Editing Brooklands (section)

==Brooklands today==
[[File:Brooklands Members' Banking from bridge.jpg|thumb|Part of The Members' Banking, 2007]]

Brooklands Museum houses historic aircraft including a Vickers Wellington bomber recovered from Loch Ness in 1985, a [[British Airways]] [[Concorde]], [[G-BBDG]] (c/n 202), the UK's first production Concorde, and now also owns the 40% scale Concorde model "G-CONC" displayed for many years as a [[gate guardian]] at Heathrow Airport, until removed in 2007. After restoration and repainting, the model was relocated for similar duty at Brooklands Museum's public entrance off Brooklands Drive on 29 September 2012.

There are civil and military aircraft on display including a [[Vickers Vanguard]], [[Vickers Viscount|Viscount 800]] and [[Vickers VC10|Standard VC-10]]. The majority of exhibits were built at Brooklands or have close associations with the site. The VC-10 was built and first flown at Brooklands in 1964 and after airline service with British United as G-ASIX and later British Caledonian Airways, in 1974 it became a [[Air transports of heads of state and government|VIP aircraft]] for the then-[[Qaboos bin Said|Sultan Qaboos of Oman]] until retired on 6 July 1987 and donated to Brooklands Museum by the Sultan's Royal Flight.

Although the Circuit is no longer driveable, it can still be simulated in the 1999 released ''[[Spirit of Speed 1937]]'' game for the PC and [[Dreamcast]], in which it was re-created in detail. Several other video games also feature Brooklands and Brooklands Museum's Formula 1 simulator also features a detailed computer simulation of the pre-war race track.

In 2009, [[BBC]] ''[[Top Gear (2002 TV series)|Top Gear]]'' presenter [[James May]] announced plans to recreate the full length Brooklands using [[Scalextric]] track and cars.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/surrey/8187656.stm|title=May to attempt Scalextric record|publisher=BBC|date=7 August 2009|access-date=2 January 2010|archive-date=19 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019213013/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/surrey/8187656.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> This was undertaken with a team of 350 volunteers building the track from an uncounted number of pieces of Scalextric track, navigating ponds and roads, closely following the route of the old Brooklands track. This event broke the Guinness World Record for the longest ever Scalextric track in the world, intended to measure the original {{convert|2.75|mi|km}} of the original Brooklands circuit but in reality recording {{convert|2.95|mi|km}} in length (due to the need to navigate modern features that block the original course). The episode was shown on BBC2 on 17 November 2009 as part of ''[[James May's Toy Stories]]''.

BBC TV's ''[[Antiques Roadshow]]'' was filmed at Brooklands Museum in July 2009<ref>{{cite news |last= Talbot |first= Charlotte |date= 2 July 2013 |orig-date= 1 June 2009 |title= Antiques Roadshow visits Brooklands |work= Surrey Live |url= https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/local-news/antiques-roadshow-visits-brooklands-4823676 |access-date= 5 April 2023 }}</ref> and subsequently produced as two programmes for its next series and first broadcast on 10 and 17 January 2010.

Apart from Brooklands Museum's displays and exhibits, today there are a number of memorials to Brooklands. The first of these is the 'Brooklands Memorial' built by Vickers-Armstrongs to mark the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Motor Course and was unveiled by [[John Moore-Brabazon, 1st Baron Brabazon of Tara|Lord Brabazon of Tara]] in July 1957.{{sfn|Venables|2007|pp=252-253}} This impressive concrete faced monument featured a fine bronze letters, plaque and related inscription summarising the site's history from 1907–57 and was originally located at the North end of the aerodrome, was designated as a Scheduled Monument in 2002 then relocated and restored in a new position just east of the River Wey on the museum site to make way for the new Mercedes-Benz World complex, which opened in 2006. The original bronze fittings were stolen in the 1970s but the plaque was later found and is now displayed in the main entrance foyer of the former [[British Automobile Racing Club|BARC]] Clubhouse.

A memorial dedicated to Brooklands aircraft design and manufacturing heritage was specially designed and manufactured by British Aerospace in the late 1980s to mark the closing of its last factory there. This takes the form of a large engraved acrylic panel displayed at the southern end of the old runway close to the entrance to the Community Park and a children's nursery. Forgotten and overgrown until quite recently, this has now been rediscovered and is still in good condition.

Another initiative was taken in the early 1990s by the developers Trafalgar Brookmount Ltd who commissioned an artist to design and produce two large brown terracotta 'gate statements'; these are located at the east end of Wellington Way and the south end of Sopwith Drive and feature representative images of Brooklands' pre-1940 history namely the [[Napier-Railton]], [[Vickers Vimy]] and the two former Clubhouses.

In 1993, Prince Michael of Kent officially opened a new Garden of Memories at Brooklands Museum which features a growing number of commemorative plaques in memory of many people who have been associated with Brooklands for more than 100 years.

Much of the novel ''Kingdom Come'', published in 2006 by the author [[J. G. Ballard]], is set in Brooklands.<ref>{{cite news |last= Le Guin |first= Ursula |date= 9 September 2006 |title= Revolution in the aisles |work= The Guardian |url= https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/sep/09/fiction.shopping |access-date= 5 April 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Baker |first= Simon |date= 23 September 2006 |title= Brooklands goes ballistic |work= The Spectator |url= https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/brooklands-goes-ballistic/ |access-date= 5 April 2023 }}</ref>

In February 2015, it was announced that Brooklands would receive a multimillion-pound facelift.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31506646|title=Facelift for Brooklands, birthplace of UK motor racing|publisher=BBC|date=17 February 2015|access-date=17 February 2015|archive-date=17 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150217160512/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31506646|url-status=live}}</ref> The £4.68 million [[National Lottery Heritage Fund|Heritage Lottery Fund]] grant funded an £8.5 million ''Brooklands Aircraft Factory and Race Track Revival Project''. This resulted in the relocation and restoration of the Grade II Listed 1940 Bellman Hangar complete with a comprehensive new "Aircraft Factory" exhibition inside,<ref>[https://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/about/latest-news/re-engineering-of-brooklands-gets-budget-boost Re-Engineering of Brooklands gets Budget Boost] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191207233809/https://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/about/latest-news/re-engineering-of-brooklands-gets-budget-boost |date=7 December 2019 }} ''www.brooklandsmuseum.com'' 01 April 2016, accessed 7 December 2019</ref><ref>[https://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/about/support-us/reengineeringBrooklands Re-Engineering Brooklands] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190421134200/https://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/about/support-us/reengineeringBrooklands |date=21 April 2019 }} ''www.brooklandsmuseum.com'', accessed 7 December 2019</ref> as well as construction of a new two-storey Flight Shed housing archives and a workshop on the ground floor with another aircraft exhibition hall above. Restoration of the Northern section of the adjacent Finishing Straight was also part of the scheme and included revealing its largely intact 'lost' section under the hangar's post-war floor. The project was successfully completed and officially opened to the public by Prince Michael of Kent on 13 November 2017.<ref>{{Cite web|title=BROOKLANDS MUSEUM|url=https://www.thomasford.co.uk/projects-6/brooklands-museum|access-date=2020-10-03|website=TFP|language=en|archive-date=5 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210305222215/https://www.thomasford.co.uk/projects-6/brooklands-museum|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Brooklands Museum {{!}} Restoration {{!}} Crofton Consulting|url=https://crofton.consulting/case-study/brooklands-museum/|access-date=2020-10-03|website=crofton.consulting|language=en-GB|archive-date=19 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019213019/https://crofton.consulting/case-study/historic-restoration-brooklands-museum/|url-status=live}}</ref>

2017 also saw the completion of a new Brooklands Conservation Management Plan (funded by English Heritage - now Historic England) for the Brooklands Heritage Partnership and among other things, this document set new standards for maintaining and, where practical or necessary, for repairing the surviving sections of the historic Race Track. Further grant aid from Historic England in 2018 enabled an experienced contractor to clear several extensive undergrowth from the largely and seriously neglected western section of the Byfleet Banking. In February 2020, the Byfleet Banking's central section was also successfully cleared of leaves, moss and weeds for its owners Marks & Spencer and Tesco.