BROOKLANDS RELIVED!

Remarkably there were two cars here that took part in that very first GP and we came across the 1925 Halford Special first. The chassis of this car, No. 1916, started life as a Bamford & Martin (later Aston Martin) that was crashed in 1924 and bought by Major Frank Halford, who rebuilt it as firstly the AM Halford and later the Halford Special. Amazingly the Major designed and built two 1.5 litre six-cylinder engines with twin overhead camshafts and started off with a Roots supercharger, later changed to a Berk supercharger.

It ran in the JCC 200 mile race at Brooklands in 1925 with 95bhp under the bonnet and the following year it won two Brooklands Outer Circuit races. It made a fastest lap of 109.94 mph.

Frank Halford raced this car at least 12 times at Brooklands during 1926 where he achieved three wins and various places; his only retirement was in the 1926 Grand Prix, after 270 miles when lying fourth. Halford sold the car to later World speed record holder Captain George Eyston (Mr Castrol Oil) who drove the car at the French Grand Prix where it came 4th. However the car was dismantled in 1930 by its next owner, Viscount Ridley.

The second engine was modified to keep the magnetos dry and put into a speedboat that sank not long after! The boat with its famous engine lay on the bottom of the water for two years. The present owner of the Halford Special traced the original parts in the 1970s and re-assembled the Halford Special back to its original condition, a remarkable feat. It was involved