The Bourne Identity

The small Lincolnshire town of Bourne may be a quiet place these days, but once upon a time, it reverberated to the sound of Formula One racing engines. RICHARD GUNN tells the story of how Bourne became a motorsport powerhouse and explores what remains.

Visitors to Bourne in Lincolnshire, 15 miles north of Peterborough, will today find an unassuming market town that nevertheless teases those with interest in history with some tantalising glimpses of its past. The settlement grew up around the old Roman road of King Street, running north from Durobrivae (Roman Peterborough) and was first documented in 960, with a further early reference in 1086’s Domesday Book. During the 11th century, a castle was founded (on the area that is now Wellhead Park) and an important Augustinian abbey established in the following century. Hereward the Wake, the Anglo- Saxon outlaw who took exception to the Normans, was reputedly born in the town around 1035. So was William Cecil (Lord Burghley, Queen Elizabeth’s chief advisor and politician, and the man who built Burghley House in Stamford) at what is now the Burghley Arms pub right in the centre of the town.

However, just up North Street from the Burghley Arms, another hostelry pays tribute to a different son of Bourne. Wetherspoons’ The Raymond Mays opened in March 2022 and is named after one of the most prominent figures in 20th century British motorsport. Mays was a successful racing driver who established the manufacturer English Racing Automobiles (ERA) in the 1930s. Post-war, he aimed even higher with the formation of the British Racing Motors (BRM) team which competed in Formula One through to the 1970s. Its pinnacle was winning the 1962 World Championship with Graham Hill. Drivers such as Niki Lauda, Stirling Moss, Mike Hawthorn, Jackie Stewart, John Surtees and Juan Manuel Fangio also drove for BRM. And the team was also responsible for one of the UK’s most extraordinary racing cars ever; the BRM V16 of the 1940s and 1950s, which generated an extraordinary 600bhp from its 1.5-litre 16-cylinder engine.

Raymond Mays lived all his life in Bourne, and it was where ERA and BRM cars were built, with the old RAF Folkingham airfield north of the town employed as a test facility. Mays would also cheekily use the local public roads to trial his cars too, in an era when rules and regulations were somewhat less stringent than today. Bourne became a centre of Formula One innovation and excellence, and world-renowned because of it.

Born in Bourne
It was in 1899 that Thomas Raymond Mays was born. He was the son of one of Bourne’s most prominent families, which ran the firm of TW Mays trading in animal feedstuffs, fertilisers and wool, and was one of Bourne’s biggest employers. It would have been an affluent childhood for the young boy, who preferred his middle name of Raymond to Thomas. The large and elegant Regency era Eastgate House, situated on Eastgate just off Spalding Road, was the family home with the company’s works in the grounds behind it. Mays encountered cars at an early age, as his father was reputedly the owner of the first car in Lincolnshire. He also had a replica racing car to play on in Eastgate House’s garden.

No doubt expected to end up working for the family firm, Mays might easily have spent his life mired in, well, fertiliser. But his attendance at Oundle School, with its reputation for teaching engineering, mechanics and technology, instilled in him a lifelong passion for motorsport. One of his classmates there was Charles Amherst Villiers, who’d later go on to supercharge Bentleys in the late 1920s and was a friend of James Bond author Ian Fleming – so much so that Fleming would end up putting 007 in Bentleys in his books and namecheck Villiers in Casino Royale.

As was the way for many young gentlemen of means in those days, Raymond used his money and spare time to indulge his love of motoring and racing. His first car was a Hillman 1500 Sports which he then swapped for a very desirable Brescia Bugatti. As exchanges go, that’s quite a wily one and it must have made quite a sight in agricultural Bourne. As his devotion to motorsport intensified, he took over some of the sheds in the orchards behind Eastgate House to build a succession of competition Vauxhalls, Bugattis, ACs, Mercedes-Benzes, Invictas and Rileys, with his old schoolfriend Villiers responsible for supercharging them. He campaigned these at venues such as Brooklands in Surrey and Shelsley Walsh hill climb in Worcestershire, and proved highly competitive.

This led to the establishment of English Racing Automobiles in 1933. Mays’ fierce patriotism pushed him to want to take on the best of Europe in motorsport. And ERA was a very English undertaking indeed, under-financed and forever battling against the odds. While the all-conquering Mercedes- Benz and Auto Union Silver Arrows of Germany were furnished with all the money and technological know-how they required by the Nazi regime, Mays and partners Humphrey Cook – the money – and Peter Berthon – the brains – constructed UK rivals in Eastgate House’s ramshackle sheds, using parts largely modified from proprietary manufacturers. Mays was the principal driver, although other notable racers of the day such as Dick Seaman and Prince Bira of Siam (with his trio of fabled ERAs christened Hanuman, Romulus and Remus) also competed. ERAs notched up some notable victories despite limited resources.

World War Two ended European motorsport, with Mays more vital as a supplier of chemical manure to the air ministry. He sold the dormant ERA but after the war ended, set out on an even more ambitious venture. This time, Mays wanted nothing more than total British domination of Formula One. He formed a trust fund consortium in 1945 with UK automotive companies such as Lucas, Rubery Owen and Rolls-Royce, christened British Racing Motors. BRM started work on an epic supercharged V16-powered racing car boasting between 400 and 600bhp. These were incredible outputs for such a small capacity engine.

International attention and envy
The industrial buildings around Eastgate now dedicated themselves to refining and building BRM V16s, making Bourne the focus of national and international attention and envy. It also became a magnet for some of the most ingenious and inventive motorsport minds. ‘I have never managed to explain to my own satisfaction how there came to be such a wealth of engineering talent in Bourne, a small market town on the edge of the Lincolnshire fens,’ wrote Tony Rudd, former chief engineer and team manager at BRM. ‘It was not the sort of place where you would expect to find a group of locally-born, world- beating racing car designers… why Bourne produced such talent still has me baffled.’

Ultimately, the BRM V16 proved too powerful and complex for its own good and was constantly breaking down. When it actually worked though, it was an awesome machine; no-one who has ever seen or heard one run forgets the experience. And that must have included most of Bourne during the days when the cars were being developed at Eastgate, for the V16 engine was not a quiet beast.

After the V16 was retired in 1955, it was succeeded by the less complex but more successful P25 2.5-litre car, although its accomplishments were stilted by the switch from front to rear engines in Formula One. BRM responded with the P48 – a compromise creation that was effectively a rear-engined P25 –and then, for 1961, the all-new P57. With a new 1.5-litre V8 engine envisaged by Tony Rudd, and Graham Hill and Richie Ginther as drivers, BRM finally had the potential to beat the world, with a car on which every single component was British-manufactured and put together in Bourne. The 1962 Grand Prix season proved to be a heroic struggle between Graham Hill for BRM and Jim Clark for Lotus. It was the very dapper Hill who scooped the laurels though, finally bringing much-yearned-for glory to BRM and the part of Lincolnshire it called home. He was world champion, BRM took the constructors’ title. It must have been a very special moment for Bourne and the 120 employees of the Eastgate factory.

BRM never reached such heights again. It finished second in Formula One in 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1971, but despite drivers such as Jackie Stewart, John Surtees, Peter Gethin and Jackie Oliver, it never repeated its 1962 feat. Its last Grand Prix win came in Monaco in 1972; even Niki Lauda driving for the team in 1973 couldn’t reverse the declining fortunes. In 1977, 15 years after its Formula 1 world championship, BRM finally called it a day. As for the visionary behind it all, Raymond Mays, he died a few years later in 1980, having been awarded a CBE for his services to motorsport. He still lived at Eastgate House; despite travelling the world for racing, he stayed true to his Bourne roots as a town he obviously loved.

Bourne today
Today, visitors to Bourne will find no signs proclaiming it as BRM’s home as they enter. But more subtle tell-tales are there. If you’re coming from Peterborough on the A15, the first indication that this isn’t quite as other Lincolnshire towns is the A151 joining from the left. The nameboard proclaims it to be Raymond Mays Way and back during ERA days, it practically was. Although a relatively new construction, the road it links up is where Mays would aim for to test ERAs. His favoured 35-mile route ran from Bourne to Colsterworth, down the A1 Great North Road to Great Casterton (just before Stamford) before heading back home via Ryhall and Toft. The latter village has an especially challenging tight left-hand corner that ascends a hill into an S-bend. Mays was particularly fond of tackling this section as fast as possible. These days, 30mph signs warn you not to attempt it with anything like Mays’ gusto but local legend has it that the police were well aware of his exploits and generally turned a blind eye.

Just before the centre of the town and alongside the A15 South Street is Wellhead Park. It contains a memorial commemorating Bourne’s motor racing heritage. Topped by a bust of Mays flanked by an ERA and a BRM, it was erected in 1999 to mark his 100th birthday, 65 years of ERA and half a century of BRM. Nearby is Bourne Heritage Centre, with an entire floor dedicated to the man and his machines, although it’s usually only open on weekend afternoons and bank holidays. It is packed with photos, memorabilia and trophies, and is a wonderful place to leisurely discover Mays’ life and the history of ERA and BRM, in an historic mill over 200 years old. The staff are very welcoming, helpful and knowledgeable, with entry being free (although a donation would, of course, be appreciated).

The short South Street cul-de-sac that leaves the main road just outside the Heritage Centre leads to Red Hall. Although dating back to 1605, for over 100 years this stately red brick Tudor building was, unusually, the town’s railway station booking office. For those having business with ERA and BRM and not arriving by car, this would have been where they arrived in Bourne. Just imagine all the legends who might have once passed through its ornate arched front door.

Both Bourne’s railways and race cars are commemorated by another display not far away at the junction of South Road and Coggles Causeway, formerly a level crossing. Here, there are some preserved railway sleepers plus a representation of the BRM P57-8 1.5-litre V8 in which Graham Hill won the 1962 championship, together with explanatory signs.

You can follow Coggles Causeway eastwards towards Raymond Mays’ home on Eastgate. The three-storey house dominates the secluded and woody lane by the Bourne Eau stream (another source of income for Bourne, as from the mid-1800s it was bottled and sold). The former Mays residence has a Victorian frontage with the original 18th century stone house behind. A green plaque records its most famous occupant.

This is where the magic happened, for the industrial premises around it are where ERAs and BRMs were put together. The auction firm of Golding, Young and Mawer now occupies some of them (and often finds itself selling BRM items) while Delaine Buses has its main depot adjacent, including some structures that once looked after somewhat more glamorous and faster vehicles. This family-owned company can trace its history back even beyond the birth of Raymond Mays, to the 1890s and horsedrawn transport.

Opposite Delaine Buses are some new-build houses. However, the names of the streets that punctuate them – Silverstone Road, Brooklands Way and Shelsley Walsh Rise – hint of a past Mays connection. It was here that Raymond Mays and Partners garage and filling station was situated, selling cars such as Rolls-Royces and Bentleys as well as holding the local Ford franchise. The premises were officially opened in June 1952 by cast members from The Archers radio series. The business had a lucrative sideline in modifying and tuning Fords, many of which were also taken racing by their owners – whether officially or otherwise. The petrol station closed in 2005 and was demolished for housing in 2012. How many of those who now inhabit the site appreciate the significance of where they live?

Enduring motorsport links
Happily, Bourne does still retain a few enduring links with historic motorsport. Across the river from Eastgate, off Cherry Holt Road, is Graham Hill Way. While this truncated dead end on an industrial estate is hardly a fitting tribute to one of Britain’s most charismatic and dashing racing drivers, it is the address of internationally- renowned race car restoration and preparation specialist Hall & Hall, staffed by several ex-BRM employees. Across the way is Pilbeam Racing Designs, established by Mike Pilbeam who was once the chief designer at BRM.

The flat and straight A151 leading east from Bourne towards Pinchbeck and Spalding is where Mays would do basic testing on ERAs, no doubt at the type of speeds unlikely to be tolerated today. The more specialised and much faster Formula One BRMs (a V16 once hit 186mph during one race, with Juan Manuel Fangio at the wheel) required a more controlled and private environment. That was at RAF Folkenham, a World War Two troop airbase north of Bourne. Follow the A15 up through Morton – passing Hall’s Garage, an MG specialist that did cylinder heads and other light machine work for BRM – until you see a sign for Aslackby pointing off to the left. This bumpy and unkempt country lane will eventually bring you to the former airfield.

It was here that the BRM V16 was unveiled in December 1949, with the old roads and runways being used as test tracks. Allowing BRM to use the site was the British government’ s sole contribution to what was a stoically UK- centric project. A dyno testing facility for engines was also constructed, after trials of the V16 down in Bourne blotted out the TV reception throughout the town. BRM had to move out briefly from 1958 to 1963 when the RAF sited Thor nuclear ballistic missiles at the location. During the Cuban Missile Crisis in November 1962, they were placed at 15 minutes’ readiness to be launched at the Soviet Union in the event of things going badly wrong.

The airfield is in private hands now, and there’s no public access. So remaining evidence of its sinister Cold War role (the missile pads still survive and can be seen on Google Maps’ satellite view) and BRM’s occupation are off-limits now. You can only go as far as the old main gate, where somebody has carved in the concrete ‘Time wastes our bodies and our wits, but we waste time and so we’re quits’ but no further. Raymond Mays though definitely wasn’t a man who wasted either his time or wits.

The last time the town resonated to the sound of BRM engines was in October 2012. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1962 Formula One championship victory, North Street and Abbey Road were closed off for BRM day and Grand Prix machines demonstrated on them. The drivers included Damon Hill – son of Graham Hill – and Sir Jackie Stewart, among others. It was an amazing and intoxicatingly noisy spectacle that revived memories of when Bourne encapsulated Britain’s Grand Prix hopes and dreams. Could it happen again? Well, 2027 marks the 50th anniversary of BRM’s final race. Could Formula One cars once again take to Bourne’s streets? Fingers crossed…

But whether that happens or not, for those with an interest in motorsport or just 20th century history, 21st century Bourne still contains much of interest. You just need to dig a little deeply to uncover it. But it’s there, it’s fascinating, and it’s a reminder of the time when a sleepy and small rural Lincolnshire town took on the rest of the world at motor racing. And triumphed.