Club news, July 1952

We hear news of old cars continues to come in. Thus we hear of a well-preserved 1914 rear-engined two-cylinder chain-drive Crouch in Doncaster, while in the Bristol area, a 1921 15.9-hp ohc Wolseley tourer (the third we have heard of in recent times) in sound order, which has run only 20,000 miles in the hands of its original owner, is in danger of being converted into a farm truck. Then an early “auto-wheel” attachment has been unearthed in the North, and in a Shaftesbury garage lies a 1924 sports two-seater Rhode with a broken crankshaft. JAE Dickenson, Goldcrest, Kilworth Avenue, Shenfield, Essex has purchased a 1930 six-cylinder OM tourer and would appreciate any data that will assist him in rebuilding it.

Model Maker carried out an intriguing endurance run recently with one of the 1/18th-scale model Series E Vauxhall Velox cars (see Motor Sport last month, page 288). It ran non-stop for 1 hr 48 min, covering 4.2 miles at 2.4 mph. GH Deason has restored a 1914 Levis “Popular” single-speed 2-stroke and Ron Barker a Clyno motor-cycle. AJ Fisher has discovered both Targa Florio and Indianapolis 1922 Mercedes. Shell have issued 1952 editions of their well-illustrated guides to European Motor Racing and European Motor-Cycle Racing, with circuit maps, last year’s winners, and a place for entering the results of this year’s races and championships. Southern Autos Ltd. will supply a map of Dover to motorists going abroad. These publications are obtainable free, on mention of Motor Sport, respectively, from Shell-Mex House, WC2 and Maison Dieu Road, Dover.

Charles Mortimer has purchased a Citroen Six after reading the Motor SPORT road-test of this car and also, for fun, a well-preserved “Ulster” Austin Seven. Colin Chapman has sold his famous “Lotus” Austin and is building a Formula Two car to be powered by the engine from Clairmonte’s Riley, converted to ERA specification, but sans blower of course. Charles Bulnier uses a Type 55 BMW as a road car—it has the same steering column flexible coupling that so alarmed the BARC Scrutineer in respect of the BMW-Bristol at the Whitsun Goodwood Meeting. The Hon Gerald Lascelles celebrated his engagement by attending Goodwood on Whit-Monday with his fiancee, Miss Angela Dowding.

NG Sweeny has a 1924 2LT Ballot and seeks data on these cars— address, Achill Sound, Co Mayo, Eire.

RKN Clarkson has entered his 1902 4.1-litre Panhard for the Champagne Rally. This car, which has never been rebored, does 50-55 mph and averages 32 mph over good roads.

London Rally ;

Last year’s highly-successful London Rally is being repeated on September 19th/20th this year, as a National fixture counting for the BTDA Rally Star. It is organised by the London MC, will start from London and Leeds and will test driver and navigator rather than car performance. The itinerary will include five special tests and two map-reading sections in an interesting route of 600 miles, followed by social happenings. Novices are required to average only 16 mph to the Expert’s 30 mph over the more difficult map reading section. Four classes will he recognised, with generous prizes, and the event, for which maps will be provided by the organisers, finishes near London from 3 pm onwards on September 20th. The route touches Wales and other interesting country and there will be a compulsory one-hour stop for breaking fast, at a first-class hotel. It is not too early to contact Nina Imhof, Robin Hill, Coombe Hill Road, Kingston-on-Thames, Surrey, for details and entry forms.