B.R. & S.S.C.C. Race Meeting, Brands Hatch (May 29th)

Most of the 500-c.c. ace drivers were present and one or two interesting new cars arrived; the 1,200-c.c. class contained the varying types of Ford-engined machines which were competing against the increasing number of Coventry-Climax-engined cars. The 1,500-c.c. and unlimited sports-car races contained some extremely fast motor cars, notably the 2,157-c.c. Cooper-Bristol of Bob Gerard, the Lister-Bristol of Archie Scott-Brown and the ex-Colin Chapman Lotus M.G. driven by Austin Nurse.

The first race was for 500-c.c. cars and was run in heats with two finals and a consolation final; the remainder of the races were for 1,200-1,500-c.c. sports cars and J.A.P.-engined 500-c.c. cars. Heat one of this first race saw S. Lewis-Evans lead off closely followed by Ivor Bueb who eventually took the lead and kept it with Lewis-Evans, King and Cowley in his wake, although King fell back a little when his engine began to falter and his place was taken by Bicknell in the Bevis; final order was Bueb, Lewis-Evans and Bicknell with 70.5 m.p.h. accredited to Bueb for this event. Heat two resulted in an easy win for Taylor at 69.86 m.p.h. followed by Raby and Fergusson, both in Coopers; the Martin of J. Brown started off well in first place but dropped back with engine trouble and Johnson in a Cooper retired. In heat three Don Parker in a Kieft was well established in the lead by the second lap followed by Tyrrell and then by Davis who finished in second place; Tyrrell and Wicken had a private duel, Tyrrell coming in third and Wicken fourth. Parker’s speed was 69.82 m.p.h.

The consolation final started well with Jones in a Kieft leading, although he was soon overtaken by Brown in the Martin Special, D. Latchford was forced to retire with the old Iota; Lund with a Cooper-J.A.P. was third and Brown won the race. In the second final Ham in an Arnott and Bridger in a Kieft went off together towards Paddock bend, but Taylor in a Cooper-J.A.P. caught up with them and was first over the winning line with Bridger second; the first final of this “Sporting Record” Trophy Race was won by Ivor Bueb, but not without difficulty this time for the competition was very fierce, from Don Parker and George Wicken. Bueb and Parker kept changing places throughout the race with L. Lewis-Evans and Wicken fighting for third place; this was a very exciting event and Ivor Bueb certainly deserved first prize; he was followed by Parker, Wicken and Lewis-Evans in that order.

Race two was the J.A.P. race. Taylor and Iszatt were the first two to cross the winning line in this event, Taylor driving the J.A.P.engined Cooper very well indeed and establishing a good lead before receiving the chequered flag. Scott MacArthur seemed to be having difficulties with his Mackson as did Fergusson and Mayne with their Coopers. G. M. Jones came third with a Kieft. The Farningham Trophy Race, scheduled as race three, was for the cars of any capacity supercharged or unsupercharged, and 15 laps had to be completed. This event resulted in a win for Bob Gerard in his Cooper-Bristol with Don Beauman close on his heels most of the way; Riseley-Pritchard retired with his Connaught and it was thought that Keen in the Cooper-Alta might have to do the same since clouds of smoke appeared from the bonnet at intervals, but he managed to keep going. The result of this race was first Gerard, Cooper-Bristol; second Beauman, Connaught; and third the works-entered Alta-engined Emeryson. Race four, the Whitsun Trophy Race, was open to sports cars with an engine capacity not exceeding 1,200 c.c. supercharged. This event showed how well the Coventry Climax-engined cars performed, although the Elva, driven by Mackenzie-Low, gave the rest of the field a run for their money because the L.R.G. overhead inlet cylinder-head with which it is fitted does incredible things in the way of power output. Ivor Bueb also won this race, at a speed of 65.11 m.p.h. and made a record lap at 67.43 m.p.h. The Elva was second and the Coventry Climax-engined Lotus driven by Hayles was third; I. T. Strickland in his Riley and C. Summers in a Ford-engined Arden had to retire. Race five, the Fawkham Trophy Race 15-lap event, was for 1,500-c.c. unsupercharged or 1,100-c.c. supercharged cars. This event started off with a duel between Leston in a Connaught and Austin Nurse in the Lotus M.G., the latter was leading for the first few laps, but Leston soon came up to the front and took over the lead in which position he remained until the end. Seaman in the Tojeiro M.G. and Abbott in the Arnott had fun dicing together and all went well until the Lotus of Austin Nurse broke a front-spring mounting causing the car to motor on to the grass verge near the starting line. Leston won this race at 67 m.p.h. Finally, race six, the Wrotham Cup Race for sports cars unlimited. Scott-Brown was the hero of this event driving the Lister-Bristol; he was first away from the start and held first place throughout the race and attained the average speed of 68.64 m.p.h. Anthony’s Bristol-engined Lotus came in second and the very queer sounding H.W.M., which was fitted with a Cadillac engine and driven by R. A. Page, came in fifth; an unfortunate incident which marred this race was the overturning of Denson’s Triumph TR2 at Paddock bend — it was later learnt that he had escaped with jaw and facial injuries rather than those of a more serious nature which had been anticipated at the time. J. M. Tew had fun chasing the Triumphs, but it was rather obvious that his Frazer-Nash was faster on the, straights and slower on the corners than the latter.