news Motorsport shines in the rain


Motoring Book Winners Two of Brooklands’ Talks Programme


Umbrellas and race suits were the fashion for Autumn Motorsport Day in October. The former was needed just as much as the latter, but that just added to the fun for the Farnborough and District Motor Club who enthusiastically slid their cars around the demonstration autotest course. For a small donation, and with plenty of courage, you could enjoy a passenger lap as well. Around the Museum you could get up close to F1 cars and some great Indy Cars sheltering in the Race Bays along with historic stock cars, Formula Nippon, GT1 and others. Dallara supplies racing chassis for NTT Indy Car racing, but brought along its Stradale road car too.


The parade laps at neighbouring Mercedes-Benz World took place despite the wet conditions. The Lamborghini Hurracans of Barwell Motorsport relished the wet, sending sprays of water in their wake. Others, understandably, were a little more cautious and a casualty of the weather was the Test Hill where the afternoon ascents had to be cancelled as water running down slippery concrete was not a good combination. Dacia provided two Dusters to support Future Terrain, a charity designed to help people, particularly ex-servicemen, with life changing injuries and it was great to them at the show. Martin Overington brought his Bentley 4.5-litre along, fresh from winning the Brooklands Trophy at the Goodwood Revival, and threw it around the rain-soaked track in typical vintage style.


Tim Morris Breakfast at Brooklands


Brooklands Breakfast meets are a great way to see all sorts of classics and there were more than 200 cars and motorbikes at the Autumn event. There was no set theme, but many similar makes and models congregated together at this relaxed mix ‘n’ match affair. Centred on the Clubhouse, you could find a trio of spectacular MGCs underneath the Members’ Bar balcony and a group of NGs in the motoring village. Nearly the same but not quite, the NGs are usually based on MGB underpinnings. Other collections included some nicely modded Ford Anglias, a handful of VW campers and Microbuses, some modern Morgan three wheelers plus an array of assorted Americana. Modified cars are not unusual and there were quite a few at this event that drew a smile, including a rat look Datsun Sunny estate and a similar condition Austin Allegro which was actually a VW Beetle in disguise. In the Paddock, a 1961 BMW 502 2600 drew a lot of attention, as did an Australian


Ford Falcon GT Coupe from 1974 and a Triumph GT6. Of course, there are too many great vehicles to make individual mentions of each one and it is always good to see the event full of Members’ vehicles with most attendees enjoying the full English breakfast in the Clubhouse too. As is usual at the Brooklands breakfast meets, there is the unique opportunity to drive your classic up Test Hill and along the banking, something not to be found at any other classic breakfast meet in the world. Look out for the Winter Breakfast in February 2020.


Tim Morris 6 BROOKLANDS BULLETIN | JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2020


The multi-talented All Stars musicians came together again to entertain a loyal group of Brooklands Members with an excellent programme of jazz favourites. It is the fourth time we have had the same line-up, from left to right, Bob Webb on soprano, tenor and alto saxophone and MC Andy Lawrence (double bass), Mike Cotton (trumpet, harmonica and vocals), Tony Pitt (banjo) and Graham Hughes (slide and valve trombones, harmonica and vocals). Nigel Brecknell


Tickets please The London Bus Museum Transportfest


focused on the AEC marque in October. A splendid 1951 AEC Mammoth Major 8 parked in front of the Clubhouse to show these events are about commercial vehicles and taxis as well as buses. There was also a London Transport AEC Regent breakdown tender which started life as a double-decker in 1933 before conversion in 1950. The horse-drawn omnibus was a popular attraction at the Bus Museum events and it is an unusual sound to hear the clip clop of hooves at Brooklands. Professor Clump enchanted younger visitors, along with the Punch and Judy show and a balloon modeller, when they were not riding on selected buses for a round trip to Weybridge. Tim Morris


speakers were awarded prizes at the Royal Automobile Club Motoring Book of the Year awards, held on 30 October at the RAC’s historic Pall Mall clubhouse. Motoring Book of the Year went to Matthew Field for The Self-Preservation Society 50 Years of the Italian Job. Matthew recently gave a fascinating talk on this subject at Brooklands. Simon Taylor’s book John, George and the HWMs received the Specialist Motoring Book of the Year award. This magnificent book, presented in two volumes, uncovers the history of the ambitious HWM racing team. Congratulations to both Matthew and Simon. You can see their talks at BM.tv on Vimeo and YouTube.


Steve Clarke All Stars entertain


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