Surrey’s stylish Brooklands Hotel, a contemporary, design-led property located on the site of the historic Brooklands motor racing track, has announced the opening of 11 additional bedrooms and the renaming of four of the hotel’s super suites.Previously a 120 bedroom property, the hotel now offers 131. Brooklands Hotel is home to some of the largest rooms of any UK hotel, with guests’ enjoying an abundance of natural light, thanks to floor to ceiling windows in all rooms, and many of the rooms benefit from panoramic views of the neighbouring Mercedes-Benz World race track.
The additional guest rooms have taken the tally to 62 ‘Deluxe’, 45 ‘Deluxe Front Facing’, nine ‘Executive’, three ‘Executive Front Facing’, five ‘Family’, four ‘Super Suite with Balcony’ and three ‘Panoramic Suite with Balcony’, including the renowned ‘319’ suite.
A recent announcement that £4.68million has been awarded to the neighbouring Brooklands Museum for its long-term ‘Brooklands Aircraft Factory & Race Track Revival Project’, means an exciting new attraction is on the horizon for the area which will increase demand on the already very popular hotel.
References to the hotel’s location on the iconic former Brooklands race track, the birthplace of British motor racing, are found in many architectural and design details which have been inspired by the early racing scene’s heyday of the 1920s and 1930s. A quartz and granite contour of the original track runs through the reception, art-deco patterns have been brought up to date with a modern interpretation and a Charlie Whinny wood sculpture in the atrium echoes the curves of the race track.
In keeping with the history and theme of its location, Brooklands Hotel has announced new names for four of the super suites:
• The ‘Kay Petre’ Suite
Legendary female racer Kay Petre was a star at the legendary Brooklands track and the exploits of this 4’ 10″ woman caused a media sensation at the time. The abiding image of Kay is a tiny woman seated in a huge 10.5 litre V12 Delage, the car in which she battled for the Women’s Outer Circuit Record with Gwenda Stewart. Kay gained the upper hand on 26 October 1934 with a 129.58 mph lap.
• The ‘Noel Pope’ Suite
Noel B. Pope had a successful career as a motor-cycle racer at Brooklands during the 1930s. He raced Broughs and is remembered for holding the ultimate track record for solo and sidecar laps on a supercharged Brough Superior, 106.6mph with a sidecar in 1937 and 124.51mph on a solo machine in 1939.
• The ‘Selwyn Edge’ Suite
In June 1907, Edge broke the 24-hour distance record, driving a 60 hp (44.7 kW) Napier six, at the newly opened Brooklands track, accompanied by riding-mechanic Joseph H Blackburn. In 1922 Edge returned to Brooklands in a Spyker setting a new “Double 12” world record covering 1,782 miles 1,066 yards (2,868 km 693 m) at an average speed of 74.27 mph (119.53 km/h) for the aggregate 24 hours.
• The ‘Percy Lambert’ Suite
Percy first raced at Brooklands in 1910, driving a Streamlined Austin called ‘Pearly III’. Lambert became the first person to cover a hundred miles in an hour, a record set on 15 February 1913 when driving his 4.5 litre side valve Talbot. He actually covered 103 miles and 1470 yards in sixty minutes. However, Lambert was killed at Brooklands on 21 October 1913, while trying to regain his land speed record from Peugeot.
Brooklands Hotel is home to many excellent facilities, including the AA Rosette-winning ‘1907 Restaurant Bar & Grill’ headed up by critically acclaimed chef Norman Farquharson, luxurious BSpa with treatment rooms and outdoor hot tub, state-of-the-art fitness facilities and extensive multi-purpose conference and event spaces.
