Of all the countless motorsport events held around the world, one modest competition held on the south coast of England can claim to be the world’s oldest; the Brighton Speed Trials. First held in 1905, the sprint took place once the organisers, led by Sir Harry Preston, had persuaded the local council to tarmac the surface of a small straight road that ran beside the shingle beach, east from the Palace Pier to an area known as Black Rock.
Initially, the competitors benefited from a flying start to the finish line one kilometre down the road, but due to cost and local opposition the event was not held again until 1923. By this time the road had been renamed Madeira Drive. From 1925 to 1931, racing on public roads was banned, but the event returned once it was established that the road was privately owned by the local council. By the late 1930s it was considered the most important speed trials on the calendar. After 1945, it became a regular fixture every September and attracted large crowds of spectators, while the original kilometre mark was reduced slightly to half a mile. Over the years it attracted top drivers such as Stirling Moss, John Cobb, Jack Sears and even Bill Boddy, late editor of Motor Sport magazine and the likes of Alex Issigonis, designer of the Mini. There was also a class for motorcycles, and during the 1960s a handful of top-fuel dragsters entered once the surface of the road had been relaid to be as smooth as possible. However, it was not smooth enough and the top-rail dragsters bounced from ridge to ridge, the drivers backing off instantly despite already being more than a hundred metres down the road (and heading towards the beach). The top dragsters provided an awesome sight and sound but Maderia Drive proved to be unsuitable. Sadly, over the years, a number of competitors suffered a variety of accidents, some of which proved fatal; in one instance it was simply a strong cross-wind that blew a car off the road. In order to reduce the high top speeds at the finish line, the half-mile course was halved in length. In recent years an environmentally obsessed council has tried to put and end to this hugely popular form of motorsport but public opinion has so far prevailed.
The photograph above was taken during the 1977 Brighton Speed Trials, showing Brighton’s Palace Pier in the background as well as a wide variety of entrants and a line of competitors as they approach the start. On the left is a Ford GT40 and in the centre of the photo is the ex-Le Mans/Team Willment AC Cobra of Nigel Hulme. Car number 153 is a road-going Ferrari Daytona behind which is the ex-John Woolfe Shelby Cobra 427, a race-prepared 7-litre car in which Woolfe had competed ten years earlier. This time it was driven by Brian Angliss, owner of Cobra builders and restorers Autokraft, later becoming the owner of AC Cars Ltd.
From ‘Moments in Motorsport’ by Trevor Legate.
