ROUND and ROUND

ROUND and ROUND

So much for the merry month of May . . . the disappointment of the new E.R.A. not starting in the International Trophy . . . the uncomfortably brilliant debut of the new Mercedes at Tripoli . . . the decision of Mr. Humphrey Cook to close down

.R .A.

It has had its lighter moments, of course. The bewildered confusion of those who had been so certain that if only the Grand Prix Formula were altered to 1,5000 c.c. Britain would be supreme in motorracing, was one.

Another was the embarrassment of those who were convinced that the Germans knew nothing about extracting a high power output from small engines. Two hundred and forty b.h.p. from a fifteen-hundred is not so bad for a start. . . The E.R.A. non-appearance in the International Trophy draws attention once again to the silencing ban at Brooklands. This injunction by the residents was obtained since the War—not before the War, as we saw stated somewhere. With it went a ban

on the use of the track on Sundays, even by private cars, and a similar ban on racing at night.

As one of our contemporaries rightly pointed out, Weybridge and its environs now resound from morn till night—and often later—to the roar of aeroplane engines. Amid the general din, the sound of a few racing cars at a meeting once a month or so would not make much difference. But the cream of the jest—although it’s no joking matter—is that the Brooklands silencer actually seems to make some cars noisier than they are with a straightthrough exhaust. In the case of the new E. R. A. , while sympathising

with the difficulty of having to adapt a beautifully streamlined body and an efficiently working engine to a regulation which is universally regarded as ” red tape,” we cannot refrain from suggesting that this problem should have been attacked a good deal earlier in the preparation of the car for the International Trophy It cannot be an insoluble problem— otherwise Brooklands would not attract the big entries it does.

The International Trophy itself provided ample food for a good meal of thought. There was the shortness of May’s run on what was probably the fastest car in the race, and one that we all thought stood a very good chance of winning. It seldom does to play the hare in a long distance race . . . Then there was the efficiency of the ” Chula-Bira ” &pipe. Efficient preparation of the car, efficient driving, efficient pit-control, efficient pit-work. The

old Maserati went like a train, but we believe the result would have been the same if” Bira ” had been driving one of his E.R.A.s. As for Brooke, it %vas grand to see this real trier get the success be deserves. The fact that he does all the work on his car himself has rather overshadowed his ability as a driver. His knack of throwing the car into a four-wheel slide beforc he enters the Test Hill Bend is delightful to

watch, Such dirt-track methods on bard concrete take some doing.

Incidentally, it is not a bad idea to guard against letting one’s disappointment about the problematical future of the new E.R.A.s make one forget Britain’s debt of gratitude to the man who put the E.R.A. on the map in the first place, and who has done so much for British motor-racing.