Brooklands Double Twelve and Relived Weekend Review 2024
“Brooklands, the world’s first purpose-built motor racing circuit, constructed at Weybridge, Surrey in 1907, was more than a great sporting arena. Brooklands was the birthplace of British motorsport and aviation, home of Concorde and the site of many engineering and technological achievements throughout eight decades of the 20th century.
As soon as the design of the track was entrusted to Colonel H.C.L. Holden of the Royal Artillery, the original plans began to grow beyond Locke King’s wildest expectations. Far from his initial idea of a simple road circuit, Locke King was persuaded that, in order for cars to achieve the highest possible speeds, with the greatest possible safety, the 2¾ mile circuit would need to be provided with two huge banked sections nearly 30ft. high. The track would be 100ft. wide, made of concrete and include two long straights, one running for half a mile beside the London to Southampton Railway, and an additional ‘Finishing Straight’ passing the Paddock and enclosures, bringing the total length of the track to 3¼ miles. This outstanding feat of engineering was built in only nine months and eventually cost Hugh Locke King his personal fortune, a price equal to nearly 16 million pounds today. Ethel took over the supervision of the development of the track after the stress of building it affected the health of her husband. Her family also came to the rescue, loaning funds to pay off debts caused by the construction. On 17th June 1907, she led the inaugural procession of cars on to the track in her open Itala car.”
“The Brooklands Double Twelve, first run in 1929, was the JCC’s imaginative solution to the problem of running a 24-hour race at Brooklands. Overnight racing had been banned at Brooklands shortly after the course opened in 1907 when SF Edge drove non-stop for 24 hours, setting a world record but earning the wrath of local residents. In the Double Twelve, cars ran for two 12-hour stints from 8am to 8pm and were locked away overnight in secure garages so they could not be worked on during the resting period.”
The Double Twelve and Brooklands Relived event is now held on the nearest weekend to the anniversary of the track opening.
Cyclekarts have featured on the line-up at Brooklands for four years now. This year we fielded 19 cyclekarts and were complimented on our “fantastic show” both in the static display and in the driving.
The weekend format has been evolving for the museum over the last few years and this year, the Saturday was all focused on the Mercedes Benz World Track. Cyclekarts joined iconic period cars like the Napier Railton and the Barnato-Hassan Bentley doing display laps of the 1.2km circuit. After a sighting lap behind the Mercedes pace car, we were given a little free rein to enjoy the track and entertain the few brave spectators.
Sunday was all on the museum site and drier weather brought out the crowds. Everyone had made an effort to create a vintage vibe and out display looked excellent.
There were lots of cars on display around the site and a full programme of driving on the start/finish straight and for us this included spirited demonstration laps and a mass race start. That section of the track is incredibly bumpy in places and quite a few cyclekarts got fully airborne, grounded out, and for some, both!
The last driving challenge of the day was Test Hill. Even those who have driven it before can feel a bit of trepidation as the crowd push in on the narrow track and the hill rises ahead, getting progressively steeper.
As there was no competitive driving element to the weekend, we had a couple of static competitions. The Spirit of Brooklands trophy was introduced to recognise cyclekarts that captured the innovation and courage that pervade the history of Brooklands. Alex Patterson, the museum CEO kindly judged this for us. Ian McCabe’s Bolster Special “Bloody Mary” took first place with equal second going to Tim’s ERA and Andy’s Bugatti Brescia. Graham’s Cord/Hefling took 4 th and Bill’s Maserati came 5 for “craftsmanship and clearly being well exercised and pushed”.
We also had a Best Display competition for each person’s overall display. People had created information boards used period tools and parts to create a vintage feel.
Our judge was Allan Winn, works driver of the Napier Railton, Vice president of the museum and many other roles. Chris Loader took first place for all the links back to Campbell and his display of spares (no comment!). Ian Fletcher took joint second with himself, with his Austin 7 Twin Cam and GN Vitesse displays. Stefan’s Bugatti came 4 th and Graham’s Brooklands Special was 5 th .
The museum had kindly provided a run of gazebos for us next to the start-finish straight and the pit board that Max made for us (thanks Max!) really set off the display.
Having the museum to look around throughout the weekend was a huge bonus and all the CKGB participants got a small collection of mementos (thanks Andy and Stefan M).
Lastly, thanks to Mark Hastings at the Museum for all his work in putting the event together and for incorporating us.
Stefan Nahajski
CKGB Chair
