rooklands Museum was opened again for business on the 1st of February, less than 3 months after the River Wey burst its banks and put the historic site under more than two feet of muddy water.

Although the historic Clubhouse and several buildings in the Motoring Village will still be closed for another couple of months while renovation goes on, visitors will still be able to see all the other exhibits, including  the museum's unrivalled aviation collection. 

Pride of place still goes to 'R for Robert', the only remaining Wellington bomber to have seen active  service in WW2 out of 11,461 built.  Retrieved from the bottom of Loch Ness in 1985, where it had lain since the crew ditched it there on New Years Eve 1940, the aircraft has since undergone more than 100,000 hours of restoration.  Fortunately,  the rising water stopped short of the hangar before there was a need to mount yet another salvage operation.

The major bonus for visitors, however, will be a sneak preview of the new Grand Prix exhibition, which should have been officially opened by HRH Prince Michael of Kent on 8th November 2000. 

The first British Grand Prix was run at Brooklands in 1926 and more than 2 years of work went into assembling a unique collection of Grand Prix cars from the first races right up to present day F1 machines, plus fascinating personal memorabilia of great British racing drivers.

Less than 24 hours before the opening, the water came through and the only car not to get its tyres wet was the one mounted upside down on the ceiling ! This is designed to show that you could actually drive an F1 car this way because of the downforce created by the aerodynamics.

Interim entry prices were cut to only £3 (less than half the usual price) with a family ticket (2 adults and up to 3 children) only £10.

If you need more information before leaving home please telephone the museum on 01932 857381.

Release courtesy of Brooklands Museum Trust.

Brooklands Society members can read more articles like this one in the quarterly Brooklands Society Newsletter and the quarterly Gazette. If you want to join, click here.