1922 Lagonda 11.9hp 'Brooklands Racer'

Lagonda is a British luxury car marque established in 1906, which has been owned by Aston Martin since 1947. The marque has had a non-continuous presence in the luxury car market, being dormant for several times during its existence, most recently from 1995 to 2008 and 2010 to 2013.

Offered here is a replica of the two-seater racing car that Lagonda built in 1922 for the Brooklands 200 mile race. Although details are very sketchy, the racer is known to have been based on the 11.9hp production car of the time. The vendor began collecting the axles, engine, gearbox, and steering column from various sources around 1998. Most of the donor cars had rusted away but the major components had survived: the front axle, for example, was found propping up an ancient apple tree.

John Scolley, a friend of the vendor's family and member of Lagonda's 1939 Le Mans team, helped with all the skilled mechanical work, while Rod Jolley fabricated the body using photographs as his only guide. Mike Thomas then created the interior.

The Brooklands car's engine was based on the standard factory unit. Little is known about what was done to it although it is known to have had the stroke lengthened to give a capacity of 1,483, 1,495 or 1,496cc (depending on the source). Whatever was done, the original car was able to lap Brooklands at over 80 mph, while the vendor's little four-seater tourer (of 1925) would struggle at 45 mph.

Descriptions & pictures by bonhams & wikipedia