Brooklands Rail Racing

The first time I came across our host at Brooklands, Jeff Davies, was when I was watching a Channel 4 programme on Slot Car Racing. Jeff was taking on son Richard Davies in a Scalextric race on the drive of his home in Wales. Even in this fun race the raised voices and determination to win at all cost was reminiscent of the majority of slot car racers worldwide.

The next time I saw Jeff was at the London Toy Fare on the Riko stand where I introduced myself and we discussed all things H:O slot car. Here I found Jeff to have an amazing amount of enthusiasm, drive and an endless list of contacts in the Slot Car world. If this guy could not sell Slot Car Racing to the World then no one could.

Over the next few months Jeff and I spent many a phone call discussing our hobby and eventually I persuaded him and Richard to visit a Derby H:O Racing Club evening. Jeff’s personality, so evident in paragraph one above, came through even before he made the long trek up from Wales. He told me he was going to "Whip my A*s". My response was that if he got in the top ten I would eat my hat. Safe to say I didn’t have a hat but in the event I did not have to buy one either!!

Following that evening we lost touch for a while until Jeff contacted me to tell me about his dream of replicating the 1950’s when rail track racing was in it’s infancy. I had to admit I had never heard of a rail track and so Jeff went onto explain the technicalities.

This first phone call in many months turned into many more phone calls as the Brooklands weekend grew closer. Jeff’s enthusiasm is so contagious and even though I personally prefer the smaller H:O cars I could not help but want to see what all the fuss was about and so Phil Rees and I set off for Brooklands at 7am on the Sunday morning.

It was only the night before that I checked the map to see where Brooklands actually was. Jeff and I agreed to meet at 10am so three hours seemed more than enough time to make the 140 miles from Derby, taking into account the car park that is the M25.

For once however the M25 was clear as a bell and we arrived in Weybridge at 8.45am. We knew the Brooklands Museum was close as passing a Tesco’s store we came across some familiar weathered concrete banking that was unmistakably an old racing track

Another fifteen minutes later and we arrived at the Museum. It was a beautiful summer morning but my first feelings were those of sadness. All around were 20th Century blue chip companies that had encroached onto the former glorious Brooklands circuit. It seemed incredulous that anyone could have allowed this to happen.

Before taking a look at what was left of the facility we spotted Jeff and son Richard unloading his van outside what we guessed was the Chequered Flag Room, together with other folk that included Jeff’s daughter.

Jeff made us very welcome and we immediately got stuck in helping with the unloading.

The Chequered Flag room was an ideal size for such an event and while Phil and I met up with Don Seigel and friend from Paris the rail track gradually formed at the top end of the room. I had read Don’s articles in HO:USA many times it was great to put a face to a name.

Jeff was going through the very same thing that Phil and I go through at Le Mans and most DHORC Club nights. He was having to make sure everyone knew what they were doing, that everything was being built in the right way and place and yet keeping the Brooklands owners happy. Phil and I had already come across their demands when we parked in the wrong place upon arrival and were ushered into the correct parking area!!

Slowly but surely the rail track came together as did Jeff’s dream. Clearly a great deal of effort had been put in by Jeff and all involved with the track to ensure it was as authentic as possible.

While the rail tack was being built a home built six lane 1/32nd scale tri-oval was being built in one corner of the room and in the centre of the room a Ninco Go-Kart circuit. Therefore there would be plenty of activities for all to do. Mixed in amongst these three tracks were stalls offering everything 1/32nd and 1/24th scale slot car. The only thing missing was an H:O track which Phil and I have agreed with Jeff to remedy next year.

With the rail track finally up and running there was the usual extensive amount of tweaking required to get the track working properly. The biggest problem seemed to be the tight hairpin where the inverted horseshoe shaped guides struggled to negotiate as they seemed to bind on the rail. Considering this was the first rail track to be run in nearly 50 years and folk had scratch built their cars, this small problem seemed an acceptable inconvenience. Further tweaking had all the cars running unimpaired.

Steve Cropley from Autocar arrived just prior to the first rail track race and Jeff ensured Steve was brought fully up to speed on the history of the event. He was also kind enough to give Phil and I some time to discuss our Le Mans 24 hour event later in the year.

Steve started the first rail race of the day, in fact the first rail race for nearly half a century where I was given the responsibility of being lap counter. Luckily the race was to be just five laps so I would not run out of fingers. The three cars set off at a steady pace, with all three drivers clearly determined to make that first lap without incident. While the hairpin continued to be the most hazardous part of the track there was some good racing with Charlie Fitzpatrick taking the win with an Alfa Romeo 12C.

Following this race many other racers took part in three leg races, each driver running five laps on each lane. It was all run in the best possible atmosphere even if one or two took it a little too serious. I guess once a slot car racer always a slot car racer. Jeff seemed to be pulling out awards for all race winners as every few minutes there was yet another award winning ceremony. His wife must have told him to get rid of all his cups he had won over the years – she would have been very happy!!!

During the morning AJ Fryer (A member of the notorious Race Control team at our Le Mans 24 hour race) arrived and Phil and I spent an interesting 30 mins going over old times and new.

Next up was the Ninco Go-Karts which was really there for folk just to try out. With a very short lap the Karts soon came round, handling very well considering the height of the drivers. The new Ninco Lap Counters helped to make the races more enjoyable but no lap times were available.

Just about everyone in the room then involved themselves in the Stox racing circuit knock out championship running Metro 6R4 look a likes. This more represented the speed and drive abilty of our own H:O slot cars, reminding me of the Wing Cars I had driven at Riverside in Newcastle. Being a tri-oval where one corner only allowed one car to pass through at a time it made the racing very exciting, but at the same time like a game of chess. Try to enter this corner with a car on your inside and you were pitched into the barrier. With a car on your outside however you could repay the compliment. As one of the regulars commented "This is a full contact sport!!"

The work Ian Revitt had put both into this track and the controls that ran it were to be commended. Initial impressions were that it was rather Heath-Robinson, but looking closely the controls were built for comfort and reliability. With a series of red lights showing which car was in which position in the race Ian had all he needed to ensure everyone knew where they stood. By the amount of noise the event caused this was clearly a real crowd and driver pleaser.

By two o’clock folk began to thin out and Jeff decided to call it a day. I don’t think he could quite believe it was all over. Following all the hard work he and others had put into the event he must be congratulated for putting on a real show at his first attempt. The 2001 event promises to be even bigger and better.

Phil and I set about pulling the Ninco track apart and helped with packing the rail track back into Jeff’s van. As usual everything came down far quicker than it went up and before you knew it the Chequered Flag Room was back to it’s original best.

We thanked Jeff for his hospitality and congratulated him on the success of his event. With that Phil and I set off to take a look at the Brooklands banked track.

Less than 300 yards from the Chequered Flag Room was what was left of this once magnificent circuit. Climbing the steep banking you could almost smell the exhausts and hear the engines from those historic cars bouncing around the banking. There must have been some very brave or crazy racing drivers those days. To be able to drive such antiquated (compared to present day cars) cars at those speeds without any safety devices must have been absolutely terrifying.

The biggest thing that hit me was however that fact that no-one had been able to prevent this historic track being swallowed up by the 20th Century. I thought there was nothing worse than a racing car being an inactive museum piece but this was far worse. With no hope of the original track ever being recreated the world to me had clearly gone completely mad!!!

After visiting the banking we made our way up the infamous hill where pre-war racing cars would strain to reach the summit owing to it’s gradient. Phil and I knew how they felt as we reached the top. From there we walked onto the bridge that spanned the banking to give us a different perspective of this quite amazing track that had been years ahead of it’s time. Whether it’s replacement, the new Rockingham circuit, will ever take it’s place only time will tell, but my final comment on Brooklands is that it is all extremely sad.

The next evening Jeff called me and he was still on a high from the previous day. It had clearly surpassed all his expectations and he was already looking forward to the 2001 event.

I personally recommend anyone with an interest in the history of slot car racing make a note in their diary for next year’s event. It’s going to be something you cannot afford to miss.