Matters of Moment, December 1954

Next Year’s R.A.C. British Grand Prix to be Held at Aintree
The. Royal Automobile Club announces that, subject to agreement on detail, the R.A.C. British Grand Prix for 1955 will he staged on the new Aintree Motor Racing Circuit and organised by the British Automobile Racing Club. The race will be sponsored by the Daily Telegraph.

An application for the race to be delegated to the British Automobile Racing Club has been approved in principle by the Committee of the Royal Automobile Club.

After the war, from 1948 to 1951, the Grand Prix Race was organised by the R.A.C. on the Silverstone circuit. For the last three years it has also been run at Silverstone but under delegation to the British Racing Drivers’ Club. The Royal Automobile Club now feels that in view of the successful inauguration of the new racing circuit at Aintree, Northern followers of the Sport should be given an opportunity of seeing the country’s premier motor race run round the outside perimeter of the world-famous Grand National course. — R.A.C. Bulletin.

Brands Hatch Race Meeting on October 3rd, 1954
Subject: Disqualification of Competitor No. 43, S. Lewis-Evans
In view of the disqualification of the above competitor from the senior race at Brands hatch on October 3rd, 1954, by order of the Stewards on technical breach of the regulations, the Committee of the British Racing and Sports-Car Club consider that in fairness to the driver concerned, the following facts should be published.

Car No. 43, entered and driven by S. Lewis-Evans, was passed by the Scrutineers on the morning of the meeting, and the ignition switch was working. The car completed and won its heat in the Open Challenge Race but was left on the grid in the final of the same event due to ignition leakage on the ignition switch in the magneto. The competitor was successful in restarting his car only after disconnecting the earth wire to the magneto. Before the commencement of the final event of the day (the Senior Race) the Scrutineers inspected all competitors’ cars for the presence of a working ignition switch. It was found that car No. 43, driven by S. Lewis-Evans, had not got the ignition switch connected to the magneto, and the driver was informed that this fact would he reported to the Clerk of the Course. As a result of the report of the Scrutineers, the Clerk of the Course convened a meeting of the Stewards, who decided that the competitor had by his action disqualified himself on a technical breach of the regulations. As the decision of the Stewards was only arrived at at a time when the leader had completed the major portion of the race, the Stewards decided that in fairness to the competitor and in case the ignition switch had been re-connected prior to coming to the startline, S. Lewis-Evans would be required to stop on the start-line at the conclusion of the event, and the disqualification would be valid if his ignition switch was still found to be disconnected. The resulting examination at the conclusion of the event confirmed that the ignition switch was in fact not connected, and the competitor was, as stated, disqualified. The Committee of the British Racing and Sports-Car Club wish to state that, in their opinion this was not a case of a driver attempting to take an unfair or unsporting advantage over a fellow competitor. The decision was based purely upon a technical breach, and the competitor’s integrity was in no way questioned. — British Racing and Sports-Car Club Bulletin.

Result of Protest Dealing with the Award to the Best Series Production Sports Car in the T.T.
It will be remembered that subsequent to the announcement of the winners of the various trophies at the Tourist Trophy Race, a protest was lodged concerning a Frazer-Nash car, No. 32, as the winner of the Trophy for Series Production Cars. After a careful scrutiny of the car the day after the race and correspondence with A. F. N. Limited, the manufacturers of the vehicle, a letter was recently received from them indicating that due to the failure to change the radiator to that of the standard pattern the car cannot qualify as a Series Production sports car. In their letter they state that while the radiator used was tried out in practice for experimental purposes it had been intended to make the change before competing in the race, but through repair work having to be done to the car subsequent to its leaving the road during practice, the changeover of the radiator to the normal type was overlooked. The Stewards decided upon receiving this information that the Series Production Sports-Car Trophy could not therefore go to the Frazer-Nash but would be awarded to the Porsche car entered by Captain Raymond Flower, and driven by him and E. T. McMillen. — R.A.C. Bulletin.

The Editor and Staff of “Motor Sport” Offer Readers Sincere Good Wishes for 1955.