You may already have heard the word but Brooklands, the worlds first purpose motor racing circuit is going to be hitting the big screen in 2007 in a feature film of the same name. The release of the film coincides with the Brooklands race track centenary.
Although the storyline will be fiction, all the legendary figures from the era make a welcomed return to the limelight. Including John Cobb, Malcolm Campbell, Henry Segrave and Whitney Straight Even Dunlop Mac, Dunlop Tyres' on-site sales and tyre fitter will get to wield his hammer one more time.
As well as the personalities the cinema audience will also be able catch a glimpse of the array of classic cars that once thundered across the massive and perilous banking. Lead by the extraordinary Napier-Railton other racing hardware to appear will include Bentley, Aston Martin, Bugatti, ERA and the Barnato-Hassan. There is even talk that a replica of Malcolm Campbells 1933 Bluebird will appear during filming.
This is the first time a feature film entirely based at Brooklands has been produced, which has caused more than a few headaches for its producer.
"Brooklands is without question the spiritual home of modern motor sport and is where the first pages of the land speed records were written", s
tates Andrew Smith the producer. "The only comparison we have to compare it to today would be somewhere like Cape Canaveral, what happened at Brooklands literally changed our world"
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"Unfortunately there isn't much left of the circuit today so filming on the original track is impossible. What hasn't been chewed up by housing and the Pru's new car park is now hidden by industrial units or been cut through as an access road to Tescos. It's quite upsetting to see a place that once inspired a nation to be so commercially abused. Had it not been for the Brooklands society and the museum, this jewel of British enterprise would have been lost forever"
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The racing scenes are going to be a combination of live racing in replicas on a purpose built set and the original models still running today. Filming will take place at somewhere like Montlhery which still has banked track, and computer generated graphics for the long shots. Original cars have been secured already for the close ups.
With a budget of £20m, Brooklands is, in British film industry terms, of epic proportions. A huge chunk of money has already been found, but around £10m is still required.
There's a unique investment scheme available for anyone who wishes to play a part in bringing the dream to reality. As a special offer, Andrew Smith (also an artist of classic cars) is giving away five of his limited edition prints of the Napier-Railton (rrp £55) to the first five members of PistonHeads who sign up.
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