The Brighton Speed Trials in England is one of the world’s most enduring racing events. First run in 1905 it was and always has been a “sprint” race as the British call it. What that means is that the event is won by covering the established course distance in the shortest elapsed time. This is NOT a drag race. Despite what you see with cars running side by side in this video (which we have read is a relative rarity over the course of the history of the event) the competitors are not racing each other as much as they are racing the track. Sadly, the event was not run in 2013 as there were two people killed when a motorcycle crashed during the 2012 event and permitting issued from governmental bodies prevented the use of the public road which has served as the course for more than 100 years. There have been other stoppages. Wars, British laws barring racing on public roads, and even a fuel crunch have stopped the event for amounts of time ranging from one year to about 20. We know that many are working to get the event started again for the purposes of preserving history and because it is one hell of a time.

Through the years the course length has varied from a kilometer, a quarter mile, a half mile, and a flying start kilometer. The distance has varied and ultimately shrunken due to the fact that cars have consistently quicker and faster over the years. Since 1993, the event has been held on the standing start quarter mile format with lowest elapsed times in 13 categories being declared the winners of their particular classes. The course record for the quarter mile is 8.90 as set by racer John Gray in 1993 at the wheel of a Spa Judd V10. Think of a LeMans type racer and you’ve got it.

The race has always been about sports type cars lots more than it has been about drag racing cars, although that doesn’t means dragsters haven’t shown up and put on a show. Sydney Allard who had the first proper dragster in England brought his creation out in 1961 and several times after, never really faring all that well due to mechanical issues, etc. In 1963 Americans Dante Deuce in the Mooneyes dragster and Mickey Thompson in his Harvey Aluminum Special dragster came to the event but we only allowed to make demo passes as their drag cars really didn’t conform to the rules. The crowd was happy to see burnouts and wheelies from the cars and Thompson’s machine was purchased by British racer Tony Densham and stayed in the country after he left. That brings us to 1964 and this video…

You’ll see lots of neato stuff here and it will absolutely give you a sense of what the event was all about. There are all kinds of wacky little open wheel cars, some look like higher level formula machines and others look like dedicated sprinters with minimal weights and being of tiny size. Two cars stick out and they should. The first is a blue Shelby competition Cobra driven by Dante Deuce. That car won its class that day and the second car you’ll see is a screaming yellow Devin. Ok, a screaming yellow Devin-BODIED race cars known as the Mooneyes Moonbeam. The car had been around since roughly 1960 and by the time it made it to Brighton the tube chassied terror had a 357ci, blown and injected Chevy small block, a set of drag slicks, and a driver that wanted to win the event badly enough that he did it! Besting all comers with a time of 21.95 seconds in the standing Kilometer, Dante Deuce was the overall winner in Moonbeam and the class winner for the category the 289 Cobra he drove (but did not own) was in.

Eurodragster.com photo

We should add that over the years guys like Clive Skilton and Dennis Priddle, two of the most well know British top fuel racers appeared at the event and pleased the crowd with thundering burnouts and a haze of nitro. Also, drag style cars have won the event even within the last 15 years as Paul Martson went back to back in 2001 and 2001 with a tube chassis, crazed PT Cruiser (Photo on left). His best quarter mile time (on the unprepped public road was 10.41 and 10.17 respectively).

There’s lots of great stuff here. Seeing the giant early grand prix cars roasting the tires off the line, full race Jags, a Scarab, and all kinds of one-off homebuilt stuff really makes us wish we had been there to take in the spectacle. You can see how many people used to show up and watch as the camera pans. It looks like half the country of England showed up!

PRESS PLAY BELOW TO WATCH THIS COMPLETELY AWESOME VIDEO FROM THE 1964 BRIGHTON SPEED TRIALS –