Hot on the heels of the first VSCC event of 2012 it was time once again for the Brooklands Museum to host the traditional New Year Driving Tests, on Sunday 29 January. It’s always a pleasure to be back at Brooklands, whatever the event, and most of the day’s Tests took on sections of the banking either side of the bridge, adjacent to the finishing straight, and of course the famous test hill - which always proves to be a fine spectacle.

The humble Austin Seven is particularly well suited to this event. Last year’s winner was Ed Williams driving his Austin Seven 1930 Ulster, and this year's line-up included no less than 17 examples. Tim Welch’s 1930 Austin Seven Chummy was perhaps one of the most travelled, having successfully driven from Peking to Paris in 2007, with the only maladies being a broken windscreen and frame surround and broken leafs in both rear springs, caused by hitting a massive pothole. Tim has owned the car for around 30 years and it’s used mostly for trials, though he says it will lap Silverstone Circuit at 60mph comfortably!

The most diminutive car taking part was Tim Gunn’s 1919 Grafton Mono Cyclecar recreation, powered by a single-cylinder 246cc JAP engine. The car hasn’t been seen for quite a while, and was making a welcome return to VSCC events, following an engine rebuild and some recommissioning work. With a good power to weight ratio, it was quite a spritely performer! Young Charlie Martin had entered a 1935 Riley Special, which had been rebuilt by his father Paul and a friend. This SWB Special is powered by a six-cylinder 1500cc Riley engine, and sports a Bean radiator grille.

A trio of Morgan three-wheelers were in the entry list, including Gary Caroline’s 1932 Super Sports powered by a 900cc Matchless engine. Owned by Gary since 1962, the Morgan has become very much part and parcel of the family and has been driven almost everywhere, including, Portugal, Austria, Scandinavia, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, and within 200 miles of Moscow! The car is never trailered, but driven to all events where Gary is competing, whether a race circuit, hillclimb, trial or driving test.

Another entrant that always drives to events was VSCC stalwart Mark Garfitt, who’s been competing at Brooklands since 1976, and drove his 1937 Frazer-Nash BMW 319/55 from South Wales. The car won the JCC Rally at Brooklands in 1937 when driven by Don Aldington, and Mark has a photo of it on the Test Hill! A good many visiting vintage cars gathered by the Clubhouse at lunchtime. David Naylor’s 1933 MG L2 Magna Sports was a successful competition car with victories in the 1933 Alpine Trial and many at Brooklands too, including the 1933 Twelve Hour Race, when it appeared as a ‘works’ entry. The car was discovered dismantled in various boxes in 1991 and has was rebuilt by David.