Club News, August 1933

BRITISH RACING DRIVERS’ CLUB.

THE Supplementary Regulations for the annual 500 Miles Race are now available. The event will take place on September 16th, the limit cars being sent away at 11 a.m. The faster machines will be sent off in batches until finally the scratch men will be given the signal to start at 12h. 21m. 27s. Cars entered must be capable of lapping the Track at 80 m.p.h., and must cover a lap at this speed during the first hour of the race. Two drivers and two mechanics will be allowed, and the carrying of mechanics will be left to the discretion of drivers.

• Entry fees are as follow : Up to July 31st £16; up to August 14th £21; up to August 28th £26. A splendid list of awards has been donated, the first man receiving the beautiful ” Wakefield” Trophy and £250 presented by Lord Wakefield, of Hythe ; the second will receive the ” Dunlop ” Trophy and 2100 presented by the Dunlop Rubber Co. Ltd. ; the third will receive the ” Hepburn” Trophy and £50 from D. H. Hepburn, Esq. ; the first British car to finish will win £100 presented by Messrs. Joseph Lucas, Ltd. ; the team prize will be the handsome “Field Gold Team Trophy” value £220; and class awards have been donated by Messrs. Charles Follett, Ltd., jack Barclay, Esq. and others.

BROOKLANDS AUTOMOBILE RACING CLUB.

The next B.A.R.C. Meeting at Brooklands will be held on August Bank Holiday, i.e., Monday, August 7th. The usual programme of long and short handicaps, for this meeting known as ” Byfieet ” races, will be carried out, together with Mountain handicap races. In addition, the bright idea has been conceived of running a Veteran Drivers’ Race over three laps of the Mountain circuit. This event will be open by invitation only to Brooklands pre-War drivers, and they will pilot M.G. J2 Midgets specially provided by the M.G. Car Company.

The prize money of the Byfleet Lightning Short Handicap has been fixed at £80 for the winner, £40 for second and £20 for third. This should be a good race.

THE GREAT WEST M.C.

By the time these lines appear the Club’s big trial for the Schofield Cup will have been run and won. A sporting course was arranged including Midmere, Great Wood, Maidens Grove, Crowell and Downsley. The Club’s journal “The Exhaust” increases in size with each number. Full details of the Club’s activities—and there is something on every week-end—will be found in the current number. Other interesting items are a reprint from “Modern Motor Repairs” on Dynamo Faults, a short story, and a report on the

Club’s Scavenger Hunt, which incidentally resulted as follows : 1, C. P. Curd, 90 marks ; 2, D. Pullen, 83 marks ; 3, J. E. Bardrick, 75 marks ; 4, R. H. Brown, 74 marks ; 4, Mrs. Howe, 73 marks.

The secretary’s address is Mr. C. J. A. Curd, 30, Denehurst Gardens, Richmond, and the Sports Secretary is Mr. Paul Hardy, 33, Cypress Avenue, Whitton, Twickenham.

KENT & SUSSEX L.C.C.

The Speed Trials held on June 25th at the Race Hill, Lewes, were too late for inclusion in our July issue, but we give below a report of the proceedings. A high wind was blowing throughout the afternoon, and this prevented the record from being broken. The touring and sports classes were notable for an excellent entry of Wolseley Hornets entered by members of the Hornet Car Club. All made consistent times, the best being P. S. Hutchens in 32.8 seconds on a very pretty Corsica 2 seater. T. M. Wright had the misfortune to break the differential and split the axle casing of his Hornet. R. R. Gush was second, and P. D. Tweed third,

Hutchens also walked away with the unlimited touring class, his magnificent 8 litre Bentley clocking 27.2 seconds, beating Miss Weekes (V8 Ford) and Mrs. W. L. Allen (Vauxhall 30/98). P. H. Bell took the 1,500 c.c. sports class with his Frazer Nash in 30.8 seconds, ahead of Hutchens and J. H. Boasley on Hornets. Bell also won the super sports class, while W. L. Allen carried off the 2,000 c.c. class with an old Bugatti.

In the next class, for unlimited super sporting cars, some faster times were recorded, best of all being Esson Scott with his neat black 2 litre Bugatti in 24.6 secs. Hutchen’s 8 litre Bentley, improving on its previous time with 26.4 secs., was second, and Denis Conan I)oyle’s ” Mere ” came third with a time of 27.4 secs. The 1,100 c.c. racing cars went faster still, John Bolster (happily recovered from his spill at Shelsley) gaining the day in 22.4 secs.

Then came the” 1,500’s” and Nash on “the Spook.” The car obviously took some holding, as did most of the fast machines owing to the gusty side-wind, but even so recorded 21.8 secs. This was well ahead of the next man, J. C. Davis on the 11 litre G. P. Delage, who took 23 sees. dead, while Donald Letts (M.G 5 Midget) was third in 23.2 seconds—the fastest time ever recorded at Lewes by a Midget, so far as we can remember. Later this time was equalled by K. D. Evans, both Midgets being tuned by the Bellevue Garage. The order was the same in the racing 2,000 c.c. class with the exception that Mrs. K. Petre displaced Letts for third place, her blue Bugatti clocking 23 seconds dead, thereby beating up “mere man,”

represented by Essex). Scott on a similar car, by 1.2 seconds. Nash improved his time to 21.6 secs. and Davis to 22.8 secs. Then, in the unlimited racing class Nash made a very fine performance in beating Oliver Bertram’s 10 litre Delage, lowering his time to 21 secs, dead, as against the 21.2 secs. of Bertram.

The Handicap Class provided a win for Eric Cowan on a 2 litre Lagouda, with a net time of 18.8 secs., Kenneth Evans (M.G.) being second and Donald Letts (M.G.) third.

A very enjoyable afternoon, beautfully organised.

RESULTS.

Touring, unlimited : 1, F. S. Hutchens (Bentley) 27.2; 2, Miss J. Weekes (V8 Ford) 30.; 3, Mrs. Allen (Vauxhall) 33.8.

Wolseley Hornet Class : I, F. S. Hutchens 32.8; 2,R. R. Gush 33.6; 3, R. 1). Tweed 34.8.

Standard Sports, 1,500 c.c. : 1, P. H. Bell (Frazer Nash) 30.8; 2, F. S. Hutchens (Hornet) 33; 3, J. H. Boasley (Hornet) 34.8. Sports, 2,000 c.c. : 1, W. I,. Allen (Bugatti) 31.2;

2, C. T. Osborne (Schneider) 42.6.

Super Sports, 1,600 c.c.: 1, P. H. Bell (Frazer Nash) 31.6; 2, M. H. Taylor (Bugatti) 39.4.

Super Sports, unlimited : 1, Esson Scott (Bugatti) 24.6; 2, F. S. Hutchens (Bentley) 26.4; 3,1). Conan Doyle (Mercedes-Benz) 27.4. Racing, 1,100 c.c.: 1, J. V. Bolster (Bolster Special) 22.4; 2, G. P. H. Noble (Salmson) 24.6;

3, D. Letts (M.G. Midget) 24.6.

Racing, 1,600 c.c.: 1, R. G. J. Nash (Nash Special) 21.8; 2, J. C. Davis (Delage) 23; 3,1). Letts (M.G.) 23.2.

Racing, 2,000 c.c.: 1. R. 0. J.Nash (NashSpecial) 21.6; 2, J. C. Davis (Delage) 22.8; 3, Mrs. K. retie (Bugatti) 23.

Racing, unlimited: 1, R. G. J .Nash (Nash Special) 21; 2, 0. Bertram (Delage) 21.2; 3, Mrs. K. Petre (Bugatti) 22.2.

Handicap: 1, E. Cowan (Lagonda) 18.8; 2, K. D. Evans (M.G. Midget) 19.8; 3, D. Letts (M.G. Midget) 21.

BUGATTI OWNERS’ CLUB.

The great event on the Club’s fixture list now is the visit to the Bugatti Works, Molsheim, on September 18th. In view of the short period occupied by the whole trip, ‘and the very reasonable terms offered, the visiting party should be a large one.

Here are some details. The party will leave Dover on Saturday, September 16th by Townsend Ferry and motor to Rheims, staying at the Hotel Crystal Bristol. Before leaving the next day a visit will be made to some famous champagne cellars and vineyards, then to Verdun for lunch, an inspection of the Verdun Battlefield and so to Strasbourg for the night, which will be spent at the Hotel Ville de Paris. The next day, Monday, will be taken up with The Visit. Tuesday will see the party on the way back to Calais, via Compiegne, where the night will be spent, and Dover will be reached on Wednesday, September 20th at 3.30 p.m. The cost of this entertaining visit for car owners will be from £14 14s. 6d. to £21 17s. 6d., according to the wheelbase of the car. For passengers, the cost will be RI 7s. 6d, each, both of these charges including all

fares, hotel accommodation and meals.

The Bugatti Owners’ Club is open to owners of any make of car for an entry fee of 5s. and a subscription of one guinea per annum.

Incidentally, the July number of ” Bugantics ” is really a bumper issue. Among other good things there is an eyewitness account of the Monaco Grand Prix by Mr. Lionel Martin, an article by Mr. W. Boddy on Robinson’s Brescia Bugatti, full of interest to all Bugatti owners, three pages of excellent photographs of the Chalfont Hill Climb. Finally there is a complete description of the new Bugatti Rail-car, which is powered by 4 “Golden Bugatti” engines and has been electrically timed at 107 m.p.h.

SUTTON COLDFIELD & N. BIRMINGHAM A.C.

It seems that inter-club rivalry, which one would have thought to have been really keen, is only a myth after all. The ” Sunbae ” Club put the matter to test recently with their Inter-Club Trial— and attracted four entries. The trial was open to every club in England, and was held in the central county of Derbyshire, so the reason for this paucity of entries is difficult to discover. However, non-participation was the absentees’ loss, for those who actually took part in the trial had a most enjoyable day. The four teams present were the M.C.C. the Singer Car Club, the M.G. Car Club, and the N.W. London M.C. The trial started from Buxton, and was held over a 62 miles route. Altogether

there were 11 observed hills, of which five were duplicate climbs.

The first big hill was Litton Slack, that long straight hill coming up through a valley near Mousal Dale Station. Now success on Litton Slack can very often only be obtained by ” rushing ” tactics, and it was to nip this process in the bud that the organisers held a stop and restart half way up, just where the relief road goes off to the right. The M.C.C. were first, and lost marks through the failure of Curtis (V8 Ford) and McGouran (Riley). The N.W. London were all good. Michael May doing well to bring the high geared Alvis up. All the Singers were fast and sure, but the M.G. Club had two failures in Cookson and Smith.

Then came the timed stop and restart on Putwell, which caused a few bad performances, even the Singer team losing some marks. Priestdiffe and Taddington Moor were rough but easy, and the first section of the trial was completed after an acceleration test on Dow Low. Here there was an interesting contrast in the accelerative powers of the big engined vehicle, as exemplified by the V8 Ford, and the small high-efficiency sports car in the shape of Singers and M.G. Midgets. The result was a win for A. R. Langley’s J.2 Midget with a time of 19 35, one fifth faster than Mann’s V8 Ford. The next round of these hills passed without great incident, although Litton stopped Cookson once more and Sforza’s Magna for the first time. Finally, a titbit was put in at the end known as Cowlow Hill, a grass track which has been used

before for motor-cycles. Here Whalley failed for some reason or other, and the redoubtable Michael May.

And so to a party at the Palace Hotel, in the middle of which it was announced that the Singer team had won the” Autocar” Trophy with the loss of only 6 marks.

RESULTS.

” Autosar ” Trophy : Singer M.C., represented by J. D. Barnes, J. R. H. Baker, A. H. Langley, B. Richardson and A. Squillario, all on Singer Nines. 6 marks lost.

Runners-up: N. W. London M.C. represented by F. S forza (M.G. Magna), J. A. Bastock (M.G. Midget), M. W. B. May (Alvis), H. M. Avery (Singer Nine) and C. Mann (V8 Ford).

ULSTER M.C.

A remarkably good performance was put by V. S. Ferguson on a 3.3 Midget at the hill-climb held at Balky Cannon, County Down, on June 10th. Ferguson won five out of seven events, making the fastest time of the day in 1 m. 3 1/5s. at an average speed of 64.08 m.p.h. M.G. successes were added to when J. S. C. Cupples won the 860 unblown class with a J.2 Midget, the only other event, a handicap affair, going to E. J. Wilkinson on a Riley.

ROCHESTER, CHATHAM & D.M.C.

The results of the night trial held on June 24th was as follows : Williams Trophy for best performance, F. Bannister (Wolseley Hornet). Cars and three wheelers : 1, G. Easton (Austin Arrow), 2, F. Bannister (Wolseley Hornet), 3, R. Lewis (Wolseley Hornet).