Forgotten Race Tracks - Brooklands Race Circuit - The Dangerous Banked Oval

Finished binging my way through the Secrets of the Motorway and All The Service Station series', so guess I'll binge my way through the channels back catalogue...

My Gt-uncle raced at Brooklands as a side-car pilot before the war.

I watched this yesterday and strangely enough I ended up working next to the old track today!

Came here off the 100000 subscribers video. To show the Forgotten Race Tracks vids some love.

How the devil are you? Have you had a good week?

It’s ironic that Mercedes have a facility there considering the little argument in ‘39-45🤷‍♂️

My kids have been there on school trips and I’m very jealous - I’ll take myself there one day!

No,sleep,till Brooklands 😂

Please could you do a video on Crystal Palace circuit which was an amazing track in south London. I believe there are still remains clearly visible and accessible to the public.

When we visited brooklands in 1988 we asked a security looking guy if we could take pictures of the track and was told no, you cannot damage it. We said, we won't walk on it, just take a few pic, but was still told no.

Back in 2009 James May did his Toy Stories TV show they pretty much re-built Brooklands in Scalextric. It is/was the longest scalextric track in the world at 2.95miles

Magical place if you are into the history there. And thanks for showing the Byfleet banking. Shame so little is left. I am building a car named after it as it was designed and raced there back in the day.

nice, my old stomping ground

First sighting of the top of your head.

Henry Segrave set a few land speed records over here on the sands of Daytona Beach, Florida. He became the first person to break the 200 mph barrier by setting the record at 203 mph. He then set a new record at just over 231 mph in his Golden Arrow car in March of 1929. That record still stands as the fastest speed on the measured mile on Daytona Beach.

It took me way too long to realize what the small disagreements were lol

There’s a Concorde at brooklands?

Am fortunate to be relatively local to Brooklands and have held yearly membership of the museum for years. There is so much hidden away in there that just when you think you've seen it all you stumble upon another hidden bit. It's an awesome place and your video does it justice. (Nice use of the Thames ident at the end too btw).

keep up the good work with the videos, theyre alot more, than the title implies, you fill them full of interesting content, cheers

Button to show appreciation has been depressed 👍

Not sure if you're aware but you can go on car rides on the bit of the old race track for £1 per head inside the Meuseum. It's quite an experience. You'd still have to pay the entry fee though so don't go there specifically.

That Holiday music ❤❤❤

I have driven (illegally) my late MGB GT on the Members’ Banking. It was at an MG Owners’ Club meet in ‘92. When your speed hits the ‘sweet spot’ for the angle of inclination,(which was at my MG’s flat-out speed of all of 103mph!) it suddenly feels as if the car is going in a straight line on a flat and straight road, the only difference is that the horizon is suddenly skew whiff!

The next challenge is to get down off the banking before you meet the fence across it!

And that banking is a lot steeper than it looks towards the top!

Awesome..

Brooklands is a really, really good day out. Not only a fantastic motor museum but a great aircraft museum, lots of Vickers aircraft especially early jets you can walk through, a great bus museum, a huge "stratosphere chamber" to walk in, a superb display of jet engines, many cross sectioned, and a lot of history of Barnes Wallace and his work as well, including a replica of the test rig he used to study the physics of the bouncing bomb. Not many venues can boast BOTH a world class motoring history AND a world class aero history as well! If in doubt, just GO! But get there early - there is SO much to see! If you have any interest in anything to do with technology, a day at Brooklands will light your candle.

Marion

Hiya how about crystal palace race circuit in London. It last ran 50 years ago in 1972.

Ha! I work just down from there on The Heights business park. You missed the old pits in the middle of the car park. 🙂

If you go down the park you can get to the old bridge across the river too.

You neglected to mention that the last race held on the circuit was in 2009, when James May and a group of local volunteers built a scalextric track around the circuit and raced a pair of cars all the way around it.

Thank you for the video. Very informative and intriguing. Much appreciated. Another place to visit I think.

Ta for the realistic exposé .👍

This track did have one race event in recent years when James may connected the entire full track for a race with Scalextric cars.

What a great video. I love the way you put the old music theme’s in, takes me back. Thanks

Always said I would visit this old track. Go past it all the time on the train.

Do they still use the 'hill climb' part of the area/circuit.?

The sadness is that if this was in the USA it would be a national heritage site (or something), but hey, we're British, so it's fine to just carve chunks out of it and sell parts of it off, then realise in hindsight that we made a huge mistake in doing so, then attempt to save what's left. It's just what we do.

I don't think anyone could reasonably describe Brooklands as forgotten.

First time I went, they had a Barnes-Wallace bouncing bomb outside and an amazing anechoic chamber(a room that completely deadens sound).
I went back a few years later and the chamber had been removed and the staff didn’t even know the bomb was there, covered in grass and moss☹️
Still a great place to go for the day🔆👍

The museum is a wonderful testimonial to British racing and engineering, and the aircraft connections are even more impressive. That Concorde is there for a reason. They also have the only surviving Wellington bomber. There's Malcolm Campbell's car showroom, motorcycle workshops, and the Napier-Railton, track record-holder. Just trying to walk up the banking is an experience in itself. Also, a bus museum, if you're into those.

Wonderful! My grandfather used to race here in the 1920s.

A small disagreement...ah, the British art of understatement!

Love the sarcastic satire througout your videos, great to watch!

The man with a plan and the money. And a pipe…

Parking for mb World is on the track.

It's lovely to see that so much has survived of the track into 2020's

Don’t mention the war! 😁