A paper read before the Royal Society of Arts

Laurence Pomeroy, MSAE, had the distinction of reading a paper entitled “Road Racing and the British Motor Industry” before the Royal Society of Arts on January 23rd. In his address Mr Pomeroy outlined the history of motor-racing and remarked that Sunbeam, who were prominent at Brooklands and in the major Continental road races prior to the 1914-18 war, increased their output by nearly five times between 1910 and 1913, making in the latter year a profit of approximately £95,000 on an issued capital of £120,000. Later in his paper he estimated that Sunbeam spent up to £40,000-£60,000 per annum on a team of supercharged 1924-25 GP cars, compared to £3,500-£5,000 per annum for a team of sports cars and the £250,000 per annum per company spent on racing in 1935-39 by Auto-Union and Mercedes-Benz. Mr Pomeroy’s interesting paper concluded with a detailed analysis of British successes in racing from 1900 to 1951. He found that out of 450 GP and Formula 1 races we had won five, out of 130 light car and Formula II races we had won 23, out of 111 sports-car races we were victorious on 20 occasions, but that in Formula III we have won every one of the 22 races eligible for tabulation. The leading makes in each field are, respectively, Sunbeam and ERA, Bentley and Cooper. Mr Pomeroy concluded by saying that sight and sound may provide a better witness to the potentiality of motor racing as a medium for political propaganda than words—fitting introduction for George Monkhouse’s showing of the Mercedes-Benz film “The Battle Against Time,” with which the meeting concluded.