Tuesday, November 18, 2008

BROOKLANDS, 1925


This is my new favorite Brooklands photo. It's from 1925, and shows two anonymous racers 'down to it' on the Member's Banking, riding low on the fast inside line. Both riders are on single cylinder machines, both are wearing boots and helmets, but the standard of protective clothing ended there; woolen jumpers and trousers were perfectly acceptable. It must have been a coldish day as both riders are wearing more than one layer of wool up top. Number 30's machine seems to have a Blackburne engine, but the make of the bike is impossible to tell.

The scale of the track is clear; it dwarfs the riders, and the patchy quality of the concrete surface is readily apparent. But the photographer's position, right on the edge of the track, really brings the viewer into the action.