THE B.A.R.C. DINES

THE B.A.R.C. DINES

THE annual dinner of the Brooklands Automobile Racing Club, which was held at the Savoy Hotel on the 17th November, maintained its reputation as one of the most entertaining of the “dinner events,” and was attended by a representative gathering of motorracing enthusiasts.

The Chair at the Dinner was taken by Mr. Mervyn O’Gorman, who has been connected with the sport of motor-racing in this country since its beginning, as a very active member of the R.A.C. and RA,R.C. racing committees. In proposing the toast of the Club and its guests, he paid a tribute to the public spirit of the late Mr. Locke-King, whose foresight in building Brooklands Track, which formed such a valuable testing ground for the British manufacturer, had played a tremendous part in developing our motor-cars to their present high standard.

Lord Howe, in reply, first mentioned the distinguished foreign visitors who were attending the function that evening : Count Lurani, who had gained the Italian 1,500 c.c. championship for 1934, and who had rendered valuable help to British drivers in Italy ; and Taruffi, who, now happily recovered from a crash at 100 m.p.h. on the 16-cylinder Maserati, was looking forward already to next year’s racing. He then referred to the valuable part which Brooklands had paid in training the British racing driver, and looked forward to the successful debut on the Continent of the E.R.A. car, which had already done so well on the Brooklands Mountain Circuit. Lieut. Cathc,artJones, whose flight to Australia and back in 14 days was still in everyone’s mind, paid tribute to Ken Waller, his fellow-pilot, who had shared

the difficulties of the journey, and who was closely connected with Brooklands, and to Mr. Bernard Rubin, who had financed their venture. He recalled little of the countries over which they had passed as most of the flight was carried out at a height of 10,000 feet!

Mr. Bradley then recalled some of the fine performances, such as Cobb’s new lap record at 140 m.p.h., and the mountain records of Whitney Straight and Raymond Mays. “Bump removal” would soon be in full force, and already plans for the J.C.C. International Trophy and the Empire Trophy next year were well advanced.

After dinner the floor was cleared and dancing continued until 1 a.m., rounding off very pleasantly one of the best functions of the winter season.