See Amazing Photos of Real <i>Downton</i>-Era Auto Racing
See Amazing Photos of Real Downton-Era Auto Racing
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Motor meeting at Brooklands, Weybridge, Surrey. Competitor Ivy Cummings and her mother in their racing car. April 1920.Topical Press Agency—Getty Images
On Sunday night’s episode of Downton Abbey, former chauffeur Tom Branson revealed that one of the few groups of people of whom he’s jealous are those Royal Automobile Club drivers who got to race at Brooklands. And, looking at these photos of real 1920s Brooklands racers, it’s not hard to see why.
“In no other country are motorists so admirably self-disciplined,” TIME declared in 1934. “Over 5,000 neatly uniformed service men of the Automobile Association and Royal Automobile Club ceaselessly patrol the Kingdom’s roads. They informally direct traffic when necessary, supply information, carry first aid kits and minor spare parts, change tires and make small repairs for members of the A.A. or R.A.C. and salute smartly whenever a member’s car flashes by.”
But not everything was law and order at the R.A.C.: as one reader pointed out in a follow-up letter, that “smart salute” was not mere courtesy, but rather a pre-radar way to warn drivers about approaching speed traps.
Motor meeting at Brooklands, Weybridge, Surrey. Competitor Ivy Cummings and her mother in their racing car. April 1920. Topical Press Agency—Getty ImagesMotor race, Brooklands, Surrey, 1920s. A large field closely bunched together. On the right, one of the competitors appears to have spun. National Motor Museum/Heritage Images—Getty ImagesCrowds at a motor meet at the Brooklands racetrack in Weybridge, Surrey. Circa 1920.Topical Press Agency—Getty ImagesSinger 10 at Brooklands, Surrey, circa 1921.National Motor Museum/Heritage Images—Getty ImagesA racing commentator broadcasting over a public address system at Brooklands Race Track. August 1922.Topical Press Agency—Getty ImagesFilling up a Spyker car during a record breaking run by Selwyn F Edge on the Brooklands circuit. Edge averaged 74.27 mph in his Maybach engined Spyker to beat his own previous 24 hour record set up in 1907. July 1922.Topical Press Agency—Getty ImagesScouts tearing the sheets of 'laps to go' off the scoreboard for the Junior Car 250 Mile Race at Brooklands. August 1922.Topical Press Agency—Getty ImagesSpectators at Brooklands motor-racing track, Surrey, relaxing in the sunshine. June 1922.Topical Press Agency—Getty ImagesLouis Zborowski at the wheel of Chitty Bang Bang I, Brooklands, 1922. With a burst tire after reaching a speed of 125mph. National Motor Museum/Heritage Images—Getty ImagesCars lined up at the starting line for the 3-lap 100 mph Long Handicap race at the Brooklands Whitsun meeting. From front to rear - a Wolseley Moth, Bertram Marshall's Type 13 Brescia Bugatti, Horstmann, GN, Wolseley 15hp. Also shown are a Nagarro, a Bentley and a Star. May 1923.Topical Press Agency—Getty ImagesWomen's fashions at a Brooklands Race meeting. January 1923.Hulton Archive—Getty ImagesMiss Nicoll doing a brake test at Brooklands, Surrey, England. March 1923.Topical Press Agency—Getty ImagesMembers of the London Ladies Motor Club, including Sir Malcolm Campbell's wife (fifth from left), at Brooklands race track where they are competing in the first ever British motor cycling race for women. January 1925.Fox Photos—Getty ImagesJ G Parry Thomas in his Thomas Special winner of the Brooklands Presidents Gold Plate. August 1925.MacGregor/Topical Press Agency—Getty Images58 light cars starting the 100 miles high speed reliability trials at Brooklands, Weybridge, Surrey, England. May 1925.MacGregor/Topical Press Agency—Getty ImagesJ G Parry Thomas testing his racing car 'Babs' at Brooklands. April 1926.E. Bacon—Getty ImagesRace car drivers competing in the British Grand Prix race of 327 miles at the Brooklands race track, London, England, October 11, 1927. Underwood Archives—Getty ImagesRacing drivers run to their cars as a race begins at Brooklands. June 1939.Fox Photos—Getty ImagesA Bentley Speed Six takes part in the Double Twelve race at Brooklands, circa 1929.Hulton Archive—Getty ImagesThe British racing driver Violette Cordery on the Brooklands race track. August 1929. Austrian Archives/Imagno—Getty Images
