Major A.T.G Gardner's Brooklands BARC 124.4MPH enamel badge,

Goodwood Revival: Collectors' Motor Cars and Automobilia|19 September 2026, 10:30 BST|Chichester, Goodwood

Major A.T.G Gardner's Brooklands BARC 124.4MPH enamel badge,

unique 'speed labelled' badge, chrome plated eight colours of enamel, clear red for the 124.4 MPH plaque and red, cream, green, grey and three tones of blue enamel, with engraved markings to the reverse marked Major A.T.G. Gardner M.C 27.8.36, 9.5cm high, mounted on a wooden base, with plaque as 'Presented by the Proprietors of the Brooklands Auto Racing Club, to Major ATG Gardner after having gained the 1100cc Outer Circuit Lap Record at 124.40 M.P.H.'.

Footnotes

Major Alfred Thomas Goldie Gardner was one of Britain's most versatile racing drivers of the 1930s and 1940s, as well as a talented engineer. Before his racing career he spent three years in Colombo, Ceylon, followed by business in Burma, returning to Britain after contracting malaria in 1914. At the outbreak of the First World War he was commissioned into the Royal Artillery, becoming one of the youngest Majors in the British Army before being severely wounded when his reconnaissance aircraft was shot down in 1917. After almost two years in hospital he was invalided out of the service.

Gardner began racing at Brooklands in 1924 with a Gordon England-modified Austin Seven, progressing through Salmson and Amilcar cars before becoming closely associated with MG. Spotted by MG's managing director, Cecil Kimber, he became one of the marque's leading drivers, setting the first 100 mph lap of Brooklands in a 750cc car. Although a serious crash in the 1932 Tourist Trophy at Ards ended his road-racing career, he remained a formidable circuit competitor, finishing third overall and winning the 1100cc class in the 1934 Brooklands 500 Miles.

In 1935 Gardner joined Sir Malcolm Campbell's World Land Speed Record expedition to Daytona Beach, an experience that inspired him to concentrate on record breaking. Driving the ex-Horton offset MG K3 single-seater, he developed the car into one capable of 124.4 mph at Brooklands, establishing an 1100cc class record that stood until the circuit closed in 1939. Between 1936 and 1952 he went on to set more than 100 national and international speed records.

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