Did you know that Brooklands was the World’s first purpose-built racing circuit, where the Wold land speed record was broken no fewer than three times, 100 miles was covered in an hour for the first time, the inaugural British Grand Prix was run, and whose slogan was ‘The Rifht Crowd and No Crowding’, attracted thousands of motor racing fans and casual spectators alike.
At a time when the national speed limit was 20mph (and might as well be now in my experience), Brooklands’ spectacular banks were scientifically designed to accommodate 120mph!
By the end of the story of Brooklands racing (stopped by the war in n1939), John Cobb’s Outer Circuit lap record stood at a staggering 143.44mph!
No, you can still stand on the banked track although 80% of it has been destroyed by development. However, many of the old buildings that you have seen on old films of Brooklands still exist and they have an amazing collection of cars, motorbikes and even bicycles (they have The Ultimate Bike on which some bloke cycled at over 200mph!) from across the decades.
They had a couple of blower Bentleys turn up while we were there and drive around for a bit with the drivers and passengers dressed up in appropriate clothing for the era. That bloke off Changing Rooms was there too...
Now, a large part of the site is taken up by The Mercedes Benz Experience. It has a huge building that you can visit with billions of their cars outside and race tracks, skid pans and off road areas. Apparently you can go in and even try the cars out although we didn’t have time for that…
http://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/motoring_history.cfmThen of course they have all the aviation history of Brooklands from 1939 to (I think) 1979 but of course you wouldn’t be interested in that.
Discuss.
