Brooklands Motor Museum

Brooklands Motor Museum opens its doors on New Year's Day for car enthusiasts and visitors alike (it's open the rest of the year too), and provides a welcome respite from the festive season. Owners come from far and wide to display their vintage, rare, and specialist vehicles, and it really is quite a sight. The location itself is an historic one, it's the world's first purpose built motor circuit, dating from 1907. It is known as the birthplace of British motor racing and aviation and has seen many of the great technical achievements of both. The museum is home to a wide range of motorsport and aeroplane exhibits, together with a charming array of restored outbuildings and hangars. Brooklands Trust is a charity and works hard to preserve the character of British historic motorsport and aviation.

Brooklands also has its own Concorde and visitors can book a ticket for an 'experience' whilst learning more about the Concorde story.

The event is a social one and it was great to talk to the owners and get a really close look at the sort of vehicles one would never normally encounter. Hot, comforting food is available in the downstairs cafe and the restaurant above and I was able to enjoy my lunch in the company of two racing drivers who shared a fascinating (and slightly hair-raising) insight to their world.

Modern car clubs are also welcome, and I took up my place in the Independent Porsche Enthusiasts Club area before spending several fascinating hours photographing the hundreds of stunning cars spread around the track and grounds, offset by the many static aeroplane exhibits dotted about the site. The weather was spectacular - freezing cold with a strong vivid, low winter sun. This is a little challenging in photography terms, especially when one has no control over the subject's placement, so it's a question of moving around until the best compromise is achieved.

If you'd like to see the full set of images, visit my main website, choose the Flash site, click on the clients tab (at the bottom) and enter the password: 01jan10 (space and case sensitive).