Brooklands Members Talks

Lois Pryce is a British motorcyclist, adventurer, author, journalist and speaker. She quit her job with the BBC, passed her motorcycle test and rode 20,000 miles from Alaska to the tip of South America on a small dirt bike. Her next expedition saw her ride the length of Africa solo from London to Cape Town via the Sahara, Congo and Angola. Then came an epic 3000 mile solo motorcycle ride around Iran – a country where women are not even allowed to ride motorcycles. Lois' resulting book, Revolutionary Ride, was named a Book of the Year by National Geographic Traveller Magazine, describing it as a "joyful, moving and stereotype-busting tale." Lois is an ebullient and highly entertaining speaker, and we welcomed her to Brooklands to hear more about her incredible adventures.

Brooklands Members Talks Host Harry Sherrard talks with Ian Flux about his life in motorsport. Ian Flux never got biggest breaks to move him up the international motor racing ladder, but he did become one of British motorsport's most colourful and best-loved characters, and someone who has always lived life to the full. Fluxie has notched up nearly 50 years on track, from being a mechanic to motorcycle racing legend Giacomo Agostini to his stints in Formula 3, Thundersports and the British Touring Car Championship in a wide range of tin-tops, and his championship double in 1996 – the TVR Tuscan Challenge and the British GT Championship, driving a McLaren F1 GTR. Fluxie tells it how it was, covering not only the highs — including five championship titles — but also the many setbacks. Along the way you'll laugh with him about much of it, particularly the pranks, but also learn about some dark times that he has never previously divulged. Come and strap yourself in for an evening of lots of laughs!

John Tye, Concorde pilot and Brooklands volunteer talks with Alan Smith, Concorde test pilot about Alan's time working with Brian Trubshaw on 002 and Delta Golf during the 1970s.

Former land speed record holder Richard Noble returned to Brooklands to tell us about his new project, an attempt on the water speed record. Inspired by the exploits of John Cobb and his designer Reid Railton, the Thrust team has set out to break the current WSR of 317.596mph, which was set by Australian Ken Warby back in 1978. That the record has stood for so long indicates both the danger and the difficulty involved in mounting a challenge. Since that record was set, two challengers have died in the process. The Thrust WSH (water speed hydrofoil) team is therefore proceeding with maximum research and risk mitigation efforts. To produce a truly innovative design the team has access to advanced technologies and resources not available to earlier challengers.

Richard Noble came to Brooklands on the 23rd January to talk about his World Speed Records. In part one he recounts his land speed record challenges. What a story!

When Eric Fernihough lost control of his motorcycle at over 170mph, he was the last British rider to have been the ‘world's fastest' on two wheels. An orphan, an adopted son, a public schoolboy, a Cambridge graduate, an engineer, a noted tuner, a European motorcycle champion, a multiple Brooklands race winner, ‘Ferni' was a motorcycling household name in the nineteen thirties. On a new road in far-away Hungary, he rode to his death on 23 April 1938. His life story, which this book tells, spanned more than thirty year's of furious competition for the world's absolute motorcycle speed record before World War 2. First in 1900 was a Frenchman on an American motorcycle. French motorcycles took the lead in 1902 until an American boardtrack rider rode his best ever at England's Brooklands Motor Course in 1911. An English rider and machine promptly took the title back before the Americans recovered it. With the world at war, in 1916 an Australian was the fastest on a remote dirt road near Adelaide. After a short period of American supremacy on the sands of America's Daytona Beach, Brooklands was the setting for more world's record efforts before the long, straight roads of France became the new battleground. British riders and motorcycles were unbeatable until German technical ingenuity, and a BMW rider Ernst Henne, became dominant during the lean years of the Great Depression. Eric Fernihough set out to challenge this German hegemony. With supercharged big-twin JAP engines in Brough Superior motorcycles, he drove to the south of Budapest and set the absolute world's motorcycle speed record there at 169.79mph in April 1937. Gilera-mounted Piero Taruffi just squeezed past him before Henne took the title again at 173.68mph. Back in Hungary, Fernihough was aiming for over 175mph when he crashed and was killed. Drawing on Fernihough's personal papers and photographs at Brooklands Museum, the Mutschler collection in Germany, Henne's private albums at the BMW archives and many other sources, this book has hundreds of never-before-published photographs and drawings. It is the first detailed history of the world's absolute motorcycle speed record and the first biography of a great motorcycle rider. Most of the images are reproduced from 'Speed Monarch: the short life of Eric Fernihough and the world's motorcycle speed record' by Terry Wright which is published by Loose Fillings Publishing and can be ordered online at www.loosefillings.com or leading motoring booksellers. Credit to Katy Coubrough for the excellent image production as seen in the book.

Doug Nye is one of the world's foremost motorsport journalists and authors. In 2023 he celebrated his 60th year as a racing journalist, having joined Motor Racing magazine in 1963. He went on to work for Motoring News and Motor Sport before going freelance. He remains a regular contributor to many racing and classic car publications in the UK and worldwide. He is the multiple award-winning author of more than 70 books covering motor sporting history. His books include works on Lotus, Cooper, BRM, Ferrari and McLaren, and biographies of pre-war British ace Dick Seaman, Juan Manuel Fangio, Sir Stirling Moss, Sir Jack Brabham, Phil Hill and Jim Clark. Doug is consultant historian to Goodwood Motorsport, and is one of the co-founders of the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Goodwood Revival Meeting. In much demand throughout the world for his unrivalled motorsport knowledge, we look welcome Doug to Brooklands for a most insightful and entertaining evening.

Max Chilton talks with Harry Sherrard about his fascinating and varied career in Motorsport. After starting his career in karts aged 10, Max Chilton progressed up the racing ladder through Formula 3 and GP2, reaching Formula One in 2013 with the Marussia team. He achieved the distinction of being the only driver to finish every race of his rookie season. A further season in Formula One followed, then Max moved stateside to drive for Chip Ganassi Racing in the IndyCar series. In the 2017 Indianapolis 500, Max dominated the latter part of the race, leading 47 of the last 72 laps, ultimately finishing fourth. Further IndyCar seasons followed, before a switch to the World Endurance Championship, including the Le Mans 24 Hours. In June 2022, with a performance that anyone who witnessed it will never forget, Max took the electric McMurtry active-downforce car up the Goodwood hillclimb in 39.08 seconds, to set an astonishing new Festival of Speed shoot out record.

From bamboo biplanes to supersonic airliners and the pioneer designers who created them A History of Aviation at Brooklands in 100 Objects. The author Nigel Spooner writes; The book is a history of aviation at Brooklands in 100 objects that are arranged into seven episodes, each of which covers a particular era of that history. Choosing what to include and what to leave out has been a difficult task – there can be no such thing as a perfect list! The objects include aircraft, engines, places and many other elements that played a role in the transformation of Brooklands from a marshy water meadow to one of Europe's largest aircraft factories. The intent with each one is not to indulge in too many technical details but rather to explore the stories and people behind them. I have also included relatively brief biographies on each of the six featured designers that are intended to show their personal contributions to the Brooklands history.

Although Derek never won in Formula 1, due to ill fortune and so often being in the wrong car at the wrong time, he did achieve the results he deserved in sports car racing, winning the Le Mans 24 Hours and the World Championship in 1992, plus finishing series runner-up with Jaguar in 1986 and 1991. In the twilight of his racing career, that world title was a fitting companion to the one he had earned as a short-track oval racer nearly 20 years earlier. Derek Warwick has been a popular and highly respected figure in motor racing for nearly 50 years, known for his tough and determined personality as well as his talent and bravery behind the wheel. He was always a fan favourite for his humility and straightforwardness, which earned him respect and admiration from the motorsports world. Now, with characteristic honesty and humour, his forthcoming book will tell his inspiring story in a memoir that holds nothing back, published by EVRO.

Neil Laughton is a former Royal Marine Commando, helicopter pilot and Special Forces Officer who went on to become one of the world's greatest adventurers and a multiple Guinness World Record breaker. He has organised and led more than 50 expeditions on seven continents – by land, sea and air. His amazing adventures include piloting the world's first road legal flying car on a 10,000 km journey from London to Timbuktu; crossing the Sahara desert on KTM motorcycles; a 1,000 km journey across the spine of the Himalayas on Royal Enfields; circumnavigating the UK & Ireland on a jet ski; summiting Mt Everest with Bear Grylls, and skiing to both the north and south poles. He organised and led Flying for Heroes, a 1,000 km flying journey in Paratrikes from Mt Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) to Mt Kenya with wounded soldiers from the Help 4 Heros charity, and he has recently taken part in a humanitarian mission to Ukraine. Neil's book ‘Adventureholic – Extraordinary journeys on seven continents by land, sea and air' was published in 2023 and became an Amazon No. 1 bestseller.

Our speaker is author and journalist Rachel Harris-Gardiner. Her award winning book, Speed Queens, on which her talk is based, is a history of women in motorsport, from the first known motorised race for women in 1897 to the modern era, and covering both circuit racing and rallying. Some of the best-known female competitors such as Brooklands' own Kay Petre and Gwenda Stewart, rally stars Rosemary Smith, Pat Moss and Michele Mouton and the only female Formula 1 points scorer Lella Lombardi are covered, but Speed Queens is not just concerned with big names and historic “firsts”. For every woman to be the first to do something on wheels, there were usually several others striving for success.

Throughout the second half of the 20th century, international relations across the globe were dominated by the Cold War. From 1949 until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, NATO and the Warsaw Pact countries created the best-equipped armed forces that the world had ever seen, and which faced each other directly across the Iron Curtain in Europe. Our speaker is Michael Napier, an ex-RAF Tornado pilot turned author, who saw frontline service during the Cold War as well as combat experience over Iraq. Michael examines the airpower of the major powers at both strategic and tactical level throughout the 40 years of the Cold War, including the aircraft types, the units that operated them in the roles in which they were deployed.

The exploits of the SAS in North Africa in the early years of the Second World War are well known; attacks behind enemy lines, destruction of hundreds of German aircraft on the ground and generally creating mayhem for the Afrika Korps. But little of this would have been possible without the Long Range Desert Group. Experts in desert navigation, the LRDG was formed to carry out deep penetration, covert reconnaissance patrols and intelligence missions behind Axis lines. As the commando tactics of the SAS developed, a reliable mode of transport to and from targets, often across hundreds of miles of desert, was provided by the LRDG to the SAS, using their ubiquitous 30 cwt Chevrolet trucks. Our speaker is Richard Pinches, whose father, Peter Pinches, served in North Africa with the 7th Armoured Division. Richard is a Second World War re-enactor and historian, specialising in the North African campaign and the LRDG. His talk covers the vital but often overlooked role of this uniquely skilled and capable unit of the Desert Rats.

Vicki Butler Henderson in conversation with Harry Sherrard

Karun Chandhok in conversation with Harry Sherrard and two pieces of music celebrating Donald Campbell.

Brooklands celebrates 50 years since our Concorde delta Golf's first flight.

Vicki's grandfather raced a Frazer Nash at Brooklands and, with heritage like that, small wonder that she made her career in the motoring world. She started racing karts at the age of 12 and went on to compete in a multitude of cars and categories. Notable achievements include becoming the first woman to win a Maserati race in the history of the marque, when she competed in a support race at the British Grand Prix in 2004. Vicki has been a motoring journalist from the age of 18 and in 1994 joined the Top Gear team on BBC, before moving to Channel 5 to present Fifth Gear, staying with the show when it moved to the Quest channel. Her journalistic skills have featured in a wide variety of newspapers and magazines, including Auto Express, What Car?, Performance Car and the Sunday Times, earning Vicki the accolade of being the UK's number one female four-wheel journalist. We welcomed Vicki to Brooklands and she delivered a fascinating conversation about her outstanding career.

Who were aviation's greatest pioneers, influencers and heroes? A light-hearted look at the men and woman at the forefront of more than a century of aviation, from Brooklands' own Harry Hawker, to Amy Johnson, to Chuck Yeager and beyond. Concluding with an audience vote as to who should head the Hall of Fame. Our speaker is Andy Richardson, former Avro Vulcan crew member turned civil aviation consultant and historian. Andy returns to Brooklands having delivered a sell-out talk about his Vulcan career.

Unconventional and controversial, in the 1990s the Benetton Formula 1 team rose through the ranks to challenge the big names of Williams, Ferrari and McLaren. After black flags, disqualifications, a pitlane inferno and political manoeuvring, the tumultuous 1994 season ended with Michael Schumacher sealing the World Championship title for Benetton, after a controversial clash with Damon Hill in the season finale in Australia. Our speaker is Damien Smith, former editor of MotorSport magazine and author of the new and authoritative history of this most colourful of Formula 1 teams. Damien is joined by senior Benetton engineer Pat Symonds and other former team personnel.

10 June 1907, Peking. Five cars set off in a desperate race across two continents on the verge of revolution. An Italian prince and his chauffeur, a French racing driver, a conman and various journalists battle over steep mountain ranges and across the arid vastness of the Gobi Desert. The contestants need teams of helpers to drag their primitive cars up narrow gorges, lift them over rough terrain and float them across rivers. Petrol is almost impossible to find, there are barely any roads, armed bandits and wolves lurk in the forests. Updates on their progress, sent by telegram, are eagerly devoured by millions in one of the first ever global news stories. Their destination: Paris. More than its many adventures, the Peking-to-Paris provided the impetus for profound change. The world of 1907 is poised between the old and the new: communist regimes will replace imperial ones in China and Russia; the telegraph is transforming modern communication and the car will soon displace the horse. In this book bestselling author Kassia St Clair traces the fascinating stories of two interlocking races - setting the derring-do (and sometimes cheating) of one of the world's first car races against the backdrop of a larger geopolitical and technological rush to the future, as the rivalry grows between countries and empires, building up to the cataclysmic event that changed everything - the First World War. The Race to the Future is the incredible true story of the quest against the odds that shaped the world we live in today.

Karun is in conversation with Harry Sherrard. Karun Chandhok was born into a motor racing family where his father, grandfather and even grandmother used to race! After winning Indian and Asian championships, Karun moved to England where he was a front-runner in Formula 3, which served as a launch pad up to GP2 and then Formula 1. Karun was a test driver for the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team in 2007 and 2008, before racing in Formula 1 for Hispania Racing and Team Lotus in 2010 and 2011. He went on to compete at Le Mans and in the Formula E series. Since 2016, Karun has been a regular driver and consultant for the Williams Formula 1 team's Heritage business, showcasing their World Championship winning Formula 1 cars. He is also a Goodwood Revival regular, winning the Whitsun Trophy in the CanAM McLaren M1A in 2019. Best known today as commentator and technical analysist of the Sky Sports F1 team, Karun also sits on the Board of Motorsport UK. We are delighted that Karun made time in his busy schedule to come to talk to us at Brooklands.

On 13th February 1974 G-BBDG took off for the first time. Our panel of Allan Winn, Terry Selman, Gordon Roxburgh and former Chief Concorde Pilot Mike Bannister discuss Delta Golf's remarkable journey from test flights to arriving here at Brooklands and and most importantly, what it was like to fly her. UPDATE - WE ARE DELIGHTED THAT CONCORDE PILOT JOCK LOWE JOINS US FOR THIS PANEL TALK. Allan Winn Allan's role in beinging Delta Golf to Brooklands was to fight the legal, regulatory, technical, financial and commercial battles to get it to Brooklands in the first place, and then get it restored and into service as a genuine revenue-generator forthe Museum. Mike Bannister Mike's proudest association with DG comes from my time at British Airways, the owners of the aircraft. Whilst at BA he was one of a very small group that decided where each Concorde should go after retirement. Mike lobbied heavily for Brooklands and managed to convince the others that the Museum was the right site and that DG was the perfect 'Concorde' to be allocated. Terry Selman Joined BOAC (BA) from school to complete a 5-year apprenticeship, went on to obtain UK CAA maintenance engineers licences before taking up a position as an Overseas Line Station Engineer. In 1975 attended 3-month Concorde training course in Bristol after which posted to RAF Fairford and Brize Norton to provide maintenance support during the Pilot, Flight Engineer training program. After completing the training program, he was posted to Bharain for 2 years to provide line station support for the first Concorde commercial passenger flights. Gordon Roxburgh Gordon Roxburgh, founder of the ConcordeSST website, used the power of the internet to bring together and lead a group of over 100 volunteers, many new to Brooklands Museum and to aircraft engineering for that matter, to help restore G-BBDG. The Team also worked on the restoration of the Concorde Simulator. Many of the team are still volunteers today at Brooklands and other museums around the country.

In 2024 we mark the 80th anniversary of the most infamous prisoner breakout from Nazi Germany. The Great Escape from Stalag Luft III was immortalised by the 1963 Hollywood blockbuster; but what really happened? Our speaker is Joanna Bristow-Watkins, whose father, Squadron Leader Alec Bristow, was a Mosquito pilot who was shot down and incarcerated in the notorious Stalag. He kept a diary as a POW, from which Joanna has drawn her fascinating talk. What was it really like for an RAF Officer in the camp? How challenging was the planning and construction of the famous Tom, Dick and Harry tunnels? What actually took place on the night of 24th March 1944? And what were the after-effects of this bold affront to the Nazi Regime?

In 2024 we mark the 80th anniversary of the most infamous prisoner breakout from Nazi Germany. The Great Escape from Stalag Luft III was immortalised by the 1963 Hollywood blockbuster; but what really happened? Our speaker is Joanna Bristow-Watkins, whose father, Squadron Leader Alec Bristow, was a Mosquito pilot who was shot down and incarcerated in the notorious Stalag. He kept a diary as a POW, from which Joanna has drawn her fascinating talk. What was it really like for an RAF Officer in the camp? How challenging was the planning and construction of the famous Tom, Dick and Harry tunnels? What actually took place on the night of 24th March 1944? And what were the after-effects of this bold affront to the Nazi Regime?

The last episode of 2023 and we look back over the year with two reports on electric 2 and 4 wheels, and samples of live music from the year.

Richard Jenkins talks with Gareth Tarr about the making of the book and what he learnt about the family and organisation along the way.

In this episode Tim talks to Stuart Edmondson, CEO of the Bloodhound LSR project and Mike Bannister on the 20th anniversary of Concorde's last flight.

Brooklands volunteers John Bottomley and his son-in-law Phil Kirby enter a 1904 Dreadnought motorcycle and a 1901 Raleigh pushbike in the 2023 London to Brighton Veteran Car Run. This conversation looks back at how it came together and its success.

John in conversation with Harry Sherrard about his life in aviation. John Tye's job at British Airways was supposed to be only temporary, a way for him to pass the summer before starting university. Instead, it would kickstart a forty-six-year career in aviation and take him all over the world. Told in an irrepressible and infectious style, Life of a Concorde Pilot is the story of how, despite a somewhat turbulent start to life in a Middlesex orphanage, John would go on to fly the world's only supersonic airliner. A true insight to the life of an airline pilot, with many amusing anecdotes along the way, it follows his ups and downs from his career on the ground at BA to flying with Dan Air and then back to BA, through to Covid and his reluctant retirement at the end of 2022. Full of the fascinating details only a pilot can give, this is a memorable journey to the edge of space and beyond.

British Racing Motors was founded just after the Second World War with the objective of building an all-British Grand Prix car for the post-war era as a national prestige project, with financial and industrial backing from the British motor industry channelled through a trust fund. In due course it fell to one of the partners in the trust, Alfred Owen of the Rubery Owen group of companies, to take over the team in its entirety. Between 1954 and 1970 the team entered its works F1 cars under the official name of the Owen Racing Organisation, scoring World Championship success with Graham Hill in 1962. In celebration of BRM's 70th anniversary, the Owen family commissioned the build of an authentic new BRM Type 15 Mk 1 V16 Chassis IV, based on the design of the original 1950s race car. We welcome to Brooklands members of the Owen family who present the story of how the project was conceived and then executed, whilst also sharing artefacts and film from the extensive BRM archive.

American Car Day with Be Bop Boulevard, Gary and his 1930 Cadillac, Marnie and her 1954 Chevrolet 3100, French Car Day serenaded by Blue Boy and Toulouse with guitarist Paul Steward ex-marketing manager at Brooklands! Cressida talks about her 1927 Delage, Graham with his 1973 Citreon DS23, Martin and his 1926 Citreon B12 truck.

Allan Winn talks about how Brooklands acquired the Napier Railton as it celebrates 90 years since its first show at the track. Martin Gegg share the Bert Denley story. The Rob Walker Blue Plaque is unveiled at Dorking and Chris Roberts talks about the Hawk aircraft as it gets its new wings at Brooklands.

We are at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and BMtv intrepid reporter Fiona Easterby talks with the Brooklands team and meanders around the Cartier Style et Luxe paddock

Alex Patterson talks about the clubhouse renovation and lift installation and MG South East celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the marque.

Duncan tells the story of the Beast and his ownership. Originally conceived in 1911, the FIAT S76, better known as the Beast of Turin, is one of the most outrageous cars ever built. Its colossal inline-four engine displaced 28.4 litres and produced 300 hp at just 1000 rpm. The chassis featured a rigid axle suspension system with leaf springs. Brakes were only installed on the rear axle. Only two were built, and Fiat sold the second Beast to a wealthy Russian Prince named Boris Soukhanov, who hired racing driver Pietro Bordino to drive it at Brooklands and attempt to break the land speed record. But when Bordino took it onto the track, it was so terrifying that he refused to go over 90 mph. After many changes of ownership, the Beast was acquired by Duncan Pittaway in 2003, and a lengthy restoration process began. Duncan discovered that the original engine from the first S76 had survived and managed to acquire it. After several years of hard work that saw the double chain-drive gearbox, body, and many other components being rebuilt using the original Fiat drawings, the Beast of Turin was brought back to life.

After an early career in motorsports PR, representing several F1 drivers and the Jordan Grand Prix team, Louise Goodman broke the mould by entering the male-dominated and highly competitive world of motorsports commentary in the 1990s. Dubbed ‘the first woman of Formula One' Louise made her name as part of ITV's Grand Prix presentation team, working alongside F1 luminaries Murray Walker and Martin Brundle, becoming the female face of ITV's then new ‘Grand Prix' programme. Best known today as ITV's co-presenter of the British Touring Car Championship alongside Steve Rider, Louise has also fronted programmes from the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the Goodwood Revival and the Le Mans 24 hours, amongst many others. With her insider knowledge gained from a 30 year involvement in top level motorsport, Louise delivers a unique insight into the pit lane beyond the camera. Louise is joined on stage by leading motorsport author, journalist and broadcaster Maurice Hamilton and host Harry Sherrard.

Featuring the opening of the Sir Barnes Wallis exhibition and conversation with Sir Barnes' surviving daughter Elizabeth Gaunt. Also the Award for Best Learning Programme "Learning without borders" from the Bourne Education Trust.

Tim takes a trip up in the new clubhouse lift and presents Philip Hogg and his aviation career with BOAC.

A tribute to Lady Susie Moss and those Ladies who have left their mark on Brooklands history.

Nigel Limb suffered multiple injuries in a motorcycle racing accident in 2015. His life-support was about to be turned off, but he miraculously began to recover and woke up from a coma. Nerves severed in the accident mean that he is partially blind and partially brain dead, but this has not prevented him from living life to the full. Notwithstanding his disabilities, in 2022 Nigel (a.k.a. blindblokeracing on social media) broke the British record for a partially sighted drag strip run, hitting speeds of 83 mph in 8.74 seconds on an Electric TT Zero bike. Nigel and his wife Julie have an incredible and inspiring story to tell about the aftermath of his life changing accident and his determination to show that people with sight loss can achieve amazing things.

Wing Commander Manjeet Ghatoara and Air Specialist 1(Technician) Catherine Ryan talk about todays RAF, reflecting on its past and looking into its future.

The author of the book Richard Jenkins talks about the history of the team. Ken Tyrrell's famous Formula 1 racing team will forever be associated with Jackie Stewart and the three World Championship titles they won together. But the Tyrrell story is far bigger than that, embracing nearly 40 action-packed years, from initial forays as an entrant in Formula Junior in 1960 to eventual demise in 1998. Along the way, the team with its larger-than-life proprietor was always universally respected in the world's Formula 1 paddocks, often as the plucky underdog. In compiling this comprehensive history, the author has interviewed dozens of surviving team members — including most of the drivers and many mechanics — to gather their memories and present an energetic, touching, compelling and above all entertaining narrative. in the 50th anniversary year of Tyrrell's last championship title, this book will be treasured by all racing enthusiasts.

Formed in 1940, the Special Operations Executive put Churchill's instruction to “Set Europe ablaze” into action. The organization's F section sent more than 400 agents into France, 39 of whom were women. They were given months of arduous fitness, gun, explosives, endurance and code training before parachuting into occupied territory. The women were warned of the likelihood of arrest, torture and a brutal death before they volunteered. None demurred. Of the 29, 13 never returned, having been executed in Hitler's concentration camps. Our speaker is Dr Kate Vigurs, a professional freelance historian and author of “Mission France. The true story of the women of SOE". In her presentation Kate will focus on the missions of the skilled and courageous women of SOE, tracing their journeys from recruitment, to training, to work undertaken in the field, to evasion from, or capture by, the Gestapo.

On the night of 16/17 May 1943 the RAF's recently formed 617 Squadron carried out what was probably the most famous air raid of all time. A combination of the genius of Barnes Wallis and the astonishing courage and skill of the crews saw two major German dams breached and a third damaged, leading to loss and disruption to the Nazi war economy. Normally kept top secret, the aerial reconnaissance photos of the ruptured dams and consequent flooding were transmitted around the world, giving the Allies a major propaganda coup. How was the technology for the raid developed? Was the raid worth the lives of the 53 aircrew who perished on the night? How accurate was the epic 1955 Dambusters movie? Harry Sherrard presents a fascinating talk on the 80th anniversary of the raid for a fascinating presentation about one of the greatest feats of arms of World War 2.

Philip Hogge first learned to fly in 1958 by completing a gliding course with the Air Cadets. He then obtained an RAF Flying Scholarship while still at school and learned to fly a Tiger Moth, gaining his Private Pilot's Licence. In 1962 he joined BOAC where he flew the Britannia 312 (the last propeller service across the Atlantic), then Brooklands built VC10s, Boeing 707s and eventually 747s. He was Flight Training Manager on 707s and then 747s, before becoming Chief Pilot on 747s, and finally GM Flight Operational Services in British Airways' flight operations department. Airline flying in the 1960s was still an era of glamour, adventure and excitement in what Phil fondly recalls as the Golden Age of Flying. He has written two volumes of short stories in which he recalls, in fictional form, the challenges and enjoyment he and his colleagues shared in those days.

Patrick Lynch, the author of "At The Greatest Speed", tells the story of Gordon Bennett who was an American millionaire who inherited a fortune from his publisher father. He supported emerging technology and sport and, in 1899, fascinated by the new motor cars, he instigated the International Gordon Bennett Cup. The inaugural race took place in 1900 between Paris and Lyon, with three countries participating. The 1903 Cup, which was held in Ireland, was a world first in its use of a closed-circuit course, setting the template for future circuit racing. It was also the first international motor race in the British Isles, and was contested by future Brooklands racer Selwyn Edge. Bennett's promotion of these events boosted the global car industry and established international motorsport.

This episode is given over to the VSCC Winter Driving Tests held at Brooklands at the end of January.

Britain's V bombers comprised the RAF's strategic nuclear strike force aircraft during the Cold War. The three models of bomber were the Vickers Valiant, the Handley Page Victor and the Avro Vulcan, which famously flew extremely long-range ground attack missions against Argentine positions in the Falklands War in 1982. Our speaker Andy Richardson served in the RAF from 1960 to 1980, including six years crewing on the Avro Vulcan. His talk will cover the need for these machines in the Cold War era, their design and development, how crews were selected, trained and lived and how events would have unfolded if they ever had to launch in anger.

People lie, cheat, steal and even kill for a variety of reasons, one of which is to go motor racing, a particularly expensive and egotistical sport. This intriguing book, the result of years of research, encompasses not just those who have been ‘driven to crime' in order to pay for their sport but also characters within motor racing who have been involved in wrongdoing, sometimes through no fault of their own. Over 60 true stories cover webs of deceit and numerous crimes including drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement, robbery, fraud, murder and money laundering. The author investigates misdemeanours at all levels, from drivers, designers and mechanics to team owners, entrants and sponsors. This book will appeal not only to motor racing enthusiasts and cognoscenti on both sides of the Atlantic but also to anyone who enjoys reading about crime.

Tim Morris looks forward to events taking place in the first three months of 2023 at the museum and highlights Mike Wilds talk of nearly 60 years in motorsport.