an anorak writes

[MartinH]

In Bill Boddy's excellent book on Montlhery he explains how the "industry" of record breaking was established and maintained there. As early as 1924 angry residents established a ban on night time running at Brooklands. From then on the winter months at Montlhery were taken up by groups of enterprising (mad?) drivers who hurtled round the banking for thousands of miles, day and night. Their reward was the "bonus" paid by any and all companies who could link their names to the records; car makers, tyres, oil, anybody who stood to gain from the subsequent advertising. The same mercenary sponsorship that earns our footballers a crust today! These drivers, many British, would work for anyone and cared not if the car was Austin, Citroen, or Riley. The only major drawback was that Montlhery sits on an exposed hill and the winters can be very cold!