Brooklands Museum Talks

As the final rung below Formula 1 on motor racing’s ladder to the top, the International Formula 3000 Championship ran from 1985 to 2004 and nurtured numerous drivers who went on to become future stars. Jean Alesi, Christian Fittipaldi, Juan Pablo Montoya and Nick Heidfeld all became International F3000 champions on the way to Formula 1. Brooklands Members president Damon Hill impressed in F3000 before securing the Williams testing role, which led to a full-time drive and ultimately the championship. Notables who established themselves in team ownership and management included Eddie Jordan, Christian Horner, Helmut Marko and David Sears. Our speaker is James Newbold, author of "Formula 3000 – Where Legends Earned Their Stripes" whose meticulous research into F3000’s 20-year history included interviews with over 100 key figures from the era. James is joined by prominent F3000 drivers, engineers and team owners, including former Lotus Formula One driver Martin Donnelly, who was a consultant on the 2025 Brad Pitt blockbuster film, F1, and whose Jerez accident features in the movie.

Gareth Tarr talks with the author Peter Grimsdale about the writing of the book. Silverstone, 1950 – the first post-war Grand Prix and the birth of Formula One. The king and queen, alongside 150,000 spectators, watch in dismay as Italy’s Alfa Romeos scream past to claim the first three places. British cars are hopelessly outclassed by Alfa Romeos and Maseratis. How can it be, they all wonder, that Italy, its industry reduced to rubble by Allied bombs so recently, has set new standards of speed and style that leave the rest of the world for dust? Italy’s ability to outflank its more powerful and better-equipped neighbours is nothing new. At the turn of the century Italy made so few cars that its output wasn’t recorded, by 1907 Italian cars and drivers swept the board in the first Grand Prix season. In Superveloce, Peter Grimsdale explores the mystery of how a country with no industrial revolution, hampered by poverty, came to represent an innovation and flair that other countries struggled to match. Grimsdale traces a century of Italian design genius, the rise of great marques such as Ferrari, Fiat and Alfa Romeo. We see the lives of fiercely charismatic and competitive drives like Ascari, Varzi and Nuvolari. Does the secret lie deep in Italy’s cultural heritage – in historic links between art and machine going back to da Vinci? Or is it simply ‘sprezzatura’ – the art of making something difficult look effortlessly easy?

Members Coffee & Collections November 2025 - Allan Winn talks about Land Speed Records and Brooklands by Nonesuche Media

In the pipeline for nearly a decade, 2025 saw the publication of "Formula 2 – The Glory Years". The book celebrates the wonderful era of the European Formula 2 Championship, which began in 1967 and concluded in 1984. Formula 2 pitted emerging heroes against the greats of the day and in its earlier years virtually all the top F1 drivers — names like Jackie Stewart, Jack Brabham, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt, Ronnie Peterson and Bruce McLaren — battled with young chargers in races that thrilled huge crowds at the best European circuits. We welcome to Brooklands Simon Taylor talking with Chris Chitty, Bob Constandurous and Ian Phillips who covered this epic era of motorsport. Double World Sportscar Champion and five-time Le Mans winner Derek Bell is also part of the panel. Derek finished second in the 1970 European Formula 2 Championship driving a Brabham, and he also raced a works Ferrari in Formula 2.

Recorded at his home on 5th August 2025, Karl talks with BMtv's Gareth Tarr about his latest three volume set of books "POWER UNLEASHED. TRAILBLAZERS WHO ENERGISED ENGINES WITH SUPERCHARGING AND TURBOCHARGING". Award-winning author Karl Ludvigsen takes the reader behind the scenes of the roller-coaster ride of supercharging, turbocharging and even more exotic power-boosting inventions throughout automotive and aviation history. Supercharging in all its forms is the most exciting feature ever created to go under the bonnet of a motor car. Blowers were rare yet highly desirable devices in their early heyday of the 1920s and ’30s, an era in which compressors graced supremely glamorous and race-winning cars. They also won respect from aviators eager to exploit high altitudes. Prolific use of forced induction in the air in World War II brought forth the many engineering geniuses who populate these pages. Having seemed abandoned on land, supercharging found new acolytes who perfected blowers for road and track. They rescued the turbocharger to open new avenues for high-pressure boosting in the 1970s and ’80s. Into the 21st century turbocharging has found its way into more and more cars to enhance both performance and fuel efficiency. Power Unleashed is a three-volume work of astonishing depth and detail. Greatly respected for his ability to communicate information while telling a compelling story, Karl Ludvigsen explores the global saga of supercharging and turbocharging. Complete with reader-friendly technical descriptions and magnificent illustrations, he introduces the fascinating individuals who bet their businesses on boosting. This is a landmark work in the histories of the automobile and aeroplane.