Brands Hatch opens its doors in 1950 with Moss among the early stars

Brands Hatch’s inaugural car racing event in 1950 marked the start of a historic motorsport journey.

May 1950 Motor Sport magazine page with “Excellent Racing in the West” article, Lulsgate and Brands Hatch reports, photos of cars and drivers.
April 1, 2026

Brands Hatch, which this year celebrates its centenary since opening as a venue for cycling, enjoyed its inaugural car racing meeting on April 16, 1950. The event, organised by the 500 Club (which evolved into the British Racing & Sports Car Club), was hailed in a report in our May 1950 issue, which also featured images of the little Formula 3 cars in the centre pages.

Back then the Brands track was run anticlockwise over one mile, with the loop up to the Druids hairpin not yet part of the layout. A compact circuit, then, and our report enthused about “the excellent view of the whole course which spectators enjoy, either from the fences or from their cars parked on the sloping banks, slick organisation, a John Bolster commentary, expert driving and a total absence of unnecessary officialdom and red tape. Brands Hatch will be seen to have a very promising future. The setting is delightful and some 7000 people are believed to have attended.”

Race winners included 500cc F3 royalty Don Parker, John Cooper and Eric Brandon – the last-named “built up so vast a lead he slowed to converse with the crowd”. And it was Bill Whitehouse who took his Cooper to victory in the 30-lap Championship Race at the end of the day. Out of luck was young Stirling Moss, whose Cooper seized a piston four laps into his heat.

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It was Ken Carter, however, who established the first Brands Hatch lap record, the winner of the Open Challenge final coaxing a 64.76mph average out of his Cooper. Carter is the focus of one of the photos, the caption crowing that his record lap was “faster than the motorcycles can do it”, and “note excellent spectator amenities” – which appear to amount to a wooden fence to separate the crowd from the track.

The Kentish venue was now up and running for car racing, seemingly enjoying the goodwill of south-eastern motor sport enthusiasts and those who documented it. Indeed, our account, hemmed in between reports from the Lulsgate airfield near Bristol and the Targa Florio, added: “We recommend those who are not at Le Mans on June 25 to attend the next car meeting at Brands Hatch.”

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Originally published in the MS Archives in May 1950

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