The first all new motor racing ciruit since Brooklands was opened in 1907 saw action for the first time over the May Bank Holiday. Nigel Mansell did the honours and immediately set a new British lap record of 193.59 mph in a Reynard Champ Car.

First competetive event was the kensington trophy Race for 1950s Sports Racing Cars. This was won by Frank Sytner and Simon Hadfield sharing a Cooper Monaco, closely followed by Peter Hardman and Tony Dron in the Ferarri 246Dino. Alan minshaw of Demon Tweeks fame came third in his Birdcage Maserati.

Event two was the first heat of the Brooklands Revival Race for pre-war cars. first off the grid was Alexander Boswell in the Bequet delage who unfortunately forgot that he didn't have to take the chicane on the firts lap and gave the lead away to Irvine Laidlaw in Maserati 6CM. Laidlaw later spun giving away the lead to Mark Gillies. Final result was Mark Gillies (Maserati 4CL) Tony Stephens (ERA R12B) Paul Jaye (1938 Alta single seater)

On Monday Race two was again won by Mark Gillies, second was irvine Laidlaw and third was barrie Baxter in a Maserati 4CM

Mark Gillies in winning Maserati

Tim Llewellyn in the Bentley 3/8 litre is lapped by the single seater Alta of Paul Jaye.

The next big event was the much trumpeted "Monzanapolis" race featuring Indianapolis cars brought over from America and British Sports racing and Grand Prix cars. The Brits took the honours, with Julian Bronson, and Stuart Graham coming first and second both in Listers, but at least the engines were American Chevrolets. Tiff Needell was a respectable third in a Lister Jaguar.

A rare sight in this country, a Kurtis 500

Another rarity over here a Kurtis Sports 500

On Monday Stuart Graham won after a spin from Bronson moved him down into second place. Tiff Needell again coming in a distant third.

Stuart graham in the successful Lister Chevrolet.

Fourth event on sunday was the Coys Cup for pre 1966 single seaters. Frank Sytner enjoyed his second victory of the day in the Brabham BT4 with second place going to Dickie Atwood who had bravely fought through from 14th on the grid. Rod Jolley was third in his Cooper Climax.

On Monday the return match saw Sytner again in first place and Atwood in second, but James King displaced Jolley into fourth place.

The Daytona Cup race for 1970s Group 4 cars was run over two legs on Sunday and Monday. On Sunday Jonothan Baker in the Ford F3L won after dropping to seventh at one stage. Second was Andre Bailly in a Lola T70 MkIII and third was Craig Jones also in a Lola T70 MkIII. On Monday the top three finished in the same formation.

Mustangs dominated in the 25 lap Trans Continental Challenge for pre 1965 group 2 cars.This was run on Monday only and saw Nick Whale in first place, Pete Hallford in second and James Utting in third, all in 1965 Mustangs. There was a compulsory driver change but Whale drove the full race after stepping out of the car then climbing back in again to finish the race. The grid was made up with Jaguar MkIIs, ford Falcons, a Dodge Dart, a couple of Mercs a Ford Zodiac and an Alfa Sprint. the race was not without drama with the Falcon of Andy Shepherd shearing a stub axle on lap six and Barry and Tony Wood's Mustang blowing up its engine towards the end of the race.

Lagonda 2 litre supercharged

One of the more interesting lots at the Coys auction at Rockingham was a "barn find" supercharged 2 litre Low Chassis Lagonda in original unmolested condition, but minus its supercharger.

Car restoration addicts like me have dreams of finding cars like this but they no longer come cheap. The car was in need of total restoration and when finished would probably be worth about £40,000, in fact a fully restored LG45 Lagonda went through earlier for about that figure. The cost of restoring a car like this could easily exceed the value of the finished article, but that did not stop the bidding reaching £18,500. With 15% commission plus VAT, the total price would be £22,304.

The so-called "Low Chassis" cars were introduced late in 1929 for the 1930 season. Lowering was achieved by having a greater step down in the front axle and by placing spacers between the back axle and the leaf springs. The supercharged cars were introduced at the Brooklands Lagonda Fete on 19th July 1930, and were fitted initially with a vertically mounted Powerplus single rotor supercharger, bevel driven off the front of the crank. Production cars were fitted with Cozette No. 9s blowing at 4psi, but a Zoller unit blowing at 7psi was later offered.

Performance was laughable by today's standards, with 70mph taking 22.4 seconds, but a top speed of 90mph was attainable. A choice of body styles was available but perhaps the best known is the T2 open four seater tourer as fitted to the Coy's car. Congratulations to the new owner, let's hope he makes a good job