Welcome to my website
Back then…
I was driving an 800cc BMC, Austin A30, not a fast car! Then by chance reading; Autosport’s’, back pages I saw advertised modified competition engine parts, and within three months I’d brought parts to build a complete modified engine! Then with the help of best pals Monty and Rowland, we slapped the lot together, and a week later, with an 1100cc engine installed running on four Amal carburettors, a big exhaust system, and lowered and stiffened suspension, we were ready to roll, and did it go, oh yeah!
Then one Sunday at Brands Hatch, with pals Rowland and Don, I stupidly told them that my now 1100cc, A30, could finish forth in the saloon car race we were watching, not a very smart thing to do!
Well those two, and all the other guys, took the pee out of me relentlessly for weeks, for having the impertinence to assume that I could drive on a race track and finish forth, so to shut them up, I secretly entered a race at Silverstone, and told everyone that wanted to come along I had a surprise outing the following Saturday morning, at 6.30am three loaded up cars, trekked out of Harrow, not knowing where they were going, ending up two hours later at Silverstone!
When they found out I was racing, they fell about laughing, and couldent wait to see me fail, funny how failure amuses people, well I had the last laugh, I won my race, lapping just under the great Graham Hill’s A35 lap record, yeah that shut them up!
Then all of a sudden, instead of being a ‘dud’, I was a stud, yeah you’d be amazed at what effect a win back then at Silverstone had on the chicks, yes one weekend I line up on the grid and win, and then from the very next weekend, the dolls line up, so I’m still winning, how about that!
Well that win did it, I was hooked, and from that June day at Silverstone in 1963, I never knew a better way to spend my weekends than go motor racing, and 50 years later, I still don’t, yes how about that! Look try it yourself, but be warned, it’s infectious, so you could get hooked too!
Any questions go to my Q & A page, oh and a little advice, keep on having fun, when you get right down to it, it’s the only thing that matters, everything that’s fun, leads to a good life!
Oh and you might like to read my book , ‘Last train to Cockfosters’, it’s loaded with all my best car crashes, best crumpet, best races and the funniest things I ever did and saw, oh and a fair bit on my philosophy, for a fun life too!
Keep up to date with the re-birth of David Brodie’s Ford Escort Mk1
that raced successfully from 1969 to 1972 called:
After decovering the body shell where David stored the car 41 years later, the RBR is now at an advanced stage with all suspension,
gearbox and steering on final build, the engine is being built and the RBR is scheduled to hit the tracks April/May 2017…
Watch this space for progress reports
Run Baby Run update
Hello Run Baby Run, RBR, fans! Yes, over 50 years after RBR started winning over 200 races with lap records on every English track from 1969 to 1972, RBR today still has an amazing following, and even i find this astounding, but as my friend Richard Hinton, of ‘The historic race car Club’, said to me, ‘when RBR appeared in its Yellow pinstriped over shinning black livery, it set a new preparation standard for race saloon cars in European racing, that others had to follow, and yes even I noticed that grids of once scruffy looking race saloon cars, were hitting the grids looking like the owners actually liked their race cars, with girlfriends consigned to washing and polishing their boyfriend’s race cars, yep, no mean achievement, yes, girls in every UK paddock now had a job to do at last!
So whats happening with the rebuild of RBR, well in 2010 I got very ill, and given 5 years, 5 years who did they think they were dealing with? Well the the pills I was consuming daily had me like a zombie 24/7, and that’s a killer condition, and believe me, daytime TV will do that, so I thought… ‘Brode you need a project this is going to kill you before the illness does’.
And as I’d rescued RBR’s empty body shell from its probable last resting place, a Barn in the wilds of Marlborough in Wiltshire, for the last 41 years, I decided to rebuild RBR into a stunning, and up to date 2022 spec. race car, see engine picture, yep that really concentrated my mind! And with the help of many marvellous guys that I love, RBR is about ready to hit the tracks again, of course wicked Covid slowed things down by at least a two years, but as RBR is about finished, I have now agreed with Silverstone, where else, the RBR announcement date of ‘WEDNESDAY 8th of JUNE 2022, at the BRDC Clubhouse, kick off at 11am, were charging a £10 entry fee, which goes entirely to the British Racing Drivers, ‘BRDC ex drivers fund’, there can be no finer endeavour, so please keep a look out on my site for follow up info, including how to book in at Silverstone, oh the BRDC restaurant will be doing, proper grub, yes Bangers and Mash with a man’s Pudding, at a very reasonable price too, but as there is only 120 places, please book early, yes we’d like as many RBR fans at Silverstone as possible!
At the RBR race car launch on the 8th of June, I’ll also have my original 1972 RBR road version of my race RBR, I called back then, ‘A Brodie Roadie’, and now in 2022 I’ve another road version of RBR, I also call, ‘A Brodie Roadie’ too, yes 50 years later, and its quite a stunning spec. MK1 Ford Escort with twin independent front and rear wishbone suspension, 6 speed G box, LSD and big brakes, and with a 300bhp Turbo engine, its gonna go very well, in fact i’m almost more excited about my 2022 ‘Brodie Roadie’, as its such a stunning road car.
So this is my first RBR news letter, I’ll be doing up dates as things progress, so please keep a look out, for up to date info, and booking procedures!
Best wishes to you from David Brodie.
Please call Sue at the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC) office on: 07966 806 854 to book your place on June 8th. You will be allocated a number for your entry at Silverstone. Remember there are only 120 places for lunch, so book early!
LAST TRAIN to COCKFOSTERS’, DB’S BOOK
Each book is now just over 300 pages, with 105 chapters, and over 100 pictures!
“For a good few years David Brodie has been threatening to publish his autobiography. Chunks have been in circulation for some time, but the day has now arrived and the full works is available. It is only 1496 pages long (yes, really!) and comes in two volumes. Or shall we say this reviewer’s copy did; there is understood to be a lightweight, more manoeuvrable version in three smaller volumes.
We do not claim to have read this truly magnum opus from cover to cover. Suffice to say that open it at a page, and page, and you will find an anecdote which sucks you in as it rambles entertainingly across the next half dozen or so pages. However, be warned! It is in a way a kind of Private Eye of motor racing. Brode describes his world, in and outside racing, as he sees it. If you are easily offended, steer clear. It is understood that copies are not available from good bookshops but are available from the author”.
“David Brodie’s book is wonderfully very, very funny”.