Brooklands Double 12 report

W.O. Bentley in Experimental Number 1 at Brooklands

(oil on board work in progress)

Part of my painting demonstration on the Saturday. I will be continuing this piece at this Coming Saturdays Bentley Driver Club Concours D'Elegance

My home for the weekend the ERA Shed.

An improvised set up.

One of the current residents in the E.R.A. Shed

The Napier Railton (24 litre Napier Lion Areo Engine) :

Holder of the outer track record at Brooklands

143.44 mph (230.84 km/h)) set in 1935:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier-Railton

Bluebird Sunbeam (350HP)

Originally built by built by the Sunbeam Car Company in 1922. It Was Later campained by Malcolm Campbell. More info on it's life and records can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunbeam_350HP

This car was on loan from Beaulieu and was subject to some of my scribblings over the weekend. I couldn't pass up an opportunity like this.

Quick pen and ink Sketch

Watercolour study

As part of the celebrations they had three Napier Lion engines. Two were in cars the Napier Railton and the Napier Bentley. The other was on a trolley and had a propeller attached.

The real monster of the weekend was Chris Willaims' Packard Bentley a 42 litre aero engined black beast.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packard-Bentley

Pen and Ink Study

As well as the large areo engined cars there was lots of other exotic machinery to see. Including this Alpha Romeo Areo Spider. It was built in the 30s to run at over 200mph and was never completed. After a long spell in various barns in England it was restored in Europe (I'm currently trying to fond out more about its history). Unfortunately it only had a 6 cylinder engine installed, it was intended to have a 12 cylinder engine but Alpha Romeo never produced one. It still made a great noise though.

Originally designed to be a single seater it can now take 3 people with the driver in the middle. So McLaren weren't the first!

The front brakes are huge, you couldn't even see past them through the spokes!

There was a fantastic array of Veteran cars on display outside the front of the Club House.

1898 Henroid

Pen and Ink Study

The Henroid can run on either alcohol or petrol with very slight adjustment. This is the only known surviving example. Owned by Roy Fisher of Eastbourne, on the south coast of England, the 6 hp Henriod Duc, or “Madame Henriod” as he calls his pride and joy, is untouched, never having been restored, and is completely intact.

Large exposed flywheel can be seen lurking behind the engine.

Willy Wonka style oil resevoirs which drip directly onto various parts of the engine.

1897 British Built Daimler

Pen and Ink Study

The earliest surviving example a Coventry made Daimler.

The Morgan Three Wheeler Club were well represented on the day.

Special congratulations go out to Ian and Maria Parkinson for winning the Concours!

(photo by Trevor Seymour)

The Clive Lones Morgan

Baragwanath JTOR 996CC J.A.P. Engined Cycle Car

It Achieved 37 world records and in 1930 was the first Light Car to lap Brooklands outer Circuit at 100mph.

There were also some fantastic Austin Severn's out and about.
Chris Williams' Austin 7 special with a 3 Cylinder Light Aircraft Engine

An unusual short bodied Austin 7

Special thanks to all at Brooklands who made me feel so welcome and made such an amazing event possible. I fully recommend this event to anyone and urge you to attend next year.

Don't forget if your not already I would also like to recommend that you become a Brooklands trust member and that you support this amazing living museum:

http://www.brooklandsmuseum.com

Upcoming Events for June - July

Well June to July is pretty packed with 5 upcoming events on 5 consecutive weekends so I thought I'd deal with them all in one post so here goes.

1922 Brooklands Double Twelve Record

(work in progress)

June 18th - 19th Brooklands Double 12

Billed as "The biggest motoring competition held at Brooklands since 1939" this is going to be a spectacular event and I'm very honoured to be invited to show at this event. I will be displaying new artwork and running a painting demonstration throughout the weekend in the ERA shed. More details can be found here:

http://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/index.php?/double12/

June 25th Bentley Drivers Club Concours d'Elegance

This year is the 75th Anniversary of the formation of the Bentley Drivers Club, and so this years Concours d’Elegance is set to be a well attended event with cars from all over the globe attending Broughton Castle for this annual event.

Especially seeing that the Britain by Bentley Tour is taking place at the same time, with visitors from far and wide joining a group of 50 Bentleys travelling the length and breadth of Britain throughout June and July the turnout will include cars that are not normally seen in this country!

More info can be seen at the Bentley Drivers Club here:

http://www.bdcl.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=226&Itemid=120

July 3rd UK Roadster Nationals

The UK Roadster Nationals are open to all convertible and open top cars including Veteran, Classic, Custom, Americans, Hot Rods and Replicas. So this is going to be a really interesting event as the range of cars is huge. Along with a special painting demonstration planned I'm really looking forward to this.

More Info Can be found here:

http://www.claphamclassicevents.co.uk/roadsternationals.htm

8th - 10th July VMCC Festival of 1000 Bikes

This is the Vintage Motorcylce Clubs main event of the year and it has a vast line up "the event gives enthusiasts the opportunity to ride their own machines in multiple track sessions over the weekend. On the Saturday of the event we cater for all classes of road machines from the earliest Veterans (discounted entry fee available for pre 1925 machines) through to machines of the super bike era which reflect the wide range of interests within the VMCC. With lesser noise restrictions Sunday is the day for riders to display their racing machinery in special track sessions running throughout the day.

It is now recognised that this unique event provides the best line up of “Past Masters” and famous machines assembled every year in the UK."

More info here:

http://www.vmcc.net/1000bikes/index.htm

16th July Pre War Prescott

This is the first year that this event is being run and it is set to be an annual event from now on. The event is being run by the Vintage Minor Register and a great range of Pre war Cars is expected. I'm hoping to organise a special painting demonstration for this event too.

More info here:

http://www.prewarprescott.com/

I look forward to seeing you if you are attending. If you are unable to attend then as always I will be posting up event reports.

Prescott Bike Festival Report

Demo piece at the end of the day

(a better picture will be posted once I've made more progress)

My home for the day.

For it's first year the Prescott Bike festival turned out to be quite an event, with bikes old and new out in force to run up the hill in front of a crowd of a good few thousand! The highlights for me were as always the older bikes, especially the collection that was bought down by the Brooklands Museum not only were they on display they were also running them up the hill too! Here is a selection of my personal highlights:

Doug Earl Cotton

498cc J.A.P. (1938 Speedway Engine)

1928

• Doug Earle, who raced Zenith bikes at Brooklands in 1938, created this bike in later life as a replica of a 1930s Outer Circuit racer and sidecar.
• It is likely that he used the bike for dirt/grass track racing post war. He then remodelled it with period style fuel (methanol) and oil tanks. The motorcycle and sidecar streamlined in hand beaten aluminium, streamlining on the front forks remains.
• In the 1960s he was well known for his immaculately prepared Douglas sprinter, which competed with the "Boy" Tubb Grindlay-Perrless in appearance.

"Boy" Tubb Grindlay-Perrless

498cc J.A.P.

1929

• In 1928, Bill Lacey, riding a 500cc Grindlay Peerless at Brooklands, became the first person to ride 100 miles an hour on a british track.
• The following year 5 or 6 replicas were built, one of which was bought by Edmond "Boy" Tubb in 1936.
• E.C.E. "Ted" Baragwanath rebuilt the engine for Edmond. Eith this new found power he went on to win his Gold Star at 102mph.

The Brooklands Museum is a very important place in motoring history and I encourage you to become a Brooklands Trust Member. It's £30 a year and you get free access to the museum as well as discounts on events. More information can be found here:

http://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/

More Great Machines

1908 Triumph (Belt Drive)

This also incredibly was running up the hill. The owner was keen to show me the bike when he saw my watercolour piece depicting the same bike. So much so that he wheeled it round to my stall so I could have a look. No clutch on this one a running start is needed to get it going, must be great fun to ride. One day I tell myself one day.

498cc Velocette

(love the Gordon's Gin can!)

J.A.P. Powered three wheeler / Sidecar outfit

(Detail)

J.A.P. Powered Sprint Bike

Manx Superior (Manx Bike with Brough Superior Engine)