The UK’s National Motor Museum (NMM) at Beaulieu in the New Forest is both home to 285 of the most famous, rarest and most iconic cars and motorcycles.
Each of these vehicles has a story to tell from the pioneering days of motoring on the roads and circuits of Britain to more modern vehicles. The collections have been awarded a designated status as an official UK Government recognition of their importance. While most of the vehicles are on display in the museum, others are being driven or displayed at events around the world. For instance many of the museums older cars enter the annual London to Brighton run and the motorcycles too travel the same route on their annual Pioneer Run.
In May 2014 the museums 1903 Napier entered the Paris to Madrid rally and in July 2015 their famous 150mph world record-breaking Bluebird car returned to Pendine Sands in Wales to mark its 90th birthday. Three priceless vehicles from the Beaulieu collection were displayed at Goodwood’s annual Festival of Speed: the 1953 V16 type 15 BRM driven by Fangio at Silverstone, the Graham Hill Lotus 49 and a 1961 RC162 Honda motorcycle ridden by Mike Hailwood.
The logistics involved in the transport, and security, necessary to protect these valuable vehicles is demanding. Beaulieu manager and chief engineer Doug Hill looks for new ways of ensuring that none of his fleet are stolen while away, whether en route, in situ or returning. Several years ago Mr Hill made the decision to have his fleet marked with the then latest invisible DNA liquids, to ensure that if any were stolen, each could positively be identified and returned back to Beaulieu ownership.
Theft of classic vehicles has increased in many countries, as ‘no question asked’ collectors seek the rarest of old cars and motorcycles.
Doug has researched further security measures that he can take to protect his fleet and has taken up the initiative of fitting tracking devices to the vehicles in his collection that leave the museum and these include the Fangio BRM, Hill’s Lotus 49 and the Hailwood Honda.
Doug required portability as none of his cars or motorcycles could have a permanent fixing. A support service and back up team that would quickly find and recover any of his vehicles should they be stolen eventually made him select the CanTrack Global. Peter Thompson managing director of CanTrack Global, is himself a longtime classic car enthusiast. He said: “I’m absolutely delighted to be working with the world renowned Beaulieu Motor Museum. Our unique CanTrack device boasts a super long battery life and requires no installation, ideal for both classic bikes and cars. We also have a specialist recovery to physically locate and recover the vehicle if stolen.”
Visit CanTrack.com.
