Brooklands by BMW
NICE WEATHER on 22 April. Particularly welcome after such a protracted winter, one that had meant the Beemer stayed in the garage for longer than intended, despite it flying through its MoT in March. And 22 April was Drive It Day, so I spent an hour or two washing and polishing before ferrying various children and their various friends to various locations. Roof-down, naturally. They loved it, of course, but it wasn’t exactly a big occasion.
Naturally enough, winter hadn’t finished having its way with us (I write this on the last day of April, looking out across a particularly grey and mizzly London. It’s 8ºC outside, and windy too). But a bunch of hardy vintage car owners were about to set off on the tenth anniversary Flying Scotsman rally, and I’d been invited down to Brooklands to see them off.
It’s a journey of just over 100 miles from my home in Northamptonshire, so a good run to stretch the BMW after its lay-up. The M25 isn’t the friendliest of places to drive an oldish convertible, but roof-up and wipers on it remained cosy and serene, and attracted several admiring glances too.
Brooklands played host to a fabulous selection of vintage cars, about to leave for a four-day epic that would see them arrive in Edinburgh. As I drove in, several of them were out for last-minute shakedowns and tank replenishment.
It’s quite a sight to see these old cars so close to occasional glimpses of original Brooklands banking. And with the first test taking place there before the cars headed out for the first overnighter at Luton, they’d all have their time on a stretch of that hallowed concrete.
Before the competitors left, I got the chance to passenger local enthusiast, collector and rally veteran Graham Rood in his 1936 Riley Wagstaff Special, its six-cylinder engine snarling as we plotted our course through the cones before screaming our way up the test hill and winding our way through to the banking. I’ve never driven here before, although I have left my car in the ‘overflow parking area’ at Mercedes-Benz World once or twice. I wonder how many people realise exactly what it is they have parked on?
Thankfully there was a lull in the on/off rain as it came time to leave, so I headed back at a more relaxed pace and enjoyed a couple of hours’ sunshine with the roof down. The M40 wasn’t exactly made for this car, but it’ll do for now.