By Charles Mortimer

Charles Mortimer was born in  Byfleet in 1913 Within a stone’s  throw of the Brooklands banking,  though his interest in What went  on there didn’t develop until a  decade later. He was educated at  Radley College in the 1920’s and  Went on to study at the College of  Automobile Engineering before  starting his own business dealing in  motor cycle racing spares and  equipment and going on to become  a purveyor of a mouth Watering  succession of racing, sports and  quality cars.  Initially he raced only  motorcycles with a permanent base  at his shed at the Brooklands track,  securing a Brooklands Gold Star  for lapping the outer circuit at  over 100 m.p.h. as Well as a  number of circuit racing successes.  In 1935 Charles Mortimer took  up car racing with considerable  success including Winning the  B.A.R.C. Aggregate Award for car  successes on the Mountain and  Road Circuits. At the same time he  continued with his motorcycle  racing activities including breaking  long and short distance World  records with both solos and  sidecars.  After the 1939-45 War Charles  Mortimer returned to car racing  and then began to build up the  Worlds biggest dealership in second  hand motoring books during which  time he carried out a valuation of  the library contents of the National  Motor Museum.  Later with his elder son ‘Chas’  he founded the first Motor Cycle  Racing School, taking in over  2,000 young aspirant racers in the  first 2 years, While at the same  time writing a number of books  and magazine articles.  He is married to jean, also a  successful racing motorist Whose  father Captain Joseph Summers was  for 25 years the chief test pilot at  Vickers and the first man to take a  Spitfire off the ground.  As a member of the B.R.D.C.  Charles Mortimer is a regular  visitor to major Silverstone Race  Meetings and still runs a small but  interesting business dealing in  Motoring Memorabilia.