The Jappic

I have been taken to task by C. P. M. Walters, whose Company, Chris Walters Ltd., is involved in engineering consultancy work with firms associated with motor racing, for saying in my articles on “Racing Cars You Could Buy” that the Jappic cyclecar was designed by J. A. Prestwich, whereas, of course, it was designed by his late father, H. M. Walters, who also raced it at Brooklands. J.A.P. supplied the engine. In reminding me of this, which is correctly stated in my Brooklands History, confirmation is provided that it was intended to sell Jappics for about £150, these “to be built to special order, intended for road-racing, equipped with front-wheel brakes and a 350 cc. or a 500 cc. JAP engine”. One wonders if the little car would have been suitable for road racing and I do not think any were ordered. The announcement, made early in 1925, stated that “Enquiries for the Jappic, which will make its first appearance at the Brooklands Easter Meeting, are invited”. Photographs were circulated to the National Press, one of which showed the Jappic standing in front of a K-type LGOC omnibus, rather as in later days a Rytacraft Scootacar was photographed at Brooklands with John Cobb’s Monza Alfa Romeo for contrast. Presumably this picture of the Jappic was taken somewhere near the premises of Jarvis & Co. of Wimbledon, who handled the Jappic and had made its shapely body. The day previously the Jappic (Reg. No. MH 3995) had broken Class I (up to 350 c.c.) records at Brooklands at from 63 to over 70 m.p.h., so it might have been returning? — W.B.