ROUND THE TRACK
by PJ Wallace
There was a marked expansion of the amateur element at Brooklands as a consequence of the introduction of motor-cycle racing, also bringing in its trail a broadening of the social context of the course. The May meeting of 1908 had been embellished by a handicap race exclusively confined to officers of HM Household Brigade of Guards; an event which might not have been so easily arranged had the entrants been required to compete on two wheels instead of four.
Sheer economics and the structure of society which distinguished the times had ren�dered inevitable a particular form of snobbery attaching to motor racing in the early days exemplified by the posters proclaiming and inviting patronage from "the right people". The introduction of motor-cycle racing was to change all that and was to make Brooklands, for the rest of its life, an open society requiring no other passport but a passionate interest in speed.
Motor-cars found their original market through their obvious advantages over the "carriage-and-pair" which had so long been the means of transport and a status symbol of both aristocracy and the leisured classes in general. It was inevitable that some of the trappings of social precedence should be reflected in the new sport of motor-racing. On the other hand, the origins of motor-cycle racing had been plebeian to a degree, tarnished by excessive intimacy with "trade". "Trade" may be interpreted as the very antithesis of the aristocratic idea.
The traditional custom whereby a gentleman indulged in horse-racing by the nomination of a professional jockey to do the actual riding was easily carried over into the field of motor-racing. No such tradition has ever existed whereby a gentleman owned a number of pedal-cycles and hired professional cyclists to ride them in competition. However, members of the cycle trade did exactly that. For cycle-racing on the road was a highly respectable sport in which all classes of people could take part without any loss of status. The introduction of the "Safety Cycle" was followed by cut-throat competition between the various manufacturers. Each manufacturer sought the maximum advertisements of his products, but soon found that road-races through tracts of open countryside did not offer much opportunity.
Accordingly, they turned to the small wood-boarded tracks where competitors circled in full view of large concentrations of people. Unfortunately, this form of cycle-racing soon became a hot-bed of doubtful practice and open to the sort of corruption and chicanery which the horse-racing aristocracy, whatever their faults, would never have tolerated. It was in these inauspicious circumstances that motor-cycle racing made its debut; not by way of direct competition but in the form of pacing machines in whose slip-stream a pedal-cyclist was able to attain fantastic speeds.
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