Brooklands - Weybridge, Surrey
On the 6th of July 1907, Brookfields, the world’s first purpose built race track was opened in Weybridge, Surrey. After recognising that Britain was behind in the manufacturing of cars, Hugh Fortescue Locke King used £150,000, that’s around £16.5 million in today’s money, to develop some of the land that he inherited from his father to use as a testing track to help develop and compete with car manufacturers in Europe. The land was bought by his father in 1830 for £28,000 from the death estate of Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany.
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The racetrack was 2.75 miles long and 100 foot wide with a 30 foot rise on the bends, making it treacherous when reaching high speeds. In the centre of the banked circuit was a large airfield where planes were manufactured and tested during World Wars One and Two.
Once the track was opened, many drivers became overnight celebrities due to the high speeds that had never been reached before and one of the most notable drivers was Percy Edgar Lambert. Percy was born in 1881 to Charles and Sarah Lambert and grew up in Westminster. He first raced at Brooklands in 1910 and went on to win seven races in his short career. He went into the car manufacturing business with his brother who produced their first vehicle which sold for £225, it was a 10 horse power, 4 cylinder under the name of the Lambert Herbert Light Car Company. Despite the amazing feats that Percy had achieved, he remained a very modest man who believed in clean living, keeping and hard training for races.
On the 15th of February 1913, Percy became the first person to cover 103 miles and 1470 yards in sixty minutes driving a Talbot car. This was great publicity for Talbot cars as it was achieved with a fairly standard chassis and a 4.5 litre engine, the racing opponents were driving much larger cars with 9.1 and 15 litre engines. Percy’s name went down in history. In April of the same year, Percy’s record was beat so he decided to try to regain the title.
The date was set, and on the 31st of October 1913, Percy told his fiancé that this would be the last time that he’d race, as they were going to be married in two weeks time.
He'd completed 20 laps with an average speed of 110mph but as he went onto the 21st lap his back tyre disintegrated and the car overturned. Percy was thrown out and received a fatal head injury and died on the way to Weybridge Cottage Hospital. Percy Lambert is buried with a spoke on his headstone with a half column above it, which indicates a life cut short at Brompton Cemetery. Percy’s car is on view in the shed at Brooklands, known as “The Vatican".
In the time that the race track was open, from 1907 to 1939, 17 lives were taken by racing, twelve drivers, three spectators and two mechanics.
At the start of WWI, Brooklands became one of the leading aviation manufacturers in the UK, creating Vickers types and assembling Sopwith fighters. Vickers Ltd built 2164 Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 aircraft during the 1st world war and Brooklands became the training centre for The Royal Flying Corps.
On Wednesday the 4th of September in 1940 at 1:24pm, the factory was bombed by German Luftwaffe. It was the most devastating attack on British aviation at that time, it lasted around three minutes. 88 lives were lost that day and over 400 people were injured.
The factory finally closed its doors in the 1980s but in 1987 it reopened as Brooklands museum dedicated to early aviation and motorsport.
In 1963, a group of workers from the Vickers-Armstrong aviation factory claimed to have seen the apparition of a man ‘dressed in helmet and leather coat in the style of a 1920s racing driver’, who walked along the old track and into the shed, only to disappear moments later.
This wasn’t going to be the last sighting. A security guard was patrolling the grounds when he saw a misty figure in the distance, as the figure approached him, the guard noticed he was dressed like a 1920s racing driver and tried to gain his attention but the figure ignored him and disappeared.
In the 1970s, a young boy witnessed a man walking along the track and said that his head half hanging off in the Byfleet Banking area. The boy had to receive medical treatment for shock as it seemed so real.
Another well known driver who was killed in the Byfleet Banking area in 1924 was Captain J.A. Toop who crashed his Peugeot whilst taking over another driver. He is believed to be one of the ghosts that has been witnessed many times in that area.
When the shed, known as the Vatican was being used by the British Aircraft Corporation, a security guard saw and heard a swirling blackness and the horrendous sound of crashing and splintering near the shed.
On a stormy day in the 1930s, a biplane was trying to make its way to land at Brooklands when it’s engine failed and it hit the ground, killing the pilot. It has been said that during similar weather conditions, a ghostly biplane has been seen flying around the sky in the area and as it starts to fall to the earth, it disappears.
Many people have experienced paranormal activity at Brooklands including doors opening, the sound of footsteps in the shed and a ghostly biker who often rides around the track.