OTHER RACING NEWS

OTHER RACING NEWS.

GRAND PRIX DE PROVENCE.

THE riot which put a stop to the racing at Miramas on 26th March, must be regarded as extremely regrettable from every point of view. In the first place several manufacturers who suffered from it are so annoyed that the track authorities were unable to keep the crowd in order, that they have announced their intention of not taking part in any more races at Miramas, and if this threat is carried out, sport at the southern French track may be considerably spoilt. Secondly the final of the Grand Prix de Provence could not be run, and another opportunity was lost of comparing the performances of this year’s Grand Prix cars. The first thing which annoyed the public was the rain, for which the track authorities can regard themselves as free of all responsibility. In spite of it, however, the heats for the Grand Prix de Provence were run off according to classes. Of these the most interesting was the 1,500 c.c. class, which united the three Grand Prix Talbots, Benoist’s Grand Prix Delage, some Bugattis and a front-wheel drive Buc. This heat was won by Moriceau on one of the Talbots, but it is probable that the Talbot-Delage duel would have been more seriously fought out in the final as Moriceau’s speed of 73 m.p.h. was only equal to that of Morel’s Atnilcar which won the 1,100 c.c. class. Of the bigger cars, Lehonx won the

2-litre class on a Bugatti at 69 m.p.h., and in the 3-litre division Chiron was the winner at 71.1 m.p.h. on a 2,300 c.c. Targa Florio type Bugatti.

In all 17 cars were qualified for the final, and Benoist started off for a run to get his engine warm. In the meantime the other competing cars were all drawn up across the track, and when Benoist turned into the Grand Stand stretch he discovered that his path was blocked. Unable to pull up, he crashed into Duray’s Amilcar, and both cars were placed hors de combat. Either owing to this or to the wet state of the track, the Talbots were withdrawn and only the other twelve cars started. Chirou took the lead, but the crowd determined that if they were not going to see as good a race as they had hoped, they would see no race at all. With screams and howls they invaded the track, and stopped the race. They then proceeded to avenge themselves on Talbots, and having broken up their depot, done their best to do the same to the drivers, and burnt and damaged everything they could, they retired in disorder, having spoilt what should have been a very good race.

BURGUNDIAN SIX-HOUR RACE.

OWING to the popularity of the le Mans 24-hour race, it is not surprising that there is a considerable tendency to run races of this type elsewhere. As

well as the Essex Club’s six hour race at Brooklands, the Automobile Club de Bourgoyne is organising a touring car race for the same length of time on 26th May. The course will be over roads in the neighbourhood of Dijon, and one lap will be 11 miles long. The race will be decided on a formula taking into account engine size and distance covered, but as well as this, there will be classes for cars from 500 c.c. to 5,000 c.c. and over.

This year, therefore, there will be five important races for which standard sports cars only are eligible, the others being the Essex Club’s race at Brooklands, the Grand Prix d’Endurance at le Lans, the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, and the Italian touring Grand Prix at Monza.

THE WORLD’S LARGEST TRACK.

VVHEN Brooklands track was opened twenty years ago, the example set by its builders was not at first copied except in the United States. Of late years, however, the building of ” autodromes ” has become the vogue, and Brazil is the latest convert to the idea. This time the scheme is to build at Sao Paulo what is destined to be the largest speedway in the world, as the track will have a circumference of over 6 miles. As well as this, a road circuit 12 miles long is to be built inside the track proper, consisting of a series of zigzags. The track is to be equipped with hotels, restaurants, etc., and a hospital ! While the cost of building it is supposed to be going to amount to about £120,000.

THE T.T. ENTRIES.

THE provisional entries for the T.T. races show that there will be 53 competitors in the Senior race, forty-six in the Junior and twenty-eight in the Lightweight and they are particularly interesting in that they show that for the first time in many years the Senior (or 500 c.c.) class is the most popular of the three. Of recent times, the Junior ‘event has attracted most entries, so much so, indeed, that at one time there was a talk of dropping the Senior race. This year’s entries prove that, instead of being ” dead,” the 500 c.c. class in the most popular of all.

The entry list itself discloses a number of interesting items. Several riders have “changed their stables” but the Norton entry shows that in the main last year’s riders are again competing. This is interesting in view of the rumours now refuted that Alec Bennett would not be figuring in this year’s Senior race. The Triumph company has six riders in the ” Senior” but the names are not mentioned ; A. J.S. also has a team of six, and it is understood that the engines will be of the overhead camshaft type ; there are three H.R.D. and three Scott entries, whilst Freddie Dixon figures as an entrant without the name of the machine being stated.

In the Junior event one of the most formidable teams is the Velocette, with Alec Bennett, F. A. Longman and H. J. Willis riding. Enfields have four riders entered, Sunbeams four and A. J.S. six. Dixon is again a dark horse on an un-named machine, whilst Rex-Acme have three, with a star in Handley, and New Imperials, Cottons and New Hudsons the same number.

In the Lightweight race there are two Moto-Guzzis (to be ridden by P. Ghersi and A. Varzi) which are sure to give a good account of themselves. Heading the list in numbers is the New Imperial, with five entries and second to these come Enfields and O.K. Supremes with four each. Cottons have three—the same team which finished first, second and third in last year’s race—and Dot, Rex-Acme and Excelsior two each. It is interesting to note that the four riders of the last two makes are all T.T. winners—the brothers Twernlow, who will he seen on Excelsiors and W. L. Handley and G. S. Davison. Handley, incidentally, is also competing in the Senior and Junior races and in the Lightweight event a RexAcme will also be ridden by G. McCrae.. One of the most interesting entries in the Lightweight event is that of Alec Bennett on an O.K. Supreme. Bennett will thus be riding in all three races on three different makes of machine.

“REPORTED KILLED.”

TT was almost exactly 10 years ago to-day that one of 1 our most famous racing men, Howard R. Davies,

was reported as “killed in action.” “H.R.D.”, as he is familiarly known to-day on account of the machine bearing his initials, was in the Royal Flying Corps, and in 1917 his ‘plane came down in the German lines. Although first notified as missing he was later reported killed and ten years ago his obituaries were published. I met him recently and he showed me a tattered page, torn from a magazine of May, 1917. It expressed ” keen regret for the loss of a promising rider.” How ” promising” he was, has been shown by the fact that he won the Senior T.T. in 1921 and did so again in 1925 on his own H.R.D.

THE LATE REX ADAMS.

‘ADAMS, who died as the result of a motor cycling accident, on 25th April, was a rider who

might well have established his position in the forefront of motor-cycle racing men. His record win in last year’s Amateur T.T. will long be remembered and it is indeed tragic that so fine a rider should have had no chance to prove his ability in trade-rider circles, owing to his death so soon after he had joined the trade.

It has been an open secret that Rex Adams had forsaken the cotton trade at the end of last year and had made his hobby—motor-cycle racing—his business. In January last he joined the Scott Motor Cycle Co., and great things were expected of him on the Scott which he was to ride in next month’s Senior T.T. He was only 25 years old—in his prime for racing work, since the recklessness of the ‘teens had gone, leaving him several years before the ultra-caution of the thirties arrived. Our sincerest sympathies to his father, Mr. Dacre Adams, and to his other relations and friends.