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Brooklands
Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, which also became Britain's largest aircraft manufacturing centre by 1918, producing military aircraft such as the Wellington and civil airliners like the Viscount and VC-10. The circuit hosted its last race in August 1939 and today part of it forms the Brooklands Museum, a major aviation and motoring museum, as well as a venue for vintage car, motorcycle and other transport-related events. History Brooklands motor circuit The Brooklands motor circuit was the brainchild of Hugh Fortescue Locke King, and was the first purpose-built banked motor race circuit in the world. Following the Motor Car Act 1903, Britain was subject to a blanket speed limit on public roads: at a time when nearly 50% of the world's new cars were produced in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brooklands Museum
Brooklands Museum is a motoring and aviation museum occupying part of the former Brooklands Motor Course in Weybridge, Surrey, England. Formally opened in 1991, the museum is operated by the independent Brooklands Museum Trust Ltd, a private limited company (No.02109945) and a registered UK charity (No.296661); its aim is to conserve, protect and interpret the heritage of the Brooklands site. History of Brooklands Brooklands was the birthplace of British motorsport and aviation and the site of many engineering and technological achievements throughout eight decades of the 20th century. The racing circuit was constructed by local landowner Hugh F. Locke King in 1907 and was the first purpose-built racing circuit in the world. Many records were set there. Many aviation firsts are also associated with Brooklands, which soon became one of Britain's first aerodromes. It attracted many aviation pioneers prior to World War I, and was also a leading aircraft design and manufacturing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weybridge
Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge, Elmbridge district in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a crossing point of the River Wey, which flows into the River Thames to the north of the town centre. The earliest evidence of human activity is from the Bronze Age. During the Anglo-Saxon and Middle Ages, medieval periods, Weybridge was held by Chertsey Abbey. In 2011 it had a population of 15,449. In the 1530s, Henry VIII constructed Oatlands Palace to the north of the town centre, which he intended to be the residence of his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. He married Catherine Howard there in July 1540 and the palace remained a royal residence until the English Civil War, Civil War. The buildings were demolished in the early 1650s and a new mansion, Oatlands House, was constructed to the east of Weybridge later the same century. Prince Frederic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vickers VC10
The Vickers VC10 is a retired mid-sized, narrow-body long-range British jet airliner designed and built by Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd and first flown at Brooklands, Surrey, in 1962. The VC10 is often compared to the larger Soviet Ilyushin Il-62, the two types being the only airliners to use a rear-engined quad layout, while the smaller Lockheed JetStar business jet also has this engine arrangement. The VC10 was designed to operate on long-distance routes from the shorter runways of the era and commanded excellent hot and high performance for operations from African airports. The performance of the VC10 was such that it achieved the fastest crossing of the Atlantic by a subsonic jet airliner of 5 hours and 1 minute, a record that was held for 41 years, until February 2020 when a British Airways Boeing 747 broke the record at 4 hours 56 minutes due to Storm Ciara. Only the supersonic Concorde was faster at 2 hours, 52 minutes, 59 seconds. Although only a relatively sm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vickers Wellington
The Vickers Wellington (nicknamed the Wimpy) is a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson, a key feature of the aircraft is its geodetic airframe fuselage structure, which was principally designed by Barnes Wallis. Development had been started in response to Air Ministry List Of Air Ministry Specifications, Specification B.9/32, issued in the middle of 1932, for a bomber for the Royal Air Force. This specification called for a twin-engined day bomber capable of delivering higher performance than any previous design. Other aircraft developed to the same specification include the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley and the Handley Page Hampden. During the development process, performance requirements such as for the tare weight changed substantially, and the engine used was not the one originally intended. Despite the original specification, the Wellingto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Surrey
Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the west. The largest settlement is Woking. The county has an area of and a population of 1,214,540. Much of the north of the county forms part of the Greater London Built-up Area, which includes the Suburb, suburbs within the M25 motorway as well as Woking (103,900), Guildford (77,057), and Leatherhead (32,522). The west of the county contains part of Farnborough/Aldershot built-up area, built-up area which includes Camberley, Farnham, and Frimley and which extends into Hampshire and Berkshire. The south of the county is rural, and its largest settlements are Horley (22,693) and Godalming (22,689). For Local government in England, local government purposes Surrey is a non-metropolitan county with eleven districts. The county historically includ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorothy Levitt
Dorothy Elizabeth Levitt (born Elizabeth Levi; 5 January 1882 – 17 May 1922) was a British racing driver and journalist. She was the first British woman racing driver, holder of the world's first water speed record, the women's world land speed record holder, and an author. She was a pioneer of female independence and female motoring and taught Queen Alexandra and the Royal Princesses how to drive. In 1905, she established the record for the longest drive achieved by a lady driver by driving a De Dion-Bouton from London to Liverpool and back over two days, receiving the soubriquets in the press of the Fastest Girl on Earth, and the Champion Lady Motorist of the World. Levitt's book '' The Woman and the Car: A Chatty Little Handbook for all Women who Motor or Who Want to Motor'' (1909), recommended that women should "carry a little hand-mirror in a convenient place when driving" so they may "hold the mirror aloft from time to time in order to see behind while driving in tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Capel Lofft Holden
Brigadier-General Sir Henry Capel Lofft Holden (23 January 1856 – 30 March 1937) was an English engineer, the designer of Brooklands motor racing circuit, chairman of The Royal Automobile Club and other organisations. Biography He was born in Cheltenham, the eldest son of the classical scholar Hubert Ashton Holden, and his wife, Letitia Lofft. He was educated at the Queen Elizabeth's School, Ipswich and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He joined the Royal Artillery in 1875 and saw service in India. From 1881, he served in the technical branches of the Army in connection with the development of artillery and the manufacture of ordnance. He was made captain inspector at Woolwich Arsenal in 1885 and Inspector of Stores in 1888. Promoted Major in 1892 he was appointed Superintendent of the Woolwich Royal Gun Factory in 1899 and also of the Royal Carriage Factory in 1907. He held both positions until his retirement from the Army as a colonel in 1912. During his workin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Auto Racing
Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non-racing disciplines. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various types were organized, with the first recorded as early as 1867. Many of the earliest events were effectively Classic trials, reliability trials, aimed at proving these new machines were a practical mode of transport, but soon became an important way for automobile makers to demonstrate their machines. By the 1930s, specialist racing cars had developed. There are now numerous different categories, each with different rules and regulations. History The first prearranged match race of two self-powered road vehicles over a prescribed route occurred at 4:30 A.M. on August 30, 1867, between Ashton-under-Lyne and Old Trafford, England, a di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ivy Cummings
Ivy Cummings (19011971) was an early racing car driver, reputedly the youngest person ever to lap Brooklands. In 2009 her Bugatti car sold for over £2m. Biography Ivy Leona Cummings was born in Edmonton on 27 October 1901 to Sydney George and Edith Cummings (née Mann). She had two younger brothers, Sydney Edward, and John. She became a famous British racing car driver as well as running a garage in Putney Bridge Road, London, where she repaired and sold cars. In 1913 she claimed to have taken her father's car and completed a lap of Brooklands aged 12. During World War I, Cummings worked in a convalescent home for injured soldiers, and would take them out for trips in her own car. After the war, around 1919, she began racing. She drove a Coupe de l’Auto Sunbeam Motor Car Company, Sunbeam 12/16 in a race in France in 1921. In 1922 Cummings won the Duke of York Long Distance Handicap in the same car. She came third in the Essex Senior Short Handicap and then second in the Ess ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Selwyn Edge
Selwyn Francis Edge (1868–1940) was a British businessman, racing driver, cyclist and record-breaker. He is principally associated with selling and racing De Dion-Bouton, Gladiator; Clemént-Panhard, Napier and AC cars. Personal life Edge was born in Concord township, near Sydney, on 29 March 1868; his parents were Alexander Ernest Edge and Annie Charlotte Sharp. At age three, he was taken to London where in his teens he competed successfully as a bicycle racer, winning the North Road Cycling Club's 100 Mile Road Race in 1888 and the Westerham Hill climb when he was nineteen. One of the English Team and aged 23 he came third in the first Bordeaux–Paris cycle race in 1891. He worked for Rudge then Harvey Du Cros as manager of his new Dunlop offices in London. In 1892 he married Eleanor Rose Sharp who died in 1914; his second wife, Myra Caroline Martin, whom he married in 1917, had two daughters by him. From 1910 until at least 1922 he resided at Gallops Homestead, Ditchl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a motor racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and and formerly the home of the United States Grand Prix and the Indianapolis motorcycle Grand Prix. It is located west of Downtown Indianapolis. Constructed in 1909, it is the second purpose-built, banked turn, banked oval track racing, oval racing circuit after Brooklands and the first to be called a 'speedway'. It was the brainchild of Entrepreneurship, entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, who envisioned a proving ground for the budding automobile industry. It is the third-oldest permanent automobile race track in the world, behind Brooklands and the Milwaukee Mile. With a permanent seating capacity of 257,325, it is the List of sports venues by capacity, highest-capacity sports venue in the world. The track is a rectangular oval with dimensions that have remained essentia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
