Gordon Cruickshank

A very social do, Race Retro, the UK’s historic motor sport jamboree. If you didn’t see someone in Paris at Retromobile, you’ll bump into them at Stoneleigh. That’s why I didn’t see half of this year’s show — I was stalled by the Motor Sport stand in a succession of conversations, and I didn’t mind a bit. After comparing go-faster wheelchair mods with Win Percy, I bumped into famed motor sport artist Michael Turner. He tells me he can take 900 pictures at a race “and none of them is ever exactly what I want. But the beauty of being an artist is that I can arrange the cars as I want, fill empty stands, remove roll-bars, and replace full-face helmets with Herbert Johnsons.” I’m looking forward to his next exhibition, in the extravagant surroundings of the Officers’ Mess at RAF Halton — which in case you didn’t know is a gilt-edged palace of a house built by the Rothschild family. There’s a racing connection, too, as in the 1950s RAF apprentices on the nearby airfield built the Halton Special which raced with some success. All this led us on to test pilot Alex Henshaw, a chum of Michael’s. His painting of the sleek Mew Gull that Henshaw flew to Cape Town and back in only four days in 1939 is one of my favourites, and I recommend Henshaw’s book Flight of the Mew Gull. Over 6000 miles in 40 hours, fuelled by chicken sandwiches and coffee. Impressive.

We were still in the air when Ron Gammons arrived. I know him as a rapid MGB rally hand, but now he’s more likely to be flying his DH85 Leopard Moth, and he was handing out flyers (ha!) for his Moth rally at Woburn Abbey on August 17/18. Aeroplanes and vintage cars in beautiful parkland — tempting. And there’s another ground/ air meet this year: Sywell Classic — Pistons and Props, a new festival of cars, bikes and planes happening in Northamptonshire a fortnight after the Revival. Their stand showed the impressive replica of ‘Whistling Billy’, a ground-hugging steam-driven wedge built by White in 1905 and said to be capable of 100mph.

Stopping briefly to reminisce about his Elan days with Mr Roebuck who was admiring Jim Clark’s Elan on the Classic Team Lotus stand, I caught up with Clive Chapman to ask about an unusual gift he’s received. It’s one of Clark’s race suits, given to Jim’s friend, Firestone’s competitions manager Chris Perry. It’s been in a drawer for years; now his widow has passed it to Classic Team Lotus. Clive tells me they didn’t have any from the 1960s in CTL’s collection because back then drivers bought their own suits. “We have them from the 1970s on because the team issued them, cleaned them and kept them, but this Clark set is a first for us.”

Another first was bringing together Clark’s 1963 Drivers’ championship trophy from the Clark Room at Duns with that year’s constructors cup. It’s thought to be the first time they’ve been together in 50 years, and CTL will return the favour in May with a 25 demo around the Borders town. Also displayed behind Clark’s title-winning 25 was an original early drawing of the car.

One-time BRM team manager Tim Parnell was on the CTL stand too, and over a coffee he told me about father Reg’s wartime acquisition of over 30 racing cars. “As he had a haulage company he could drive them around without being stopped. They used to arrive at night, all sheeted over, and I used to go out to the barn and play in them.” When he recalls that Reg, a rapid racer himself of course, bought and sold a squad of ERAs, I mention the transporters shown in our feature last month. “Oh, we had those too! Sold them to the Red Cross for ambulances.”

Further afield the MAC and Shelsley Walsh showed one of the delicate Austin 750cc single-seaters, while Imps and Alpine displays waved the rear-engined flag along with Fiat 500s old and new. We had a lovely little Abarth 1000 Bialbero on the Motor Sport stand, too, as well as a comfortable corner where readers, staff and racing names mingled over coffee. Come along next time.

Murray Walker and Stirling Moss both entertained visitors on stage, as did `Whizzo’ Williams and John Cleland, and I found Tiff Needell busy signing copies of his book beside the restored Lotus 69 he won in 1970, promoting Thruxton’s Easter Festival. As I gazed at the ex-Richard Shuttleworth Alfa Tipo B in their display the VSCC’s Julian Ghosh told me about the celebrations for the centenary of the Vauxhall 30-98 in May: to kick things off they have managed to close the road over Waddington Fell, Lancs, the hillclimb where this refined sporting car made its debut in 1913.

Outside, the Group B rally bunch were doing their best to offset the cold by burning plenty of fossil fuel on the lengthened live action rally stage, with Russell Brookes bedding in the newly restored first works Sunbeam Tiger as well as an Andrews Sunbeam Lotus, in among Quattros, 6R4s, Porsches and Minis, while HERO offered its £25 ‘arrive and drive’ scheme allowing visitors to try a historic rally car.

I didn’t even get as far as the Barry Sheene display or the automobilia this time, but while the NAC is hardly the most luxurious venue, at least in the secondary halls, Race Retro makes the grind up the M40 worthwhile.

Gunning for glamour
It was back to school for GC when he attended a masterclass in concours judging at the Track