Nic
Strata Poster
So, having decided to spite the Somerset/Wales cred run, I ended up spending the weekend camping in exotic Surrey. The Camping & Caravanning Club's site at Horsley, to be precise. I know I went there loads of times as a kid, but can only remember spending one night there in recent years (and could barely remember anything of that), so it was nice to be back.
It has a "lake" (I think "massive pond might be a better description?). I was camped in the woods on the far side that you can see in the 2nd picture
Friday night was mostly spent getting lost looking for a supermarket that didn't exist. I eventually then found one that did exist then came back to the site. This whole experience took over an hour and a half, which meant I ended up cooking in the dark </3
In the morning, I didn't really have a plan. I knew I wanted to go to Brooklands at some point over the weekend, but didn't know/mind when. As I couldn't think of anything better to do, Saturday morning seemed like as good a time as any to do it.
I arrived during a rain shower. I paid my £10 (eugh, no, I do not want to "Gift aid it" by slapping an extra £1 onto the price. If you're a charity, I will happily sign an ACTUAL genuine Gift Aid declaration so you can claim it back, that's fine. Otherwise, piss off!) and wandered in. It looks promising at first. Several sheds, some containing lots of old tools and stuff, all very much "in keeping" with the track's 20s/30s heyday. It kinda reminded me of Goodwood in that respect... only not as good.
The first open shed is an F1 display. I ended up going in through the exit though and seeing the whole thing in reverse chronological order (didn't even see there was an entrance until I was leaving the museum!). There's a cool simulator thing where you can "drive" round the brooklands track. Queue was massive, and I'm crap at driving games so I didn't bother. Instead, I looked at F1 cars
(This weekend contained FAR too much Eddie Jordan, but more of that later...)
I took photos of this for Neal:
Yeah, reading the sign, Schu's never been anywhere near it. It's one of 6 in that livery that were imported to the UK. Moving on...
I then decided that, as the weather had cleared up for a little while, it was probably a good idea to get the outdoor stuff done before the next shower. I headed out to the Members' Banking which is the one remaining section of the original track.
It's steeper than it looks
I'd be lying if I said that I didn't think of James May's Scalextric challenge while walking along here
I walked right along to the end at the far right as you look at the banking. On the way along there's there bunker things. I couldn't work out if they were some sort of war-time defences, or if they were racing related? I suspect the former, but don't know. Any ideas? I didn't dare go in for what I might find!
I loved walking along the track. It gives you a real sense of history. You can really imagine the cars zooming past as you wander along. It also always surprises me how steep the banking is on these curved tracks. The only other one I've been to is the old Fiat track on top of the old factory at Lingotto in Turin, and I swear that's even steeper (and altogether more bonkers!). Even so, it's hard to imagine just how terrifying it would've been to drive round a corner like that at top speed.
I walked up the path that follows along the fence, then up the hill to the old Member's Hill restaurant building which they're currently doing up to become another museum exhibit. There was an old car just randomly parked up there too.
You get an awesome view of my day's next destination too, but more of that later...
So that brought me out at the top of the hill climb track. At which point it started pissing down.
I had a quick look at this on the way past...
...then headed into the old clubhouse. It's now home to the cafe and conference suite, but they've done the rest up to represent how it would've looked back in the day. Its properly like stepping back in time. There's an awesome billiards room
There's also the "Ladies' Reading Room" which sadly I didn't get any pictures of. I'll admit it, I walked in tutting and thinking "FFS, so they made made the women sit in here quietly out of the way while the man had all the fun out racing". Then I actually looked around. The walls are covered in photos and memorabilia from FEMALE drivers of the day. I love how they all had perfect hair and makeup even at the end of a race! lol! It was actually quite humbling to think that even today there's only a tiny handful of women in top flight motorsport, yet even that wouldn't have been possible without these trailblazers. Awesome.
I looked round the rest of the car exhibits, and the Raleigh cycles bit. Nothing of great interest to me though if I'm honest.
There's loads of planes and **** there too. I looked at some of them. Most notably Concorde
but I'm buggered if I was going to pay an extra £4 to look inside.
I didn't bother with the rest of the planes. Neither did I go into the London Bus bit which is brand new, apparently. I'm sure it's great if you like that sorta thing, but I don't. I would've looked, but I was pressed for time. By now it was 12:50, and F1 qualifying was a mere 10 minutes away!
Part 2 later
It has a "lake" (I think "massive pond might be a better description?). I was camped in the woods on the far side that you can see in the 2nd picture
Friday night was mostly spent getting lost looking for a supermarket that didn't exist. I eventually then found one that did exist then came back to the site. This whole experience took over an hour and a half, which meant I ended up cooking in the dark </3
In the morning, I didn't really have a plan. I knew I wanted to go to Brooklands at some point over the weekend, but didn't know/mind when. As I couldn't think of anything better to do, Saturday morning seemed like as good a time as any to do it.
I arrived during a rain shower. I paid my £10 (eugh, no, I do not want to "Gift aid it" by slapping an extra £1 onto the price. If you're a charity, I will happily sign an ACTUAL genuine Gift Aid declaration so you can claim it back, that's fine. Otherwise, piss off!) and wandered in. It looks promising at first. Several sheds, some containing lots of old tools and stuff, all very much "in keeping" with the track's 20s/30s heyday. It kinda reminded me of Goodwood in that respect... only not as good.
The first open shed is an F1 display. I ended up going in through the exit though and seeing the whole thing in reverse chronological order (didn't even see there was an entrance until I was leaving the museum!). There's a cool simulator thing where you can "drive" round the brooklands track. Queue was massive, and I'm crap at driving games so I didn't bother. Instead, I looked at F1 cars
(This weekend contained FAR too much Eddie Jordan, but more of that later...)
I took photos of this for Neal:
Yeah, reading the sign, Schu's never been anywhere near it. It's one of 6 in that livery that were imported to the UK. Moving on...
I then decided that, as the weather had cleared up for a little while, it was probably a good idea to get the outdoor stuff done before the next shower. I headed out to the Members' Banking which is the one remaining section of the original track.
It's steeper than it looks
I'd be lying if I said that I didn't think of James May's Scalextric challenge while walking along here
I walked right along to the end at the far right as you look at the banking. On the way along there's there bunker things. I couldn't work out if they were some sort of war-time defences, or if they were racing related? I suspect the former, but don't know. Any ideas? I didn't dare go in for what I might find!
I loved walking along the track. It gives you a real sense of history. You can really imagine the cars zooming past as you wander along. It also always surprises me how steep the banking is on these curved tracks. The only other one I've been to is the old Fiat track on top of the old factory at Lingotto in Turin, and I swear that's even steeper (and altogether more bonkers!). Even so, it's hard to imagine just how terrifying it would've been to drive round a corner like that at top speed.
I walked up the path that follows along the fence, then up the hill to the old Member's Hill restaurant building which they're currently doing up to become another museum exhibit. There was an old car just randomly parked up there too.
You get an awesome view of my day's next destination too, but more of that later...
So that brought me out at the top of the hill climb track. At which point it started pissing down.
I had a quick look at this on the way past...
...then headed into the old clubhouse. It's now home to the cafe and conference suite, but they've done the rest up to represent how it would've looked back in the day. Its properly like stepping back in time. There's an awesome billiards room
There's also the "Ladies' Reading Room" which sadly I didn't get any pictures of. I'll admit it, I walked in tutting and thinking "FFS, so they made made the women sit in here quietly out of the way while the man had all the fun out racing". Then I actually looked around. The walls are covered in photos and memorabilia from FEMALE drivers of the day. I love how they all had perfect hair and makeup even at the end of a race! lol! It was actually quite humbling to think that even today there's only a tiny handful of women in top flight motorsport, yet even that wouldn't have been possible without these trailblazers. Awesome.
I looked round the rest of the car exhibits, and the Raleigh cycles bit. Nothing of great interest to me though if I'm honest.
There's loads of planes and **** there too. I looked at some of them. Most notably Concorde
but I'm buggered if I was going to pay an extra £4 to look inside.
I didn't bother with the rest of the planes. Neither did I go into the London Bus bit which is brand new, apparently. I'm sure it's great if you like that sorta thing, but I don't. I would've looked, but I was pressed for time. By now it was 12:50, and F1 qualifying was a mere 10 minutes away!
Part 2 later
