Veteran Edwardian Vintage, April 1961

 A Section Devoted to Old-Car Matters

Vintage S.C.C.Opens at Silverstone on April 22nd

One of the most enjoyable of the many Club Race Meetings held on the Silverstone circuit are those organised by the Vintage Sports Car Club, on account of the variety of cars competing. This season the first of these V.S.C.C. meetings will take place on April 22nd, commencing with a One-Hour High-Speed Trial at 12.15 p.m. This will be followed by a series of races in the afternoon, including the 1908 G.P. Itala Trophy 10-lap scratch race for vintage racing cars, in which a handicap race will be incorporated, an All-Comers’ 10-lap scratch race, a 5-lap Edwardian Handicap, the Spero Trophy Race for vintage cars up to 750 c.c. s/c. and 1,100 c.c. non-s/c., a 5-lap scratch race for vintage cars and a series of 5-lap handicaps. One of the last-named will constitute one of the Inter-Register Contests between Sunbeam, Talbot, Humber, Fiat, bull-nose Morris and Austin Twelve cars, and it will be interesting to see what teams the respective Registers muster. We believe the S.T.D. Register hopes to have Lord Montagu driving his Coupe de P Auto Sunbeam, a Speed Twenty Sunbeam and a Talbot 105.

This year there will be no separate car-park for vintage cars; as the V.S.C.C. Bulletin publicised the fact that, should the Editor of Motor Sport, who helped to run such a park last year, repeat what was regarded as “an unpardonable piece of impertinence,” an Associate Member of the Club, Mr. W. K. Parker, of Chapel-en-le-Frith, will immediately hand in his resignation, this is just as well. No-one wishes the V.S.C.C. to lose a valuable member!

Note that entries close by April 7th. Entry forms from Tim Carson, 3, Kingsclere House Stables, Kingselere, Newbury, Berks. A ticket is required for admission (no dogs!) to Silverstone on this occasion, so don’t try to gate-crash without them. They are obtainable free of charge from V.S.C.C. members and thereafter the only cost of what always proves to be a thoroughly enjoyable day’s sport is a modest 5s. for the car park. Remember then, sportsmen and sportsgirls, the latter a modern element amongst the ancient machinery competing, Silverstone is the place to go to on April 22nd, especially if you like individual motor cars.

Austin enthusiasts will find fresh information about Austin lorries, farm tractors and the early Twenties, etc., in the journal of the Vintage Austin Twelve Register, whose Secretary is R. J. Wyatt, 82, Coleshill Flats, Pimlico Road, London, S.W.1.

The widow of the late Frank Newton gave to St. J. Nixon the damaged steering wheel from the 60-h.p. Napier which crashed at Brooklands—actually jumping the entrance road!—when Tryon was attempting records with it in 1908. Mr. Nixon has presented the steering wheel to the Guild of Motoring Writers and it will be displayed, suitably mounted, in London’s Steering Wheel Club.

Will the reader who proposes to form a Lago-Talbot Club please write to us, as we have mislaid his address and have letters to forward.

Steam enthusiast: The recent correspondence about steamers must now end but on a happy note—the Continental Correspondent drove recently a 1922 Foden kept in running order by a great steamer enthusiast in Berkshire. And, on commercial vehicle topics, a near-vintage long-wheelbase Leyland petrol lorry was seen last month towing a “Dodgem’s” outfit for a fair-ground.

More derelicts. A reader tells us of a yard in Gloucestershire where two Kittens and a Sentinel steamer, spares for same, a circa 1901 Singer motorcycle, two ancient Morgans, something like three dozen old motorcycles, parts of many Austin Sevens, a Jowett engine, a 1926 Riley two-seater, an early Trojan, etc., lie derelict but not, it seems, for sale during the owner’s lifetime.

The Standard Register now has 80 cars on its books, recently joined ones including a 1924 13.9-h.p. “Warwick” tourer in Liverpool, another 1930 16-h.p. six cylinder Avon Special in Cheshire, a 1930 “Selby” Nine tourer in Keighley and a wire-wheeled “Teignmouth” Nine Special saloon in Lancaster. The Register is promoting a rally for vintage Standards at Beaulieu on May 13th. 

An informative article on the Charron-Laycock light car appeared in Laycock News recently. It included a picture of a 1922 Charron-Laycock two-seater in regular use in the Liverpool area by a doctor who gets 34 m.p.g. from it.

Odds and ends. Harry Rose, owner of that well-known blower Bentley team car, is rebuilding a 1906 Talbot. An A.B.C. Scorpion light aeroplane engine has turned up in Surrey and a 1911 Renault limousine is being restored in Chingford.

The 3rd Coppa Monza vintage-car contest is to be held this year at Monza track, Italy, on May 14th, commencing at 2 p.m. Last year this took the form of a series of flying laps and was won by de Villier’s Ulster Austin Seven. This year 4-lap races are to be substituted, which should be great fun, especially as social functions occupy the preceding day. Open to vintage and p.v.t. cars of sports and racing types, there will also be a Concours d’Elegance for those unable to run. Foreign entrants are invited to an informal lunch at the track, as guests of the Club Milanese Automotoveicoli d’Epoca. Intending entrants should contact Signor A. T. Anselmi, of the above-named Club, who speaks English. His address is : Palazzo Visconti, via Cerva 44, Milano, Italy.