Brooklands Bulletin Issue 78 Nov - Dec 2022

NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022

brooklands bulletin

‘Ebby’ – the story of Brooklands’ timekeeper

& MG Midget

1961-79

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contents

brooklands bulletin

The Journal of Brooklands Members

Welcome

Time is of the essence in this issue of the Bulletin, as you can read in a couple of the features. The story of AV Ebblewhite is as intriguing as details of much of his life are scant. His understanding of the importance of accurate timing at events held at Brooklands was revolutionary and changed the way the sport was run with an impact we still see today. If that sounds like hyperbole 115 years on from Brooklands’ opening, remember that timing was being carried out to a thousandth of a second back then just as it is now in top level motorsport.

Ebby’s influence extended elsewhere at Brooklands as he championed the use of race numbers on the cars rather than trying to identify each by the jockey-inspired colours of the drivers. This makes Ebby one of the most important figures in the history of Brooklands and motorsport.

We also have a story on the newly released Triple-Four Racing Chronograph made by the Brooklands Watch Company.

It’s an exquisite limited-edition timepiece designed by the late Sir Terence Conran. The level of detail in the design is delightful, and the story behind it and the work to create is just as exciting.

There is also just time left to thank all of the Members who have responded to the email Newsletter’s appeal for stories for the Bulletin. Many of you have been in touch and, please, keep ’em coming. Till next time!

Alisdair Suttie Editor Brooklands Bulletin Front Cover photo: Brooklands Museum Collection

Become a Member Brooklands Members is the official support organisation for Brooklands Museum and is dedicated to raising funds for the preservation of the historic Brooklands site.

Members receive the Bulletin six times per year and enjoy free admission to the Museum, except when major events are taking place, in which case additional charges may apply. Club Level Members have access to the Clubhouse Bar on Thursday, Friday and Sunday lunchtimes.

For full details of membership benefits, contact the Members Administrator, Sarah Dover 01932 857381 ext 226; or wwwbrooklandsmembers.co.uk where you can find the latest news on Brooklands.

28 20

13

REGULARS

FEATURES

News.....................................4

Belle of the haul...................13

Museum Updates...................7

The Terror............................20

Letters...................................8

A college education.............26

Forthcoming Events.............10

Time and motion.................28

Members’ Matters...............40 Reviews...............................49

Five generations and counting..............................34

Around the Collection..........50

Timing is everything.............36

26

36 NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022 | BROOKLANDS BULLETIN

3

news Barnato-Hassan Special goes on display at Brooklands Brooklands Museum is pleased to announce the long-term display of the Barnato-Hassan Special, the second fastest car to have raced at Brooklands.

This display reunites the Napier-Railton and the BarnatoHassan Special in the ERA Shed as part of the Fastest on Earth exhibition. Both vehicles are a testament to the innovative design and engineering that marked this period of motoring competition at Brooklands.

Apart from the BRDC 500 Miles Race in 1934, the BarnatoHassan was driven for Woolf Barnato by the barrister Oliver Bertram. In events run by the Brooklands Automobile Racing Club, Bertram achieved two firsts, two seconds, and two third places with it in 15 BARC races between 1935 and 1938. The Barnato-Hassan was also run in the BRDC 500 Miles Races of

Autumn sun shines on Motorsport Day

Autumn Motorsport Day in association with Auto Italia was bathed in sunshine as cars of all ages and types lined up at Brooklands and took to the Mercedes-Benz World track. Among the many highlights was the replica of the Mercedes W154 Streamliner, which had travelled all the way from Sweden to attend the event.

It amazed the crowds with the sounds from its 16-cylinder engine during demo drives.

Among the hundreds of other cars at Autumn Motorsport Day were everything from a Skoda rally car to a Ferrari GTB/4 Competizione that won its class at Le Mans and the Tour de France in 1972. With everything from modern supercars to 1920s saloons, there was something for everyone amid the eclectic mix of machinery.

Local motor clubs organised an autotest on the Finishing Straight, and for a £5 donation to Brooklands Museum visitors could take a ride in a car driving around the Brooklands track.

Chris Rees, editor of Auto Italia said: ‘Bravo to everyone at Brooklands for such an amazing day and bringing together an incredible mix of cars.’

Heritage certificates available Classic car owners are reminded they can obtain a Certified Copy of a Factory Record from the British Motor Museum. This museum is the home of the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust, which was formed from Leyland Historic Vehicles, a part of British Leyland, in 1983. It houses the records accumulated by the many companies that had been swallowed up by that ill-fated conglomerate.

The certificates cost £43 and there is a Premier version available incorporating a photo plus document wallets. Basic technical specifications can be provided for £35 and research requests can be made via the museum’s website www.britishmotormuseum. co.uk or e-mail archive@britishmotormuseum.co.uk. The confirmation of an original engine number or bodywork colour can cost as little as £6 via e-mail.

Chris Bass

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BROOKLANDS BULLETIN | NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022

1934, 1935, and 1936, but on each occasion had to retire.

Bertram achieved the Outer Circuit Lap Record in the BarnatoHassan in August 1935, which was beaten shortly afterwards by John Cobb in the Napier-Railton.

Brooklands welcomes Ukraine refugees Brooklands Museum was delighted to host Ukrainian refugees who visited with Elmbridge CAN. More than 50 refugees arrived at the Museum on the Cobham Chatterbus.

Steve Wells, Chair of the Elmbridge CAN trustees, said: ‘Everyone enjoyed a very special afternoon. It was a unique and exciting experience, particularly for people whose lives have been so blighted by the traumatising events in Ukraine. What a wonderful break with the grimness of what has happened to them so recently.

‘Your efforts constituted a most wonderful gift, hugely appreciated by all who attended this wonderful event. On behalf of Elmbridge CAN, I thank you all for the hard and dedicated planning and execution of what will be remembered for a very long time.’

Halford albums handover At the end of the talk about Frank Halford learning to fly at Brooklands in 1913, there was a handover ceremony so Halford’s step-grandson Jeremy Spring could pass the precious Halford albums to the National Aerospace Library.

Head Librarian Tony Pilmer had brought Halford’s 1913 diary and scrapbook so the audience could see them together for the first time in more than 30 years, and take them all back to Farnborough where they will be kept together as a valuable new research resource.

The picture shows Martin Shelley (left) with Jeremy Spring (right) handing them to Tony Pilmer (centre). Digital copies of the albums will be accessible on the NAL website.

The talk is available on BM.tv and Halford’s granddaughter Professor Susan Walker recorded a message, which is included in the video. The Q&A session at the end of the talk strayed on to Halford’s later work, which is available as a separate YouTube video.

Martin Shelley

news Aston Martin celebrates Brooklands records

BM.tv makes a million Brooklands Members Television, better known as BM.tv nowadays, has passed the significant milestone of one million views on its YouTube channel.

The BM.tv team, led by Mark Jarman, is delighted and Mark said: ‘Thank you to everyone for watching our videos and all those who help produce the films. It helps that Brooklands is the hub of what we produce. Without it, we wouldn’t be here. It is simply unique.’

Sir Gerald Acher, Chairman of the Brooklands Museum Trustees, added: ‘Very well done and what a brilliant achievement. We are all very proud of BM.tv’s milestone achievement.’

Denly exhibition

The Aston Martin Heritage Trust assembled a magnificent display of 622 cars at Brooklands. It celebrated the company breaking 10 world endurance records and setting a new Test Hill record in 1922.

The Aston Martin Heritage Festival brought together the earliest surviving car, A3, alongside the firm’s latest Vantage F1 course car limited edition model. Other highlights from Aston’s history included the 1979 Bulldog concept with gull-winged doors and the recently restored 1954 DB2/4 Vignale which was commissioned by King Baudouin of Belgium.

Famous on-screen cars included the DB5 from the latest No Time to Die and the DBS used in The Persuaders by Roger Moore.

Members of the Aston Martin Owners Club enjoyed a celebration dinner in the Napier Room the evening before.

You can see interviews with many of those who attended the event with their Aston Martins on the BM.tv YouTube channel.

Gareth Tarr

The updated Bert Denly exhibition at the Museum celebrates the success of this notable motorcycle racing rider and record breaker. Its opening was marked by a visit from Bert’s son and grandson.

Paul Denly, Bert’s grandson, said: ‘I feel in a small space you have captured a good idea of his achievement in the recordbreaking game. Dad kept saying what a lovely job you had made of the exhibition. Thank you, we were delighted with it.

‘I liked the structure and the colours, and particularly the caption and picture of the “fastest delivery boy in the world.” It was also a nice touch to put Roger Bird’s MT3501 adjacent to it.’

Mayors visit Brooklands The Mayor of Elmbridge and Surrey’s other mayors visited Brooklands Museum recently. They enjoyed the Concorde Experience and Car Rides. Many had not visited Brooklands before but all said they were keen to return to see the Museum in full.

Message from Members’ Chairman Our AGM was held in the Napier Room at Brooklands on 21 September, followed by a presentation from the Museum’s Chief Executive Tamalie Newbery. For those of you who attended in person, I hope you enjoyed the event, and found it interesting and informative. For those of you following the online livestream, we experienced problems with the WiFi connection, and on behalf of the entire Committee I can only apologise.

However, Mark Jarman and the BM.tv team were able to record it and have subsequently made it available to you to watch via our digital channels.

During the AGM, we had two committee members stepping down from long and valued service. I’d like to take the opportunity to say thank you from all of the Members to Rolie Luker, who served for six years, and Malcolm Grubb for his five years of work. Both have contributed a great deal to Brooklands. There were four committee places up for election and four candidates, including Nadine Coben-Porter and David Warr who are new to the committee.

A very warm welcome to them, and they join Debbie Crawt and Harry Sherrard, who were re-elected and continue to work tirelessly on behalf of all Members.

That’s the first apology, now for the second! I know that many of you have missed our Annual Dinner, which was cancelled in

2020 and 2021 due to Covid. Earlier in the year, we had agreed a provisional date of Friday 25 November and had started to plan accordingly. Subsequently, our President Damon requested that we move the date due to a conflicting work commitment, and we moved it to Friday 2 December, and I managed to get this amendment published in the ‘Stop Press’ section in the last edition of the Bulletin.

In the last couple of weeks, another diary conflict arose and we have had to switch the date back to Friday 25 November.

Apologies for the confusion, but quite understandable given the hectic schedule of our President. It is at times like these that I really appreciate the benefits of retirement!

This year, instead of a speaker, Damon will participate in a Q&A session, with questions submitted by Members attending. Angela Hume and David Brockington-Hill are jointly organising the dinner this year, and they will advise of arrangements for purchasing tickets and submitting advance notice of questions for Damon.

Thankfully, there are no more apologies this month, just a short ‘thank you’ for your continuing support. As those of you who attended the AGM will know, our membership now stands at more than 7300, a remarkable figure.

Neil Bailey

NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022 | BROOKLANDS BULLETIN

5

Enjoy a thrilling day out.

Driving Experiences for all ages, plus three floors of fun for everyone.

Search Mercedes-Benz World to find out more.

Mercedes-Benz World, Brooklands Drive, Weybridge, Surrey KT13 0SL. Tel 0370 400 4000.

MUSEUM updates Chief Executive’s Message

Sometimes I think of the winter as a slightly quieter period at Brooklands Museum, but I don’t think that will be true this year. We have some big things to look forward to, and three in particular: the completion of the renovation and access works in the Clubhouse; the Brooklands Innovation Academy; and the return of the New Year’s Day Classic Gathering after a two-year hiatus because of Covid.

The works in the Clubhouse have been carrying on all summer and we are really looking forward to showing what has been achieved. Sometimes after renovations it is hard to see what has been done, but in this case we will have several specific things to show for it. This includes a much-awaited lift to access the first floor, and the newly opened Locke King room overlooking

the Paddock at the front of the Clubhouse. There is also the roof lantern which will be seen by many for the first time as the area beneath it will now be publicly accessible, and a fully renovated south balcony which will allow people using it to stay dry even when it rains. We expect it to be completed in phases, with everything finished by the New Year.

So much planning and thinking is going into the Brooklands Innovation Academy’s main event of the year on 29 November.

Four hundred 11- and 12-year olds will be spending the day finding out about the careers they could have in science, engineering and technology across industries from automotive to healthcare, with companies such as Haleon (formerly GlaxoSmithKline), McLaren, Airbus and many more in this over-subscribed event.

Our keynote speaker is Andy Green, holder of the World Land Speed Record and a huge advocate of Brooklands’ and its continuing impact on aviation and motorsport. Professor Brian Cox will be sending a specially recorded message from his world tour to the young people attending.

We believe it’s hugely important that Brooklands’ legacy lives on and one of the main ways we do that is by using the stories of people’s inventiveness and endeavour in Brooklands past. It encourages and inspires young people today, connecting them with employers and industries where they can put their own resourcefulness, ingenuity and expertise to use in solving the challenges the world faces today.

Finally, plans are in full swing for the New Year’s Day Classic Gathering, which we are sure will return bigger and better than ever. There have been many fantastic events this year and we are certain New Year’s Day will be just the same, with the great new additions of live music and lots of street food stalls. The calendar for 2023 will be announced later this Autumn, so keep an eye out for it and plan how you can use your membership to come to as many events as possible.

Tamalie Newbery

Motoring Team

A few short updates here from the team will hopefully give you an idea of what we’ve been up to aside from some more major jobs we’ll cover in the next Bulletin. The Lagonda M45 has been out and about during the summer, the first time in over three years. Once on a trailer, but more recently under her own steam.

Daisy, the 1904 Siddeley, once owned by Ethel Locke King, had a good start to the summer fulfilling various engagements and photoshoots, but gradually little problems appeared and the car would start but not run. Thanks to the persistence of Roger Horsfield she is now performing reliably. Hopefully a report detailing all the trials and tribulations of maintaining a vintage vehicle will appear in a future edition.

The FWD Alvis is back in Dunlop Mac to complete bodywork repairs started during filming of the second series of Secrets of the Transport Museum. The Merryweather Fire Engine is still shut away in the poly tunnel awaiting an asbestos inspection.

The Carmichael six wheeled Fire Engine (pictured) has been started and moved but isn’t running well. The front section of the bodywork has been treated with T-Cut and looked reasonably bright red for a few days before returning to a lovely shade of pink! A more successful result has been achieved with the Land Rover Ambulance, the dull oxidation being removed to reveal bright and shiny white paintwork in time for Emergency Services Day. Debbie Crawt NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022 | BROOKLANDS BULLETIN

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letters

Please send letters to the Bulletin on any topic connected with Brooklands to Alisdair Suttie on: brooklandsbulletineditor@gmail.com

Fernihough image found Dear Sir, I have finally found, ex Brooklands Museum, a photo of Eric Fernihough with one of the original kilometre marker stones on the stretch of road south of Budapest that he used for world motorcycle record attempts in 1936 through to 1938. Eric looks anxious while a KMAC (Royal Hungarian Automobile Club) official waits for the results from the timekeepers. Sorry, but I don’t have a date I can be certain of.

This summer, I largely finished some years of research and writing about the motorcycle world’s absolute (not ‘land’) speed records before the Second World War in which is embedded a biography of Eric Fernihough. There is still much work to be done to finish it ready for publication, which I hope will be in 2023 or not much later.

In the pre-war period, records were called world’s, but maybe post-1950s the style was changed to world without the apostrophe and ‘s’.

For my purposes, I am using the term ‘motorcycle (absolute) world’s (speed) record(s)’ to cover the fact that some of the fastest bikes were in the 500cc or 750cc

Wallis image correction

classes while the upper limit was 1000cc.

But I am still thinking about it!

I believe ‘land speed’ was an affectation of car people which never cropped up in the motorcycle world that I have seen.

Regards, Terry Wright

Concorde in hours Dear Sir, I read the paragraph on Concorde with great interest in the July-August Bulletin in the article Brooklands inspiring greats.

It reminded me that, according to the Weybridge Planning Department, or production engineering, in the early 1970s, measured by planned production man hours, a greater proportion of each production Concorde was performed at Weybridge (Brooklands) than any other site on the project including Toulouse and Filton. We were, of course, responsible for several ‘systems intensive’ components.

Regards, John Caton

Sands of time and speed Dear Sir, On a recent trip to South Wales, my father and I visited Pendine Sands, the venue where Malcolm Campbell and Parry Thomas traded the Land Speed Record in the mid-1920s in Bluebird and Babs respectively (in 1925 Campbell became the first to achieve more than 150mph). An information board also noted that in 1933, Amy Johnson and her husband Jim Mollison took off from the beach on what was the first non-stop flight by a married couple from Britain to the USA. At the time of our visit, builders were close to completing a building that will house the new Museum of Speed. Notice boards stating this would be completed by Summer 2022 were clearly inaccurate, but anyone visiting the area from 2023 should be successful. For more information, you can check out: www.pendinesands.org/history/museum-of-speed/ Regards, Gareth Tarr

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BROOKLANDS BULLETIN | NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022

Dear Sir, Many thanks for the continued comprehensive and diverse assemblage of topics in the September-October Bulletin.

Much to whet the appetite for enthusiasts old and new.

I was particularly drawn to article The life of Barnes Wallis. In the pictures behind Barnes Wallis on pages 17 and 18, it shows the dramatic outcome to the Mohne Dam after the successful use of Bouncing Bombs, not a breach in the Brooklands Banking.

GM (Jim) Griffiths spent many hours working on projects with Barnes Wallis during the 1940s and 1950s, culminating in the six-year Swallow project at the Heston Aircraft Company and latterly a resident Heston team working at Brooklands on the construction of the prototype Vickers VC10.

My Father told me that on at least one occasion he would have to row out on Silvermere to have detailed discussions with Mr Wallis, who was in deep contemplation, in his water-borne office.

Congratulations for producing a top quality magazine, bringing together the spirits of Brooklands and all those who laid down the foundations for all of us to enjoy and to build upon into the future.

Yours sincerely, Tim Griffiths The mistake in the captions of the image is entirely my fault and thank you to those Members who pointed this out. Apologies for any confusion. - Editor

LETTERS Austin coupe cleared up

Dear Sir, I recently attended Brooklands Relived in my custom 1953 Austin A40 Somerset and I was shown by a friend the letter from Gareth Tarr in the recent issue of the Bulletin. If it is of interest, I thought I would share a brief history of the car in reply to this letter.

I purchased this car as original 10 years ago at age 19, drove it stock for year or so, and then the engine was swapped to a 2.0-litre Ford Pinto with a five-speed gearbox. Fast forward a few fun years with it and myself and my father decided we were going to make a custom project out of it.

My father did the work and a brief overview of the alterations include a 4-inch roof chop at the front with a 6-inch chop at the back. The roof has also been shortened by 10-inches. Rear doors have been removed and welded up, and the rear wings welded on.

Door handles have been removed and the number plate has been

placed behind glass. The rear has been lowered 4-inches and the front 3-inches.

The window frames are made up from chopped around Morris Minor frames and factory trim has had some subtle modifications!

The colour is called Sumac Red and is taken from an original 1940s colour chart from Plymouth. The work took three years in total and it came out of the workshop in February 2021. It was featured in the July 2021 issue of Custom Car magazine.

I love my car. It comes everywhere with me and I thoroughly enjoyed taking it up Brooklands’ Test Hill on that day!

I hope this clears up the mystery a little.

All the best, Scarlett Devey

Eyston article please Dear Sir, I saw the request for stories in the latest Brooklands Newsletter and thought I would make a plea for a story I’d like to see on George Eyston.

I have a personal reason: my British-born grandfather, Colonel Arthur William Sidney Herrington (1891-1970), is (wrongly) credited by the Encyclopedia Britannica as being the inventor of the Jeep.

He did create the Marmon-Herrington truck, which was known as the Grandaddy of the Jeep. The truth is a bit longer, there’s much more to his achievements, and there’s no direct connection to Brooklands, though I will have a better look. But he was great friends with George Eyston, someone whose name I haven’t seen in connection with Brooklands for a while apart from the wonderful story on Margaret Allan, though I may be mistaken and apologies if so.

Eyston was a magnificent driver and also quite a character. As an example, my father asked him at one point why he called his daughter ‘Offie’. Was she named after Offenhauser (engines)? No, came the reply, it was short for ‘Offspring’.

I love Eyston’s books, such as Safety Last and his accounts of Brooklands are wonderful. Could there be an article about him?

I’m afraid I have no archival material, though I have not ploughed through all of my grandmother’s correspondence. I shall see what I can find.

My grandfather does have one tenuous connection to the current Brooklands collection. You have a wonderful Duesenberg from the 1930s.

My grandfather was part of the pit crew in Indianapolis for Fred and Augie in the 1920s, and later employed Denny at MarmonHerrington, specifically for Pete De Paolo and Jimmy Murphy. My

grandmother spent her honeymoon at the Indy track, which she almost recounts in the wonderful 1926 article for the Scientific American titled The Guinea Pigs of Motordom!

After the war, my grandfather became the head of the AAA contest board and founded USAC with Tony Hulman. Again, much more to say here not relevant to Brooklands. I know that the Indy track and its first winner are indebted to Brooklands: when Ray Harroun and Howard Marmon created the Wasp, they were thinking of the Benz results from Hemery’s drive in 1909 at Brooklands.

I loved seeing the Duesenberg and chatting with the Museum Volunteers about the vehicle when we were last at Brooklands, and I have also learned a great deal from them.

Kindest regards, Dr Eldrid Herrington

NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022 | BROOKLANDS BULLETIN

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forthcoming events 2022 Museum Events The Events List is subject to change, so please check the website: www.brooklandsmuseum.com. Email events@brooklandsmuseum.com or telephone the Museum on: 01932 857381 for information. Test Hill, car rides and engine runs are subject to operational conditions.

November 6 Military Vehicles Day. More than 100 vehicles across the decades tell the story of machinery used in armed conflict.

6 November

January 1 New Year’s Day Classic Vehicle Gathering.

Bring in the New Year at Brooklands with more than 1000 classic cars, motorcycles, and other historic vehicles to get 2023 off to a great start.

1 January

Military Vehicles Day. More than 100 vehicles across the decades will be on hand to tell the story of machinery used in armed conflict. The Paddock and Motoring Village will be busy with displays, and you can see plenty of these military vehicles put through their paces in the Mercedes-Benz World 4x4 coarse. Test Hill will also be in full swing to show the climbing abilities of many of the hard-working classics.

2022 Members’ Events New Year’s Day Classic Vehicle Gathering.

Brooklands’ traditional celebration of the New Year is a great way to welcome in 2023. There will be more than 1000 classic cars, motorcycles, and historic vehicles of all ages, shapes and sizes.

There will be a winter barbeque and other food outlets, and there’s live music to keep everyone entertained. All pre-31 July 1993 cars are invited to park onsite and please contact the Museum for ticket and booking details.

For Members’ Tours and Trips information, please contact Angela Hume on: angelahume@brooklandsmembers.co.uk Events at the National Motor Museum should be booked directly with Beaulieu.

Brooklands Members are charged the Friends of the National Motor Museum rate for entry.

November 25 Members’ Annual Dinner. This superb evening is now firmly back and President Damon Hill will be answering questions submitted by Members.

December 17 Have Plane, Will Travel. A talk by Colin Hales at the National Motor Museum. Colin flew his homebuilt plane around the world and has the stories to tell about his incredible challenge. The talk begins at 7.30pm and Members should contact the Friends of the National Motor Museum for more details.

Brooklands Members Talks: update The Talks programme continues its busy schedule with an entertaining evening with a talk from Peter Stevens on 17 November. Best known as the designer of the sensational McLaren F1’s body style, Peter has an amazing CV of car design and a wealth of stories to tell. As engaging as he is talented, Peter’s talk promises to be a great evening.

We get 2023 off to a great start on 19 January with a talk from Mike Wilds, who won the 1986 Group C2 World Sportscar Championship with the famous Ecurie Ecosse team. With a racing career spanning Formula 1, Formula 3, Formula 5000, Le Mans, GT and Touring Cars, and with 12

10

British Championships to his name, Mike is a font of knowledge and stories about motorsport. This is a talk not to be missed.

Following this, we have our rescheduled talk from Andy Richardson about Britain’s V Bombers on 16 February. With six years of experience as crew on an Avro Vulcan, few have better insight into these Cold War era aircraft, and Andy will discuss how crews were selected and trained.

These Talks will all be on BM.tv Livestream for those who cannot attend in person. Previous talks can be viewed on our BM.tv channel. You can find a link on the BM.tv section of the Museum website. Talks can be booked online at:

BROOKLANDS BULLETIN | NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022

www.brooklandsmuseum.com/brooklandsmembers/Members-Area/memberevents. The Talks email address is: talks@ brooklandsmembers.co.uk Harry Sherrard and The Talks Team

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I BELLE

OF THE

HAUL Words: Andy Lambert Photos: Andy Lambert

The Brooklands Belle recovery vehicle has helped bring many large exhibits to the Museum. We take a brief look at this purpose-built truck’s history.

n recent months, I have been relating in the Bulletin the stories of how some of Brooklands’ major exhibits arrived at the Museum. While much of it involved my AEC Militant recovery vehicle, known as Milly Tant, she was often helped by another recovery vehicle called ‘The Brooklands Belle’. This article is about that vehicle, recording the end of an era and the starting of a new one for this famous vehicle that did so much for the Museum in its formative years.

The story of the Belle starts back in 1988 when I was the founder and Managing Director of the National Rescue Group based in the Brooklands Aero Club (often called the Control Tower), and we were then Surrey Police’s official recovery partner for the area. At that time, Milly was our main Mobile Crane and, along with doing her paid job, was often being asked to just ‘pop over’ to the Museum site and unload an aero engine or shift the odd bomb!

While Milly did a great job of towing commercial vehicles and picking up dropped loads, some museum jobs like hanging fuselages up in the Strat Chamber needed a bit more height and flexibility.

The Brooklands Belle helps one of the Museum’s early aircraft take to the sky for a brief flight over the gates.

NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022 | BROOKLANDS BULLETIN

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One of the earliest jobs for Belle was helping to remove this bomb shell from outside of the Clubhouse

Belle’s purpose-built design meant she was ideal for jobs like moving this Hawker Hunter thanks to her reach and height.

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BROOKLANDS BULLETIN | NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022

As well as moving some of the most delicate exhibits, Belle helped with more mundane duties such as helping moving containers to create the aircraft park with help from the AEC Milly Tant.

There were all sorts of jobs that Belle took on at Brooklands, including helping to move this V bomber cockpit to put it in the Stratospheric Chamber.

So, I decided the time had come to build something special that could do recovery work but also address some of Milly’s weaker points.

A second-hand, low mileage DAF 2800 turbo intercooler vehicle was purchased and I soon found myself sitting down with a truck building genius called Gordon Jackson to design a unit especially for both vehicle and aircraft recovery. As already stated, it was important it did all the normal recovery things the police expected, but it also needed to be able to easily handle aircraft, bombs, and other major exhibits on behalf of the Museum.

Some of the built-in features were a lift-up middle axle rather than the more common rear axle like most vehicles. This was done to move the fulcrum as far back

as you could to increase lift capacity. I also had the crane’s controls fitted at an ‘operator’s position’ high up in the centre towards the front of the vehicle. This was where you could see almost everything going on from the point of view of looking down the crane and, most importantly, looking over what the two giant winches were doing.

Clearly this was a very exposed location and so we added a reinforced Flybridge in front of the position to protect the operative (usually me). On this Flybridge, we mounted no less than three independent sets of rotating amber lights and two powerful flood lights. As back up to these items, we also mounted a petrol generator feeding two 120-volt flood lights mounted on the head of the crane and

Another delicate job completed by Belle was fixing this tail rudder to the wall as part of a visitor display.

NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022 | BROOKLANDS BULLETIN

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designed to swivel with it, always pointing where the winch was facing.

The first job the Belle had to deal with was even before we had painted it in National Rescue’s distinctive paint scheme when it was called by the police to the not long completed M25 near Junction 10 where an articulated lorry had jack-knifed and partially slid down the embankment.

The Belle winched the 38-ton load back up with ease, which told me we had got the design right.

The first job for the Museum was in late 1988 when it travelled to Sibson Airfield in Cambridgeshire where she disassembled and then loaded for road transportation the Vickers Varsity aircraft which Roger Hargreaves and Julian Temple had just secured for the Museum. On its arrival at Brooklands, a photograph was taken of many of the people involved in this operation. It is sad to note that today half of those in that image are no longer with us and I think I am the only one of the remainder still volunteering at the Museum.

For the next major Museum job just a couple of months later, the Belle did not have far to travel. This trip was just up to Brooklands Technical College to collect the Kingston-built Royal Danish Air Force Hawker Hunter which, since it had arrived some years before, had seen a number of trees and bushes grow up all around it. The Belle was able to lift it over these obstructions with ease and place it on our low-loader for the short trip to the Museum.

At the end of 1989, the Belle travelled to Southend Airport, this time to recover the Vickers Viscount named Stephen Piercey. The story of its recovery, like that of the Varsity, has been told already in previous editions of the Bulletin. In brief, it was a success but not without a few setbacks.

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Belle in her full pomp helping to move a Viscount cockpit section. You can see the multiple rotating orange lights just behind the cab in this image.

This image shows the Varsity recovery team on 7 November, 1998. Sadly, many of the Members in the photo are no longer with us.

BROOKLANDS BULLETIN | NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022

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This photo was taken from the operator’s position high up on Belle and shows just how good a view it offered as Viscount Stephen Piercey is gently moved.

Over the years that followed, the Belle and Milly have been involved in the recovery of many more of the Museum’s aircraft, like the Vickers Viking from Cosford and another Hunter from Booker. Also, a number of fuselage sections along with other major exhibits including bombs, guided missiles, jet engines, and a former control tower from RAF Booker have been handled by this pair.

In more recent years, and after emptying and restocking the refurbished Wellington

Hanger (now the Aircraft Factory) and the Flight Shed, there has been little for the Belle to do and so a plan to try and secure her future was put in place. This involved her moving to Milton Keynes in a joint venture by DAF dealer Brian Currie (Milton Keynes) Ltd and CMG, another recovery firm that has also helped out with movements for the Museum. Once rebuilt, it will be painted in CMG’s colours and work for the Brian Currie dealership while

still retaining its name and unique heritage from Brooklands.

Of course, Milly will remain on site at Brooklands and will always be available for team leaders and others to call on when a lift or move is needed. Lastly, if you would like to find out more about how many of the Museum exhibits got there, or see the Belle and Milly in action, there are many videos detailing my nearly 40 years of involvement with Brooklands at: www.andysvideo.com

The Brooklands Belle on her way to a well-earned retirement after years of hard work at Brooklands. She will be rebuilt and kept in use.

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BROOKLANDS BULLETIN | NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022

THE TERROR RGJ Nash’s aptly named special, The Terror, set the fastest ever ascent of the Brooklands Test Hill 90 years ago, a record that still stands to this day.

Words: Al Suttie Photos: Brooklands Museum Collection, Frazer Nash Club Gazette via the Frazer Nash Archives

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BROOKLANDS BULLETIN | NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022

F

ew cars can have been more appropriately named than The Terror, a Frazer Nash special developed and raced by RGJ Nash. Irish-born Richard GJ Nash, or Dick to his friends, was no relation to Archie Frazer Nash, but he had an affinity for the lightweight British sports cars and already owned several of the marque before he arrived at the famously quick car with the apt nickname of The Terror.

Nash had started his motorsport career with a Morgan three-wheeler, followed by an Austin Seven and a Bugatti Brescia.

This Bugatti was then replaced with a Targa Florio Bugatti, though Nash sold this soon after as it was so loud it upset his neighbours. This led him to his first Frazer Nash, a Super Sports that he used

for his first sprint competition. It was then superseded by a Boulogne model with supercharged Anzani engine. Always looking to improve his cars’ speed and power, RGJ replaced the Cozette Number 8 supercharger with a larger item. This car brought him a taste of success at events like the Lewes and Brighton hillclimbs, where Nash and his car were timed at 108mph over the flying kilometre.

By now, RGJ was a familiar owner to the Frazer Nash works and he kept in close contact with Archie Frazer-Nash. This put RGJ in a position to buy a factory car called Mowgli, which was a single-seat racing car with drilled chassis to make it lighter and improve its power-to-weight ratio.

Still in its earlier form of bodywork in this image, The Terror was a formidable hillclimb and sprint car thanks to its potent engine and light weight. It could be fragile, however.

Again, Dick’s pursuit of speed instigated a programme of improvements for this car that included a Bosch racing magneto and a larger Gazette supercharger. He also fitted a slender new body that reduced weight and carried out more drilling of every possible component to further lower the weight while still retaining the car’s necessary strength.

By 1930, however, RGJ felt he’d developed Mowgli as far as it could go and he wanted something quicker. A brief dalliance with a Frontenac-Ford followed, but Dick was back in the Frazer Nash fold when he bought The Terror from the works. This car had been built for Archie Frazer-Nash to use in sprints and was already a rapid machine with good eliability and power.

As it stood when RGJ bought the car, it had a 1.5-litre Anzani engine with Number 9 Cozette supercharger, front wheel brakes, and four-speed chain-anddog transmission, a gearing arrangement that was a hallmark of Frazer Nash cars and earned them the Chain Gang nickname.

There wasn’t much to the bodywork of The Terror at this point, and nor was there much to the brakes. At Shelsley Walsh hillclimb, The Terror was fine when ascending the hill in competition, but on the way back down it had to be driven in gear as it was found the brakes were so marginal they couldn’t stop it.

For 1931, RGJ applied the same methods of improvement that he had with Mowgli, drilling every possible part to remove unnecessary weight from The Terror. The body was removed at this point too and new chain drives fitted with improved ratios for hillclimb and sprint competitions. With an all-up weight of less than 10cwt (508kg), RGJ also looked at using alcohol fuel to further boost power.

John Bolster wrote in his book Specials that: ‘The power unit was very light and had a Powerplus supercharger mounted vertically at the offside front of the timing case, and driven by the skew gears that normally turn the dynamo. It had a cylinder block with a specially-made thick bottom flange, extra studs to hold it down to the crankcase, a large water pump, and rollerbearing crankshaft.’

Bolster added: ‘This particular “blown” Anzani engine not only gave far more power than any similar engine had done before, but it also had an almost unbelievably flat-topped power curve, a combination which, with its light weight, was ideal for sprint work.’ There were reports the engine produced as much as 105bhp during bench testing and it was known to deliver 80bhp with ease while

NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022 | BROOKLANDS BULLETIN

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However, it was also temperamental and lived up to the fearsome name of the car when it blew out a sizeable chunk of the solid copper gasket between the cylinder block and head at the Brighton Speed Trials in 1932. Even so, The Terror and RGJ continued on and finished the run in a time of 25.6 seconds to record a speed of 70.31mph on the half-mile course.

Before this run, RGJ had already used The Terror to great effect at Shelsley Walsh hillclimb to set the fastest time of the day of 43.3 seconds. At this point, the car still had its cramped cockpit, but for 1932 the pair were back at Shelsley Walsh with a new body for the car and a larger Number 11 Cozette supercharger. The bodywork was a minimal affair with almost no cockpit sides and a plated shell around the radiator.

There was also an underbody fairing for the bottom of the engine and the chains to the rear axle. Running like this, RGJ and The Terror improved on their previous best time at Shelsley with a 43.2 second run in 1932 to again claim fastest time of the day.

Richard GJ Nash at the wheel of The Terror, the Frazer Nash special he developed into a very quick hillclimb car that went on to set the outright Test Hill record at Brooklands.

Further evidence of this car being well named came when RGJ took part in an event at Branches Park in Suffolk. During a run, the clutch blew apart and severed

a fuel line, which caused the car to catch fire. Undeterred, the fearless RGJ carried on across the line to score second fastest time of the event, while the marshals rushed to

Seen here in its earlier form before RGJ stripped the original body of The Terror and replaced it with a lighter and much simpler set of panels.

NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022 | BROOKLANDS BULLETIN

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As well as being a keen competitor, RGJ Nash was also an early enthusiast for veteran cars and owned an impressive Lorraine-Dietrich. The Terror is seen here flanked by a pair of Peugeots at Brooklands Aerodrome.

extinguish the flames that had taken hold of the wooden floor panels. During the same incident, Nash’s ankles was cut by part of the exploding clutch, but he was not put off using The Terror.

Instead, the pair were at Brooklands in October 1932 for a specially arranged week of speed attempts to keep interest running at the Track as the season drew to a close.

With twin rear wheels fitted to The Terror to aid traction off the line and harness its considerable power, RGJ lined up to attack Test Hill on 24 October. The record stood at 7.691 seconds, set by Archie FrazerNash seven years before with a speed of 31.227mph. RGJ said he was making the run for a bit of fun, but he was clearly trying hard and accelerated up the steep slope with force. As he crossed the line, the clock stopped at 7.45 seconds, a new record and a speed of 32.444mph that has never been beaten since. Just as impressive was The Terror flew over the line, all four wheels off the ground, and didn’t land back on terra firma for 43-feet (13-metres).

Travelling at more than 50mph over the line, RGJ vividly recalled the incident and remarked at how solid the approaching trees seemed.

However, this wasn’t the end of The Terror’s exploits at Brooklands at this late point in the 1932 season. On 27 October as part of the week of speed events, Nash coaxed his Frazer Nash special to a new

24

Class F standing Start Kilometre record. This was set at 75.89mph in a time of 29.475 seconds, beating the previous record set by Sir Henry Segrave in 1925.

RGJ Nash’s pursuit of even greater performance didn’t allow for sentimentality and he sold The Terror to J Allan Arnold, who was unlucky enough to blow the engine to pieces. The car then passed to Rupert Instone, who rebuilt it with another

Anzani engine, but he was never able to make the engine produce the same sort of power that Nash had. Nash moved on to other Frazer Nash specials, such as the Slug, Spook, and the Union Special. He also built The Terror II, but it was damaged by bombing in the Second World War. By then, The Terror had served its purpose and set a record at Brooklands that stands to this day.

The Terror parked up at Craigantlet hillclimb in Northern Ireland in 1931. The twin rear wheels for added traction are fitted here, and the car’s pared-back bodywork is obvious.

BROOKLANDS BULLETIN | NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022

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John Burch, top row on the far left, and his fellow apprentices.

This image had to be taken twice thanks to Fred G’s antics.

A COLLEGE EDUCATION Words: John Burch Photos: John Burch, Tom Stewart courtesy of the Aston Martin Heritage Trust

John Burch’s time at Brooklands Technical College involved hijinx, an Aston Martin, a hole in the roof, and set him up for an interesting life.

A

s a Vickers-Armstrong apprentice, you were obliged to attend Brooklands Technical College one day a week. There were two grades of apprenticeship: Trade and Aviation. Trade apprentices took the City and Guilds course, while Aviation apprentices took the Higher National Certificate course. The college was housed in the original Brooklands House, previously owned by the Locke King family that built the Track. In the grounds, lots of workshops and classrooms were built as the house was only used for administration and office worker students.

The photo shown here was taken in 1954, mostly of Vickers apprentices but we did have a few from Petters Diesels at Staines. In the centre is Mr Dismore, Principal of the College, and on his right is

26

Mr Mackinlay, Head of Engineering. Third from his left is Mr Evans, who was my lecturer. Also, the rather portly gentleman third from the right of the Principal was our English teacher. I don’t remember his name, but I learnt more from him than I ever did from the English teachers at my secondary school.

This photo had to be taken twice because my pal, who I will call Fred G, was standing next to me at the back on the far left. I am the little bloke wearing the cravat. Fred suddenly disappeared, and you can all guess what he did: he popped up at the other end of the image because the photographer had one of those slow-moving cameras to take long photos. Fred G was then placed in the middle of the crowd at the back. He is the one with a big toothy grin on his face.

BROOKLANDS BULLETIN | NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022

One day, during the lunch hour, our gang decided to explore the grounds of Brooklands House and we came across an old stone plinth for a statue about three feet high by two feet square with a floral tribute round the top. Fred G had an idea, so we dragged this plinth to the entrance road which had flower beds down either side and we placed it at the end of one of the flowerbeds to look like a grave. Later that day, the classroom door flew open and in roared Mr Mackinlay shouting: ‘Who put that plinth by the flower bed?’

Up got Fred G as it was his idea, but what we didn’t know was he’d chalked on it ‘Poor old Mac, he’s dead and gorn.’ He was given a good telling off and banned from Brooklands Tech for a month by Mr Duckett, the Apprentice Supervisor.

During a brazing lesson taken by Mr Evans, we all stood round while Mr Evans heated up a block and the rod with an oxyacetylene torch. He then placed the rod into the block and, with a length of brazing rod started, to braze the rod into the block when all of a sudden there was an almighty bang and the piece of rod was missing.

One of the lads pointed up at the glass roof where a hole had appeared similar to the size of the rod that was being brazed. Had Mr Evans had his head over the block, it would have killed him.

Several years later, a friend asked if I would give his nephew an apprenticeship at my engineering business. I went to Brooklands College to see if they still did day release for apprentices. They did and asked if I’d like to be shown around. Arriving in the welding shop, I noticed the hole in the roof was still there. I had to explain to gentleman taking me round how it happened, though he did say that another sheet of glass had been placed over the original to stop rain coming in.

Mr Evans owned a beautiful pre-war Aston Martin sport car, but the engine needed reconditioning, so he asked the Principal if it could be used as a project for the apprentices. We were split into five different working days and each day one of the lessons would be taken up stripping down the Aston’s engine, removing it from the car so Mr Evans could take it to a specialist. Over a period of time, the engine was put back in the car by us apprentices.

Several years later, when I had started my engineering business, I had an old Myford lathe that I decided to sell and I placed an advert in the Surrey Comet. Guess who turned up to buy it? Mr Evans. He didn’t buy it because he reckoned it was too clapped out, but boy did we have a laugh about our time at Brooklands Tech. I did not know till then that we only lived a few

miles apart. He lived in Tolworth and I lived in West Ewell, but I forgot to ask him if he still had his Aston Martin.

One day, I received a letter from the college inviting me to a Prize Giving Evening. I didn’t go as blokes as I was sure I wouldn’t win anything, but was surprised the next time I went to the college to be invited up to Mr Mackinlay’s office where he presented me with a book for first Prize for the course I was on.

Such were my days at Brooklands Technical College. They were not only great fun, but they set me off to a wonderful life of scrambling and grass tracking motorbikes, owning my own business, and a very satisfying retirement showing two classic motorbikes and riding them as often as I can at Brooklands Breakfasts and Classic Motorcycle Day.

Lecturer Mr Evans owned this Aston Martin, which the apprentices helped with stripping and rebuilding the engine.

NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022 | BROOKLANDS BULLETIN

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AV Ebblewhite in the thick of starting a handicapped race at Brooklands. His knowledge of each car and driver made his system tough but fair.

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BROOKLANDS BULLETIN | NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022

AV Ebblewhite was Brooklands Timekeeper for almost the entire span of the Track’s active racing life. We take a look at his influence on racing and record-breaking.

TIME AND MOTION Words: Al Suttie Photos: Brooklands Museum Collection

NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022 | BROOKLANDS BULLETIN

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F

ew figures were more pivotal in the development of Brooklands as a major force in motor racing and record-setting than Albert Victor Ebblewhite, or ‘Ebby’ to almost everyone who knew him. Even before his ideas were adopted, Ebby was a constant presence at the Track and he soon become an essential part of almost every meeting as the official Timekeeper and Handicapper of Brooklands and many other events, such as the TT races on the Isle of Man. It’s also a

mark of Ebby’s importance that he applied his considerable talents not just to races with cars, but also aircraft, motorcycles and bicycles.

Born in London in 1871 to John Henry Ebblewhite and his wife Amy, the young Ebby grew up in East London and went on to work at the family music shop in Aldgate.

It was well known as a high-quality purveyor of woodwind instruments and also made its own, which are now prized by collectors.

Such precision clearly carried through

The start of another handicap race in 1927. It’s clear that Ebby needed to be quick on his feet to wave off cars in the line according to their start order.

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to Ebby’s love of speed as he became renowned for his ability to accurately handicap entrants to all manner of events so that finishes would often end up very close and unpredictable as to who would eventually win.

Such an eye for detail and also the spectacle of motor racing was not initially appreciated at Brooklands by the organisers.

In its very early days, Brooklands’ races were run along the same lines as horse racing, with drivers wearing colours to identify

them. Cars were handicapped with weights just as horses were, and starting was a haphazard affair. All of this went against Ebby’s ideas of how successful motorsport should be run and he made no effort to hide his opinions when he said that continuing in this fashion would put an end to motor racing at Brooklands by the end of 1908 if things didn’t change.

It took a long time in the early days of the Track for Ebby’s approach to be understood. He was often frowned upon if he took out a stopwatch to time a car going round the circuit and the best he was offered was to work as a lap counter.

It’s a measure of the esteem that Ebby was held in that he can be seen here on the right taking lunch with Sir Malcolm Campbell, on the left.

Ebby’s small flag became part of his character at Brooklands, seen here being used to wave off a BMW in a handicap race.

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However, falling attendances and the realisation that races needed to be more organised for entrants and the crowds to have a clear idea of who was leading and won events made the Brooklands organisers more sympathetic to Ebby’s ideas. Another very important change brought about by Ebby was to introduce race numbers for each car, making it much simpler for officials and spectators to recognise each car from the others from a distance.

In April 1909, Ebby had removed previous resistance to his ideas, and Ebby and MR TD Dutton started to organise handicaps and time events accurately.

Ebby also acted as Starter for the races from July 1908, using a small flag to wave off cars in order of handicap. He became adept at moving along a line of race cars very smartly to make sure he wasn’t in the way as they left the line. It’s telling that Ebby was able to handicap cars at the beginning of the 1909 season with remarkable accuracy, but this was because he’d been timing entrants already to log their data. As the years progressed, Ebby’s knowledge of a car’s ability and its drivers became legendary and he could predict finishes with an unerring eye.

All of this worked because of Ebby’s mind for order and detail, but also because he was scrupulously fair. Many drivers complained about the handicap applied to them, which was partly human nature and also in some cases a degree

of gamesmanship in an effort to gain an advantage. Such protests failed to sway Ebby and even if a driver did manage to gain a small benefit in one race, it would quickly be rectified in the following event.

However, there was one incident that left an enduring mystery. In 1908, Felice Nazzaro and Frank Newton were involved in a race between their respective Fiat and Napier cars. The Napier retired from

This early image from Brooklands was taken in 1908 and shows the numbering system that Ebby was instrumental in introducing to easily identify cars on the Track.

Ebby seen sitting on the left with Brice, Wells, Franklin, and Godfrey in 1914. Motorcycling was Ebby’s passion and he often advised riders during record attempts.

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the race with a broken big-end bearing in the engine, but Nazzaro continued to lap. New electrical timing equipment recorded the Fiat’s best lap with a top speed of 121.64mph, which was hugely fast for the time. However, Ebby’s hand timing recorded a best on Lap 2 for the Fiat of 107.98mph. The RAC Competitions Committee eventually confirmed the electric timing gear’s results were accurate, but the debate carried on for years afterwards as to how the Fiat could be so much faster yet the Napier had remained ahead of it on the track up until its retirement.

This mystery did not deter Ebby and he went on to function as Timekeeper for every important race and record attempt at Brooklands, and at other venues. When his duties as Starter were dispensed, he would head to the Timekeepers’ hut with his array of stopwatches. He was helped by his son and TD Dutton, and Ebby also helped train many others in the science of timekeeping and handicapping. Strangely, despite his love of racing, Ebby never drove a car himself and motorcycling was perhaps more of a passion for him. He was a founding member of the British Motor Cycle Racing Club in 1909 and was Chairman of this club when he died

suddenly in a railway carriage on 11 December, 1939. During any motorcycle record attempt he was present at, Ebby would offer great encouragement to the riders and advise on the best way to make the attempt a success.

In all the time that Ebby was Starter, Timekeeper, and Handicapper at Brooklands, he was unwaveringly fair and always fittingly punctual in his own life.

He was also well liked and had a sharp sense of humour, which proved useful when he was occasionally faced with life-threatening moments when a car or motorcycle might hurtle towards him as he was on the track. Steel railings even came crashing through the roof of his Timekeepers’ hut on one occasion, yet he was unflustered and carried on recording times. This rare mix of talents and his reassuring presence at Brooklands left many in shock at his death.

When Lord Brabazon made his speech at the unveiling of the Brooklands memorial in 1957, he said: ‘The character who always rests in my mind most vividly was Ebblewhite, our “Ebby”, who looked like a Christmas tree surrounded by watches and flags, and who, if you remember, always started us for many years.’

As someone very closely involved with the British Motor Cycle Racing Club, Ebby addressed the club’s strikers at the cancelled third meeting at Brooklands in 1924.

Ebby relaxing in 1925 between his various duties at Brooklands. His sense of humour and quick wit endeared him to many as good company.

Ebby, on the left, with Mr Reynolds in an early image from Brooklands in 1907. It took some time before Ebby’s ideas were adopted at the Track.

Pictured in 1907, Ebby is seen here wearing an RAC badge. It’s possible this photo was not taken at Brooklands.

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The Vickers Viscount was one of the most important aircraft designed and built at Brooklands. It was in production while two generations of the Dowling family worked for the aircraft manufacturer.

FIVE GENERATIONS

AND COUNTING Words: David Dowling Photos: Dowling family archive

The Dowling family has links to Brooklands going back more than 100 years. David Dowling recounts some of those family ties.

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thoroughly enjoyed the two instalments of Keith Jennings memories of growing up close to Brooklands and his time working there. It has no doubt prompted questions from other families with long associations with Brooklands, and there are plenty of them about.

With that in mind, I got me wondering how my family fair, with an almost unbroken 100 years and more presence at Brooklands. What follows is a brief summary of my direct line. There were other great uncles and aunts, too, who I believe worked there, particularly in the early days of Vickers. Like so many families, it has been a constant in our lives as somewhere we worked and, now, also a place where we can visit, relax and remember.

Allan Taverner, above, was was the first generation of our family to work at Brooklands and he joined Vickers on 13 April, 1920 after retiring from Surrey Police.

He was, I understand, one of the first occupants of the new Vickers houses that were built to accommodate the growing workforce, living at No 2 Vickers Cottage.

He retired from Vickers in 1935, finally leaving his Vickers cottage in 1939.

Sidney Dowling, who was the sonin-law of Allan Taverner, represents the second generation of our family at Brooklands. Sidney started at Vickers in 1937 and remained there until his death in service in 1960.

Below, John completed a couple of work stints at Brooklands, spanning the 1950s to the 1980s.

Like his brother Peter, John started at Vickers and ended up completing his time at British Aerospace.

Below, a time machine ticket for Sidney when he worked in the Main Stores for Vickers at Brooklands, and a notice of his death in the local newspaper.

The third generation of the Dowling family to head to Brooklands started when brothers Peter (below) and John worked there from the 1950s through to the 1980s. They are the sons of Sidney Dowling. After completing his National Service, Peter worked at Vickers and went on to British Aerospace as the company evolved. Items from his time there can be found on display in the Aircraft Factory part of the Museum, with his identity card by the clocking-in machines, and union card in the social part of exhibition.

As life moved into the 1980s, a fourth generation of the Dowling family took up a position at Brooklands as Paul (below),, son of Peter Dowling, worked there. However, Paul moved on when he changed careers.

Bringing the Dowling family associations with Brooklands up to date, Daniel has been a Volunteer at the Museum since 2010. He is the grandson of John Dowling and great-grandson of Allan Taverner, so there is a long and direct line of our family at the site and Daniel, who is pictured at the front right of tthe image below,, is keeping the tradition truly going.

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TIMING IS EVERYTHING

Fortunate timing is just as important as accurate timekeeping, and both come together perfectly in the limited-edition Triple-Four Racing Chronograph made by the Brooklands Watch Company.

G

ood timing and correct timekeeping are two very different things, but when they come together they work perfectly. This is exactly what happened when former aeromechanical systems engineer Simon Jeffs decided to pursue his passion to create a watch that celebrated Brooklands’ pioneering spirit of competition and innovation.

Simon said: ‘As I learnt more about the heritage of the iconic circuit, the idea for the Brooklands Watch Company was conceived.

I was particularly struck by Brooklands’ work on timing racing cars, which was accurate to within a thousandth of a second in 1907. Interestingly, it is the same accuracy as used in Formula 1 today. When I had the agreement of the Brooklands Museum Trust and a Swiss private label watchmaker, I wrote to Sir Terence Conran in 2018 thinking “I’ve got to aim for the top, what have I got to lose?”

‘It came to light that Sir Terence’s father had watched the racing at Brooklands regularly and his mother had learned to fly there. Putting the Brooklands family link to one side, Sir Terence

said he was keen to design a watch and wanted to visit Brooklands at the earliest opportunity. He visited Brooklands and the rest, as they say, is history. He soon set about designing the Triple-Four watch including features reflecting what he saw and learnt about Brooklands and the Napier Railton.’

Those features include the watch’s angled face perimeter that echoes the famous Brooklands Banking, while the hands recall those used on the Chronograph Villa at the Track. Even the watch’s strap makes a nod to the racing

Sir Terence Conran was very enthusiastic about this project as his mother learned to fly at Brooklands and his father regularly watched racing at the Track.

The handsome, simple design of the watch is matched by the Conran Blue strap with its design that mimics the block tread pattern of 1920s racing cars.

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Triple-Four Racing Chronograph specification Movement Calibre: Sellita SW500 BV b with bespoke rotor Mechanical chronograph movement Frequency: 28,800 vph / 4 Hz Jewels: 25 Power reserve: approximately 62 hours Winding: Manual and Automatic Winding protection Quick setting date

On the reverse side of the TripleFour Racing Chronograph is a design inspired by the con rods of the Napier’s 24-litre Lion aero engine.

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years of Brooklands with a distinctive block tyre pattern in the Conran Blue leather. On the back of each of the limited run of 500 watches, there’s a rotor design inspired by the Napier-Railton’s 24-litre Lion aero engine.

Each of the watches is individually numbered and comes signed by Sir Terence, who sadly passed away in 2020. As part of the watch’s presentation, inside the blue velvet-lined case is a brass warranty card and member’s badge. The badge is made

by WO Lewis, the same company based in Birmingham that has made all of Brooklands’ badges since 1907. This entitles the owner of the watch to a drive up Test Hill at Brooklands in an electric Bugatti Baby II car owned by the Brooklands Watch Company. It’s finished in the same paint and trim colours as the Bugatti Baby I car kept by Sir Terence at his country home.

During the design of the watch, Sir Terence sought the opinion of his son Sebastian Conran, who is Chairman of Conran and Partners and a Trustee of the Design Museum set up by his father.

Sebastian said: ‘This outstanding TripleFour watch design was one of my father’s last projects. I recall him enthusiastically showing me his designs and was pleased that I immediately spotted the reference to the Brooklands Banking on the edge of the face. Both my grandparents were so enthusiastic about British motorsports in the 1930’s.’

The resulting watch has a simple elegance that is a trademark of Sir Terence’s approach to design that

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demanded products should be functional as well as attractive. The Triple-Four Racing Chronograph is made to be robust, with a self-winding SW500 calibre and an automatic chronograph movement with integrated mechanism. It has multiple functions, which include a 30-minute counter, as 12hour counter, and date display.

When you turn the watch over, the inspiration of the Lion engine is obvious with the design that shows the master con rod and two articulated con rods.

A one-piece dial sits within the banked outer edge and the white face and Bi-Compax chronograph layout reflects the Timekeepers stopwatches used at Brooklands by the likes of AV Ebblewhite and TD Dutton. There is also a domed scratch-resistant sapphire crystal face with anti-reflective treatment on both sides, and the watch is water-resistance to 100-metres to make sure it’s safe to wear in all conditions.

Demand for the Triple-Four Racing Chronograph watch has already been brisk, helped by the company’s ambassador Wing Commander Andy Green OBE MA RAF showing it off. As the holder of the World Land Speed Record, there are few more deserving wrists for the watch to grace. Anyone who would like to follow Andy Green’s example can order the Triple-Four Aero either from the Conran Shop in Chelsea, London, or order it direct from the Brooklands Watch Company’s

Functions Centre hour and minute hands Cam operated push buttons Stopwatch function with seconds, 30 minutes and 12 hours Date display window Case Stainless steel case Bezel Diameter: 43 mm Case Diameter: 41mm Opening Diameter: 37.8mm Height: 12.8 mm Crystal: Scratch-resistant sapphire, convex, with anti-reflective coating on both sides.

Exhibition back with sapphire crystal and anti-reflective coating inside Water-resistance: 10atm/10bar/100ft Winding crown: steel with logo in Conran blue

Dial One piece Heritage Opalin White Round date display window Black hour and minute hands Chronograph second hand in red with round counterbalance Chronography minutes and hours in black with round counterbalance and red tip Strap 20mm Conran Blue leather calfskin strap Sculpted design referencing heritage tyre tread pattern Spring bar mounted for ease of strap change Stainless steel buckle with logo Guarantee International two-year guarantee which is extended to five years upon registration.

The Brooklands Watch Company presents each of the 500 watches in a bespoke wooden box with member’s badge and a brass warranty card.

website (www.brooklandswatches.com) and the price is £5754. Both the London Design Museum and the Brooklands Museum will benefit from the sale of each watch.

Wing Commander Andy Green, the current World Land Speed Record holder, shows off the Triple-Four Racing Chronograph next to the Napier-Railton that inspired the watch.

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members’ matters A rare bird

Member Nick Loizou explains how he came to own a very rare Austin coupe.

I first saw the Austin on the internet and became mesmerised by it. It was offered for sale by Brightwells Auctioneers on the 4 September, 2019. Unfortunately, I could not get to see the car in person as I was on holiday, so all I had was the fabulous history file that came with the car. Brightwells assured me it was one of the best cars they had seen.

The auctioneers told me there was a lot of interest and wished me well. I put my maximum bid in on the understanding they phone me in Cyprus where I was on holiday, just in case I needed to increase my bid.

Never have I bought a car without seeing it.

The following day, I had a phone call from the auctioneers to tell me that a chap who couldn’t make the sale was offering £5000 more than I paid to sell it, but my answer was thanks but no thanks.

I am also in touch with Gareth Jones who restored the car and he was able to supply me all the ownership details and a file of the people who have owned RB2297.

‘A rare bird’ was the phrase that led to the acquisition of RB2297, an Austin 16/6, in 1979, and was to prove to be the inspiration necessary to maintain its restoration over the next 24 years. Austin enthusiast Graham Thomas spotted the remains of the chassis and bodywork in West Wales and thought Gareth Jones should have the ‘privilege’ of renovating what he described as a ‘rare bird’. With little to go on except a description of the dismantled coachwork, it was considered essential the first task would be to identify who the coachbuilders were since this was no ordinary Austin 16/6.

The rolling chassis had left Austin’s works in 1930, destined for an outside coachbuilder where a bespoke body would

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be fitted. Numerous Austin authorities were contacted without success, but after 18 months of research, a further visit was made to the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu to view the contents of a box file marked ‘Misc. Austin photos’. There, a photograph was unearthed simply marked ‘Pass and Joyce coupe’.

Pass and Joyce was the prestigious central London distributor for Austin and others, and were known to commission special bodies. The clue to the identity of the car had been overlooked, since this supplier’s badge had been screwed to the dashboard all along. A trawl through a 1930s copy of Autocar came up with an advert for Pass and Joyce, showing the car and declaring it to be of ‘genuine Weymann construction.’

The mystery was at last solved.

What we had was a specially commissioned Pass and Joyce magnet coupe, built to the Weymann patent at the actual Weymann factory at Addlestone, Surrey. CT Weymann was a French pioneer aviator, who flew against the Red Baron and had patented a particular method of joining the timber framing to reduce bodywork squeaks. In an attempt to establish just how rare the car was, Gareth was advised to contact Freddie Henry, who was one-time personal assistant to Herbert Austin, since his recollection of all things Austin was unsurpassed.

Freddie recalled seeing two or possibly three magnet coupes in Pass and Joyce’s showroom during one of his regular visits across the road from Austin’s Oxford Street head office. Reference has subsequently been made to a similar sounding car being scrapped in New Zealand in the 1950s, but during Gareth’s 24 years of ownership, he has failed to find anyone with any knowledge of another one. It is now probably safe to say RB2297 is unique,

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certainly confirming Graham Thomas’ describing it as a rare bird.

Now, all that remained was to restore it to its former glory, much of it being carried out at Adult Education evening classes.

While others made coffee tables, Gareth was making a car. The only tasks to be subcontracted, were the aluminium cladding and interior re-trimming. Perhaps that is why it was to take much longer than anticipated and provide Gareth a worthwhile hobby well into retirement. So RB2297 was now in one piece again in South Wales, having started life in 1930 in a London showroom, before finding its first owner in Derbyshire, a Miss Hetty South Holloway who was to keep the car until 1962, when she part exchanged it for a new Hillman Minx. Then in a rather sad condition, it passed through a number of owners, including the vicar’s son at Winterbourne in Gloucestershire who drove it down to Loret de Mar, Spain and back with little problem. Not long after this, it was transported over the Severn Bridge into retirement and dismantled, to await renovation in the hands of an unsuspecting new owner. A photographic record of the renovation is available for anyone who wants to be bored further.

With the restoration completed, Gareth went on to research the Weymann coachbuilding organisation, a task which resulted in expeditions into numerous Paris archives that produced box files of information extending to about three feet of shelving. Without blowing trumpets, thanks to Gareth’s enduring work, we have a unique example of a bespoke Austin 16/6 which no one else has or is going to have, together with a history file the likes of which is unlikely to be found with many cars. We now have a long-term owner history, so the picture is virtually complete.

Nick Loizou

THE TRIPLE FOUR LIMITED-EDITION RACING CHRONOGRAPH The Brooklands Watch Company Triple Four was conceived by the very best of Great

British design, Sir Terence Conran. A luxury model for on and off the race track, the watch possesses a range of

intricate details paying homage to the

Brooklands circuit and its automobiles.

www.brooklandswatches.com

THE TRIPLE FOUR LIMITED-EDITION RACING CHRONOGRAPH The model’s one-piece face perimeter

is banked like the Brooklands track, and its

bespoke rotor references the extraordinary engine of the Napier Railton car. Further features include bi-compax sub-dials which mirror the original timekeeper’s watches, and the 20mm-wide leather strap referencing the form of early block tyre tread.

www.brooklandswatches.com

members’ matters A Formhalls visit

On 21 August, a group of 20 Brooklands Members visited Formhalls Vintage and Racing near Salisbury to see their workshops and the type of work they carry out. Established more than 20 years ago by a family with many years of engineering experience, Formhalls started life as white metal bearing specialists, rapidly expanding to include all aspects of engine repair and rebuilding. Their white metal bearings are guaranteed for the life of the engine.

We first saw their white metal shop and came away with a much greater understanding of the techniques of manufacture and the role that white metal plays in the engine in that, as well as being a bearing, it also acts as a ‘sponge’ to absorb particles of grit that would otherwise go on to cause damage elsewhere. The pros and cons of using white metal shells were discussed and the conversion of engines to shell bearings when they are going to be raced or rallied, as shells can quickly be changed at the roadside if necessary when damage occurs.

Following on from there, we toured the main workshops and were genuinely amazed at the range of sizes and ages of the engines they were rebuilding, ranging from a Fiat 500 to a huge railway locomotive diesel engine. It was obvious they could tackle almost any repairs brought to them. Rebuilding a block that had been punctured by a broken con rod, machining warped blocks and heads, and realigning bearing housings where necessary, manufacturing pistons, rods, liners, valves and other components where replacements are not available.

The machines and tooling were fascinating for anyone with an interest in motor engineering. Crank and cam grinding machines, head and block skimmers, valve seat cutters, and an amazing array of cradles and supports to hold components while

they were being worked on.

Each engine has its own bench, complete with parts bins, to hold all the bits that are removed, which allows the engineers to stop working on an engine that is awaiting parts and move on to another that is ready for work, with no risk of mixing components.

Of great interest was the variety of engines being worked on because one could see how different companies had gone about designing their engines over the years, such as Minerva developing sleeve valve engines and Formhalls had manufactured a new sleeve valve to replace a damaged one. Hispano Suiza made a very complicated main bearing arrangement for their early 1900s V8 aero engines, where one rod has a bearing that fits to the crank, but is far wider than necessary thus providing bearing surfaces each side of the rod, so the second rod can piggy back on to the first one, for example. There was a 1930s Miller racing engine which is thought to be the sole survivor of the three that were developed for Indy Car racing in the US. Many of the more interesting engines had a laminated sheet next to

them giving details of the engine and what work needed to be done to it so that we could wander at leisure and understand what we were seeing.

It is worth mentioning that very few blue prints are available, so most manufacturing has to be done by extremely accurate measuring of existing damaged parts. Torque settings were either not in use at the time of original manufacture, or are not known, so they all have to be judged by experience, and none of the machines have computer controls. As we were told, what is the point of programming a machine when every job it does is unique?

Our tour ended with a large selection of sandwiches and sausage rolls plus tea, coffee and soft drinks. Formhalls do not charge for their visits, so a collection was made and presented to Operations Manager Ian Hunter with our thanks, to be given to a charity of his choice.

Our thanks to Angela Hume for setting up the visit and to Glen Rees for managing on the day. For more information on Formhalls, visit their website at: www. formhalls.com Anthony Glover

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members’ matters Grand Prix Retro au Puy Notre Dame

In mid-August, nine members of the Brooklands Motorcycle Team along with several of our partners travelled to the 25th Grand Prix Retro held in the town of Le Puy Notre Dame south of Saumur in the Loire Valley, France. It is an event the team has attended before, but the logistics and organisational challenge post-Covid and Brexit were quite daunting. Three of us had already taken part in the Vintage Revival at the Montlhéry circuit near Paris back in May and felt reasonably confident that we could emulate the success of that trip.

Normally, preparation would be focussed on fettling the bikes, perhaps some fine tuning and packing enough spares.

This year it was more about paperwork and interpreting customs regulations. Our leader for the event, Fred Wade, increased the order of difficulty by building his newly acquired 1934 Rudge Radial into a Brooklands Special, finishing a day or two before we headed off. Three vans made the crossing with the bikes, with others travelling separately by car, all converging on Le Puy by the Friday evening.

For those unfamiliar with the event, it is a recreation of a vintage car and motorcycle race around a typical French town, complete with straw bales lining the track. The circuit runs around a small park on the edge of Le Puy negotiating at one point a tight hairpin and a narrow section with a right-angle bend lined with stone walls.

The organisation is most kindly described as ‘relaxed’, but that in itself makes for a unique experience. Friday evening was all about signing on, checking in at the nearby hotel, and then enjoying a couple of al fresco beers at the event HQ where a concert was taking place.

Saturday’s sessions only started at 6pm, but were scheduled to run on until midnight. That gave us time for a leisurely

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lunch at the hotel and an afternoon spent ferrying bikes and equipment from our base camp just outside the park to the paddock area before the roads making up the circuit were closed. This movement of riders and machines proved quite a challenge over the weekend, so we decided to leave one of the vans in the paddock overnight, allowing us to store some of the equipment and the roller starter.

The best way to describe the action is as a parade at speed. With a wide range of pre-war machines and an even wider range of rider ages and abilities, there are always going to be fast riders and those taking it at a more leisurely pace. Included in the former category were Michael Digby on his Triumph L2/1 and Eric Wade on his T70 of the same make, and they ensured we had the Brooklands Motorcycle Team at the front of the field. Unfortunately, due to an allegedly disgruntled local leaving his car beside the track, the sessions were an hour late starting while a tractor moved some protective straw bales around it under the supervision of the local gendarmerie. That meant we only got one session out of the two scheduled for Saturday. After standing around in hot leathers on an extremely warm evening it was frustrating, especially given that we only got back to the hotel by midnight. However, everyone completed the session safely, with only Michael suffering a rare mechanical issue when his bike’s magneto lost a contact breaker point.

Sunday morning arrived all too soon and we had an early start to get the bikes checked over and back to the paddock for our first session. Michael’s contact breaker was fixed with the help of some careful peening and a drop of superglue.

The organisers managed to keep Sunday’s schedule running mostly on time.

We had one session in the morning and

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two after lunch. Each session was five or six laps of the circuit, and we were flagged off in waves to avoid too much bunching at the chicanes and tight bends. Being France, lunch was a three-course meal with wine, although the riders were abstemious in this regard. The event is free to spectators and attracted a large crowd gathered along the side of the road behind the barriers and taking advantage of any viewing points afforded by local buildings. As usual, we had a lot of interest in the Brooklands Museum bikes, which included Bill Whitely and Steve giving an interview to a journalist about the AKD, its fascinating history, and what it is like to ride. Even using our paddock starter rollers regularly attracted a large audience.

For Brooklands, it is an excellent outreach exercise and we were very grateful for the Museum’s support for our venture.

Many of the bikes have been built or restored by team members to recreate that search for making a motorcycle faster and we believe using the bikes for their intended purpose, albeit not circulating the Outer Circuit flat out, preserves the essential character of Brooklands. An event such as the Le Puy captures part of that adventurous spirit and keeps it alive. Michael’s Triumphs, the BSA Empire Star, and the Rudge Brooklands Special in Karen Anderson’s hands all performed with credit as usual. My BSA built over the last few years has now completed two events without mishap and Fred’s Rudge ran well, sounded even better and hopefully justified him burning the midnight oil.

By late Sunday afternoon, after living through two and half days of heat, dust and burning oil, I think we were all ready to pack up the bikes one final time and head off to a restaurant in the nearby town of Montreuil-Bellay for dinner where they served up a local speciality. Bikes and riders were repatriated over the next few days by various routes across France and Channel crossings. One of the vans got inspected, but without any customs issues as we had feared. While the copious volumes of paperwork were not required on this occasion, they served a purpose as an assurance that transporting the bikes on a temporary basis for a one-off event was all above board.

As always, one of the team stepped up to the plate and took responsibility for organising this trip. We must all thank Fred Wade for taking on the task, overcoming all the challenges and generally being ahead of the game each step of the way. All I would say Fred is, if you do it again, don’t try and build a Brooklands Special at the same time!

Gareth Pemberton

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members’ matters Members’ Talks and BM.tv

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During time,involved Matt and covered Greenwood Family arethat directly in his thecrew running of thean amazing 22,130 nautical mileswishes by theare time they arrived back ompany, ensuring that your carried out with thein the UK. Recounting utmost a�en�ontotoa detail. thedignity team’sand adventures rapt audience, Matt also showed some sensational video clips of the Silver Spitfire in action. These can be We Have Branches Surrey and WTalk London viewed Across on the BM.tv video of Sthe that is now on our Youtube channel. You can also listen again to Matt talking passionately about East Surrey Area Westfamous Surrey aircraft Area Office theOffice history of this most type and the inspiration behind the team’s project.

If you missed either of the superb evenings either in person or e Visit Our Website for Fullvideo Details link, of Our you Services to Viewup all Our Online Obituaries via canandcatch with them on BM.tv. Also available on BM.tv now are videos from the Aston Martin Heritage Festival including plenty of interviews with owners, American Day, and German Day. There is also a splendid video tour of the Stratosphere Chamber door with John Rowland. You can find these films at: www.youtube.com/c/BrooklandsMemberstv/videos or: www.soundcloud.com/brooklandsmembers You will also find a vast back catalogue of videos from Brooklands events to keep you amused, informed, and entertained. Whether you missed the original event or want to revisit a highlight at Brooklands, it’s all there to watch.

Image by Cliff Bolton

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In Memory of…

Sadly, each issue we do lose some of our Members and we would like to pass on the condolences of the Brooklands Members, Chairman and Committee to the families of the following who we have been notified have recently passed away.

Mr John Fuller, a Club Level Member with his wife Jane for six years, who sadly passed away in the summer. Jane continues the membership.

Mrs Josephine Stovell, a Club Level Member with husband

Motorcycles at Mallory The Brooklands Motorcycle Team has had a long association with the Vintage Motor Cycle Club, especially as a presence at their major track events and also for participating in their on- track demonstrations.

With the return of the Festival of 1000 Bikes at Mallory Park this year, we were offered a free marquee in the Avenue of Champions. If we could muster enough bikes, we could have our own Brooklands track parades over the two days. This offer was accepted, in principle, early in the year. However, as time moved on it became apparent that interest had waned.

I organised a small presence featuring my own bikes along with some borrowed from our loyal supporters. We had to decline the offer of our own parade.

It turned out to be a great event, with good weather and a very respectable attendance. I managed to distribute what promotional literature I could obtain from the Museum, which ran out by lunch time on the Saturday. It was, however, useful to keep our presence in front of so many people in the classic bike fraternity with whom we have developed relationships over the years.

Sadly, this looks as if this will be the last time we will have enough support to promote the Museum at this famous and unique classic bike track meeting in the UK. The membership and priorities of the Brooklands Motorcycle Team have changed in recent years.

To promote the Museum through a sociable motorcycle weekend in northern France has become more attractive than riding on a well-known, dedicated UK racing circuit alongside past and present champions.

Change is inevitable, although it is not always for the better, but to end on a positive note, the opportunity to ride on track at Castle Combe is now an annual date for those Brooklands Members and riders who want a track day experience and a day out. Watch out for details of the 2023 motorcycle track day, which should feature some Brooklands-only sessions.

John Bottomley

Steve, who passed away in the summer. Steve continues his membership with us.

Mrs Mary Crease, a Double Member, who sadly passed away earlier this year. Marys’ husband Bernard continues a membership with us.

Mr John Allen, an Individual Member for four years, who passed away earlier this year.

Mrs Rosemary Apse, a long-standing Club Level Member with her husband Michael, who passed away in the summer. Michael continues his membership with us.

NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022 | BROOKLANDS BULLETIN

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reviews Alvis and so much more Enthusiasts of the Alvis car marque will be familiar with Captain George Thomas Smith-Clarke, who was chief engineer for the company from 1922 all the way to his retirement in 1950. This book by retired anaesthetist Dr Adrian Padfield covers those years that took in so much of Alvis’ motor racing at Brooklands, but as the title suggests it’s also about a great deal more of Smith-Clarke’s later work using his design knowledge.

The book devotes much of its content to Smith-Clarke’s impact on the iron lung, which was previously a very crude and sometimes cruel machine.

At a time when polio was rife and its treatment often crude, the changes brought about by the former Alvis engineer were nothing short of dramatic.

For anyone hoping for an enjoyable romp though Alvis’ motoring back catalogue, this is not the book for you. However, for those completists who want as much of a rounded view of the firm and one of its key personalities, this is a fascinating look at how a keen engineering mind can be applied to multiple tasks.

The copy can tend towards a more academic tone, but it is nothing if not rigorous in its detail. There are also several appendices that show how scrupulous Padfield has been in his research. At £20 plus postage for a book that is very well produced, Coventry, Alvis and the Iron Lung sits very well alongside more obvious histories of Alvis.

Al Lawson Coventry, Alvis and the Iron Lung by Adrian Padfield is priced £20 plus postage. Published by Hughes & Company: ISBN 978-18382150-0-2

A slot in history In the late 1950s and ‘60s, slot car racing was a massive hobby in the US and slightly later in the UK. Many will remember Scalextric, but there is a lot more to the slot car racing story than that. Philippe de Lespinary is a true enthusiast for all kinds of motorsport, both real and model. For a while he worked for the French model kit company Hellier as a designer and researcher before he moved to California in 1970. Since then, he has raced, designed and owned some great cars and motorcycles. In 1995, he opened the famous shop in Los Angeles, Electric Dreams, selling slot cars. In 2007, he helped set up the Los Angeles Slot Car Museum, which has the largest collection of slot cars in the world.

Recently, de Lespinary has published his lifetime’s work, telling the story of slot cars in their 1960s heyday. The book runs to 320 pages and more than 800 photos, most of them in colour, starting with an excellent introduction of the hobby from the earliest days in Paris, France and the US in the 1890s. It covers the first true slot cars from VIP and then Scalextric in the late 1950s. The next chapter is split into eight sections and goes into details of the slot car manufacturers of the period country by country.

Makes such as Riko, Cox, Champion, Airfix MRRC and, of course, Scalextric are dealt with in great detail, and most of the small British makes like Wrenn, Ks, and Romford have a mention too. The other sections look at the motors, chassis, guides, and the clear plastic body shells of the period. The remaining five chapters are about some of the special and outstanding cars, well-known American slot car racers and other famous people from the motorsport world who also enjoy model car racing. The

last chapter offers hints and tips on what to look out for when collecting vintage slot cars from the 1960s.

This is a great book which can be highly recommended despite the price as it is warrants the cost. The only thing which lets it down a little is the lack of an index. It is doubtful if a better or more complete book will be ever written on this subject again.

John O’Dell

Slot Car Dreams – The Slot Car Frenzy of the 60s by Philippe de Lespinary is priced £75 in paperback or £125 in hardback. Published by Casa Vettura Productions: ISBN 978-0-57879-210-1 NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022 | BROOKLANDS BULLETIN

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AROUND THE

COLLECTION Brooklands Members Members’ Administrator Sarah Dover 01932 857381 ext 226 Tues-Fri 9am-2pm members@brooklandsmuseum.com Chairman Neil Bailey 07970 206778 chairman@brooklandsmembers.co.uk Secretary Kevin Lee 01932 562246 kevin@abbeywalls.com Tours and Trips Angela Hume 07884 184882 Angelahume@brooklandsmembers.co.uk Outreach David Norfolk 01372 373929 david.norfolk@outlook.com Talks Harry Sherrard 07899 984535 harrysherrard@brooklandsmembers.co.uk BM.tv Mark Jarman 07710 783536 nonesuche@gmail.com Bulletin Editor Alisdair Suttie 07768 372440 brooklandsbulletineditor@gmail.com Contributors Clifford Bolton, John Burch, Sarah Dover, David Dowling, Martin Gegg, Angela Hume, Andy Lambert, Andrew Lewis, Martin Shelley, Harry Sherrard, Gareth Tarr, Mike Venables Advertising, Design and Production: Hine Marketing, Tel: 01452 730770 Hill Farm Studios, Wainlodes Lane, Bishops Norton Gloucestershire GL2 9LN E-mail: nick@hinemarketing.co.uk Address change and Bulletin distribution queries 01932 857381 ext 226 members@brooklandsmuseum.co.uk Brooklands Museum, Brooklands Road, Weybridge, Surrey KT13 0QN 01932 857381 Fax: 01932 855465 www.brooklandsmuseum.com

Brooklands Museum Chairman Sir Gerald Acher CBE LVO gerryacher@brooklandsmuseum.com CEO Tamalie Newbery ext 243 Executive Director, Engagement, Heritage and Operations Alex Patterson ext 247 Visitor Experience Manager Jenny Pettit ext 302 Volunteer & HR Manager Aimee Nelson ext 303 Learning Officer Laura Barclay ext 257 Curatorial and Archive Enquiries Andrew Lewis ext 246

One hundred years ago, Herbert Austin launched his tiny 7 on the world and started a revolution. Designed as a practical and more affordable means of carrying a family of four, the 7 was a light car and a step up from a motorcycle with sidecar outfit. However, the 7 also went on to spawn a large number of sporting derivatives and specials, many of them used at Brooklands and developed way beyond the humble brief dreamt up by Austin and Stanley Edge in the company owner’s billiard room.

Herbert Austin’s son-in-law, Arthur Waite, was one of the first to realise the 7’s sporting potential and he competed at Brooklands as early as 1923. Gordon England was another who was quick to take up the 7 and he set six class records at the Track, also in 1923. This led to a Brooklands Supersports model being marketed by Austin, which came complete

with a certificate guaranteeing an 80mph top speed.

In the Museum’s Collection now are three Austin 7s that represent the spread of sporting 7s. One is a special that sums up what many builders were creating to race at Brooklands, and this example was rebuilt

by Barrie Knight, along with his father Sidney and uncle Harry. Another is the aptly named Speedy Le Mans 7 that was entered

by Harry Ferguson at the French 24 Hour race and won its class, as well as finishing 27th overall in the 1935 event. This car was also used to win the 1930 British Racing Drivers Club 500 Mile race at Brooklands with SCH Davis and Lord March driving (pictured).

The other 7 in the collection is an Ulster, named after the venue for the Tourist Trophy race in Northern Ireland. This supercharged car competed at Brooklands in 1931, driven by VL Seyd.

Parking arrangements Please note that for all events marked ‘Parking in The Heights’, designated vehicles only can enter via the Campbell Gate, off Brookland’s Road. All other Members including Club level and visitors please park in The Heights or main public car park unless otherwise specified. Members with a Blue Badge may park on-site using the Campbell Gate entrance.

Parking arrnagements for other weekend events are:

Head of Track and Air Events Steve Castle ext 244

Club Level Members: entry via Campbell Gate. Period and classic vehicles may park outside the Paddock. Other vehicles to park in

Concorde Bookings ext 266 flyconcorde@brooklandsmuseum.com

All other Members and visitors: entry via main public entrance off Brooklands Drive.

Hospitality Sales Manager Andrew Webber ext 251 hospitality@brooklandsmuseum.com

the Campbell Car Park adjacent to the Race Bays. Please abide by staff directions..

This issue of the Brooklands Bulletin (incorporating The Spirit) is published on behalf of Brooklands Members, supporters of Brooklands Museum Trust Ltd, by Hine Marketing, Hill Farm Studios, Wainlodes Lane, Bishops Norton, Gloucestershire GL2 9LN. The statements and opinions expressed in the Bulletin are not necessarily those of the Brooklands Members’ Committee or Brooklands Museum Trust Ltd.

Marketing Director Sam Hart ext 225

While every effort has been made by the Publishers to include correct information, they are unable to accept responsibility for

Email addresses are available on the Museum website www.brooklandsmuseum.com/about/ contact-us

event of misinformation or lack of source relating to images supplied by a third party by electronic or other means.

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errors or omissions. The Publishers, Brooklands Members and Brooklands Museum Trust Limited cannot accept responsibility in the

Charity number 296661. Please quote this if making donations or requesting them via a funeral director.

BROOKLANDS BULLETIN | NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022

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