Race card from the final BARC meeting at Brooklands before WW2 and the end of racing at the track
Straight, with the cars turning left at the top of the Straight and then doing 10 complete laps of the Campbell Circuit. This race had an impressive list of competitors, including no fewer than six ERAs driven by Cotton, Peter Whitehead, RF Ansell, Horsfall, Raymond Mays and the Hon Peter Aitken. Four Alfa Romeos took part, or five if you count the Alfa-based Multi-Union II, driven by Richard Shuttleworth, Kenneth Evans and AF Ashby in 2.9-litre Tipo B P3s and Robert Arbuthnot driving the ex-Hans Ruesch 3.8-litre Tipo 8C/35. Mays, driving the 2-litre ERA R4D whose story was related to Members not long ago by recent owner Mac Hulbert and is now owned by the Fidler family, won from Prince Bira driving the Maserati 8CM now owned by Chris Jacques and Aitken in ERA R11B currently owned by David Morris. Goldie Gardner next demonstrated the
MG record-breaker EX135. Between 31 May and 2 June, 1939 he had broken the 1 mile, 2km and 5km speed records on the Autobahn near Dessau in Germany for the 750-1100cc and, after an overnight rebore, the 1100-1500cc classes, all at over 200mph.
Veteran racers
The two races for vehicles in full road-going trim and built before 1905, or ‘Veteran Speed Events’ as they were described in the race card, featured an enormous number of vehicles. Event A had 24 entered there were 25 in Event B. Among them were three steamers, several De Dion and similar tricycles of the type that have starred in the two race meetings for those vehicles which have been staged since the Finishing Straight was re-opened in 2017. Two of these vehicles would be of special interest to today’s Museum visitors as RGJ Nash entered the
1900 Peugeot Voiturette now owned by his son Richard and on display in the Campbell Shed. The other is a 1902 Dennis entered by RE Dennis which his son John regularly brings to Museum events. Also, JH Lander was co- entrant of a 1900 New Orleans. Many of the entries came from active
Brooklands drivers, including Lord Selsdon (Mercedes), Sammy Davis (Léon Bollée tricycle), John Bolster (Panhard) and Richard Shuttleworth (Locomobile). FS Bennett entered what had been the very first Cadillac imported into the UK, similar to the one which the late Dave Starks regularly loaned to the Museum in recent years. Event A was won by EA Marshall’s 1901 Ariel Tricycle from E Pilmore Bedford’s 1900 New Orleans and the Browning/Lander New Orleans driven by Browning. C Lindsay Nicholson won Event B on Francis Hutton-Stott’s 1902
18 BROOKLANDS BULLETIN | SEPTEMBER – OCTOBER 2019
Wolseley ahead of Capt Rolfe’s 1903 De Dion Bouton and the Bennet Cadillac. The third course layout to be used on
this remarkable day was the Mountain Circuit, which hosted three races, all of them five-lap handicap events of around six miles. The first of these was won by Miss Dorothy Stanley-Turner in her supercharged 747cc MG Q-Type, beating The Hon Peter Aitken driving the Alfa-Aitken Special, which was one of the two fearsome twin-engined Alfa Romeo Bimotores minus its rear engine that was eventually restored to original form and featured in the now-defunct Donington Museum. Leslie Brooke was third in the then-Alta-engined, now ERA-powered, Brooke Special.
The second Mountain Handicap was won by IH Nickols in an 1100cc blown MG, with the ERAs of Whitehead and Aitken
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