Department S - Brooklands??

[Anthony McKay]

I'm thinking this might be Brooklands circa 1968?











This may be the same location as the above.

[penfold]

I would say so - the remains of the outer Banked Circuit are very prominent in the background of most of the shots. there was a more conventional inner circuit, built later, called the Campbell Circuit which features in Pics 2+3, and the last shots seem to be at the end of old Vickers factory runway.

[Mikey]

There does seem to be a banking in the background on most of the images and that would suggest the Brooklands banked track. Plus, in the composite picture there appears to be the shape of a light coloured plane in the distance and Vickers had a factory at Brooklands during the sixties, again perhaps more evidence to suggest that this location has been identified.

[John Llewellyn Moxey]

Ah--Brooklands. I was taken to watch the races there, as a youngster. A never to be forgotten experience.



John

[Anthony McKay]

I can sort-of get first images to match up with modern aerial pictures using the terraced/semi pattern seen, but can't make sense of the second lot.



We have banking at the end of a runway - so this must be the opposite end to where the banking was removed so they could fly bombers out in the 50's. But there are houses and a busy road just beyond the banking - which does not match up with what is there now.



The large building on the distant hill does appear to be present as Brooklands Technical College - but the missing busy road and houses leave this up in the air unless this is not part of the main runway.

[Anthony McKay]

name='John Llewellyn Moxey']Ah--Brooklands. I was taken to watch the races there, as a youngster. A never to be forgotten experience.



John

I was looking through the British Pathe archive for reference shots - they could not get enough of the place before the war - 100s of items, but after the war, not one item.

[penfold]

Let's put it this way - I don't know of any other disused, part demolished banked circuit of this size in the UK.....

[John Llewellyn Moxey]

name='penfold']Let's put it this way - I don't know of any other disused, part demolished banked circuit of this size in the UK.....

There was a photo of the banking on the thread a few days ago. I believe it, or part of it, still exists.



John

[penfold]

It's the section known as Members Banking - not much of it, and very bumpy, but enough to give an inkling of what it must have been like. I have very fond memories of seeing my father riding his old mentor's (John Lawrence, a clubman's racer at Brooklands in the thirties) 1928 Big Port AJS, modified for long distance races, on the banking the year before he died. He had been waiting forty years to be offered the ride....

A lot of the destruction was deliberate, and because of the war. Vickers needed all the space they could get, and that had to come first. Plus the track itself had to be camouflaged - trees were planted in holes in the banking..... otherwise you had an aircraft factory and testing site with, from the air, a giant white circle around it.....the perfect target.

[Anthony McKay]

This is the bit that does not seem to tie up with the Brooklands of today.







If this is the end of the main runway it should be easy to match up - I'can find any of the features seen. I know that the area has been redeveloped, but I'd expect the houses to be still there.



This map shows how easy it should be.







But you can see that there is the old gap in the banking on the end with houses and a road and only a railway and no houses on the end with banking.

[Anthony McKay]

I've just heard back from the Brooklands museum and their staff think that neither location is Brooklands. They suggest that the banking is evidence of a railway.

[penfold]

You know, I've been thinking about this all day, as I was concerned about the second picture, with no sign of an embankment; the semis look too old to have been built post-war after the bankings partial demolition. and I was going to say the same thing, that it might be a railway embankment, or actually the embankment of a very major road/motorway....isn't that road traffic we can see on the top, including what looks like a 60's removal van to the left of the square brick house at the right??

[penfold]

When was Croydon Aerodrome built on?? It closed in '59..... those houses could be Purley Way area - right sort of style....





EDIT; Forget that, no embanked roads near enough....

[Anthony McKay]

name='penfold']You know, I've been thinking about this all day, as I was concerned about the second picture, with no sign of an embankment; the semis look too old to have been built post-war after the bankings partial demolition. and I was going to say the same thing, that it might be a railway embankment, or actually the embankment of a very major road/motorway....isn't that road traffic we can see on the top, including what looks like a 60's removal van to the left of the square brick house at the right??

Yes it's a a very busy road for 1968.

[LukeAFB]

I've filmed at Brooklands and although this was some years ago (when the VC10 was flown in - about 1990?), the photos don't seem to be right for Brooklands. At first, I thought the embankment was the rail line out of Waterloo, but my memory recalls that the rail track is straight there, not curved and there is too much of it visible. And as others have mentioned, it definitely seems to be a road, not railway track. The houses in the background of one shot don't ring a bell either.

[RAREFILMFINDER]

Looking at the shape of the circuit ,two spring to mind.

Goodwood is one and the other I have forgot the name of but it is on the right of the M11 coming out of London.The racing cars in the shots appear to be Grand Prix shaped which suggests a decent circuit.

Only a suggestion as the chicane in the picture is identical to Goodwood.



lenny

[LukeAFB]

Rarefilmfinder,



I've only been to Goodwood once, so can't claim any in-depth knowledge, but it doesn't look like Goodwood to me.

[penfold]

Goodwood is pretty rural; from what I remember, all you can see from within the circuit is countryside. Plus, there isn't a major road of that size that close to it.....

[penfold]

I've tried to find an online map of WW2 RAF stations - the tarmac suggests WW2 - and failed....the hills and the embanked road suggest the London end of the M1....were there any stations near what would become the M1?? The size of the runway could mean it was a bomber station at some stage, rather than fighter....

[RAREFILMFINDER]

Strange I thought I posted earlier.

Anyway just a thought as the cars in the clips were of Grand Prix shape and chicane looked very much like Goodwood and also a circuit/airfield on the M11 going out of London but forgot the name ,sorry.

Just a thought.



lenny