Trio of Delage Grand Prix cars returns to the Brooklands banking

Published: 26/09/2022

23rd September - The iconic banking at Brooklands Museum hosted Delage Grand Prix cars once again, as three examples of the all-conquering 15 S 8 lined up on its historic surface on Thursday 22 September. The symphony of pre-war racing engines and the sight of this trio came 95 years after the second-ever British Grand Prix in which Delage cars finished first, second and third, at Brooklands.

Joining Brooklands Museum’s own car (No 2 of the victorious 1927 Delage team)  were Chassis  4 owned by Abba Kogan, and the later Chassis 5, owned by Paul-Emile Bessade.  Chassis 4 was famously raced  by Richard ‘Dick’ Seaman, the greatest British racing driver of the 1930s who went on to become a star, winning the German Grand Prix for Mercedes-Benz. Seaman and engineer Giulio Ramponi felt that the Delage 15 S 8 provided the perfect base for their attack on the 1936 season, despite the car being nearly 10 years old. Ramponi and his small team spent the winter of 1935/36 in a London mews, developing Seaman’s Delage to great effect, with the British driver taking victories in the Voiturette class at Donington Park, Pescara and Berne. This launched his career, as he soon became a target of the dominant Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix team for the 1937 season. 

Continuing the compelling history of one of the Grand Prix era’s most versatile and storied models, Chassis 5 was also at Brooklands. Owned by Paul-Emile Bessade, Chassis 5 has a fascinating history. Because of the success of Seaman and Ramponi in 1936, Prince ‘Chula’ of Siam’s White Mouse Garage racing team commissioned two ‘new’ Delage 15 S 8s to be built, using existing mechanical components in a newly-designed chassis. Chassis 5 was the first of these and was to be raced by Prince Chula’s cousin Prince ‘Bira’ of Siam. It was, in fact, Brooklands where Prince Bira first got a taste for racing. Arriving in the UK at the age of 19 and taking up motor racing with his cousin. Despite its more advanced suspension, the new car was a disappointment, and White Mouse sold off all its Delage cars and components.

The third car in Thursday’s line-up, Chassis 2, was bequeathed to Brooklands Museum in 2012 by Alan Burnard. Over the preceding 50 years, he had painstakingly restored it to the original 1927 specification and wished to see it returned ‘home’.

With one of the most evocative soundtracks in motorsport, the 1.5 litre straight-8 Grand Prix cars ran on the Brooklands banking and Finishing Straight with their delighted owners at the wheel, and then enjoyed some spirited laps of the neighbouring Mercedes-Benz World circuit. It was a moment that fulfilled Brooklands Museum’s ethos that historic racing cars should be experienced through all the senses, not merely as static displays. 

Tamalie Newbery, Director and CEO, Brooklands Museum, said: “It has been a very special day, bringing these iconic siblings together again and honouring the history of Brooklands and British motorsport. We are excited and proud to be hosting this reunion and a huge thanks Paul-Emile and Abba, the private owners of these iconic Delage 15 S 8 Grand Prix cars, for making it possible. Brooklands Museum is all about celebrating these marvels of engineering and innovation, inspiring the young and old alike with history in motion.”