About
Brooklands Museum celebrates the birthplace of British motorsport and aviation engineering on the site of the world's first purpose-built motor racing circuit, opened in 1907. Located in Weybridge, Surrey, this unique heritage site preserves the pioneering spirit of early 20th-century speed merchants, racing drivers, aircraft designers, and engineers who pushed the boundaries of technology and human achievement. The banked concrete circuit remains visible across the site, offering tangible connection to motorsport history.
The museum's extensive collections span over a century of motoring and aviation history. The motor racing collection includes legendary vehicles that competed at Brooklands from Edwardian monsters to 1930s streamliners, many of which set world speed records on the famous banking. Names like Malcolm Campbell, John Cobb, and Kaye Don come alive through the cars they drove to glory. The aviation collection is equally impressive, featuring aircraft built at Brooklands by pioneering companies including Hawker, Vickers, and BAC, ranging from World War I fighters to Concorde.
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Annual Visitors (2019)
85,000
Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
📅 Best Times to Visit
Quietest: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Busiest: Saturday, Sunday
💡 Weekdays outside school holidays. Arrive mid-morning (10:30-11:00) after initial rush.
💡 Visitor Tips
- Allow 3-4 hours minimum to explore properly. The site is large with aircraft hangars, motor racing halls, historic circuit walks, and special attractions like Concorde boarding requiring substantial time. Enthusiasts easily spend a full day here.
- Book Concorde boarding experience in advance as spaces are limited and popular. The guided tour allows you to board the aircraft, sit in the cabin, and see the flight deck. Tours run at scheduled times throughout the day. Book online when purchasing admission tickets.
- Wear comfortable walking shoes as you'll cover significant distances between hangars, racing halls, and the outdoor circuit. Much of the site is outdoors or in unheated historic buildings, so dress appropriately for weather conditions.
- Check the events calendar before visiting. Brooklands hosts special events including historic vehicle running days when cars and motorcycles are demonstrated, air shows, vintage fairs, and themed weekends that significantly enhance the experience.
- The Sunray Café serves hot and cold food throughout the day. Outdoor picnic areas are available if you prefer to bring your own lunch. The museum shop stocks excellent books, models, and gifts for motoring and aviation enthusiasts.
- Photography is permitted throughout the museum including aboard aircraft and near vehicles. The banking, Concorde, and historic racing cars create fantastic photo opportunities. Best lighting for outdoor shots is morning or late afternoon.
- Visit the banking - walk on the famous 30-foot high concrete surface where world speed records were set. Interpretation panels explain the circuit's history and famous drivers. Standing on the banking provides visceral connection to motorsport's pioneering era.
- If you're interested in specific aircraft or vehicles, ask volunteer guides for information. Many volunteers have deep knowledge of particular aircraft types or racing history and enjoy sharing detailed information with interested visitors.
- The museum is closed Mondays except during school holidays and bank holidays. Weekdays outside school holidays offer the quietest visiting conditions. Weekends attract more families and enthusiasts.
- Annual membership (£48) provides unlimited admission for 12 months, making it excellent value if you plan to visit more than twice. Members also receive newsletters, event invitations, and shop discounts.
Highlights
The Brooklands Racing Circuit
The most significant feature of Brooklands Museum is the surviving sections of the world's first purpose-built motor racing circuit, opened in 1907. Visitors can walk on the famous 30-foot high banked track where legendary drivers like Malcolm Campbell, John Cobb, and Kaye Don set world speed records.
The steeply banked concrete surface, now weathered and broken in places, provides visceral connection to the dawn of motorsport.
Standing on the banking offers perspective on the courage required to race at over 140 mph on this surface in the 1920s and 1930s. Interpretation panels around the track explain its construction by Hugh Locke King, the circuit's golden age when 287,000 spectators watched racing, famous races and record attempts, and its closure in 1939 at the outbreak of World War II.
The circuit's survival as the only remaining pre-WWI racing circuit in the world makes Brooklands uniquely significant in motorsport heritage.
Concorde G-BBDG
The jewel of Brooklands' aviation collection is Concorde G-BBDG, one of only 20 Concordes built and the last to fly in service with British Airways before the fleet's retirement in 2003. This particular aircraft, built at the Brooklands factory site by BAC and Aerospatiale, flew for 22,260 hours at twice the speed of sound, crossing the Atlantic in under 3.
5 hours.
Visitors can book exclusive tour experiences to board this engineering marvel and explore the flight deck with its analog dials and switches, the cabin where passengers experienced supersonic flight, and learn about Concorde's development, operation, and ultimate retirement.
The guided tour reveals fascinating details about supersonic flight, the technical challenges overcome, famous passengers, and the aircraft's unmatched speed record. Standing beside or boarding this icon of British engineering achievement is an unforgettable experience.
VC10 Experience
Brooklands houses one of only two complete VC10 aircraft preserved in the UK. This elegant four-engine jet airliner represented British engineering excellence in the 1960s and served both civil and military roles. The museum's VC10 G-ASIX can be boarded during special open cockpit days, allowing visitors to explore the flight deck, cabin, and cargo hold.
The VC10's design incorporated innovations including rear-mounted engines and exceptional hot-and-high performance. Interpretation explains the aircraft's development by Vickers at Brooklands, airline service with BOAC and other carriers, military adaptation as tankers and transports for the RAF, and eventual retirement.
The opportunity to board a VC10 is increasingly rare, making Brooklands' aircraft particularly valuable.
The contrast between the VC10's 1960s subsonic design and Concorde's supersonic technology illustrates rapid aviation advancement.
Malcolm Campbell's Bluebird Record Cars
Brooklands celebrates Sir Malcolm Campbell, the greatest British racing driver of the 1920s and 1930s, who used the circuit as his testing ground for world land speed record attempts. The museum displays several Campbell vehicles including the 1933 Bluebird car in which Campbell set a land speed record of 272.
46 mph at Daytona Beach.
Campbell's achievements - breaking the land speed record nine times and the water speed record three times - epitomize the pioneering spirit of the speed record era. The sleek, streamlined Bluebird cars demonstrate advanced aerodynamic understanding and engineering courage. Displays explain Campbell's methodical approach to record-breaking, the evolution of his Bluebird cars from relatively conventional racers to purpose-built streamliners, his relationship with Brooklands, and his enduring legacy in British motorsport.
Standing beside a genuine Campbell Bluebird connects visitors to motorsport's golden age.
Collections
Brooklands Museum's collections encompass over 30 historic aircraft, 50 racing and sports cars, motorcycles, bicycles, buses, automotive archives, photographs, films, engineering drawings, and racing memorabilia. The motor racing collection includes vehicles that competed at Brooklands from 1907-1939, featuring marques such as Napier, Bentley, Bugatti, Aston Martin, and Malcolm Campbell's record-breaking Bluebirds.
The aviation collection focuses on aircraft built at Brooklands by Vickers, Hawker, and BAC, ranging from WWI types through Concorde.
Significant aircraft include Concorde G-BBDG, Vickers VC10, Wellington bomber, Hawker Hurricanes, and numerous other military and civil types. The archive holds over 100,000 photographs, films, technical drawings, and documents relating to Brooklands' motoring and aviation history. The collection preserves the heritage of a site that pioneered both British motorsport and aviation manufacturing.
Race Village and Motor Racing Collection
The motor racing displays occupy several buildings around the historic circuit, showcasing Brooklands' role as the birthplace of British motorsport. Exhibitions cover the circuit's construction in 1907, the golden age of racing in the 1920s and 1930s, famous drivers including Malcolm Campbell and John Cobb, record-breaking attempts, the Brooklands Automobile Racing Club (BARC), women racers who competed at Brooklands, and the circuit's closure in 1939.
Historic racing cars are displayed alongside photographs, trophies, driver memorabilia, period posters, and film footage.
Interactive displays allow visitors to experience the sensation of banking at high speed and understand racing techniques. The exhibition emphasizes human stories of pioneering drivers and mechanics who pushed technological and physical limits.
📍 Clubhouse and racing paddock buildings
Aircraft Factory and Aviation Heritage
The aircraft halls showcase Brooklands' equally important role as a major British aviation manufacturing site from 1910 through the 1980s. Companies including Vickers, Hawker, and BAC designed and built thousands of aircraft at Brooklands. The exhibition features military aircraft including Wellington bombers, Hawker Hurricanes and Hunters, and civil aircraft including Concorde and the VC10.
Displays explain the aircraft industry's development, wartime production, test flying at Brooklands, famous test pilots, the economic importance of aviation manufacturing, and the eventual closure of aircraft production. Visitors can appreciate the engineering sophistication of different aircraft types and understand how Brooklands contributed to British aviation supremacy across multiple eras.
📍 Aircraft hangars
Concorde Experience
The Concorde Exhibition and boarding experience represents one of the museum's premier attractions. The exhibition area surrounding Concorde G-BBDG explores supersonic flight development, Anglo-French collaboration, technical challenges overcome, operational history, famous passengers and routes, the experience of supersonic travel, and the fleet's retirement in 2003.
Special booked tours allow visitors to board the aircraft and experience the flight deck and cabin.
The close-up view of Concorde's distinctive delta wing, slender fuselage, and drooping nose conveys the aircraft's unique design. Interpretation emphasizes Concorde as the peak of 20th-century aviation technology and a symbol of Anglo-French cooperation. For many visitors, seeing and boarding Concorde is the highlight of their Brooklands experience.
📍 Concorde hangar
Themes
Time Periods
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.