Racing Legends and Spitfires Launch Beaulieu Lecture Season

From evenings with racing star Stuart Graham and motor sport patron Dick Skipworth to the secret building of Spitfires during World War II, learn fascinating facts about automotive and aviation history with the autumn series of lectures at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu.

Getting the programme off to a racing start is an Evening with Stuart Graham on Saturday October14^th. A winning driver on two and four wheels, Stuart will talk to the audience about the highlights of his remarkably varied motor racing career.

Stuart was a successful motorcycle racer for nearly a decade from 1961 and his achievements included an impressive performance in the 1966 Grand Prix, before he joined the Honda factory team to ride alongside racing legend Mike Hailwood. He won the 50cc Isle of Man TT race while riding for Suzuki, before riding to victory in the Finnish Grand Prix.

The following decade saw Stuart take to the track driving touring cars, as well as winning the RAC Tourist Trophy and getting behind the wheel of a Lola T70 GT. Still racing at prestigious events, he will talk about his impressive motoring life.

On Saturday November 18^th enjoy a lively evening of discussion and historic archive film with Patrons of Motor Sport. Dick Skipworth, who is well known for collecting and racing original Ecurie Ecosse racing team cars in motor sport events, will present the evening with fellow racing enthusiast and Royal Automobile Club Chairman Tom Purves.

They will talk about the personalities who were the driving force behind motor sport teams of the past, as well as the legendary Ecurie Ecosse racing team which was victorious in the 1956 and 1957 24-hours Le Mans races. Dick will also recall his involvement with the Ecurie Ecosse 1959 Commer car transporter, rescuing, restoring and then using this iconic machine as race transport for many years.

Then join us on Saturday December 9^thfor Secret Spitfires, a film presentation that tells the remarkable but rarely-told story of the hundreds of women, girls and a handful of men who built Spitfires in secret during World War II.

The Supermarine Spitfire was a formidable weapon in the fight against the Luftwaffe and essential to the war effort, resulting in relentless bombing of the Southampton Spitfire factories. However, production continued in total secrecy in shadow factories located across the south of England, from sheds, workshops, garages, bus depots and even a hotel.

As part of the evening, one of the original engineers from these secret factories will hold a Q&A session, sharing first-hand knowledge of this fascinating campaign.

Each of the evening sessions starts at 7.30pm in the Lecture Theatre of the National Motor Museum’s Collections Centre. The museum will be open from 6pm for a private viewing at no extra charge. A pay bar will be available in the Collections Centre.

Tickets at £10 (or £7.50 for Friends of the National Motor Museum Trust members) are available from Theresa Browning at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu, SO42 7ZN. Email Theresa at friends@beaulieu.co.uk or call her on 01590 614792. Please provide an email address in any correspondence and if tickets are required by post, please provide a SAE. All profits help to support the National Motor Museum Trust.

For more information about membership of the Friends of the National Motor Museum Trust and for the latest lecture details see www.nationalmotormuseum.org.uk/the_friends.