What became of the little red shoes? - # 201

To his credit, Richard has reminded me (in a comment on yesterday's post) that we should be seeing the little red driving shoes of the motor racing heroin. They were tucked away in a glass cabinet and my photographic imagination failed me:.....no snap!

All I can ask you to do is cast your mind back to 1907 with the winning little Asian style cupola of the original club house and then rocket forward 100 years to the brand new Mercedes Benz World that has arisen alongside the old buildings. http://www2.mercedes-benz.co.uk/content/unitedkingdom/mpc/mpc_unitedkingdom_website/en/home_mpc/MB_World_Brooklands.html

The "Spirit of Brooklands" lives on.............and we can be sure that the "little red shoes" will be forever popular, regardless of whose feet they are on. Thank heavens for that, because without them the stainless steel and glass is deadly dull!

Celebrating the achievements of fast women - # 200

Yesterday I jumped away from Brooklands because I wanted to show the seasonal quality of the light on Richmond Bridge, before the right moment was lost

Now I want to return to signal the efforts of women in the early ages of motor sport. This picture shows the club room set aside for lady racing drivers. It's in the style of the late '20s-30s. The exhibits include rather glamorous little red leather driving shoes and a leather suit and helmet all in red, and a rather luxurious silk helmet. These cars were not easy to handle, and it must have required great physical courage to drive them at speed.

Fast relief for the world's fastest moving - # 198

Here it is! The lovingly restored original "gent's" in the Members Only club house at Brooklands. The most illustrious and fastest moving names in the worlds of motorsport and aviation stood here between 1907 and 1939, and thereafter geniuses of aeronautical science such as Barnes Wallis. Stand here and you know for certain that you are in the presence of Great Men.

Bugatti - # 197

Let's stay for a while at Brooklands: the world's first purpose-built motor racing circuit, built in 1907 by Mr. Hugh Locke King, near Weybridge.

Empire revived - # 195

.......all is not lost. Here is the fully restored elegant viewing pagoda atop the club house of the world's first ever purpose build motor racing circuit at Brooklands, near Weybrdige, about 15 miles from Richmond.

The club house and circuit were built and completed in 1907. More of that later - the old race track has been declared a National Monument.

Our hunt continues........where did this pleasing and elegant style come from? It is classic England 1900-14: so smooth, so calming, so elegant, so remarkable yet so understated. More tomorrow.