Aero-action

Sir,

Your interesting review of Aero-Engined Racing Cars in the March Issue reminds me of a bizarre sighting which occurred to me about 1924-25. Walking down a road near the centre of Rugby (Warwickshire) I stopped at a corner to await the passing of a strange looking vehicle which was approaching at some speed. The “vehicle” proved to be E A D Eldridge’s Zeppelin-engined Fiat (Mephistopheles), driven by Le Champion who, as usual, was wearing his cap back to front He evidently had a fine disregard for the Highway Code, because he was not even using a standard Brooklands silencer, the exhaust stubs protruding through the near-side of the bonnet

I had no doubt about identification as I had seen both car and driver several times previously at Brooklands. In any case the Fiat was unique, so one could not mistake it. Subsequently local gossip had it that he had driven from London without ever getting above second gear.

If I may further refer to ‘readers’ recollections’, although my first impressions were at Brooklands meetings in the early 1920s, what really hooked me was having the luck to see Le Mans in 1927, the year of the White House crash.

I still think that this was the best motor race I have ever seen.

R D L Sleight,
Norwich.