NOTICE OF DEATH - DAVID BRODIE (1943 - 2024)
As you may already know by now, Dave Brodie finally lost his battle with cancer last Tuesday (17/12/2024) at the age of 81. And so, we have lost one of the great characters of the British motor racing scene in recent times. Many of you will no doubt have stories to tell about exploits and experiences shared with ‘the Brode’ who made an impression, usually but not always favourable, on just about everyone he met.
Dave had a highly successful career as a saloon car racer from the late 1960s to almost the present day. He was certainly able to celebrate 50 years at the wheel in 2013. He became a Full Member of the BRDC in 1985, going on to become a Life Member. He served a full nine-year term as a Director of the Club during which time he led the way in introducing younger generations of racing drivers to the BRDC through the BRDC Rising Stars scheme. Together with Howden Ganley he reviewed and made suggestions for the revision of the criteria for BRDC membership which have subsequently stood the test of time for nigh on 25 years. He was a committee member of the Springfield Boys’ Club in London’s East End for 27 years, in due course becoming a Vice-President of the Club. For many years he was a director of Williams Grand Prix Engineering Ltd, providing his great mate Frank Williams with considerable support in the company’s early days. He was also a trustee of the Gunnar Nilsson Cancer Treatment Charity. And his day job was in his electro-plating company before setting up Brodie Brittain Racing based in Brackley and specialising in turbo charging engines when this was in its infancy.
Known as ‘Brode’ or ‘the Brode’ to his countless friends and acquaintances in motor racing, David first took to the tracks at Silverstone in 1963 at the wheel of his road car – an Austin A30 - and promptly won his first race, a five-lap handicap affair at the then annual Eight Clubs club meeting. The A30 gave way to a Turner-Ford which was followed by the first of his many racing Ford saloons – an 1800 cc Anglia. A superbly turned out 1300 cc Anglia came next and demonstrated the high standards of preparation which the Brode’s cars always displayed; they were a long way from being ‘all show and no go’ as Dave demonstrated with increasing success in national racing. One of the few occasions when he had to settle for second was when he was passed on the last corner at Brands Hatch by the 1000 cc Anglia of young Roger Williamson with whom Dave struck up a close friendship until Roger’s awful death in the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix.
Dave became a regular visitor to the notorious flat in Pinner Road, Harrow which was occupied by a host of aspiring Formula 3 drivers with their sights set on Formula 1 – the likes of Jonathan Williams, the unrelated Frank Williams of course, Chris Irwin, Richard Attwood, Denny Hulme and Charles Lucas to name but a few. Under their influence Brode headed towards 1-litre Formula 3 like everyone else. Unfortunately, his choice of car, a Titan Mk 3, did not serve him well, only rarely did he finish in the top 10 in a true F3 race and he decided to turn his attention back to saloon cars.
There was another Ford Anglia, this time fitted with a 2.1 litre Lotus Ford Twin Cam engine, with which Dave enjoyed some success but what really attracted attention to his racing exploits was the arrival of his first Ford Escort in black ‘because there weren’t many black racing cars in those days’ although, when it was finished, Dave thought that an all-black car looked boring so he devised the pin striping, in canary yellow, not gold as Brode was always at pains to point out. The pin-striping idea was taken up by Lotus for the Type 72D in 1973, but in gold rather than canary yellow. Dave did successfully race a very special 2-litre Lotus Elan in modified sports car races which was in the pinstripe livery. The other very memorable feature of the Escort was the slogan ‘Run Baby Run’ below the radiator grille which played no small part, coupled with the Brode’s feisty driving style and numerous successes in establishing David’s reputation and the car’s iconic status.
‘Run Baby Run’ was not homologated to compete in the British or European Touring Car Championships and so for 1972, with support from Ford, David built a Ford RS1600. His principal opposition came from the Broadspeed RS1600 of Dave Matthews who ended up winning the 2-litre class before moving up to the over 2-litre class for 1973 with a Capri RS2600. Brode stayed with the RS1600 and had some great tussles with the Capri for the first half of the season before disaster struck at Silverstone in the BSCC race supporting the British Grand Prix. Locked in combat for the first part of the race, on the seventh lap the two Davids crashed very heavily at the fast Abbey Curve while lapping a Mini-Cooper S. The cars were destroyed but both Davids survived albeit with serious injuries. Brode spent four months in hospital and did not race again until 1976. For such an extrovert character the hospitalisation and enforced interruption of his racing ambitions was the lowest point in his life thus far. In 1976 the two Davids shared a Mazda Savanna RX3 in the RAC Tourist Trophy at Silverstone, finishing 10th overall.
In the BSCC in 1976 on his return to the tracks Dave achieved a best result of third place behind the Ford Capris of Gordon Spice and Tom Walkinshaw at Silverstone. A switch back to Ford and a 3-litre Capri for the next three years enabled Dave to run regularly in the top 10 places but only rarely did he finish in a podium position. A Mitsubishi Colt Starion Turbo for 1983 gave him a different weapon with which to tackle the TWR Rover 3500s although these were eventually, 12 months later, disqualified from the championship. David’s first and only win with the Mitsubishi came at Silverstone in early October when he finished ahead of European Formula 2 Champion Jonathan Palmer in a BMW 635 CSi.
Sticking with the Starion, the next two years were much more like the Brode of old with regular podium places although he usually had to settle for second behind the Ford Sierra XR4 Ti of Andy Rouse. In 1985 Brode achieved his best season in the BSCC, finishing fourth overall and second in class to Andy. Dave’s last race win in the BSCC came at Silverstone at the end of the 1986 season. From 1988 Dave followed the inevitable drift in the top class of the BTCC towards the Ford Sierra RS500 and Sapphire Cosworth with cars run by his own team Brodie Brittain Racing with mixed results. As the BTCC moved towards the 2-litre Super Touring era, Brode explored other projects including an entry for the 1994 Le Mans 24 Hours with a Harrier LR9 Spyder run by the late Hugh Chamberlain and co-driven by William Hewland and Rob Wilson. The neat little car was powered by a turbocharged 2-litre Cosworth BDG engine prepared by Brodie Brittain. Suspension failure resulted in retirement from the race on Saturday evening.
In his later racing years David continued to develop his rocket ship of a Sierra with which he would appear from time to time, usually at Silverstone. He also raced a Volkswagen Vento VR6 for the fun of it. He remained passionate about racing and was never short of valuable advice for drivers of all levels of experience. He continued to be enthusiastically involved with the BRDC Rising Stars scheme, ever ready to dash over to Silverstone to interview newcomers and regale them with stories of his career. His ever-active mind was always coming up with projects of one sort or another, one of the most recent being the restoration of the ‘Run Baby Run’ Escort for which he arranged a party in the BRDC Clubhouse despite the effects of his illness beginning to take its toll.
To say that the Brode led a very full life would be an understatement. Much of it revolved around motor racing and has been recorded by Brode himself in his remarkable book CTX 500 Last Train to Cockfosters ‘All those years ago’ of just under 1500 pages – that’s not a typo, it really is a heavyweight production which it took David several years to complete. It may be non-PC at times but it is a great read in bite-sized chunks. He had a remarkable way with words and an excellent memory for detail. You did not have to always agree with David to enjoy his company and he will be very much missed. To his wife Peggy, his son Jimmy, stepson Justin and stepdaughter Sasha and to his first wife Kathy the BRDC extends its deepest condolences. Funeral details will be notified to Members when available.
