For the record

Sir,
It is seldom that Motor Sport makes rnistakes in any of its reports, but in the March issue you are almost 5 years out of date at one point. On page 245 there Is a picture of some Scouts pushing a Ford Fiesta around Ingliston and the lap record is reported to be 47.7 sec. (77.74 m.p.h.) set by the late Gerry Birrell in 1972.

Birrell set that record in May 1972 but in September 1972 he reduced it to 46.6 sec. (79.57 m.p.h.) in a March 722.

In March 1973, Tommy Reid, driving a Brabham BT38/40, lowered this to 46.1 sec. and for the first time broke the 80 m.p.h. barrier with a speed of 80.43 m.p.h.

This record stood for more than 3 years till the 25th March, 1976 when Richard Scott. driving a Modus M3, drove round the circuit in 45.6 sec, at a speed of 81.32 m.p.h. During the race Scott broke Reid’s old record 4 times and Norman Dickson, his team-mate in a similar car, broke it 3 times with a fastest lap it 45.8 sec.

There is at present a prize of £1,000 for the first person to break the 85 m.p.h. barrier— that is about 43.6 sec.—this would seem an impossibility in the near future.

Birmingham, John M.L. Brown

P.S. The record for the short circuit around which the Scouts pushed the Fiesta dates back to 1968, I think, just before the long circuit opened. In May, 1968 Peter Gethin driving a Chevron F2 set it at 37.0 sec., 73.9 m.p.h., if my memory and notes serve me correctly.

[Our fault for relying on Ford’s Press information]—Ed.