THE OUTER CIRCUITS

THE OUTER CIRCUIT “200s”

TE first J.C.C. 200-Mile Race of 1921 rr,1 aroused so much prolonged interest and a diilirtition that the success of the event w,is ass(‘ red, and it duly happened again in 1922. Indeed, the B.A.R.C. had even announced a 500-Mile Race for that season, but it never came about, so the Junior Car Club again gave Brooklands its only long-distance race of the year. As soon as the I.O.M. Fifteen Hundred T.T. had been *on by the Talbot-Darracqs (with Maury’s CrossleyBugatti third) the motoring Press was hot on the scent of ” 200 ” news. Seventeen entries in the 1,100-e.c. class and 18 in the 11-litre class came in at single fees, the invincible team of Talbot-Darraeqs amongst them. It was decided to have two separate races as before, the small cars starting as early as 8.30 a.m. and the bigger cars having their show at 2 p.m. New lap-scoring arrangements and a new grandstand at the Fork were announced, and the ever-willing Daily Mail was installing a Magnavox loudspeaker system. Again the ears were to line up in rows, identified by coloured bonnets–red and green for the ” 1,100s ” and white, blue and yellow for the 1i-litre cars. The race date was earlier—August 19th— and by July entries had come in of G.N., Salmson, AN., Eric-Longden, Morgan, Bleriot-Whippet, Crouch, Reindeer, Fewson, K.R.C., and, in’ the 1 i-litre class. Talbot-1 btrraeq, Astort-Martin, A . ( . , 13i i gatti , Lagonda, 1.’,1 Old -Allday , Erie

Campbell, A.B.( ‘., A ustro-1)ahnler, Crouch, Marseal, and NVolseley. Betting at this early stage was ti to 1 Talbot, 4 to i Bugatti, 5 to 1 A.C., 2 to 1 G.N., 5 to 2 Salmson, and 4 to 1 Morgan. The Talbots were to be handled by Segrave, Lee-Guinness and Chassagne, and were almost as in the previous year, although the engines had been raised 3″ to improve ground clearance, magnetos were supplemented by coil ignition, and the bonnets were slimmer. A.C. put in two of the 16-valve o.h.e. ears to be handled by have Don and Joyee, and Pullin’s S.V. car. The kilter laid a new Anza»i engine and a Hawker body, the gear and brake levers being moved to tl w centre of the Otherwise practically st:indard .sports chassis to improve streamlining. .All the A.C.s had twin carburetters (either Solex or Clan-lel-Hobson), _Budge wire wheels and Dunlop tyres. The s.v. car had a three-speed .-!earbox and two magnetos. It was considered to have a very tine chance indeed, because the works were so busy that the 16-valve cars, with new bronze heads, had to he rather hurriedly pre aired. whereas Pullin worked on his own engine. A new trout suspension was used by A.C., the i -elliptic springs being slightly splayed and mounted on trailing elips, the axle Icing located by a central tubular member anchored to a spherical housing on an extension of the engin’, crankcase. The starting handle passed through the steering tie-rod. At the rear, ,i-elliptic springs were anchored just forward of the dash. and were set within the side-members, being shackled at the rear to a solid steel shaft mounted on top of the rear-axle gearbox, from which,

(Continued from the March issue.) Preparations for the 1922 RACE

further to the rear, the drive shafts protruded, carrying brake drums close against the casing. The double hand oil pumps used in 1921 gave way to a single pump for adding oil to the engine. Aston-Martin entered two of the Ballotengined 16-valve twin-o.h.e. Fret in G. P. ears to he driven by Zborowski and Kensington Moir, while Stead in the end had the 1921 s.v. car ” Bunny,” as an entirely new short-chassis car of this type was not ready in time. Special attention was taken to obviate the fuel tank damage which eliminated Stead in 1921, and an oil tank was connected to the sump SQ that the level in both remained constant. Hawker bodies were used for the o.h.e. Cars, and much was made Of the 6,000r.p.m. 16-Valve engines, which had vertical magnetos with ball bearings to take the load of the armatures, two-ring alloy pistons and Jaeger rev.-Counters driven

During the early nineteen-twenties small cars were doing outstanding things in B.A.R.C. short handicaps and in the field of record-breaking, but perhaps they achieved their greatest allure in the J.C.C. 200-Mile Races, run over the Outer Circuit in 1921-4 ; the original race of this famous series being the first long-distance race in England. Previous articles in this series appeared in the February and March issues, when the 1921 race was

dealt with—Ed.

from the oft-side eamshaft. The 13ugattis were stall rd Brescia ” models, and had to be silenced for the race, yet

were said to do 00 B. S. Marshall’s entry was the car Maury drove in the T.T.. fitted with a larocr. semi-faired fuel tank, and Cushman’s laid a cowled radiator. Both had facia oil-funnels.

Capt. A. C. Miner entered a sports Wolseley Ten, standard even to its pistons, although it had a special camshaft and larger earburetter. The fuel tank was in the streamlined tail, Imt gravity feed was retained and the hand-brake had a ratchet: which only came into operation if the pawl was fully depressed. The oil filler had an extended neck to render replenishment possible without opening the bonnet, and the rear 1-elliptic springs were streamlined.

Malcohn Campbell intended to run a fully streamlined, four-wheel-braked AuTitro-Daintler, but it was eventually scratched, not, it. was said, leaving the Continent in time to be properly prepared ; actually it looked from pre-race photographs suspiciously like a car which Campbell had already raced at Brooklands that year.

Despite its unfavourable engine size, Gordon England again ran his A. II.(., now with Philbrin battery-and-coil ignition, tubular push-rods retaining their rocker return springs, a,nd Higgs’ Specialbid pistons. The old square body was replaced by a beautifully streamlined shell, with two streamline head-rests, fairings over the rear springs and filler calls, and the nose alinost entirely enclosed. Each cylinder was fed by a 35-mm. Solex, and the crankcase was kept below atmospheric pressure to assist the splash lubrication. Oates was using the same Lagoa& that ran so regularly in 1921, but the E60-Campbell was a very special job, with a round-section body of aluminium sheeting over a duralumin frame, this shell weighing only about 1 cwt. and being easily lifted, Complete on the chassis frame, by one person. A special round-section radiator was used to assist the body lines, with which the full-length undershield blended, all the contours being seientiti(.811y planned. The 4-cylinder 72 x8:1-rnm. single-geardriven o.h.e. engine ran up to 5,000 r.p.m. and had two Solex carburetters, a 13.T.1-I. magneto and Speci811041 pistons. The cast-iron cylinders were separate, joined by an alloy camshaft easing. There was a small oil radiator beneath the main radiator and two entirely separate fuel systems were installed in ease one gave trouble. The 4-slieed and reverse gearbox, like the other chassis components, was very earefully run in. The body, incidentally. was made in I tammersniith, and Smith was in charge of this delectable light car. Centre-point steering was used, and the Wiieelliase was 18″ longer than Standard. Bertelli again produced his EnfieldAllday ears, two of them based on the T.T. jobs and the third a development of the sports model with s.v. engine ; it had an oil cooler between the dumb-irons. The two special ears, identieal exceptthat one had a solid and one a ” live ” rear axle, had a curious engine with square water-jackets, east in pairs and united by two water 1,assages. Indeed, the cylinder blocks, ciali held to the crankcase by seven Studs, resembled metal boxes, with deep aluminium lids in which hid the valve gear and plugs. The bore and stroke were 09 100 nim., the plitite rod operated inlet valves Wure above the exhaust. valves, and ignit kin was by a duplex Ode° eoil set wit hi double distributors on the nit side, a dynamo being chain-driven in place of the asind magneto. The standard components of the engine were considerably lightened, a spevial camshaft was used, and the compression-n[0f • was quite high. Peak speed was 4,000 r.p.m. To cope with the lowered, rather Talbot-like radiators (eowled on one car), a water-pump was gear-driven from the front near side of the tinting ease. The considerably dropped front axle was offset on the 1-elliptic springs, and at. the rear the chassis frame was Cllt off jit?i ha-hind light tubular cross-member, the anchorages of which also served as a mountingfOr the springs, inside the ellannels of the side-members ; these springs were

ellipties in place of the standard eantilevers and double Ilartfords ran direct ly beneath them, Mounted on the sidemember of the side-frame channels, just behind the spring mountings. The bodies were , fully faired and the front brakes used in the T.T. did not figure on the ” 200 ” cars. So much for I technicalities.

Of the 1,100-e.c. ears, naturally the G.N. team aroused the most interest. Entirely new engines had been prepared, with a separate shaft running up each cylinder to operate the o.h. camshafts, which actuated four valves per cylinder. This type of G.N. engine afterwards became extremely well known, of course. The cylinder heads were held to I he barrels by eight studs, and two magnetos were used, with two plugs in each lieu I. The camshaft drive-shafts had a vernier coupling at the base and were splined where they passed into the bevels at the upper end. The camshafts rotated towards the valves so as to afford a means of lubricating the tappets. The magnetos were mounted on an aluminium bracket on the front of the crankcase, and the 84.>< 98-mm. cylinders were set at 90°. The crankshaft, of KE805 steel, had 40-mm. diameter journals and roller bigends were used. Under the seats a large saddle-type oil tank was located, the propeller shaft passing through it. Two immersed hand plunger pumps fed lubricant to the cylinder walls and to the main bearings respectively. The chassis followed normal G.N. practice, with the famous.1-elliptic front suspension assembly and chain drive, and the bodies were the boat-like 2-seaters, with cylindrical fuel tanks accommodated in the tail. We believe three of the new engines were prepared, but in the race Capt. FrazerNash used the 1921 engine with the Tdrive for the camshafts. Godfrey had the other works car, and Pickett, an Englishman resident in Boulogne, a third. They all had dummy open radiator shells and botmet tops covering a tee-nose.

Salmson prepared a really strong team, consisting of Benoist, Devaux and Bueno. M. Lombard came over to look after them. The cars consisted of fairly standard chassis, but with 4-elliptic front springs, and had very well streamlined bodies. The engines were new units, having the now familiar twin o.h.e. valve 1(..t.tiation, with the camshafts driven by a vertical shaft at the front, and single carburetters. Ignition was by twin Salmson magnetos set transversely at the front of the timing case. The barrel-section bodies had very tiny screens, with folding wire-mesh shields, low on the scuttle side, and the seats were very low-7set, the backs consisting merely of strips of webbing running up to two padded, streamline head-rests. The crankshaft ran in ball-bearings, the 3-speed gearbox was in unit with I he engine and the rear axle was bevel driven. Douglas Ifawkes, Ware and Martin entered V-twin Morgan 3-wheelers, which were every bit as fast as the 4-wheeled cars. The first-named driver practised with liagens, of British Anzani, in atten dance, his car having very special aircooled Anzani eiwine viI ii :I shaft -driVell c;Wit :11•111iti104 I WI, inlet and two exhaust valves ill C:Ich head. This engine was covered in cooling tins, had two cable-controlled carburetters,

and twin magnetos, while a Best and Lloyd oil jitimp at the top Of the near-side camsliaft drive-shaft looked after oil el reulation. The tail was pretty normal, with a fiat tank immediately behind the scat, but the nose behind the engine was brought to a point. Ware’s car had a lighter tail, and used a .T.A.P. engine, tuned mainly by the works, while Martin’s Morgan had a push-rod o.h.v. Anzani engine. All the ears had a hoop above their back wheels to provide anchorage for a Hartford shock-absorber. Pressland and Tolladay both ran 2cylinder Crouch cars which, although aged, were amongst the fastest of the normal light cars at the Track at that. time. Tolladay’s was a rear-engined, chain-driven job, which, two months earlier, had had a lucky escape when a near-side front tyre burst at nearly 80 m.p.h., causing it to turn two complete circles and knock down a 4″ post at the side of the Track. Pressland’s car first klppeared at the Whitsun B.A.R.C. meeting and was at first entered in the II-litre class. Later, the stroke was reduced to 90 mm. which, with a bore of 85 mm., put it in the 1,100-c.c. category. It had one Of the new 90°water-cooled o.h.v. engines, at the front, with twin Cox-Atmos carburetters, Flexekas valve-guide seals and Sparkekas plug terminals. A spare oil tank was carried under the dash with a hand-pump beneath it, and there was a cord-operated choke. The Bleriot Whippet Peaty was to drive had a special 85 x 88-mm. o.h.v. air-cooled V-twin engine with cylinders machined out of solid billets, the capacity being only 998 c.c. A Zenith triple-diffuser carburetter was supported by a tubular member running up from the crankcase. The engine was set motor-cycle-wise in the frame and drove by chain to a centrally-disposed 3-speed and reverse gearbox, final drive being by Bramton spring chain to a solid axle. Front suspension was by -elliptic springs to a tubular axle, and similar suspension was used at the rear, special dampers, consisting of two thin leaves rigidly anchored beneath the frame side-member and carried on rollers beneath the main spring clip, replacing shock-absorliers of normal conception. The body. of 3-ply on an ash framework, covered in linen, weighed a mere 321 lb. ‘1’lle bonnet was open-fronted to promote cooling, and to this end the gaskets were aluminium rings, while the rocker-posts carried fins. The body was well streatiilined aft, and Peaty, who rained wit hi a pogo stick, had Nlareliant, I he 13Iaekburn wizard, to tune his engine. The speedometer was gear-driven from tlie near-sale rear wheel. The EricI .ongtlett was the car Longden used for Brook lands short handicaps, and a standard job. The engine. a water-cooled push-rod n.h.v. „LAT., was set across the chassis and hail an Amal carburetter and 11.L. magneto. The centrally-controlled 3-speed gearbox was thoroughly run-in before being fitted, and various hackaxle ratios were experimented with. I Ionic-devised shock-absorbers, looking like I fartfords, were used and the wirewheels had inosi inenions locking hub caps. The radial or had a. slightly V aspeCt, the hndy as very simple. and the rims carried 2S’ x3″ studded ‘Mitchinson ty res. Marchant himself was tuning and

driving the K.R.C., a shaft-driven chassis with 2-cylinder water-cooled Blackburn engine. Wasling had a Fewson, which turned out to be a G.N. ” Vitesse ” with a V-twin air-cooled Anzani 4-valveqvrcyldtder engine.

Avey’s tiny rear-engined A.V. bi-car was destined to be the production sports model from that time on, and differed from former bi-cars in haying side-hy-sidc seating and something of a wind-defeating stern. The air-cooled s.v. Blackburn Vtwin engine drove a 3-speed and reverse gearbox. The Reindeer and Tamplin failed to materialise. As before, most people rigged up extra oil supplies, OateS’s Lagonda having a very neat system, a cylindrical tank on the dash and partially under the bonnet enabling oil to be delivered by hand-feed to copper pipe over the rocker gear or to two inlets into the engine sump, according to the setting of a two-way cock. This car, of course, had o.h. inlet valves operated by rockers in line with the crankshaft ; two squaresection exhaust tracts left the engine on the near side, there was a single carburetter, and the rev.-counter and a small air pump were driven from the timing gears. The Bugattis had the gudgeon-pins set very low in the skirts of their multiringed pistons, and had spare condensers for the Bosch magnetos, which could be switched in if required. Faired axles were used by some, notably TalbotDarraeq, A.B.C. and Wolseley, and the A.B.C. had a lap indicator on the cockpit combing before the driver. The air intakes of the Aston-Martins projected from the bonnet side to afford a ” scoop ” effect, and little balance pipes were carried above each of them.

Before we look at the prospects as revealed by the practice period and consider something of the toil and sweat of that pre-race August week, let us briefly consider how some of the competitors had already shown up that year.

A.C. and Aston-Martin had taken longdistance records at around 75 m.p.h. for durations up to 19 hours, and England’s A.B.C. won a short handicap at the Royal Brooklands meeting. The ErieLongden won a race at Whitstm. The T.T. was, as we have said, a TalbotDarracq victory, with Bugatti :3rd, 4th and 6th, and Bertelli’s road-racing EnfieldAllday 5th. Capt. Miller’s Wolseley Tett next set up records at ‘Brooklands, including 500 miles at 82.22 m.p.h., after which the gearbox gave trouble. It came out again the following day, but had magneto trouble after lapping at over 85 m.p.h. for 34 hours. The car was said to be entered for the ” 200,” but it seems more likely to have been one of the singleseater ” Moth ” cars, whereas the 200Mile Race car was a 2-seater, considerably less streamlined—no confirmation is forthcoming, however, and this illustrates rather nicely some of the pitfalls that await the motor-racing historian. In the Strasbourg G.P. the two 16-valve AstonMartins retired with duff magnetos, but were said to have achieved 98 m.p.h., Gallop putting up the fastest lap of all, at 75 m.p.h. At an E,,scx 11).411)1.1:trir Is meeting Oates’s Lagonda gained t 1111d a third, and Moir made fastest time of the day with his Astoit-Martin at Shelsley Continued on page 82

THE OUTER CIRCUIT “200s”

–continued from page 80 Walsh, using a 16-valve engine in ” Bunny.” The single-seater Wolseley Ten, incidentally, won from the Lagonda at an Ealing and District M.C.U. Brooklands meeting. Then came the Boulogne speed week. Salmsons carried the day, but the car Bueno was to have brought to the ” 200 ” crashed. At the August B.A.R.C. meeting Oates won a race at 80 m.p.h., afterwards turning completely round. Moir’s 200-Mile Race AstonMartin, presumably with its Track body, set tongues wagging by lapping at nearly 95 m.p.h., and the A.B.C., Crouch and Eric-Longden were all going well. The A.V. had taken short, distance. records at over 71 m.p.h. with an engine of only 700 c.c., smaller than that it was to use on August 19th. That, then, was the outlook the week practising opened, when “Long Tom” was laying 3 to 1 on Chassagne, 4 to 1 on Guinness and Segrave, and the same Odds on Buell() and Devaux, and on Benoist, respectively. Pullin and Nash both stood at 5 to 1. The usual last-minute work was inevitable. The G.N.S, probably because East Hill was busy with private orders, did not put in much practice lappery, Whereas the Salmsons, carefully serviced in the old Sheds behind the hill, apart from some plug worries, were lapping at 84. The speed of the Bleriot Whippet increased noticeably as the week wore on, until it could lap at well above 60 m.p.h., and it held the Track very well into the bargain. Hawkes put in a lap in the Morgan at over 75 m.p.h., and was obviously not flat out, but in general the car was erratic. The knowledgeable considered it very likely that the 1921 winning average in the 1,100-c.c. class, of 71.54 m.p.h., would be handsomely exceeded. A sort of perspective, as it were, was established two days before the race, when the single-seater Salmson took the kilo. record at 91.04 m.p.h., and ran 10 miles at nearly 83. The A.C.s were not nearly ready in time, although Joyce lapped at over 85, but the TalbotDarracqs and Aston-Martins were, lapping at 94 m.p.h. The Eric-Campbell was delayed by trouble at the works, but was showing promise, and in spite of its small engine the Wolseley lapped at over 85. The Light Car thought Guinness would win at 92 m.p.h., and said of the Talbot team : “These little cars are truly wonderful. They arrive about a week before the race, proceed to do four or five laps at about 90 m.p.h., their jet sizes are changed, they do one or two more laps at a slightly higher speed and are then put away until the day of the

race. There is no hustle, no bustle, no last-minute tuning, and nothing but wellprepared organisation—a model of how a racing team should be run.” Bertelli was held up for a while by flat batteries, and Oates experienced a worrying engine mishap and then, right on the eve of the race, Harvey, with the 4-cylinder s.v. Anzani-engined Marseal, had the bad luck to crash and wreck his car. Pullin’s fast A.C. also failed to start.

On the eve of the great day every hotel near Brooklands had every room booked, and the 6.10 from Waterloo brought the first arrivals from town. A Vauxhall was to lead the cars rapidly from the Paddock to the Fork to obviate complaints of oiled plugs, and motor-cyclists were to patrol the Track, armed with Very pistols with which to summon the Pyrene squads if a car crashed and caught fire— one young lady thought the pistols were to shoot badly injured ‘drivers or mechanics Much thought was given to the three new lap-scoring boards. All, indeed, was set for the second Junior Car Club long-distance light-car race, in which 1,100-c.c. cars had to average over 57 m.p.h., and 11-litres 66t m.p.h. to avoid being flagged off. The regulations, of course, specified 2-seater boles with the seats staggered not more than 9’. (To be continued.)