THE BROOKLANDS SOCIETY AT THE 1997

 CELEBRATING 90 YEARS OF BROOKLANDS - ARCHIVE REPORT

These archive notes are taken from a newspaper which we gave away at the 1997 Goodwood Festival of Speed where we exhibited a wide range of Brooklands racing cars and motor bikes. For reports and photos of the more recent events click on the links below.

1998 REPORT	1999 REPORT

At six o’clock on the afternoon of 28 June 1907, three 7,724 c.c. Napiers embarked upon a record breaking 24 hour run at Brooklands and in so doing declared Europe’s first purpose built motor racing track ready for business, thus establishing the birth of British Motor Racing.

A DISPLAY OF BROOKLANDS CARS - THEN AND NOW

For the three days of the 1997 Goodwood Festival of Speed and again at our annual Brooklands Society Reunion, (held on the 29th June 1997) at the Brooklands track and museum site at Weybridge in Surrey, we celebrate 90 years of British motor racing and 90 years of Brooklands. Our display of a selection of the important and historic cars and motor cycles which competed at Brooklands and complements the impressive assembly of Brooklands cars which competed on the hill this week-end.

John Cobb’s mighty 1933, 168 mph, 24 litre Napier Railton, which holds the Brooklands outer circuit lap record at 143.44 mph, will feature again as the working centrepiece of our Annual Brooklands Society Reunion next Sunday alongside many other historically important cars

1929 Alvis Silver Eagle

Built as one of a works team of three cars for the 1930 Double Twelve Hour race, this Alvis was subsequently bought by Philip Fotheringham-Parker who raced it at Brooklands in 1931 and 1932. The 1932 August Senior Handicap Mountain Race was held after a downpour and some enthusiastic cornering saw the Alvis shoot over the top of the Banking. A fortunate but rather shaken Fotheringham-Parker emerged unscathed but the Alvis sustained a bent chassis. (Photo shows an FWD car)

In 1933 the car was purchased by Michael May. When the chassis broke he had it replaced by Alvis and went on to race it with both the two litre and a larger Robin Jackson tuned 2,511 c.c. Silver Eagle dry sump engine which it still retains. This is the only Alvis to have ever won a Grand Prix - the 1938 Phoenix Park race, in the hands of its owner Michael May who retained and preserved the car for over fifty years.

1927 Amilcar Six

One of some thirty five 1,100 c.c. supercharged six cylinder engined, double overhead camshaft design cars with cross flow cylinder head and dry sump.
The ultimate potent amalgamation of the best bits of the top Amilcars. Raced at Brooklands by Goldie Gardner, Humphreys, Oate and Monkhouse, this car won many races and, utilising its present engine, lapped at 121.47 mph in the hands of Harry Clayton earning him a 120 mph badge in October 1937.
At the Easter 1938 meeting Clayton went over the Banking while driving an M.G. and was hospitalised for two months. He returned to race at the 1939 Whitsun meeting prompting John Cobb to utter his famous line: "Christ! - Clayton! - I thought you were dead."

The Elgood Bentley 4,398 c.c.

This bored-out race winning 1929 Bentley competed in the hands of its owner F.E. Elgood in the late 1930’s achieving a distance in 1938 of 98 miles in the rain in a one hour blind at Brooklands, going on some time later to achieve 110.3 miles in the hour when conditions were more favourable, taking the Baddeley trophy.

First place in the 1937 October Short Handicap, with a fastest lap of 108.03 mph, was followed by another first at 109.46 mph at the Whitsun meeting of the following year and a third in the 1938 Dunlop Jubilee Cup race, averaging 100.64 mph with a best lap of 121.47 mph.

1935 Fiat Balilla

This 995 c.c. car was purchased new by C. le Strange-Metcalfe who raced it extensively at Brooklands up to 1939. After the war he placed it in the top four at Goodwood eight times with three wins to his credit and a best lap of 68.7 mph, eventually selling it in 1955. The present owner rebuilt it in the early seventies since when it has enjoyed considerable success in VSCC events. The price new in 1935 was £258, performance zero to sixty in a tad over 30 seconds, with a top rev limit of 4.400. Exhaust modifications and other extensive tuning work was undertaken by V.H. Tuson whose diminutive Balilla racers would top 100 mph. Cyril Hancock currently uses this car to compete at various VSCC events throughout the season.

1,100 c.c. 8 cylinder Harker Special

In 1933 Gordon Harker who had been very successful with a home-blown Austin 7 between 1929 and 1932, set about constructing a car using a supercharged eight cylinder engine consisting of two Austin Seven blocks side by side on a common crankcase. In 1934 the Austin blocks were replaced by Cecil Kimber-supplied overhead cam MG units. A Villiers-Roots supercharger providing a boost of 16 lbs per sq. inch combined with a compression ratio of 6.5:1 enabled Harker to take first place in the 1934 Whitsun Second Merrow Mountain handicap race at a best lap of 69.57 mph. In 1935 the original car evolved into its final Mk3 version comprising a light chassis made by Rubery Owen, fitted with a Lombard gear box, Moss back axle and aluminum body. When in recent years the 1,100 c.c. engine, was rebuilt and dyno tested on methanol, it showed 105 bhp at 5,500 rpm on 12 lbs boost. This equates to 160 bhp. at its top end of 7,000 rpm! Performance is brisk, allegedly being nearly equal on the road to a 2.3 Alfa Monza.

1928 Lea-Francis Hyper

This 1.6 litre 100 h.p. supercharged car, which reaches over 120 mph in its present trim, won the 1928 T.T. in the hands of Kaye Don. After C.T. Delaney’s father, the man who built Eyston’s record breaker ‘Speed of the Wind’ bought it from Don in 1930, ‘Tom’ pursued an extensive racing programme, participating in many Brooklands races as well as the 1931 Irish Grand Prix, collecting many trophies along the way. When he took up flying he sold the LeaF but twenty five years later he traced it to Aden, bought it back again, brought it back to england and had it extensively rebuilt.

Tom Delaney continues to race this Lea Francis in vintage events and enjoys the distinction of being Britain’s most senior and experienced holder of a current competition licence.

**Overheard at Goodwood**

Tom Delaney: "I've just had a two inch extension put on this gear lever - its much better now, I used to have to lean forwards to change into third."
Anonymous wag: "You mean to tell me its taken you 67 years to sort the gear lever out!"

1930 Talbot 90 ‘PL 2’

One of three 1930 Fox & Nicholl team cars which competed at Brooklands from 1930 to 1933. During the Easter 1930 Double Twelve Hour Race the car which had been running fourth in Max Aitken’s hands was withdrawn after the other two team cars of Rabagliati and Hebeler collided. Rabagliati was seriously injured, his mechanic and eleven spectators died in what was one of Brooklands’ worst accidents.

Later that year on October 4th, the car, driven by Hindmarsh and Wolfe finished 2nd in class in the B.R.D.C. 500 Mile outer circuit race at an average speed of 103.52 mph. The overall race winner was Freddie March, the present Earl’s grandfather, partnered by Sammy Davis driving a tiny Austin Seven which trounced all of the larger cars after a handicap start.

Talbot 90 PL2 went on to win a handicap race in 1932 and achieved two second places in 1933.

Excelsior Manxman motorcycle

1936 350 c.c. machine, has a racing history and is sprinted to this day.

Norton International motorcycle

1938 498 c.c. ohc sports/road machine built to T.T. specification. Currently actively sprinted.

In 1921 Brooklands featured its one and only 500 mile motorcycle race during which Bert Le Vack set a 500 mile record of 70.42 mph which it was widely predicted would remain unbroken for many years. Bob Dicker was to prove them all wrong when on Saturday 25 November 1922 he took the first shift of a record attempt on this Rudge in partnership with Dick Mather, to cover nearly 160 miles in two hours. Dick took over taking the distance for his stint to over 300 miles. After six hours they had averaged 75.06 mph and by the five hundred mile point they had achieved an average of 74.96 mph, beating Bert Le Vack’s solo speed record.

They pressed on to take 600 mile and eight hour records at 71.27 and 71.29 mph. Shortly afterwards, being gluttons for punishment, they collected numerous sidecar records on a Bradbury at £75.00 a go - not very much for the beating they took over those Brooklands bumps. When someone remarked to Bob Dicker years later that he must have known every bump at Brooklands he replied: “Yes, and after that run on the Rudge I had to eat my dinner off the mantlepiece for a week.”

This motorcycle went on to take part in a number of sidecar events and then disappeared to be re-discovered, literally under a tree, in Lincolnshire by the present owner, having been there since 1932!

Sunbeam 9 motorcycle

1926 Racing model 9, 493 c.c. ohv single with T.T. type frame. Ex Chip Sibley

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