VSCC Winter DTs

The VSCC’s Winter DTs took place at the Westcott Venture Park, Waddesdon, where the Clubhouse provides facilities for officials and competitors between bouts of attempted driving skills, which involved 78 entries in a dozen complicated manoeuvres. The vast expanse of the disused aerodrome is ideal for this, but the tests are so scattered that observing them is not easy. However, we noted some interesting cars such as the 1911 Knox, the Deemster, Ryder-Richardson’s 1912 Adler and Skilbeck’s 1912 3402cc Vauxhall for the Threlfalls to share. Then there was Stanton’s delectable 1922 Benjamin, with Peugeot Quad-like narrow track, and a starter which rivals the 748cc engine in size — a car the Light Car Section will love… Three Singer Juniors were there assembled, which someone suggested might form a choir, and of course all the usual A7s. Spectators could admire Bullett riding round in his smart AV Monocar, or Howell’s monster ex-Barker 16-cylinder Cadillac.

We enjoyed the one-wheel drifts round the markers by Gary Caroline’s Matchless-Morgan 3-wheeler which, a 1933 model, was able to self-reverse. The clean ‘Cream Cracker’ MG was going so well, brakes squealing, that overshot one finish-line.

First Class Awards: Class 1 : D Ryder-Richardson (1910 Adler); Class 2 : P Rosoman (A7); Class 3 :B R Marsh (Bugatti); Class 4 : R Saville (Singer).

Second: Class 1 : Nil; Class 2 : C R Marsh (A7), C.Hamilton-Gould (Morris); Class 3 : J Porter (Alvis), R Firmin (HRG); Class 4 : K Macmaster (FN-BMW), D Diffey (30/98), D Robinson (Riley), Tiones (A7)

Third: Class 1 : Nil; Class 2 : N Berwell (Lancia), T Brewster (Deemster); M Fountain (Riley), J Muschamp (Lancia); Class 3 : P Glover (Alvis), A Pugh (Nash); Class 4 : W Roberts (Nash), D Freeth (Singer), Miss Wilcox (A7), I Swallow (Riley).