A Brooklands Gold Star for Bill Boddy

I read in this month’s Motor Sport magazine that Bill Boddy had died at the age of 98. He had started writing letters to Motor Sport in 1924 and his first article appeared in the magazine in 1930. His last article appears in the September 2011 edition! Imagine writing for the same magazine for 81 years! I have only been reading Motor Sort magazine for just over half that time and still remember the February 1968 edition and its beautiful colour pictures of that years South African Grand Prix; you must remember in those days GP racing was not covered regularly on television and so magazines were the way one learnt what happened apart from the annual trip to the British GP.

Bill Boddy was a man of great integrity and edited the magazine for many, many years and turned it into a publication that was very different from other car and motor sport magazines. His road tests and articles about obscure old makes of car became legendary. Perhaps, his greatest passion was for the Brooklands Track and he can be credited with creating the interest that led to the saving of part of the track and founding the Brooklands Museum. If you have any interest in racing cars or aircraft then Brooklands Museum is an absolutely fantastic place to spend the day. I attach a few pictures to whet your appetite. The museum is not too far from Tongham being in Surrey near Weybridge.

The Brroklands banking

So what to drink in memory of Bill Boddy? What other than a glass of a local Tongham ale called Brookland’s Gold Star. Brewed by our local Hogs Back Brewery it is a beer made with malted barley and choicest whole English hops. It is a nice refreshing ale for summer, has a golden hoppy malty taste and is 4.6% abv. A Brookland’s Gold Star was a small badge awarded to elite racing drivers and riders who lapped the track at over 100 mph during a race. Later on the BRDC awarded Gold Stars to commonwealth drivers who had performed well at major races throughout the year and this continues to this day.

The photo on the Brookland’s Gold Star beer bottle is of a 24 (yes, twenty four!) litre Napier Railton as driven by John Cobb to lap the Brookland’s Track at 143 mph in 1935 which is a record that will stand for ever more as the track closed in 1939. The car is now the star exhibit at the museum.

Lets all have a drink to the memory of a great motoring journalist – Bill Boddy.

The Brooklands clubhouse

Exhibits at Brooklands