MORGAN 4/4 WINS ANOTHER BIG RACE

MORGAN 4/4 WINS ANOTHER BIG RACE D. McCRACKEN, THE WINNER OF LE1NSTER TROPHY RACE AT 61.95 M.P.H.

These excellent Irish Road Races invariably draw a very good field of distinctly varied cars, which is effectively dealt with by an obviously necessary system. of handicapping.

The Leinster Trophy Race was a contest of considerable uncertainty and no little incident. Ivo Peters, who suffered rather more hurt when he crashed his Alfa-Romeo at Cork than was at first realised, was a non-starter, leaving the honour of scratch position to Adrian Conan Doyle with the blown, double-cam 1i-litre Bugatti, A. P. Rolt with his Triumph ” Dolomite ” straight-eight and Sir Alastair MacRobert’s M.G. Magnette. O’Riordan, the limit man, for a long while looked like keeping his lead with the Riley. Manders (Adler) had started a lap behind him. and on the eighteenth circuit O’Riordan was passing him when Manders lost control. To avoid a worse crash O’Riordan put his Riley up the bank, but it overturned and finished up on the bonnet of the Adler and O’Riordan went out with arm injuries, Manders suffering only a few scratches. McCracken.’s Morgan 4/4 now led, with R. Campbell’s sister car—winner of the recent Ulster Trophy Race—second, while another Morgan 44, driven by F. D. Smyth, was running third, followed by R. D. Cox’s 1.3-litre-M.G. and with David Yule’s Morris-engined C.M.Y.-Special picking up rapidly to fifth place. Then, two laps from the finish, Campbell stopped with lubrication trouble and a few miles from the finish Smyth crashed. Consequently, while McCracken ran on to win for Morgan at 61.95 m.p.h., Cox’s M.G. came in second at 64.42 m.p.h. and Yule’s C.M.Y.-Special was third at 63.95 m.p.h. Of the faster cars Conan Doyle and Rolt had soon left Sir MacRobert’s M.G. and for seven laps the Triumph Dolomite—that interesting eight-cylinder Alfa-like twin o.h. camshaft car that Triumphs intended as a production model—was close up to the Bugatti. Then Rolt got ahead and on lap eight Doyle came into his pit. Both cars had set the lap record at 72 m.p.h. On lap ten the Triumph passed Mitchell’s U.S.R. and lapped at 73.45 m.p.h. The Bugatti was now out again and going very well, a lap to the bad. Rolt lost time in coming into his pit in response to signals to close his petrol-tank filler cap. Then both Mitchell and Rolt retired, E. N. Avant (850 c.c. M.G.)

took fourth place, Campbell’s managed to get in fifth. A. PB blown M.G. Midget was sixth, a delay to secure a loose T. Black’s Balla Fiat was W. McDowell’s Riley Nine was T. Donnelly’s Ford Eight ninth, Doyle’s Bugatti finished tenth and Barrington, delayed by overheating, his Lagonda Rapier in eleventh. D. Leechman.’s Ford Eight finished the time limit. A. P. Rolt’s set a final lap record at 75.53 m.p.h. class winners were :—E. N. Avant in the 850 c.c. section, A. (M.G.) in the 1,100 c.c. section, Conan Doyle (Bugatti) in the section. These Irish road races are an able training ground but the fullness of our own Calendar many eminent drivers from them—unfortunately, that is, from organisers’ and spectators’ points of RESULT

. D. C. McCracken (1,122 c.c. Morgan), 5 laps 2 mins. start, 2h. 2m. 15s. 61.95 m.p.h.

2. R. D. Cox (1,355 c.c. M.G.), 4 laps start, 2h. 5m. Ds. 64.42 m.p.h.

3. D. Yule (972 c.c, C.M.V. Special, 8,), 4 laps start, 2h. 6m. 48. 63.95 m.p.h.