“We will be celebrating our centenary in the spirit of Bod and Jenks”
Joe Dunn, editor Follow Joe on Twitter @joedunn90
One hundred years ago Oscar E Seyd sat down at his desk and typed out the following: “In introducing a new journal, it is usual to commence with a word of apology. We feel that very little apology is called for in respect of the appearance of this publication. We are confident that THE BROOKLANDS GAZETTE will make its own appeal to many thousands of keen motorists.
“This journal is not merely ‘another motoring paper’ added to the several which already seek public support. It is something entirely new, and something which we are convinced has been very much wanted. It regards motoring from a new angle; it seeks to meet to the full requirements of those whose chief interests are in the sporting and competition side of the movement.”
The year was 1924 and as readers will know, The Brooklands Gazette soon became Motor Sport, and Oscar E Seyd was its founding editor. Due to the vagaries of publishing datelines, this issue will be appearing in December but since it is dated January 2024 and is Volume 100, No1, it seems right to herald our centenary now.
So, to steal a phrase from Seyd’s inaugural editorial, “with all due modesty” we hope to celebrate this milestone as the year unfolds and eagle-eyed readers will notice that already we have tweaked the masthead with a new centenary logo and gold colouring (don’t worry the Green ’Un remains green).
A few other highlights: from next month we will be launching a Racing Car of the Century award trawling the past 100 years in the (possibly futile) task of nominating and creating a shortlist of the greatest competition cars the world has ever seen. We will then hand the tricky task of deciding which is the greatest over to you, the readers, who will get to vote on an overall winner. Look out for the first car to be profiled in next month’s issue. And look out also for what we hope will be one of our best ever track tests collecting some of these legends together for the first time.
In January (calendar month) we will be launching our own Centenary Stories podcast series featuring some of the greatest names in racing reliving their extraordinary careers (the opener with Mario Andretti is a must-listen) and over on our website we will be collecting some of the best features and interviews and track tests in one place as well as launching an all-new ‘On this day…’ newsletter that each week digs out a gem of a story from our archive.
