Acelebration for the centenary of the first grand prix to be held in Britain will take place at Brooklands in August – and Motor Sport is the event’s official media partner.

This, you could say, reprises the role Motor Sport initially held when it was born in 1924 as the Brooklands Gazette. In 1926, the inaugural Grand Prix of the Royal Automobile Club was fought out on August 7, and its centenary will be honoured this summer on Saturday, August 8. The event, organised by the Brooklands Museum, will feature 100 grand prix cars from the intervening century as well as music, a live action stage, food and a festival atmosphere.

One of the stars of the show will be the Halford Special, which took part in the 1926 race in the hands of its creator Frank Halford. Delage, the manufacturer that won the first GP at Brooklands, will also be represented.

The sole surviving Thomas Special, built by Brooklands hero JG Parry-Thomas, is confirmed too. Both were expected for the 1926 GP but did not show, although Parry-Thomas campaigned one of the 1.5-litre, straight-eight machines at the track later that year. They each started the 1927 GP, before retiring early. The surviving racer has been restored by Geraint Owen, whose father Owen Wyn Owen rebuilt Babs, the car in which Parry-Thomas was killed in 1927 while pursuing the Land Speed Record.

“Emotionally, it is incredibly special to take the Thomas Special back to Brooklands,” said Geraint Owen. “It’s the first time the car has returned since 1958, and back then it was not even complete with an engine. To see it running again at its birthplace, in its 100th year, is something truly remarkable.”

The Thomas Special, along with other running pre-war cars – a healthy representation from Bugatti is also expected – will be driven on the remaining sections of the banking and the start-finish straight. These will also include the Maserati 8C raced to third place by Tim Birkin and Bernard Rubin in the 1933 Tripoli GP. This was the race where Birkin sustained burns to his arm – from accidental contact with the hot exhaust while picking up his dropped cigarette lighter – from which he died the following month.

Another pre-war gem on display will be a Mercedes W125 owned by Kevin Wheatcroft, this model making its debut at the 1937 Donington GP – the circuit revived by Wheatcroft’s father Tom in the 1970s.

The cottage industry sparked by Brooklands was carried over in the local Surrey area after the war. Cooper, from nearby Surbiton, will be represented at the centenary – expect T43s, among others. And Tyrrell, from just down the road in Ripley, won the 1971 and 1973 world championships – some 001s driven to glory by Jackie Stewart in the former year should be on hand.

“This celebration is a truly special moment for British motor sport”

McLaren, whose Woking base is also close to the Weybridge venue, has pledged strong support for the event. At least two of its cars will join the modern machinery in action on the short Mercedes-Benz World track. One of them is the 1991 McLaren MP4/6 chassis 10, which made its debut in the hands of Ayrton Senna at the Italian GP – Senna qualified the Honda V12-powered car on pole position. He then clinched the world championship in this chassis at Suzuka, where he slowed to let team-mate Gerhard Berger win the race.

Meanwhile, McLaren M23 chassis 15 was brought to life by McLaren Heritage, assembled from existing parts. It is in the specification in which Emerson Fittipaldi drove an M23 to victory in the 1974 Brazilian GP at his home track of Interlagos.