Recently, the world’s oldest motor sport event came under threat of closure, a threat since lifted, although not many people noticed. What is the event?
Do not feel bad if you did not know that the oldest event is the Brighton Speed Trials; I had no idea either, yet Brighton is the home of my alma mater.
If motoring enthusiasts know nothing else about Brighton, a resort on the south coast of England, they will know that it is the destination of the annual veteran car run. This is for vehicles built before the end of 1904, and was originally to celebrate the emancipation of motorists as the speed limit was raised from 5 mph to 12 mph.
A myth persists that cars had to be preceded by a man on foot carrying a red flag. This applied only to steamrollers, steam tractors and the like, and their maximum speed was 2 mph.
The Emancipation Run takes place between London’s Hyde Park and Brighton’s Madeira Drive, a seaside promenade and, since it first took place in 1886, it is the oldest motoring event, though it is a reliability run and not competitive. It has become a much loved institution, always good for a slot on the TV news. Newspapers and other media like to put someone on a car, and there is no shortage of celebrities who want to be seen.
The run was the pivot of the classic movie comedy, Genevieve, though Kenneth More’s Spyker was illegal, it being a 1905 model.
Less well known, though gaining in status, is a reverse run on the following day for modern, ecologically friendly cars of all types. While a route of less than 60 miles cannot be said to be strenuous, it does include the whole of Sarf Lunnen, as we natives say.[pullquote]
“Events similar to Brighton used to take place in several venues. Many used a seaside promenade, it was a way for a resort to attract visitors as the holiday season wound down….”
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The Speed Trials were first run in 1905. Cars and motorcycles set out in pairs, along a quarter-mile of Madeira Drive, the same format as a drag race. The cars are not dragsters, however, but a range of machines that spend most of their year hill climbing or circuit racing.
Britain does have drag racing, in the American mode, as do most European countries, and there are subcultures customizing cars in the style of 1950s California.
Events similar to Brighton used to take place in several venues. Many used a seaside promenade, it was a way for a resort to attract visitors as the holiday season wound down, though most have fallen foul of complaints about noise or concerns about safety. Among those who have competed at Brighton are B. Bira, Mike Hawthorn and Stirling Moss. It used to be an extra date in a thin calendar.
Motorcycles tend to be different, and they have an independent tradition. A young Adrian Reynard used to spend his Saturdays as an unpaid volunteer in George Brown’s motorcycle shop, and George was a legend in British sprint racing. It was George who sold Adrian a special Royal Enfield motorcycle engine with which Adrian set records with a home constructed machine. It was a long, low spaceframe, and Adrian rode it in a horizontal position. When Reynard Racing Cars was active, the bike had a special place on a wall.
One of the most intriguing engine projects of the 1950s was the Kieft/AJB/Norton. Commissioned by Cyril Kieft, this used 350-cc Norton barrels and heads on the bottom end of one of Archie Butterworth’s flat-four, air-cooled AJB engines.
Kieft could not overcome cooling issues, and the engine passed through a number of hands. It was even fitted to a Cooper and driven by Graham Eden in a minor race at Silverstone so, technically, it was a Formula One engine.
Eventually it was bought by ex-Cobra racer Ian Richardson, who had years of success with it fitted to his motorcycle, “Moonraker.” Ian set records everywhere and never once did the engine let him down.
The AJB bottom end was virtually indestructible and, when the engine was made, in 1953, Norton set the benchmark for cylinder design. The engine of the Vanwall was four Norton units with water-cooling. With a decent engineer on board, there is no reason why an air-cooled, flat-four cannot work, Kieft might have re-written history.
Great Britain has long had restrictions on motor sport; it took an Act of Parliament for Birmingham to run its Superprix in the 1980s. Perhaps here, some clarification is needed. Great Britain is the main island and “Great” is not a boast, it merely means “big.” Ulster is part of the United Kingdom, but is not on Great Britain. The Channel Islands are not part of the United Kingdom, they belong to the Crown. The Isle of Man has its own parliament and language, though Manx is only kept alive by a few folkies.
That is why there has been street racing in Ulster, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. Hill climbs were once permitted on public roads on the mainland, but an accident in 1924 stopped that.
On the East and West coasts there are seaside resorts with vast shallow beaches where the sea rarely intrudes and, between the Wars, these were used for sand racing. For the most part it was a case of local lads having a go so they’d have a line to spin to girls, but stars like Sir Malcolm Campbell also took part.
These days there would be all manner of objections to using a beach for racing. I can remember when a farmer could let out his field for motorcycle grasstrack events and nobody complained. Riverside Raceway was lost to the world when people bought houses near the circuit and decided that things had to change now that they had arrived.
We had the same attitude over the Goodwood Revival Meeting and now Mallory Park, a delightful circuit, is under threat because people have moved nearby.
Until it came under threat, I had no idea of the Speed Trials’ history so I will make a point of attending this year, just to register support.
