Bexhill: birthplace of British motor sport
The surprising birthplace of British motor racing
A SHORT DRIVE to the Sussex coast from Filching Manor, our previous Place to Go, takes you past a sign that will surprise many. ‘Welcome to Bexhill-on-Sea, Birthplace of British Motor Racing’. We could suppose that the first British motor race took place the first time two automobiles met, as the characters of motoring pioneers must have had a competitive side! However, the story goes that Montague Napier and the Australian SF Edge, both racing drivers, were at dinner with Earl De La Warr and were complaining that testing their cars in England was hopeless, thanks to the police crackdown on the speed limit. The Earl offered them the use of his private cycle test-track at Bexhill (the seafront road) and that’s where it began.
On Whitsun, 1902, Bexhill saw the astonishing sight of around 200 motors chugging into town to compete and hopefully achieve their maximum speed. SF Edge was there and so were CS Rolls, Herbert Austin, Leon Serpollet, Baron de Rothschild, Charles Jarrott and many others whose fame would grow. Local undertakers were put on standby and tens of thousands of spectators lined the road down from Galley Hill. Cars raced past goggling crowds for the first time in this country, and M Serpollet drove his
Oeuf de Pâques (‘Easter Egg’) to the highest speed: 54.5mph.
Participants and spectators went home buzzing with excitement for the future and looking forward to successive events. Imagine the thrill of seeing these machines racing by at speeds undreamt of until then.
A few years later, a dedicated racetrack was planned, going all the way to Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, but it never reached fruition. And then along came Brooklands…
Leading up to the centenary, a group of enthusiasts, including Filching Manor’s Paul Foulkes-Halbard, organised the ‘Bexhill 100’, recalling the glory days with spectacular parades and concours lawns, bringing tens of thousands of visitors to Bexhill. A classic car show is still staged there each year.
And there are plenty of memories on display. Stone markers indicate the stages of the course, and excellent Motoring Heritage Trail information boards along the Promenade tell the story of the racing and guide the visitor to the relevant sites. Prominent on De La Warr Parade is a skeletal structure in the form of Serpollet’s Oeuf de
Pâques, one of the first holders of the Land Speed Record.
Stand and stare at this for a while, with Galley Hill in the background, then cross the road to what was the Sackville Hotel, headquarters of the original racing events. Enter by a door near the basement bar and
you will find yourself in a Bexhill Motoring Heritage corridor, lined with wonderful photographs of those early events.
Not far from the restored De La Warr Pavilion is the Bexhill Museum (small admission charge). In the basement there are some fascinating exhibits, including a reproduction of Oeuf de Pâques, much of it built by youngsters from local schools and colleges, with lead engineer George Hatley. Alongside is a 1958 Elva MkIII sports car, reminding us that Frank Nichols designed and built these cars in Bexhill. The Volta shares the room, once a class speed record holder for battery-powered cars.
On the western outskirts of Bexhill is the Cooden Beach Hotel. As well as being the perfect lunch stop, its Motoring Heritage Gallery contains more than 100 photographs of the original Bexhill races.
There are plenty of Motoring Heritage Trail signs around town and they help to make a pleasant, lazy day for any enthusiast and the rest of the family. For further information about Bexhill Classic Car Show, see www.bexhill100mc.co.uk; while Museum details are at www.bexhillmuseum.co.uk.