Given that Brooklands has been running the Double 12 Motorsport Festival for five years now, and that the event has been steadily gathering strength with ever-increasing numbers of visitors and racers alike, preparations for this year’s event have started in earnest.

The Brooklands Museum, with the help of the BSCC and VSSC Clubs, will run the biggest Double 12 Festival to date, which will take place on 16-17 June, traditionally to coincide with the birth date of Brooklands circuit, now 105 years old.

That is not, however, the only birthday to celebrate: Double 12 will also mark the inception of illustrious models, such as the MGB and AC Cobra (both half a century old); the AC Heritage restoration hot spot at the top of the hill climb on Brooklands grounds will endeavour to display at least one example of every single Cobra ever produced in the last fifty years, as well as run an all-Cobra Scalextric race.

In anticipation to the real event in June, with Speed Trials on the Mercedes-Benz course and Driving Concours on the Test Hill, Finishing Straight and Banking arranged by 12 classes (each comprising 12 models), owners of cars which participated in previous years or qualify for this year’s activities, as well as classic and modern cars of all denominations, were invited to flex their outboard suspension muscle on both Brooklands terrain and the nearby Mercedes-Benz World modern circuit.

On a sunny March day, models as quirky as the Alfa Aerodinamica Spider, rare as the pre-war Alfa 8C restored and maintained by ex-racer Neil Twyman, inconspicuous as the Ferrari Daytona in ‘Viola’ (lurid violet), majestic as Rolls-Royce Silver Ghosts and feisty as works MGBs and Austin Healeys, tested the grounds and raced against each other and different eras.     

Quite apart from the proximity of the state-of-the-art Mercedes-Benz circuit, the Mercedes Club has a prominent role in Double 12, as it will manage test drives of both classic and modern cars throughout the Double 12 weekend.

Discounted advance tickets (giving access to both the Museum and Mercedes-Benz World, are now on sale from www.brooklandsmuseumshop.com or by calling +44 (0)1932 857381 ext 268.

Day tickets start at £12 for adults, £30 for families. Entries to the Speed Trials can be viewed on www.vscc.co.uk; entries to the Driving Concours, on www.brooklandsmuseum.com