A superb visit to Brooklands...pics
Discussion
I may be the only member of PH who had never done this, but I live in Canada. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
It is really a superb experience.
Walking through the gate to the Brooklands museum near London is an achingly intense trip to the past. a complex of buildings from the twenties and thirties stands, completely preserved. The press box, clubhouse, rows of lockup garages all stand, still painted in their original commercial livery. Stepping into the first garage, its the faint smell brings you back. Oil, rubber, paint, leather and exhaust fumes have been absorbed for decades by these buildings, and it is as if the years have been rolled back to the simple, glorious, dangerous days when drivers took primitive cars out on a track without even a seatbelt, knowing that the new era of the automobile had arrived. Behind the paddock, the steep concrete banking of the circuit is still visible.
Over a century ago, in 1907, the Brooklands circuit opened its doors. It was the first dedicated racetrack in the world, and the first banked track. From the beginning, the rural circuit with its wide concrete track and steep 30 ft high banking attracted the brave , the talented and the foolish. Wealthy amateurs and serious professionals drove here , and some of the most exciting early footage of period racing comes from Brooklands. Bugattis, Bentleys, Alfas, Talbots appeared along with some of the most powerful specials of the time. . Many of them had their own premises on site, as did a variety of parts and tuning suppliers. In the lockup garages, mechanics toiled to service and fettle the cars for the races of the day. It was not uncommon for new cars to be tested here by the motoring press. Pilots also frequented the track and an aviation industry grew up in the area. From its inception it had a aerodrome, and the world's first airline ticket office still stands.
The track ceased operation when WW.2 broke out and never reopened as it was cut by roads and runways. However, the famous banking and much of the circuit survived. The museum today is entirely volunteer run and consists of a large number of cars and automobilia inside the original buildings. It is radically different from the perfect, surgically clean exhibits in museums such as Porsche, Ferrari or Mercedes where impossibly perfect cars sit like sculptures, much better than when they were built, leaving no sense of the noise, dirt, dents and intensity of their competition days. Here, the cars are not all concours, but shows their scars in many cases. Club racers mix with very historic cars. Some are privately owned and maintained on site by their owners.
In various buildings, volunteer mechanics in overalls are working on the cars. tool boxes on the floor I ask one of them why they do it. In a refined accent he said " Well,. we're barking mad of course, but where else would one have the opportunity to work on such wonderful old cars ?". This is a labor of love, a triumph of the enthusiastic amateur, a whole complex kept alive by the time of many people, most of them retired. An open lockup reveals a vintage car fully disassembled, and outside a row of vintage cars under tarpaulin await work.
The cars on display include the track record holder, a huge 24 Litre aero engined Napier Railton stands on Malcolm Campbell's old garage. Driven by John Cobb and designed by Reid Railton it still holds the lap record for the track.Both Campbell and Cobb who drove here would later be world land speed record holders, as was Malcolm Campbell's son Donald,who like Cobb, would die in a world water speed attempt. Nearby sits a Railton Terraplane, based on a Hudson chassis and running gear. Railton sold the specials in the UK to finance his more exotic designs.
Other cars include a unique 1937 Alfa 6C mid engined streamliner which was very advanced for its day, a rare 4.5 litre Bentley with its original Le Mans body, and a tiny 98cc Rytecraft Scootacar, one-wheel drive that was driven around the world. An original AC Ace competition car is on display displaying clearly the DNA that would later become the Cobra. A life sized cutout of Denis Jenkinson greets you at the entrance to the display.
Close to the old banked circuit sit two large buildings. By 1939 the track had closed forever, and aircraft manufacturing was the primary use. The first building is a very rare WW2 military hangar, a large crudely built shed. Inside is a crowded collection of aircraft from the dawn of aviation through WW2. I spot a Sopwith Camel biplane , a WW2 Hawker Hurricane. and a Wellington Bomber, its props bent back from the impact of ditching in in a lake. Outside many air related vehicles are randomly parked near the steep banking of the racetrack. A 6X6 Range Rover is parked near to a Morris Minor van, both in original condition. A variety of old passenger aircraft (most built here) are parked outside on the tarmac, and in the centre, startling in its modernity sits Concorde. Many of the components were built right here and this entire plane was restored on site.
This is the best and most accessible display of Concorde in the world. The rear of the aircraft has a small museum, and a portion of the plane has been stripped back to show the tubes the surrounded the tiny windows to pump refrigerated air between the inner and outer glass to prevent passengers being burned. Sitting in the passenger seats in the forward cabin a film from the flight deck is shown. It gives a vivid impression of a Concorde flight. I watched this on the same day as the Space Shuttle was making its final slow journey by road through LA and it felt very sad to say goodbye to these two magnificent, optimistic examples of the ingenuity that helped us to escape from the limitations of time and distance. In this beautiful aircraft, the sense of en ending was apparent.
A very modern structure sits nearby. The London Bus Museum has a huge collection of vehicles from the earliest horse- drawn buses to the present. As with everything in Brooklands it is all volunteer-run. Everyone is familiar with the red London bus, but here are some very rare versions. As things were quiet I was invited into the workshops where a very unusual AEC bus with a side-mounted engine was being worked on. The transmission must have been interesting. Some of the buses are in completely original condition and have advertising from their period and virtually every vehicle runs. An articulated mobile canteen has survived. It was used for the rural routes where services were few for the crews.
Even the parking spaces are Interesting. In the members' parking lot under a simple shelter stood a line of original AC Cobras with not a person in sight. At the end of the line a very rare AC 428 convertible stood , and next to that the new AC 378 Zagato coupe, not yet registered.
At weekends the complex can be crowded, but on the Monday I visited there were very few people.
After the atmosphere of the Brooklands Museum the five minute walk to Mercedes-Benz world is an instant transport into modernity. At first glance it looks like a very sophisticated dealership, ( which is fact it is), but this is a factory owned facility which is much more than a normal facility. Looking at the parking lots gives a clue. There are lots of high performance model with Mercedes-Benz world stickers. Valet parking is available and there is a full restaurant. Interestingly there are a number of the now-discontinued Maybachs for sale.
On entering the building, the first car to be seen is a hyper-rare CLK-GTR convertible. Only a handful of these Le Mans racers were ever produced for street use and they were fabulously expensive. Among modern cars some other spectacular cars are on display including one the the most valuable Mercedes Benzes of all. Sitting on a stand is a concours 1955 alloy-bodied 300SL Gullwing. Only 29 were ever built and one of them sold at action last year for $4.6 million. This immaculate Rudge-wheeled example will be auctioned by RM in the UK on October 31. Customer and privately-owned car rotate in and out of the complex constantly.
IMG]http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n29/RMcG/file-480.jpg[/IMG]
Behind the main building is where the real action occurs. A private track and skidpad has been built where current and prospective customers can try out regular and AMG products ( for a fee of course). Experienced instructors are on hand to help participants on the track. A permit is not required for under 16s as there are no age restrictions for the lower powered cars although there is a minimum height requirement. I expect that many future customers had their first youthful unforgettable experience here. Looking down on the track I see a single SL550 running round and round the big circular skidpad on full opposite lock. In the distance I see a C class being run tentatively on the track.
Compared to the very mechanical nostalgia of the Museum, this is a window into the future, and a very cool window it is.
It is really a superb experience.
Walking through the gate to the Brooklands museum near London is an achingly intense trip to the past. a complex of buildings from the twenties and thirties stands, completely preserved. The press box, clubhouse, rows of lockup garages all stand, still painted in their original commercial livery. Stepping into the first garage, its the faint smell brings you back. Oil, rubber, paint, leather and exhaust fumes have been absorbed for decades by these buildings, and it is as if the years have been rolled back to the simple, glorious, dangerous days when drivers took primitive cars out on a track without even a seatbelt, knowing that the new era of the automobile had arrived. Behind the paddock, the steep concrete banking of the circuit is still visible.
Over a century ago, in 1907, the Brooklands circuit opened its doors. It was the first dedicated racetrack in the world, and the first banked track. From the beginning, the rural circuit with its wide concrete track and steep 30 ft high banking attracted the brave , the talented and the foolish. Wealthy amateurs and serious professionals drove here , and some of the most exciting early footage of period racing comes from Brooklands. Bugattis, Bentleys, Alfas, Talbots appeared along with some of the most powerful specials of the time. . Many of them had their own premises on site, as did a variety of parts and tuning suppliers. In the lockup garages, mechanics toiled to service and fettle the cars for the races of the day. It was not uncommon for new cars to be tested here by the motoring press. Pilots also frequented the track and an aviation industry grew up in the area. From its inception it had a aerodrome, and the world's first airline ticket office still stands.
The track ceased operation when WW.2 broke out and never reopened as it was cut by roads and runways. However, the famous banking and much of the circuit survived. The museum today is entirely volunteer run and consists of a large number of cars and automobilia inside the original buildings. It is radically different from the perfect, surgically clean exhibits in museums such as Porsche, Ferrari or Mercedes where impossibly perfect cars sit like sculptures, much better than when they were built, leaving no sense of the noise, dirt, dents and intensity of their competition days. Here, the cars are not all concours, but shows their scars in many cases. Club racers mix with very historic cars. Some are privately owned and maintained on site by their owners.
In various buildings, volunteer mechanics in overalls are working on the cars. tool boxes on the floor I ask one of them why they do it. In a refined accent he said " Well,. we're barking mad of course, but where else would one have the opportunity to work on such wonderful old cars ?". This is a labor of love, a triumph of the enthusiastic amateur, a whole complex kept alive by the time of many people, most of them retired. An open lockup reveals a vintage car fully disassembled, and outside a row of vintage cars under tarpaulin await work.
The cars on display include the track record holder, a huge 24 Litre aero engined Napier Railton stands on Malcolm Campbell's old garage. Driven by John Cobb and designed by Reid Railton it still holds the lap record for the track.Both Campbell and Cobb who drove here would later be world land speed record holders, as was Malcolm Campbell's son Donald,who like Cobb, would die in a world water speed attempt. Nearby sits a Railton Terraplane, based on a Hudson chassis and running gear. Railton sold the specials in the UK to finance his more exotic designs.
Other cars include a unique 1937 Alfa 6C mid engined streamliner which was very advanced for its day, a rare 4.5 litre Bentley with its original Le Mans body, and a tiny 98cc Rytecraft Scootacar, one-wheel drive that was driven around the world. An original AC Ace competition car is on display displaying clearly the DNA that would later become the Cobra. A life sized cutout of Denis Jenkinson greets you at the entrance to the display.
Close to the old banked circuit sit two large buildings. By 1939 the track had closed forever, and aircraft manufacturing was the primary use. The first building is a very rare WW2 military hangar, a large crudely built shed. Inside is a crowded collection of aircraft from the dawn of aviation through WW2. I spot a Sopwith Camel biplane , a WW2 Hawker Hurricane. and a Wellington Bomber, its props bent back from the impact of ditching in in a lake. Outside many air related vehicles are randomly parked near the steep banking of the racetrack. A 6X6 Range Rover is parked near to a Morris Minor van, both in original condition. A variety of old passenger aircraft (most built here) are parked outside on the tarmac, and in the centre, startling in its modernity sits Concorde. Many of the components were built right here and this entire plane was restored on site.
This is the best and most accessible display of Concorde in the world. The rear of the aircraft has a small museum, and a portion of the plane has been stripped back to show the tubes the surrounded the tiny windows to pump refrigerated air between the inner and outer glass to prevent passengers being burned. Sitting in the passenger seats in the forward cabin a film from the flight deck is shown. It gives a vivid impression of a Concorde flight. I watched this on the same day as the Space Shuttle was making its final slow journey by road through LA and it felt very sad to say goodbye to these two magnificent, optimistic examples of the ingenuity that helped us to escape from the limitations of time and distance. In this beautiful aircraft, the sense of en ending was apparent.
A very modern structure sits nearby. The London Bus Museum has a huge collection of vehicles from the earliest horse- drawn buses to the present. As with everything in Brooklands it is all volunteer-run. Everyone is familiar with the red London bus, but here are some very rare versions. As things were quiet I was invited into the workshops where a very unusual AEC bus with a side-mounted engine was being worked on. The transmission must have been interesting. Some of the buses are in completely original condition and have advertising from their period and virtually every vehicle runs. An articulated mobile canteen has survived. It was used for the rural routes where services were few for the crews.
Even the parking spaces are Interesting. In the members' parking lot under a simple shelter stood a line of original AC Cobras with not a person in sight. At the end of the line a very rare AC 428 convertible stood , and next to that the new AC 378 Zagato coupe, not yet registered.
At weekends the complex can be crowded, but on the Monday I visited there were very few people.
After the atmosphere of the Brooklands Museum the five minute walk to Mercedes-Benz world is an instant transport into modernity. At first glance it looks like a very sophisticated dealership, ( which is fact it is), but this is a factory owned facility which is much more than a normal facility. Looking at the parking lots gives a clue. There are lots of high performance model with Mercedes-Benz world stickers. Valet parking is available and there is a full restaurant. Interestingly there are a number of the now-discontinued Maybachs for sale.
On entering the building, the first car to be seen is a hyper-rare CLK-GTR convertible. Only a handful of these Le Mans racers were ever produced for street use and they were fabulously expensive. Among modern cars some other spectacular cars are on display including one the the most valuable Mercedes Benzes of all. Sitting on a stand is a concours 1955 alloy-bodied 300SL Gullwing. Only 29 were ever built and one of them sold at action last year for $4.6 million. This immaculate Rudge-wheeled example will be auctioned by RM in the UK on October 31. Customer and privately-owned car rotate in and out of the complex constantly.
IMG]http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n29/RMcG/file-480.jpg[/IMG]
Behind the main building is where the real action occurs. A private track and skidpad has been built where current and prospective customers can try out regular and AMG products ( for a fee of course). Experienced instructors are on hand to help participants on the track. A permit is not required for under 16s as there are no age restrictions for the lower powered cars although there is a minimum height requirement. I expect that many future customers had their first youthful unforgettable experience here. Looking down on the track I see a single SL550 running round and round the big circular skidpad on full opposite lock. In the distance I see a C class being run tentatively on the track.
Compared to the very mechanical nostalgia of the Museum, this is a window into the future, and a very cool window it is.
Edited by RDMcG on Tuesday 23 October 16:35
Edited by RDMcG on Tuesday 23 October 16:40
Noesph said:
Yep, it's pretty good brooklands (I live fairly near), although it's a bit sad seeing concorde sitting around doing nothing.
I know someone who use to work at Vickers when It was still around.
It is one of my great regrets that I never got to fly on Concorde, and evidently never will.I know someone who use to work at Vickers when It was still around.
Edited by Noesph on Tuesday 23 October 17:33
Edited by Noesph on Tuesday 23 October 17:34
A couple of interesting facts about the grey CLK-GTR convertible. Its the only RHD example and is currently owned by Vijay Mallya (The Force India boss) The funniest fact is that the drivers seat is a lot wider than the passenger seat because it had to be widened to fit Vijay's rather large butt. He leaves it at MB World and only takes it out maybe twice a year, what a waste
Streetrod said:
A couple of interesting facts about the grey CLK-GTR convertible. Its the only RHD example and is currently owned by Vijay Mallya (The Force India boss) The funniest fact is that the drivers seat is a lot wider than the passenger seat because it had to be widened to fit Vijay's rather large butt. He leaves it at MB World and only takes it out maybe twice a year, what a waste
Interesting, that. They are rumoured to be nasty things to drive.Many of the cars in the museum get run at events, either at Brooklands itself or at Goodwood Festival of Speed and Revival. 
If you're around the area for a little longer then the PistonHeads Sunday Service is at MB World this week - I'm sure many of us would love to put a face to the name.
If you're around the area for a little longer then the PistonHeads Sunday Service is at MB World this week - I'm sure many of us would love to put a face to the name.
jeremyc said:
Many of the cars in the museum get run at events, either at Brooklands itself or at Goodwood Festival of Speed and Revival.
If you're around the area for a little longer then the PistonHeads Sunday Service is at MB World this week - I'm sure many of us would love to put a face to the name.
Ah..unfortunately am back in Canada, preparing for my long, long drive to Arizona next week...(One Cayenne, One SL on trailer, one great Dane, one standard poodle and two guys heading to another part of Route 66. I will be back at some point and would be great to meet some PH people.If you're around the area for a little longer then the PistonHeads Sunday Service is at MB World this week - I'm sure many of us would love to put a face to the name.
Were all the airliners open for you? They usually are, sometimes they will open them up for you if someone is about (as in they've just locked up to go and get a coffee/toilet break).
I got to sit in the captains seat in the Vanguard last time I was there. Have you seen how they got it flown in on the reduced runway?
Vanguard arrival - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmakSwlYLs0
BAC 1-11 arrival - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLDgkAqKJiI
those two stop where Mercedes Benz world is now.
Vimy arrival, on an even shorter grass temp runway - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUS1zXeiAZ4
I got to sit in the captains seat in the Vanguard last time I was there. Have you seen how they got it flown in on the reduced runway?
Vanguard arrival - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmakSwlYLs0
BAC 1-11 arrival - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLDgkAqKJiI
those two stop where Mercedes Benz world is now.
Vimy arrival, on an even shorter grass temp runway - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUS1zXeiAZ4
FourWheelDrift said:
Were all the airliners open for you? They usually are, sometimes they will open them up for you if someone is about (as in they've just locked up to go and get a coffee/toilet break).
I got to sit in the captains seat in the Vanguard last time I was there. Have you seen how they got it flown in on the reduced runway?
Vanguard arrival - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmakSwlYLs0
BAC 1-11 arrival - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLDgkAqKJiI
those two stop where Mercedes Benz world is now.
Vimy arrival, on an even shorter grass temp runway - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUS1zXeiAZ4
The tiremarks of the Vanguard are definitely in the scary category!I got to sit in the captains seat in the Vanguard last time I was there. Have you seen how they got it flown in on the reduced runway?
Vanguard arrival - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmakSwlYLs0
BAC 1-11 arrival - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLDgkAqKJiI
those two stop where Mercedes Benz world is now.
Vimy arrival, on an even shorter grass temp runway - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUS1zXeiAZ4
HTP99 said:
I work 5 minutes away from Brooklands and live half an hour away however I've never actually been to the museum, I've been to Mercedes Benz World a few times though.
Thanks for the photos, I must get there.
It just feels so much better than Porsche for instance..beautiful cars in a bloodless setting..Thanks for the photos, I must get there.
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