FINISHING LINES

TOPOLINOS TAKE TO THE TRACK, BROOKLANDS, 1938

Racing at Brooklands normally evokes images of large-engined cars thundering round the track. However, during the 32 years it has existed as a racing venue, cars of all sizes and capacities have raced around various parts of the circuit.

The final year, 1938, saw a full season of racing before the Second World War and was probably one of the best seasons In terms of quality of racing - largely due to the Racing Committee's inslstence on the various safety measures over the years.

At the Easter meeting that year, not only was John Cobb's new Railton land speed record car on display to attract the crowd of some 20,000, but there was a feature race in which 15 notable racers of the day (more used to battling it out in Alfas, Bentleys, Bugattis and Delages at speeds of more than 100mph), competed in their own road-going Fiat 500 Topolinos. These cars were proving popular with the racing drivers, who found their handling and spritely performance for such a small engine to their liking.

At the time, Autocar reported that overjoyed Brooklands enthusiasts had been looking forward to the race - which was to be only over two laps - for weeks. 'The flght for the lead was epic,' it read. 'The whole bunch of cars screamed down the straight, overrevving scandalously, with Marrogordato, Phillips and Mond swapping places. It was tremendous.'

With most of the cars averaging more than 43mph, and only one car dropping out, S Mond won the race a mere third of a second ahead of CB Phillips, with Arthur Baron coming in third. The winner set the fastest lap at 44.5mph.

The race, uniquely described by Bill Boddy in The History of Brooklands as standard Fiat 500 coupes 'doing battle like a swarm of mice,' was possibly the forerunner to celebrities racing against each other in the same marques. Such races later featured strongly at major events.