The rest of the Silverstone circus

Not content with the Grand Prix there was a fiesta of fun and sport for the spectators. The day opened with the 25-lap Sports-Car Race, in which Flockhart ran right away from the field in the Coombs’ 2-litre Cooper-Monaco after Dickson’s Ecurie Ecosse Cooper Monaco had retired from the lead with transmission failure. Ashdown’s 1,100 Lola made all the big cars look ridiculous by holding second place until passed on lap 18 by Graham’s 2-litre Lotus. The race was uninspiring, especially as Hafford’s 4.2 Aston Martin had been penalised a minute for jumping the start, so was only in token fourth place. However. Dietrich in a highly-oversteering Elva fought a race-long duel with Kerrison’s Lotus, both 1100s, and only lost on the last lap.

1st: Flockhart (Cooper-Monaco)… 44 min. 3.2 sec. – 99.66 m.p.h
2nd: Graham (Lotus)… 44 min. 53.6 sec. – 97.80 m.p.h.
3rd: Ashdown (Lola)… 44 min. 54.2 sec. – 97.78 m.p.h.

Fastest lap : Flockhart (Cooper Monaco),1 min. 43.sec., 102.30 m.p.h.

There followed a 25-lap Formula Junior race with a very big field, which soon settled into a procession, as the smart Team Lotus cars took possession of the situation. Trevor Taylor led all the way, and ArundeII soon passed Bridger to hold second place. After 13 laps McKee, in Russell’s Lotus-Ford, took third place from Bridger when the latter spun off and retired. Geoff. Duke went well in a Gemini until clutch trouble intervened. Andrews hit the bank at Club Corner, reducing his Lotus to twisted metal but escaping with abrasions. Arundell repeatedly set a new lap record of 99.6 m.p.h.

1st: Taylor (Lotus-Ford)… 44 min. 54.8 sec – 97.75 m.p.h.
2nd: Arundell (Lotus-Ford)… 44 min. 56.6 sec. – 97.69 m.p.h.
3rd: McKee (Lotus-Ford)… 46 min. 32.4 sec. – 94.34 m.p.h.

New lap record Arundell (Lotus). 1 min. 45.8 sec., 99.60 m.p.h.

The 12-lap Production Touring-Car Race was great fun, because Colin Chapman had charge of Coombs’ 3.8 Jaguar, and fought a spirited battle with Sears in the Equipe Endeavour 3.8 Jaguar. Chapman had been thinking of buying one of these fine cars and asked Jaguar for a long trial run, so they arranged for him to drive in the race! Colin showed he had last nothing of his skill as a driver and he and Sears passed and re-passed. On one lap Sears got sideways in front of his opponent and turned to grin at him. Chapman then forged ahead again, but the issue of this exciting duel was in doubt until Chapman went over the finishing-line one-fifth of a second in the lead! Both drivers lapped at the same speed, 87.96 m.p.h., leaving BaiIlie’s 3.8 Jaguar 7.8 sec. behind! Now Chapman must surely become a Jaguar owner!

Shepherd’s remarkable Austin Se7en passed Jaguars and Fords outside and inside on the corners with impunity and beat Byrne’s Auto Union 1000, which was a very sick car long after the meeting was over. Aley’s Austin Se7en was third in the up-to-1,000-c.c. class. In the up-to-1,600-c.c. division Harper’s Sunbeam spun at Becketts and was rammed by Hutcheson’s Riley 1.5, Hopkirk earning applause by neatly avoiding the encounter in his Sunbeam: later Harper’s.car sheared a half-shaft, losing its near-side rear wheel. So Hopkirk won front the Riley, Jopp’s Volvo third. Fords dominated the up-to-3,000-c.c. class, in the order Haynes, Uren, Cuff-Miller – three out of three. Equipe Endeavour (Jaguars) took the Team Award.

1st: Chapman (Jaguar)… 24 min. 21.8 sec. – 86.50 m.p.h.
2nd: Sears (Jaguar)… 24 min. 22 sec. – 86.49 m.p.h.
3rd: Baillie (Jaguar)… 24 min. 29.8 sec. 86.03 m.p.h.

Fastest lap: Tie-Chapman and Sears (Jaguars), 1 min. 50.8 sec., 87.96 m.p.h.

There were still attractions to Come before the G.P. The G.P. drivers were supposed to parade in a bevy of Mini-Minors with their names on the side. This developed into a high-speed, tight-packed traffic jam, the “minibrics” leaning on one another as they rushed round. At the finish several drivers overshot the Paddock. Brabham returning fast in reverse, and afterwards B.M.C. reps. were seen looking a bit sideways. at one or more bent bumpers ! The parade of Historic Racing Cars also developed into a truly hectic race, so that scandalised officials stopped the glorious sight and sound after a mere couple of laps – what time Schellenberg’s great Bentley seemed to be in the lead (and on the grass for the entire length of the pits-straight!), followed closely by Hull’s E.R.A. and Bill Moss in the E.R.A. “Remus.” It was a pity this “race” was stopped as it was simply magnificent and quite overshadowed the subsequent Grand Prix – and it cost the B.R.D.C. only £810 in starting money to bring the 27 pre-war cars together. There were few newcomers, although Issigonis drove the Lightweight in his well remembered close-fitting cloth helmet, the little rubber-sprung car souuding and smelling as it did at pre-war Shelsleys, while the Hon. Brian Lewis (lord Essendon) was obviously thoroughly enjoying Mortimer’s ex-Fox & Nicholl Talbot 105, and Arthur Fox was in his saloon Talbot 105 with the ex-single-seater engine. Of nine E.R.A.s Gahagan had his recently-acquired ex-Dobson car, now with 2-litre engine. Incidentally, Schellenberg brought the Hassan-Bentley on a trailer towed behind a 1927 St-litre straight-eight Sunbeam shooting-brake. A pity more old-time drivers could not have driven the cars – Trintignant enjoyed sampling several of the six G.P. Bugattis present earlier in the day.

Finally, this fiesta had Moss, arriving in a B.E.A. helicopter chartered by B.P. He was paraded, rather rapidly, before his hysterical public in a Land-Rover before usurping Kenneth Evans’ job as starter of the Grand Prix. Everyone is sympthathetic with Moss over his accident, but many are getting extremely tired of the high-pressure Moss publicity to which they have been subjected daily ever since. Moss is a great racing driver and it is a pity he refuses to act like one. There is always intense interest in his racing activities but when he professes to be a sculptor, painter, philosopher and reformer of hospital doorhandles one feels a bit sick, and becomes very bored with too much Moss. We advise Stirling to lie quiet, get well, and come back to motor racing, where he excels. He has has badly over-played the publicity and although this may give him several hundred more “fans,” like the scantily-clad, top-hatted “March Hare” girls wearing big pictures of Stirling, whom we saw at Silverstone, Moss has already sickened far too many of his motor-racing friends with this high-pressure effort to ensure that his name is never for one moment overlooked.

Silverstone Sidelights

Since Zandvoort it has been obvious that a major victory will come the way of Graham Hill driving a B.R.M., and he gets closer at every outing.

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Although Piper and Naylor were low down in the list of finishers it was nice to see them both have a non-stop trouble-free race for a change, for they are two real “private owners,” and Naylor in particular deserves encouragement as he is a true ” private builder.”

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It was interesting that, of the 24 drivers in the race 16 of them improved on their fastest lap times in practice, rather indicating that there had been insufficient time in practice for them to reach their limit. Most improved was Haigh, who reduced his time by 4.6 sec. followed by Surtees and Trintignant, who both improved by 2.8 sec.

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But for trouble with his front suspension, causing a long pit-stop, Jimmy Clark would have been third and we should have seen two “new boys” in the first three, and two very good new boys at that.

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Assuming the winner to be he who receives the ehequered flag first in an event, we saw eleven winners at the British Grand Prix meeting. We think that Brahham was the most important winner, but many of the visiting public obviously had other ideas about motor racing.

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A G.T. T.T.

the 25th Tourist Trophy sees yet another change in the chequered career of this famous race, which was first held in 1905 on the Manx circuit in the Isle of Man and was held there intermittently until 1922. It lapsed until 1928, when it was held on the Ards circuit in Northern Ireland, where it stayed until 1936, the race being won by such fatuous names as Caracciola, Nuvolari, Freddie Dixon and Kaye Don. In 1937 the race came to England, where it was run at Donington until the war. The race was revived in 1950, when it was held at Dundrod in Northern Ireland, but after a serious multiple accident in 1955 the race was abandoned until 1958, when the B.A.R.C. held it at Goodwood and again in 1959. Unfortunately, neither race was a financial success so that this year’s event is now reduced to a 3-hour race for G.T. cars.

The race, organised by the B.A.R,C., ‘which will be held at Goodwood on August 20th, is open to Grand Touring cars complying with Appendix “J” (Group 3) in the following classes: (a) over 1,000 and up to 1,300 c.c., (b) over 1,300 and up to 2,000 c.c., (c) over 2,000 c.c. As the race counts towards the F.I.A. Cups for G.T. races a number of Continental entries can be expected, including Ferrari and Porsche, while Aston Martin, Jaguar and Lotus Elite will uphold British honour. Practising takes place on Thursday and Friday, August 18th and 19th, from 3 p.m. to 5.30 p.m., and the race commences at 3 p.m. on Saturday, August 20th, finishing at 6 p.m. Details of admission from British Automobile Racing Club, 55 Park Lane. London. W.1.