De Dion Motor Tricycles at Brooklands 29th November 2017

On this day in 1897, the very first British motor races took place when the Motor Car Club, as a first anniversary celebration of their Emancipation Run from London to Brighton, organised a series of races for the De Dion Bouton motor tricycles on the quarter mile oval cycle track at Sheen House, Richmond Park. The 120th Anniversary commemorations of the first of all British motor races saw around 20 Trikes on track in a series of demonstration races, from one mile sprints, to the finale which was the Club’s Five Mile Championship on the Finishing Straight. Furthermore, they presented exactly as those first motor races, on an oval circuit. The format of the day was as in 1897 - practice and fettling in the morning, with a recreation at around midday of the opening scene for these first races in 1897, Lunch in the Napier Room in the Clubhouse followed, including a short talk on how racing started in Britain by Nick Pellett, followed by the race programme. Come rain, shine and freezing temperatures, the pion