WHO SAID BROOKLANDS IS DEAD, NOT ME!
Have you ever wondered what it must have been like to race at Brooklands? I certainly have. Attempting to break the outer circuit record in the Napier Railton would be my choice of adventure as a Brooklands driver, what about you? Maybe you’d fancy a go at a 500 mile race, or an attempt at the endurance records in Monthlery, “Night practice was sensational, George Eystons outer edge flare lights and the inner ring of little red lanterns was not unlike a picture of the nether regions with its masses of fiery light and deep black shadow. Travelling round it at incredible speed was a fan shaped glare of headlamps accompanied by a fierce tearing noise, and as the dark blurred mass of the car shot by all along the bonnet were little tongues of flame. So shattering was the resultant effect that it was decided immediately that no driver should be allowed to see it until he had driven the car around.” Images such as these of the Napier at Monthlery, excited me immensely. I would love to experience such thrills, I thought, but are these just dreams you ask yourself? This story describes how I made my dreams become reality.
Millbrook high-speed bowl was to be the venue, 2 miles long 22 degree banking and rough. A modern day Brooklands that was built in 1972 by General Motors for high speed testing, 5 lanes of concrete paved road, the outer lane edged with steel Armco. Here’s a track you could really get an idea of what driving at Brooklands was like, I thought. It amazed me the first time I saw the track, cut into the land rather than constructed upon it. 
I stood there and imagined the Brooklands Society hiring Millbrook and allowing you to try the Napier at full speed, around it, a gift voucher your wife could buy you for your birthday! I don’t know about you but I might have tried that. Sadly it will never happen, although I rather think the car deserves a rest! But it was something I decided to experience and if you want something badly enough hard work and determination will get it for you. 
My parents told me that! So there’s the playground I thought the only problem being I’ve got nothing to play with.
If I was around in the 30’s and was going to build an outer circuit car the vehicle to beat would obviously be the Napier Railton. Cobb and Railton had shown the way and what’s more the Napier was taking world endurance records too, a duel purpose car, ideal for Brooklands and records. I had never realised the car had held the world 24hr endurance record at Bonneville salt flats at a staggering 150mph average, setting the hour record at 167mph, obviously the Brooklands lap record was no test of the cars real capabilities, more of road handling and guts. What of these endurance records I thought, who holds them today? Well out of the ten fastest, four British records still belong to Cobb at Brooklands, the other six to Stanley Mann with the Brooklands giant Mother Gunn and the world 24hr endurance record is still held by the Mormon MeteorIII, driven by Abb Jenkins in an aero engined Dusenburg, who took the record from Cobb in 1940, so why do they still stand today? Well the records where set in the class A unlimited category, that is for cars of 8 litres and bigger, a size industry no longer produces and the British records have to be set in the U.K, Brooklands was closed so there was no venue.
If I had the Napier Railton or a car like it, these U.K records could be attempted at Millbrook I thought and maybe even the world records at a faster track which I had heard of in Italy called Nardo. What an adventure that would be, all that was stopping me was a car, a minor detail I decided, I’ll just build one!
Not just any car I thought, it must be aero engined and a true 1930’s design, no cheating with modern technology, I’m going to find out exactly what it was like for the mighty John Cobb. In fact I’m going to go head to head with him and Reid Railton, the Napiers designer, with a similar car at a similar track, with the very same dangers, just on a different date.
Two years later and it was built, easy. A few late nights, a bit of head scratching but you know what, two years of shear exhilaration. Seeing my drawings come alive bit by bit, walking into the workshop and seeing what I’d done the night before, realising it was rubbish and would have to be done again! 
Sitting in it for the first time and starting to imagine what it was going to be like to drive. God the anticipation! The thrill and terror the first time we started it and finally on my 30th birthday, 2 years precisely, the excitement when I sat in it and engaged 750hp to the back wheels.
So there it was done, sitting waiting. One problem though, it scared the hell out of me and I had only driven it up and down the side of the workshop! The noise alone stopped you wanting to get in it and when I was, I couldn’t help but wonder whether the clutch, gearbox and back axle, all my own design, were going to break my legs if they broke. Up till now the adventure had been nothing but excitement but starting to accompany it was a level of fear of the beast. This was a surprise to me, the mental pressures of running a car like this, something that had not occurred to me in the slightest when I came up with the idea. This car I had built would have to travel at 145mph, not for ½ a mile down a Silverstone straight but for 130 miles. Would my transmission cope with the temperature? Could the rear wheels lock up at these speeds? The Armco is only 2 feet from you at Millbrook, no run off like you have at Silverstone and no slowing down for hair pins either.
It made me wonder. When Railton finished the Napier did he feel the same? Or did he just hand it over to Cobb and let him go for it. I rather think that Cobb felt much the same as I did, a little unsure. I think we would be surprised at the amount of test and development that would have gone on with the Napier. Testing was something I was going to do a lot of. One thing did become evident though, initially I never had the faith in the car that my brother James did. He always pushed the boundary’s, where as I felt uncomfortable doing so. This was obviously because I’d designed and built it and I assume Cobb was much like my brother.
I started testing at Bruntingthorpe airfield with no problems, never went over 100mph and only travelled the 2-mile length of the runway at any sort of speed. I’ve got to tell you it was so exciting at this point, driving an aero engined car for the first time, and one that I had built. Experiencing wheel spin at any speed we encountered, the noise from the V12, the flames when we started her up and the very pleasant surprise that Thunderbolt was very easy to drive, extremely docile and incredibly stable, they were heart in the mouth, unforgettable days. I always had an undying urge though to get the beast back on the trailer and safely home before we broke it. After a few tests I was discovering that every time I drove it I became slightly more confident in her and we were starting to compile test results which allowed us to compare runs and asses possible forthcoming problems, before they endangered the driver. 
Next stop Millbrook. Finished the driving tests with my brother James, which allowed us to use the high-speed bowl and we started testing again. I have to say the track was run so efficiently, the rules so strict that I really felt in control, we always tested there whilst it was being used by others and mixing it with cars in the outer lane at 100 – 145 mph could have been intimidating, had it not been for their professionalism. I remember the first time James and I ran there; we had got up to 100mph at Bruntingthorpe and wanted to maintain that for an hour at Millbrook. Well just doing a 100 scared us somewhat and there was no way it was going to be held for an hour. It was fine for 5 or 6 laps but then the adrenalin starts to disappear and your senses start to realise how hard the car’s working, your instruments tell you how hot everything’s starting to get, you start to worry. I remember James and I saying to one another a 100 mph is intimidating, how the hell are we going to get up to 145mph. We came home rather dejected and wondered weather we would be able to attempt to beat the 135mph records.
In time I started to get over the fear factor of the speed, probably just as Cobb did at Brooklands. I think you lure yourself into a false sense of security having survived another test and return braver each time. Millbrook simulates a straight road at 100mph and by now we were doing 1 or 2 laps at 135 mph, which we found really took some guts. The track was very rough and you are cornering very hard at those speeds. Temperatures were the problem, fine for 20 minutes but gradually the gearbox and back axle would creep up, to around 110 degrees, tyres as well. 
That’s pretty hot the castrol adviser told me, try some of this special oil we’ve started to produce. Immediately we lost 15 degrees, so we just went faster for longer and yet again 110 degrees. We were now averaging 125 mph for long periods with brief spells at 135 mph. After every test the car was taken back to the workshop and I would strip it, mainly the transmission. This was the only way I could maintain confidence in the car and although very laborious, preventative maintenance eventually showed up over heating in the gearbox main shaft. My final drive ratio of 1.5:1 was being achieved by doubling the lay shaft speed inside the gearbox, this made 2nd and 3rd overdrive gears. The gearbox ratio was 1:1.5 which combined with a 2:1 back axle ratio, giving the required 1.5:1 final drive ratio.
I had a decision to make. I thought that the car as it had been initially designed would achieve the British records but if more were asked of it i.e. the world records, it would overheat. I could have countered the temperature problem by fitting oil coolers to the transmission, but it was so important to me that I achieved the records in the true spirit of the 30’s, a time when oil coolers and electric oil pumps didn’t exist. The answer was always a monster back axle with a 1.3: 1 ratio, which would allow the gearbox to run1:1 in top gear, in other words the gearbox would not transfer power through gears in top anymore. What I was starting to realise is that endurance records require an extremely strong design, higher than that required for track racing. I had always known I really needed the axle but I never felt confident enough to design a complete back axle from scratch. However, when you want something bad enough its amazing what you Can do and over the winter I submitted the technical drawings to the pattern makers, foundry, gear cutters and machinists and hey presto an aero engined back axle. God, I hope it works, I thought!!
So spring arrived and for the first time I was really confident in the cars mechanical strength, which in turn installed confidence in my driving out on the track. Confidence in design was always the key in record breaking in the 30’s, what with no safety equipment like roll cages the car’s had to be over engineered to the point that an accident through mechanical failure was non existent, I was always under pressure to fit a roll cage to the car, which would ruin my goal of tradition and I always thought that an accident through driver error was impossible as I was travelling virtually in a straight line, if an accident was to occur it would be through mechanical failure locking up the back wheels etc, etc. So when I designed the car I really over engineered the components, which I think is why the Napier is so heavily constructed, safety through design.
The first axle test was an outstanding success, 1 hour at 100 mph to break in the new axle, revealed no temperature at all. Told James all was well! And that he should take the new axle up to 135mph for a while, there was no way I was going to! After literally two tests of the new axle it was realised that we were ready, the hottest we had seen the axle get was 40 deg and the gearbox was always stone cold. I felt very lucky indeed.
Tyre temperatures became the next problem. The speeds of the records set at Millbrook are totally dependent on tyres. I’m sure there are many people out there who scoffed at the low speed of the records I took, I too would have loved to have tested the car’s true potential, it was fast becoming apparent that we really had something special here and that it really is a world record contender. The car was no longer part of the equation, it was capable beyond my wildest dreams, it was now all about the tyres. Just as in John Cobb’s days tyres like to throw there treads, the Millbrook track official had warned me of the problems modern tyre manufactures had around the track when sustaining high speeds for very long periods. This puts a large strain on the driver, there is nothing you can do about tyre problems unlike mechanical dangers. It made us realise the mental strain that Cobb must have endured, when record braking at Monthlery, where he had serious tyre blow outs that resulted in an accident for Freddy Dixon.
All along we had monitored the temp of the tyres and started to worry as they were reaching temperatures of 110 degrees, too hot for air inflation, due to moisture in the air possibly condensing above 100 degrees, so we turned to nitrogen. We had spent along time trying to control an even heat spread across the surface of the tyre by adjusting the pressure. As the speed of the tests increased so did the pressure in the tyres, we discovered, until we where running at 48 psi when cold which was expanding to 53 psi when really hot. It must be pointed out Thunderbolt was right on the weight limit of the tyres and they are only rated to 135mph. We where exceeding the weight limit when travelling above 100mph as the centrifugal loads involved in cornering added weight to the outside tyres, the fastest of the records stood at 135mph which we had to exceed by 1% so we would be exceeding the speed rating too. I really found this intimidating and when testing at high speeds you couldn’t help but wonder, again you didn’t tend to worry for 5-10 miles but you soon started to.
At this point we had tested incredibly carefully, the regime was to persevere until we were maintaining 1 hour at say 100mph, the next goal would be 110mph, initially we would try 110 for 20 minutes then come in, check the temps and send her out again until we weren’t stopping and were maintaining the speed for 1 hour, always monitoring tyre temperatures and pressures, how they changed due to ambient and track temperatures and eventually we felt that we were running right on the edge of the tyres capabilities. It was time to bite the bullet and have a trial run at the records. 
Whilst all this was happening I was trying to negotiate the minefield of paperwork involved in setting up a U.K national record attempt. I never realised how difficult this would be and my over excited attitude was not going down well with the powers that be! I was required to supply an M.S.A scrutineer, M.S.A steward, official M.S.A recognised time keepers, fire and emergency crew, ambulance service to paramedic level, insurance equivalent to the M.S.A’s master policy and to top it all I was told with one week to go that I had to have all 2 miles of the high speed bowl surveyed for the M.S.A. All up this was going to cost £8500.00 for one hour of record breaking. I didn’t have £8.50 at this point but to my amazement after one phone call and various meetings 3500 cans off Red Bull turned up at the workshop and a cheque for £10.000. How’s that!
So bearing in mind the cost of the record attempt we decided we had better damn well make sure Thunderbolt was going to pull it off. So after yet another full strip down I turned up at Millbrook with the Moss family, car in terrific fettle and got to it. James warmed the car up for 20 minutes at 125 mph, which is how long it takes to get the 15 gallons of engine oil hot, a quick check over and away I went. This was going to be the fastest we had ever gone and for the longest time. I was very nervous, when I got in the car, bear in mind that what I was about to do had never been achieved in the U.K before.
To be cost effective we were trying to cram 10 records into the hour, to be safe this meant dropping speed as soon as each record fell in order to try and lower the temperature of the tyres, every lap had to be to a specific time, hopefully within a second. We had to lap time and pit signal every lap, just as they would have in Cobbs day, again we could have used a modern lap timer in the car, but that was not the 30’s way. It was also really good fun for all concerned.
Just as the Napier Railton had, I too needed a vernier throttle stop. With such tall gearing and low revving engine it is impossible to control your speed by looking at the rev counter and so I would set relevant lap speeds on the throttle stop with the help of the pit signals, which always indicate a lap behind. This was so effective during the real record runs, that I set 16 laps between 57.85sec – 58.00sec, there are times when we achieved laps to 2 decimal places one after the other. Time was so important as an indication of what can happen if I lost a second per lap for 60 laps I could loose the ground covered at 145mph for 1 whole minute.
I started the practice run with six laps at 138mph, the idea being to get the four flying start records out of the way whilst the tyres were stone cold, as soon as these were out of the way I could slow down to 130 mph for the next few records etc etc. finally slowing down to 120mph for the tenth and last record. I didn’t half come off the throttle when the sixth lap was completed at 138mph, my heart was in my mouth, the tyres were still intact and I slowed to 130 mph, settling down for the next 100 miles. The front tyres are both visible from the cockpit of the car and when rotating display 4 grooves around the circumference of the tyre. Towards the end of the run I noticed that one of the grooves on the outside front tyre was not visible but I was close to the end of the run, travelling only at 125mph and felt no vibration so continued. It turned out that the tread was lifting off the canvas in the centre of the tyre, I was excited that I had just broken all the records but shocked at how close I may have been to an accident. It just goes to show that all the testing, incremental speed increases and tyre temp recording had paid off, my gut feelings were correct, we were running right on the edge of the envelope.
When we processed the lap times we discovered we had beaten all of the records by around 3-8mph but I had to decide whether to risk the tyre problem all over again. I decided we would leave the faster records alone, too much cornering speed and to much danger. Instead we would concentrate on the endurance records, which really nagged at me, after all the whole idea of the U.K records was to prove the cars speed capabilities for the world records, we needed fast speeds for the publicity. So I decided to try some tyres with all of the tread buffed off them, a tread depth of 2mm on the front and 6mm on the back, the rears at this point had never given cause for concern. The problem with buffing the rears is that the centrifugal loads disappear and the tyre doesn’t grow in diameter, therefore requiring higher revs from the engine. As it turned out, 100 revs more we discovered. We lost 7 pounds off the front tyres and to our amazement after a test session we were running 30 degrees cooler at 125mph and 15 degrees at 138mph. The fast records were back on.
August the 1st the day before the record, the officials are staying in a local hotel, which I had to pay for!! And of course it’s raining. The Met office isn’t sure about tomorrow, so I’m getting really apprehensive, this may cost big time!! We loaded up the beast in the pouring rain at 5 in the evening and reversed the trailer into the workshop then went home, to try and sleep. 
I woke up at 3 in the morning, as to plan in the pitch black wondering whether I’m going to handle this. It’s one thing doing it on your own another with 150 spectators and an I.T.V television crew. The adrenalin was starting to kick in and I was very excited that people were going to get to witness exactly what it must have been like to see the Napier Railton set records at Brooklands or Monthlery. This was like going back in time and I think that its something I will never witness in my lifetime, especially if I’m stuck in the drivers seat!!
I was going to attempt 4 records that still belonged to John Cobb on this day with a similar 30’s aero engined car on a similar circuit just a different date, I think if he was looking down on us he would have felt right at home.
When we got to the track at 4.30 in the morning it was still dark and yet the track was busy with cars, it was to be shut for my sole use at 5a.m till 7. This two hour window consisted of ½ an hour to set up the timing equipment 1 hour to set the records and ½ to pack up, after which the track was re opened to the car testers. This meant getting the car warmed up whilst the track was a free for all, as I couldn’t run the timing officials over as they set up there equipment across the track at 5 o’clock. The warming up session was a relief as I felt focused when in the car and I didn’t have people asking a million questions at once. I was also bloody relieved when the car started on the button! 
I wandered off to the playground. Can you imagine testing the future Ford escort in the dark at this secure test facility when you’re overtaken by an 18 foot silver blade, snorting flames out of 12 stub pipes, sounding very similar to a low flying Spitfire. It was highly amusing for me to see their faces as I looked down at them from a higher lane in the dark.
Once warmed up I parked up in the lay-by on the track, which we were to use as our pits. The track closed and the ambulance, fire and rescue team, timing officials all came onto the track and we started to get set up. I had two sets of timers which would liase with the 5 strong pit crew operating the pit board and a man who would check our estimated schedule with the real time one falling out of the official time keepers printer, I also had a talented mathematician who could quickly adjust our lap times should I make mistakes.
All seemed to be going well, we had 150 people spectating from the bank behind us, everything was set up and then the track official came to me and said you should have set off 20 minutes ago, if you require another hour I will have to charge you £1000.00, which was the hourly hire rate. Nervously I rushed over to the car only to be interrupted by the I.T.V film crew who wanted an interview!!
I finally got into the car and settled myself to the job in hand, the M.S.A safety steward stood just off to the side of the car, I turned the fuel tap on, mags on, pushed the throttle down twice to inject fuel and hit the button. The engine wet started on the stewards side, a slow burning orange cloud slowly went down the side of the car as the engine roared into life, I did smile when I saw the shock on the stewards face.
Pulling away I slowly built up speed to warm the car up and started to increase to 140mph, I wanted to brake the timing beam a few times to check all was operational. I got her up to an indicated 2100 rpm on the rev counter; I needed to get a mental image of this speed fixed in me so that when I started the six laps I could concentrate on the road and not the rev counter. 
I slowed and pulled up to the timing strobe, where I was positioned accordingly and given the nod. I checked the instruments, fuel cocks, performed a mag drop and gave her a good blip, all seemed perfect. Three years of hard work and adventure and this was it I couldn’t believe it. I pulled away slowly; no need to break the transmission wheel spinning for the crowd and this is no sprint I’m out here for an hour. I quickly accelerated through the 3 speed box, the exhausts releasing cannon fire on each gear change, setting off all the car alarms and got her up to what I was hoping was 140 mph ready to brake the strobe for the first of six times. I crossed the line for the first time concentrating like hell, I knew I had never been this fast before, the noise from the stubs was incredible, I prepared myself to hit the first of the bumpy areas, as I hit it the loading I was applying to the steering to turn left came off momentarily and the car ran up the track slightly closer to the Armco but more importantly close to the yellow line marking the outside of the lane which if touched by a tyre will quickly overheat it. This was all normal, the car endures the bumpy areas twice in a lap, there really wasn’t any way I could go faster, this was the max. When the results came in I had achieved 143.5mph, faster than the Brooklands lap record and faster than I wanted to go, that’s adrenalin for you!
When testing for the fast records we got the car to 135mph, which is what the records stood at and found the bumps allowed the car to nudge towards the Armco, too close for comfort, we couldn’t go any faster. So I removed the friction shocks for hydraulics, which the Napier also had on the rear axle, in the form of Luvax shock absorbers. This transformed the ride and allowed 140mph before the same occurred. The 140 mph laps are a challenge because the track is rough at these speeds I have to come off the throttle over the bumpy areas and then flaw it to make up my average speed on the smooth stuff. This means I couldn’t use the throttle stop for the first 4 records, just judgement. Of course once I’ve completed 3 laps the pit signal indicated my lap time to me and luckily I was right on it. I loved these laps the car was absolutely flying and the noise from the stubs, wow. There are no engine vibrations or mechanical noise, all you hear is the deep crackling from the exhaust stubs. The sky was blue, ambient temperature was perfect but the sun hadn’t risen above the Armco yet, in the shadow cast by the fence I could see blue flames shooting out of the exhausts, curling down the side of the car. I settled into the 6 laps and watched the tyres start to turn from charcoal to a startling jet-black, as they heated up, I kept my eye on the 4 rings around the tyres; if the tyres were going to blow it would be know. It was very hard to check the instruments at these speeds as it takes time to focus from long to short range but I did get a glimpse of the temperatures 82 degrees oil, 75 degrees water.
As I completed the six laps I felt like I’d done 30 minutes of driving but the mental anguish was over, a little anyway! I had to concentrate now on slowing gently to the next lap speed to be held, there would be 4 changes of speed during the hour. I could wind the throttle stop into action now and within 2 laps I had slowed to the correct speed. Travelling now at 130 mph I was signalled that the first 4 records had fallen which made me clench my fist momentarily. This new lap speed allowed me to wonder around the 5th lane a little, you’re no longer forced to the outside of the lane centrifugally, although you mustn’t forget your still travelling fast enough to overheat the tyres, so I would stay right on the outside of the lane lessening the corner loads but pull down to the white line to avoid the bumps where possible. This was it, plane sailing, all the testing, planning and engineering was paying off, I had to keep pinching myself sitting there in the cockpit, I still do know. I’ve never been so proud of anything as I was of Thunderbolt on that day. She was making history. I had drawn the design’s, built the car and was now watching records fall one by one from the cockpit. It was an incredible feeling.
The four changes of speed went well, the sun when it did pop over the Armco blinded me a little but only for 3 or 4 laps, all was well. The following 60 laps went well, then with 5 laps to go I came around to the pit area to see a lot of people waving there arms at me, I couldn’t understand what they meant, the car was performing perfectly and I was annoyed because from previous testing we knew that waving hands only confuse you and that you must only signal via the pit board. I carried on for another lap without slowing and this time the lapboard told me to come in, I was devastated because I knew we had two more records the 200k and the 1-hour yet to go. I slowed down enough to turn around and take a look at the rear tyres, wow what a mess, I couldn’t believe I’d got away with it, couldn’t believe I hadn’t felt any vibration, around 30 % of tread had thrown off leaving bare canvas and a rubber mess. I came into the pits and thought it was all over. I stopped the car only to hear the official time keeper shouting go, go, go as he ran towards us which got everyone shouting. Just limp around at a safe speed for the last 2 laps and you’ll still get the records, I was told, so the pit crew tried to bump start me only I’d forgotten to turn the mags back on, luckily they didn’t push me out of the designated area other wise we would have been disqualified due to travelling with assistance. The starting trolley was brought over and hooked up, this time I had to push the starter, next to the mag switch, which I realised was off, what an idiot! Anyway we got her started and off I went again only this time the tyre refused to rotate in a round manner so I had a rough ride for the last two laps. I crossed the finish line to a roar of excitement from the crowd and pulled up in the pit lane. I had done it, I couldn’t believe it, 3 years it had taken that’s all and what do you think was the first thing I did? Put my hand on the back axle to check the temperature, already wondering about the 11 world records I wish to attack.
One of the strongest memories I have of the day is the tremendous joy and excitement from the spectators as they walked down the bank to congratulate me. It was quite overwhelming and I think we all realised how lucky we had been to witness such a spectacle.
So what’s everyone doing out there? Record breaking hasn’t died, Joe public has just become boring and lazy, get on the F.I.A web site find yourself a record, you’ll be surprised what you could attempt. Go on live a little, they used to in the old days.
And what of Thunderbolt, well when I walk in the workshop she still takes my breath away, I find myself patting her regularly and late at night when I’m sitting in her a tidal wave of memories and emotions hit me, as the 3 year journey returns to me, in full on Technicolor.
Thunderbolt sits, poised in the workshop, facing the doors, on its haunches, excitedly waiting with anticipation for the doors of adventure to open once more before her. God willing I may just join her too!