Yorkshire S.C.C. 5th Yorkshire Rally (Feb. 12th/13th)

The fifth Yorkshire Rally held by the Yorkshire Sports Car Club was the answer to those people who contend that a motor-car rally should be won on the road and not by the stop-watch or speedometer. The organisers had picked a course of almost 300 miles through some of the wildest country in the North of England, and to make sure that none of the competitors got clean sheets they had included a regularity test during the night over a very difficult section of roads on the North Yorkshire moors. As it turned out, this test was not needed to decide the winner.

The course was in the form of two large loops, one to be tackled during the night in the area of the Yorkshire moors and the Pennines, and the other after breakfast from Croft, near Darlington, through Durham and the Lakes, back to the finish at Harrogate via the Yorkshire Dales.

Because of bad weather, icy roads, mist, snow and flooded roads, so many competitors were late at the breakfast halt and control at Croft that it was decided to shorten the second “loop” by about 50 miles. Both the start and the finish of the event were at Harrogate.

Owing to the very bad road conditions only 39 of the original 98 starters finished the course. Among those who fell by the wayside was last year’s winner, Peter Bolton, of Leeds, who was unfortunate enough to be involved in a collision with Gordon Braithwaite, also of Leeds, who was driving a Jaguar XKI20 “hard-top.” Both this and Peter’s Sunbeam-Talbot were put out of the running by the collision.

The rally was divided into two classes only: Class I up to 1,510 c.c. and Class II over 1,510 c.c.

Results:
Scarborough Trophy (Class II). — 1st J. D. Scott (Vauxhall Velox); 2nd: J. C. Wallwork (Standard Vanguard).
Myers Trophy (Class 1). — 1st M. B. Colbeck (Ford Consul); 2nd: E. G. Sneath (M.G.)
First-Class Awards. — L, S. Stross (Bristol), J. C. Tooth (Dellow), G. D. C. Rose (Austin A70), K. J. B. Mitchell (Font Anglia), A. Stross (Riley), T. A. Smith (Rover), A. J. Burton (Aston Martin), J. R. Armstrong (M.G.), T. J. R. Manbridge (Jaguar), J. H. Burnhill (Jowett Javelin), C. V. Wray (Ford Anglia), and H. C. Hobson (Austin A30.)
Navigators’ Awards. — W. A. R. Armstrong and G. Adams.
Best Novice. — J. S. Allison (Ford Zephyr).
Team Award. — The Imps, from Lincoln (P. Lee, D. Hindle and J. R. Manbridge).