The image above says everything you need to know about Brooklands. Fast, banked turns on which wildly moustachioed, goggled, flying hatted playboys fought wheel to wheel to prove the superiority of their chosen steed and, as we can see, even sometimes getting it to hover. Amazing things happened on this two and three-quarter mile oval in leafy Surrey between 1907 and 1939.  British Motorsport was born here. I, personally, am very grateful.
The years haven’t been spectacularly kind to Brooklands, which seems absolutely, stark, raving mad when you consider its significance. But today comes the news that recognition has finally been granted and there is an actual scheme in place to breathe life back into this ground zero for the octane blooded.

A brief reality check first; the chance of seeing a Napier-Railton lapping the circuit at 143mph is just as slim as, well, seeing anything lapping the circuit at any speed. The circuit doesn’t, in the strictest sense, actually exist any more. Real estate in Surrey has always been frighteningly expensive and for a long period of the 20th century Brooklands was just a load of abandoned old broken concrete sliding its way downhill to total obscurity. Bits of it have been sold, built on, had roads built over it, and that which does remain is, frankly, a bit of a mess.
Down but not out, though. It still has a firm grasp of its roots, no small thanks to Mercedes-Benz who have operated their MB World operation (The UK version) here for a good few years, so you do at least get a flavour of the past on days when the AMG experience team are whitening the knuckles of paying passengers. But not on the actual circuit itself.

This view above shows that the odds are quite firmly stacked against the original oval ever being raced on in anger, so it will be interesting to follow what actually does happen. Something is definitely on the horizon, though. £4.7m has just been promised by the Heritage Fund; the scheme where money raised by people like me who pump a few quid every week into our national lottery actually ends up being spent on something worthwhile. This from BBC News:
“The finishing straight will be restored to its 1939 appearance when the circuit was in its heyday”
And:
“The money will help bring part of its famous track back to life and rebuild its main hangar, which houses old aeroplanes including Wellington bombers, Sopwiths and Hurricanes”
There you go.

There is already a Brooklands museum; it would be criminal if there wasn’t. It does what it can to bring the heritage of Brooklands back to life, and not just the motorsport side, either. Aviation was the other string to the circuit’s bow, with aircraft as varied as the Hawker Hurricane, BAC TSR2 and big chunks of Concorde being built within the banking. On completion Vickers VC10s would fly from the single runway (now bisected by a public road) before embarking on their airborne careers.
OK, we’re not likely to see anything quite of that magnitude happening again, but the idea even that remaining sections of the original track might once again throb to a multi-cylinder beat, that the spectacle of speed might return in some form, and that schoolkids might get some tangible taste of how it all began, is a hugely appealing prospect.
I notice with interest that the Brooklands Wikipedia page has been updated: “In 2015, it was announced that Brooklands would receive a multi-million pound facelift”.
Watch this space.
(This news brought to you by your Hooniverse vague news correspondent).