Hi folks, This weekend I had the pleasure of visiting Brooklands Museum. Brooklands is the birthplace of British motorsport and aviation and is situated near Weybridge, in the Surrey countryside, some 20 miles southwest of London. The open air part of the museum is mostly dedicated to aeroplanes and their latest acquisition is the 'Concorde' which was literally laying around in sections all over the place and in the words of the Brooklands website "All we have to do now is rebuild it"! There was a meeting of classic American car enthusiasts going on that day and I just had to pose by a 1958 Buick V8, one 1958 model next to another 1958 model, both well preserved!
What on Earth has all this got to do with our hobby? Well, as some may know, Brooklands is also the home of the Raleigh Cycle Exhibition, there are Raleigh bikes from bygone years up to about the late seventies, the most modern, I think, being a Team Pro racing bike painted in the famous red, black and yellow colour scheme.
But it wasn't even this that enticed me to Brooklands, no, I was there to see the Bursford Ultimate Bike, totally off topic and a 'carbon fiber monstrosity' as one CR list member recently described the latest offering from the Eddy Merckx factory! But I like it.
However, I did stumble across an old F.W. Evans (1940's?), which is part of the CTC (Cyclists Touring Club) collection. So, I got 'two for the price of one' as they say, the Bursford Ultimate Bike and the old F.W Evans, great! Plenty of photos of the visit and the bikes on my 'BikeBrothers' website. http://www.bikebothers.co.uk
Now, I'm not a motorsport or aviation fan but I now know what they mean by the 'Spirit of Brooklands'. I'll never forget the eerie feeling that I got while I was standing on the steep banking of the old racing track. Absolutely wonderful stuff.
Nic Henderson.
Newport, South Wales. U.K.