ABC's started out at Brooklands until they were evicted at 24 hours notice 
when The Unpleasantness began in 1914. As the current museum has one or two 
bits of APU lying about the place, I asked about library materials and the 
upshot was that I was invited to visit Brooklands last Friday.

I arrived around lunchtime to be greeted by the Curator & installed in the 
library. I'd brought with me my laptop, an empty dongle & a flat bed 
scanner. I spent the next three hours reviewing the material & scanning in 
some of it. I found some Factory photos I'd not seen before & a couple of 
useful articles, amounting to 30 jpg's, some of them Quite Large ;o)).

There was nothing of amazing import, but there was this little anecdote that 
I liked.

The 1915 250 "Firefly" flat twin was very light & well made. One of its uses 
was to drive a Sirocco fan & this was used to inflate the envelopes of 
balloons. During a visit by some bigwigs, one was run up to 4,000 rpm & 
someone asked what it could do. The upshot was that it was left running in 
the test shop on full throttle with the fan attached. When they returned an 
hour or so later, the engine had run out of fuel. It had recorded 10,000 rpm 
for some time (apparently with no ill  effects) as the fan had 
disintegrated, leaving a large hole in the roof!

Regards,



Kim Siddorn

"David"  wrote in message 
news:1256689565.624167@chilli.pcug.org.au...
> On Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:09:26 +0000, kimsiddorn wrote:
>
>> ABC's started out at Brooklands until they were evicted at 24 hours
>> notice when The Unpleasantness began in 1914.
>
> Could you please elucidate on this event? TIA.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WW1 ???

Mike.H. wrote:
> 
> "David"  wrote in message 
> news:1256689565.624167@chilli.pcug.org.au...
>> On Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:09:26 +0000, kimsiddorn wrote:
>>
>>> ABC's started out at Brooklands until they were evicted at 24 hours
>>> notice when The Unpleasantness began in 1914.
>>
>> Could you please elucidate on this event? TIA.
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> 
> WW1 ???

Ah *that* unpleasantness - it's called British understatement David!

NHH

On Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:07:43 +0000, NHH wrote:
>> WW1 ???
> 
> Ah *that* unpleasantness - it's called British understatement David!

FWIW, it was apparently also the year of the first international figure
skating championships. I'm sure some other stuff happened, too.

Well, it wasn't a good year for the Ferdinand family .....

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

"Jules"  wrote in message 
news:pan.2009.10.28.17.34.30.321939@remove.this.gmail.com...
> On Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:07:43 +0000, NHH wrote:
>>> WW1 ???
>>
>> Ah *that* unpleasantness - it's called British understatement David!
>
> FWIW, it was apparently also the year of the first international figure
> skating championships. I'm sure some other stuff happened, too.
>

On Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:07:43 +0000, NHH wrote:

> Ah *that* unpleasantness - it's called British understatement David!

Yes, I know all about that (:-). I had read into Mr Siddorn's message 
that the unpleasantries had related to Brooklands, somewhere that we had 
lived in close proximity to back in the mid-70s.

David wrote:
> On Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:07:43 +0000, NHH wrote:
> 
>> Ah *that* unpleasantness - it's called British understatement David!
> 
> Yes, I know all about that (:-). I had read into Mr Siddorn's message 
> that the unpleasantries had related to Brooklands, somewhere that we had 
> lived in close proximity to back in the mid-70s.

Oops, sorry David I somehow got it into my head that you were an 
antipodian and the subtleties of British humour might have been lost. 
Anyway, I'm sure Kim can give you chapter and verse, but the neccesities 
of war planning meant the immediate expansion of some businesses 
operating out of Brooklands while others had to vacate at very short notice.

NHH

On Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:29:17 +0000, NHH wrote:

> Oops, sorry David I somehow got it into my head that you were an
> antipodian and the subtleties of British humour might have been lost.
Actually I am, but I have also lived and breathed in the northern 
hemisphere for a time. Long enough for an offspring to have dual 
nationality and who spent the first three years of his life not too far 
from Brooklands.
> Anyway, I'm sure Kim can give you chapter and verse, but the neccesities
> of war planning meant the immediate expansion of some businesses
> operating out of Brooklands while others had to vacate at very short
> notice.
> 
> NHH