Description
By: William Bill Boddy, new book with a minor tear on the cover, see images
Giant racing cars — impressively fast and powerful — thrilled the spectators at the famous Brooklands racing circuit in Surrey between the years 1907 and 1939. In many cases the cars had been designed for long- distance Grand Prix road races or for participation in other important international contests. Some were already of considerable age by the time they made their debut at Brooklands so that antiquity was added to their still considerable ability to run well and quickly, and score, in the faster handicap races at the long-lived Weybridge Motor Course.
Bill Boddy recalls with affection these giants, the engines of which were 10 litres or over (the author's chosen minimum). The early monsters include the Fiat Mephistopheles, before it was given aero-power, the startlingly crude 200hp V8 Darracq, the immense Napier Samson, Malcolm Campbell's Darracq (the first Blue Bird) and the various big Mercedes, many of which were basic in construction, with flimsy chassis and chain final-drive. More sophisticated was the former land speed record holder, the 101/2-litre V12 Delage, which gave John Cobb, the handsome young barrister, Oliver Bertram, and the courageous little Mrs Kay Petre, some of their more notable successes.
There were also the big racing cars from an earlier age, which enlivened Brooklands' afternoons on those Bank Holiday meetings in the 1920s, like the venerable but still effective Lorraine Dietrich Vieux Charles Trois and the Germanic 200hp Benz, one of which went over the top of the banking at the end of a race. There was the lone 1908 Grand Prix Napier and the S61 Fiat from a 1911 French road race that entertained the crowds for year after year, porous cylinder blocks and suspect steering gear notwithstanding.
A number of these great and historic motor cars, with the aura of age, continued to grace events run by the Vintage Sports Car Club and other organisations, long after the war had closed Brooklands. They all now come alive again, as they did in the Brooklands Paddock and elsewhere, described by an author whose enthusiasm for all kinds of motoring found a special affection for them. Bill Boddy saw his first Brooklands race meeting in 1927 from which time he virtually lived at the track, especially in the mid-1930s when he helped to run the Brooklands — Track & Air Journal.
He will forever be associated with Motor Sport magazine, of which he was Founder Editor. He also founded the Brooklands Society, which led to the formation of the Brooklands Museum Trust.
