Where It All Started
Brooklands was the world's first purpose-built motor racing circuit, opened on 17 June 1907 by Hugh Fortescue Locke King on his estate in Weybridge. The 2.75-mile banked concrete track cost £150,000 to build – the equivalent of roughly £20 million today – and predated Indianapolis by four years. Motor racing was illegal on public roads in Britain, so Locke King built his own road.
The circuit hosted racing until the outbreak of war in 1939. Vickers and Hawker took over the site for aircraft production during both world wars – Hurricanes, Wellingtons, and later Vickers VC10s were all built here. Much of the original banking survives, including dramatic sections of the Members' Banking that still rise to nearly 30 feet. The Finishing Straight and parts of the Byfleet Banking are also intact.
The Museum
Brooklands Museum preserves the site's dual motoring and aviation heritage. The collection includes a Concorde (G-BBDG, the production test aircraft), a Wellington bomber recovered from Loch Ness, a Formula 1 car gallery, and dozens of pre-war racing cars. The museum also tells the story of the Brooklands Aero Club, where aviators like Harry Hawker and Tommy Sopwith learned to fly.
The Classic Car Calendar
From spring through autumn, the museum hosts a busy calendar of classic car events: single-marque rallies (Jaguar, Porsche, MG, and others rotate through the season), vintage vehicle gatherings on the Members' Banking, motoring jumbles, and the popular Brooklands Double Twelve Motorsport Festival. Cars line up along the Finishing Straight, engines are started on the Test Hill, and the smell of Castrol R hangs in the air. For anyone with even a passing interest in motoring history, Brooklands is not to be missed – and it is on the doorstep for residents across north Surrey.
