Up The Stairs

Most enthusiasts are usually worn out after touring the car stands at Earls Court and seldom go up the stairs to the Accessory Stands where much of the major development in the Motor Industry takes place. On Press Day we took a trip round the incomplete stands and found much of interest. On the Armstrong stand was the interesting Selectaride shock-absorber system which gives electrical control over the dampers, operated by a dashboard switch, to give variations in riding and handling qualities. Borg and Beck proudly illustrate the diaphragm spring clutch which has been used on all the British Formula One cars this season while another supporter of motor racing Dunlop show the SP braced tread tyre formerly made in Germany and now to be built in England to replace the Duraband. They also show their disc brakes and the Moulton Hydrolastic suspension units which they manufacture. A new product from Dunlop is a safety braking device which can be fitted on most cars for under £5. Another braking device is shown by Peco, this being a twin master cylinder conversion, one cylinder operating the front brakes and one the rear. Kits will be available for most cars. Peco also show a transistor ignition kit and a warning device for police radar traps! David Brown and E.N.V. show examples of their excellent transmissions, E.N.V. showing a new limited slip differential. Fram Filters, an American backed Company show typical American enterprise by instituting gift schemes for motorists who use their filters, the first offer being a pair of driving gloves which are sold at 14s. a pair to anyone buying a Fram filter.

Of the various automatic and overdrive transmissions Laycock, Borg-Warner, and Hobbs show their respective products, the excellent Hobbs automatic transmission, which has manual selection of all four gears, still being without a major manufacturer to offer it as optional equipment. Lucas show a B.R.M. engine with their electronic igmtion and fuel injection systems as well as their vast range of electrical equipment. Universal Dampers show their new Telaflo shock-absorber for the Mini-Minor while Woodhead-Monroe have their complete range of replacement dampers on their stand.

No less than 14 safety belt manufacturers displayed their wares at Earls Court including several examples of the new inertia reel harness. A pity that some of the safety belt people cannot get on with the job of making belts instead of advertising how inefficient other people’s are. Judging by the Six hour saloon car race in which a number of cars rolled and no one who was wearing a belt was injured safety belts are a pretty good investment. Sidney Allard shows his new handsome exhaust systems as do Servais and Burgess while for the enthusiast, Microcell show their comfortable bucket seats Postland Engineering their Koni shock absorbers and Exhaust Ejector their tail pipe fittings to make the cars noisier and sound proofing kits to quieten them again! Enthusiasts are also probably wondering if the new Stromberg constant vacuum carburetter has competition possibilities. The sparking plug “war” seems to be as hot as the safety belt one with the 8s. 6d. Golden Lodge with claimed longer life fighting it out against the normal 5s. offerings from other manufacturers or the 3s. 6d. replacement plugs sold by Wipac.

A visit to the Accessory stands at the Motor Show always repays the time spent as it gives an opportunity to see competitive equipment in one place and talk to the experts at the same time.

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WISCOMBE PARK HILL-CLIMB, OCTOBER 14th

The 750 Club organised the last meeting of the season at that excellent West country Hill-Climb at Wiscombe Park, and received a first-class entry of interesting and fast cars. Making his first visit to this exacting hill, Chris Summers took the powerful Cooper- Chevrolet up in a new record time on his first official run. The sight and sound of this exciting combination of car and driver made most people come out of the beer tent, into the autumn sunshine, and the new time of 44.64 sec. sent them back in again for something stronger. This comfortably beat the record established at the last meeting by David Good and Peter Westbury. The entry was notable for an almost complete lack of dull motorcars, each climb being well worth watching, especially that of Bloomfield with Sim’s little “Tunex Ltd.” Diva coupe. His second run of 49.78 sec. was outstanding for a 997 c.c. G.T. car and was within fractions of the time put up by Fry with his Ferrari 250 G.T., which does not hang about. The White brothers drove their Petty Special, which started life as a Formula Three car, built by motorcycle tuner Ray Petty, and now has a V-twin JAP installed. C. J. White was by far the fastest member of the family, and made that regular West country hill-climber Wally Cuff really try in order to regain third place overall. Second to Summers with the Cooper-Chevrolet was David Good with his Cooper-Climax special, his second run being a rousing 44.88 sec. – D. S. J.

Results

F.T.D.  C. Summers (Cooper-Chevrolet 4,750 c.c.): 44.64 sec. – New record

2nd    D. Good (Cooper-Climax Spec. 1,475 c.c.): 44.88 sec.

3rd    W. Cuff (Cooper-JAP 1,100 c.c.): 46.03 sec.

4th    C. J. White (Petty-JAP 994 c.c.): 46.16 sec.

5th    H. M. Bennett (Cooper-Norton 499 c.c.): 47.39 sec.

6th    F. Floyd (Cooper-JAP 1,100 c.c.): 47.47 sec.

7th    J. A. White (Petty-JAP 994 c.c.): 48.89 sec.

8th    D. Hitches (Lola-Junior 1,089 c.c.): 48.92 sec.

9th    Miss P. Burt (Cooper-Climax 1,460 c.c.): 49.08 sec.

10th  P. Haigh (Cooper-Nor-JAP 1,132 c.c.): 49.12 sec.

11th  R. Fry (Ferrari 250 G.T.): 49.75 sec.

12th  J. Bloomfield (Diva G.T. 997 c.c.): 49.78 sec.

Nobody else got below 70 sec.

Fastest vintage and P.V.T. Maj. C. Lambton (Alta 1.5 litre): 51.94 sec.

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FIRST B.O.C. SPRINT

Turning their hand to sprinting the B.O.C. held their first Wellesbourne Sprint on October 13th, attracting a varied if not large entry, most sprint and hill-climb exponents being attracted to the Wiscombe Park hill-climb taking place on the Sunday. In all five Bugattis were entered including a Type 51, 55, 35 and Kenneth Neve’s Type 35B as well as the inevitable Bill Bloomfields, Type 46 which won the Bugatti Handicap.

Provisional Results:

F.T.D.: Reg Phillips (Fairley-Climax) 12.20 sec.

Sports/Racing (up to 1,600 c.c.) : 1st D. W. Embley (Lotus 7) 15.57 sec.

Sports Racing (over 1,600 c.c.): 1st T. D. L. Rose (Aston-Martin DB3S) 14.40 sec.; 2nd D. A. Wilcox (Aston Martin DB3S) 14.45 sec.; 3rd J. Godderd, (8-litre Bentley) 15.46 sec.

Formula Libre: 1st G. March (Djinn) 13.27 sec.; 2nd B. Eccles (Cooper J.A.P MK XI) 13.34 sec.; 3rd H. Livingstone (Cooper) 13.58 sec.

Racing Cars up to 1,500 c.c.: 1st R. Phillips (Fairley) 12.70 sec.; 2nd T. Norton (Lotus Special) 13.01 sec.; 3rd A. L. Dealey (Lotus Special) 13.74 sec.

Formula Junior: 1st F. C. Ward (Brabham-Ford) 14.07 sec.; 2nd C. A. N. May (Lotus) 14.60 sec.; 3rd J. Welton (Elva-D.K.W.) 14.75 sec.

Bugatti Handicap: 1st W. H. Bloomfield (Type 46) 12.46 sec.*; 2nd K. Neve (Type 35B),13.22 sec.*; 3rd J. Horton (Type 33) 13.83 sec.*

* Net times