A 1926 Bugatti Type 35 sold to its first owner by Brooklands personality Malcolm Campbell made a triumphant return to the Birthplace of British Motorsport at the Brooklands Double Twelve Motoring Festival on 5-6 June, 2010.
The Bugatti beat a strong field of classic cars to take overall first place in the Brooklands Double Twelve competition for its current owner, Chris Jaques. And in a similarly nail-biting finish on the Mercedes-Benz World circuit next door, Pete Candy’s 1936 Riley Special “Super Rat” stole first place in the Brooklands Speed Trials by just 0.2 sec from Terry Crabb’s ERA R12C.
The two competitions kept a strong crowd at the 2010 Brooklands Double Twelve Motoring Festival – organised by Brooklands Museum and the Vintage Sports-Car Club – captivated throughout two days of motoring action, spectacle and glamour which culminated with the Museum’s Royal Patron Prince Michael of Kent presenting the Double Twelve prizes.
In the Double Twelve competition – in which car and driver had to excel in both complicated driving tests and the rigorous judging of a Concours d’Elegance to be in with a chance of winning – the Bugatti narrowly but decisively beat Simon Taylor’s beautiful 1937 Bentley 4¼ litre Sedanca Coupé, which was a winner at last year’s Pebble Beach Concours in the USA. Other class winners included John Dennis’ 1907/16 Berliet-Curtiss racer, Alex Pilkington’s 1930 Alfa Romeo 1750 Zagato, Bryan Smart’s 1973 Porsche 2.7 RS Carrera and Jo Moss’ 1973 Morgan Plus 8.
Another historic Grand Prix Bugatti claimed honours in the Brooklands Speed Trials – this time it was Martin Overington’s spectacular 1927 Type 35B grand prix car, which was the fastest Vintage (pre-1931) car, taking just 1.36 longer to cover the 900 metre course than Candy’s time of 43.0 sec. The fastest road-going sports car was Andrew Mitchell’s 1937 HRG 1½ litre, and honours in the closely-fought Edwardian (pre-1919) class – with six giant racers taking part – went to Karl Foulkes-Halbard’s 5 litre 1907 Corbin Vanderbilt Cup car.
Brooklands Museum Director Allan Winn said, “The 2010 Brooklands Double Twelve Motoring Festival proved to be a real hit with competitors and spectators alike. We were very pleased to see so many families and enthusiasts enjoying the biggest competition event held at Brooklands since the original circuit closed in 1939. We look forward to building on the success of this weekend at the next event in June 2011.”
[Source: VSCC; photo credit: Peter Brown]
