Relive the first British Grand Prix this weekend, as Brooklands goes back to 1926

“A brighter scene would be hard to imagine; sunshine, dresses, sumptuous cars, grass, trees, advertisements, and lastly the little green and blue projectiles themselves, such is the picture retained in the mind of this great event.”

These are the opening words of Motor Sport’s report from the very first British Grand Prix, held 95 years ago this Saturday on August 7 1926 at Brooklands, on a swelteringly hot day – much like that which baked 140,000 fans at Silverstone a few weeks back. Has the British GP really changed that much? At its core and from a point of view of anticipation, public excitement and a sense of occasion, perhaps not.

The grand prix Motor Sport heralded in its September 1926 issue as ‘The first Great International Race held at Brooklands’, and officially named the Grand Prix of the Royal Automobile Club, will be celebrated this Saturday as Brooklands marks that 95th anniversary  – admittedly not the most catchy number, but who cares? – with an event the museum has dubbed ‘Brooklands Relived’. A line-up of grand prix cars through the decades is promised, while a ‘Race Starts’ display on the Finishing Straight will feature cars and motorcycles blasting up on to the Members’ Banking, with ascents of the 1 in 4 Test Hill also on the cards. Little excuse is needed for a visit to the remnants of the glorious old Surrey speed-bowl, but if you need one here it is. The occasion also offers a chance to check out a new exhibition called ‘Driven by Design’ which has been put together in collaboration with McLaren Automotive, featuring among real cars a life-size McLaren 720S made from Lego. How many pages did that instruction booklet stretch to?

Silverstone’s vital role in establishing Britain as a central hub of European motor sport post-war from 1948 is regularly acknowledged, just as it should be. But we must never forget the original ‘home of British motor sport’ and the roots of the British Racing Drivers’ Club. Yet even by the mid-1920s Brooklands, opened way back in 1907, was beginning to creak. Even then it was increasingly considered archaic, especially in contrast to emerging European venues such as Monza (built in 1922) and the new breed of fast road courses such as Spa-Francorchamps (first grand prix held in 1925) and the Nürburgring (completed in 1927). In hindsight, the 1926 British GP can be translated as concerted, if ultimately futile, attempt to reignite Brooklands’ prominence on the European scene.

The race counted as a round of the original World Manufacturers’ Championship, established in 1925 and which petered out before the end of the decade, attracting an entry probably described as respectable at best – even if the works Bugattis that would claim the 1926 title snubbed the trip across the Channel. Three Talbots in nationalistic green faced a trio of French Delages, Malcolm Campbell’s Bugatti (chosen over his Talbot which also appeared on the entry), George Eyston’s Aston Martin – there’s a hazy link to the 2021 British GP grid – and Frank Halford’s Aston-based Halford Special. Nine cars.

For the layout, the RAC chose to eschew the complete Outer Circuit oval, choosing a teardrop track that ignored the Fork and most of the Members’ Banking in favour of a straight blast off the Byfleet Banking on to the Finishing Straight. To slow the cars, a pair of sandbank chicanes were added, with drivers threading through the right-hand span of a footbridge added for the occasion between the chicanes, before they swept up on to the end of Members for the run along the Railway Straight.

The occasion certainly caught the imagination of the public. “One was impressed by the resemblance to a horse-racing meeting, even to the parade of cars burbling gently out to the distant starting line from the paddock, to the delight of the huge crowd, many of whom did not again have an opportunity of examining the vehicles at such close range,” reads Motor Sport’s breathless report. “The antics of the mechanics when climbing in to accompany the drivers to the start were most amusing, some of them only just retaining their precarious seats as the drivers ‘trod on the gas’.”

The race itself was a four-hour slog of attrition, a gruelling marathon becoming of its grand epreuve title, as heat became a running theme – especially for the poor feet of the Delage drivers who suffered as they had done elsewhere with burns from white-hot exhausts. For anyone visiting Brooklands this Saturday, listen out for the following echoes, as captured by Motor Sport on the day.