommend to anyone with an interest in motor racing in the age of the titans.

And even in this day and age, there are still a few of those grand old warriors with us. This year's special guest of honour was "Mort" Morris-Goodall, who competed regularly in the 1930s, and who retains an interest to this day. If I am even half as well preserved as "Mort" when I am 90+, I shall consider myself very fortunate indeed.

[fatbloke]

Rebuilding the circuit has got to be cheaper than constructing Rockingham, no ? Or am I dreaming as I live in the next road to the circuit and want to be able to walk to the circuit, dammit!

BTW, i've been invited to a barbeque later in the year to be held at Gallahers - which Eddie Jordan and some of his cars will be attending (they own the B&H brand...) - wonder if we could convince him to run one around some of the remaining track...?! I reckon even Mike Gascoyne could suss out the direction of the track at Brooklands...

[Graham]

Surely too bumpy for fragile Boremula 1 cars?

[Dan Friel]

Brooklands will never get sorted..

You have:

1. Roads running through the banking
2. Supermarkets next to the track
3. A very prestigous business park in it
4. Weighbridge (lots of rich people who don't like it)
5. Cobham (even richer people)


Brookalnds isn't like it was, it's actually now slotted into part of a town. But still worth a good visit.

[TimD]

Originally posted by Graham
Surely too bumpy for fragile Boremula 1 cars?

That's not the half of it...

Quite apart from Bluebottle nailing the spring hanger on his Dutton, I've seen Porsche 911, Triumph TR6 and Aston Martin DB4 grounding - HARD - on one particular bump just after the fork.

Indeed, at the last Brooklands Society reunion, there was a convention of Aston Martin owners who had come along for the day. Eventually, enough modern Astons had scuffed their undertrays that the Bentley Drivers Club's David Holland had to go up the banking and flag all the Astons off the track. Otherwise, someone was going to have done a serious mischief to a very pretty car.

The vintage Bentleys, Amilcars, MGs and Bugattis were permitted to carry on with their banking runs. They have the ground clearance to be able to take on Brooklands and come away unscathed.

[Peter Mallett]

That test hill.

Its got three gradients. The idea was that you drove to the line about two thirds up and stopped then restarted and drove to the finish. It wasn't meant to be a flat out blast to the top. I found that out when I dropped the clutch on my MGB at the bottom and took off as I crested the top!!! YEEEEEHAW!!!

[fatbloke]

Another problem with recreating the circuit is that the site has a very real wartime aviation
heritage to be commemorated. The last of the aircraft assembly hangars which survives is the one
which was constructed slap bang in the middle of the start/finish straight. If any attempt were
made to move it, the aviation heritage lobby would (rightly) kick up a stink about it. The building
is serving a valuable purpose today, as it houses a beautifully reconstructed Vickers Wellington
bomber, built at Brooklands during the war, and dredged up from its crash site in Loch Ness in
1986.

I seem to recall that they were planning to do precisely that a few months ago. Don't suppose that anything came of it though.