MATTERS OF MOMENT, September 1951

MATTERS OF MOMENT

ROYAL PATRONAGE

H.M. the King was Patron of the Brooklands Automobile -Racing Club. Last year Their Majesties the King and Queen and members of the Royal Family saw the British G.P. at Silverstone. This year ELM. the Queen and H.R.U. Princess Margaret saw the ‘Ulster Trophy Race at Dundrod. Recently H.R.H. Princess Elizabeth started veteran ears on the Coventry— Birmingham Ruti. At the annual luncheon of the A.A. at the Connaught Rooms on July 20th, the Duke of Edinburgh commented that of all European countries Britain Wati the only one ,.-ithout a suitable course. Roadracing, he said, unproved design anti reliability, and until there was a closed road-racing circuit in tlOs country, or roads could be closed for racing, we should be a long way behind our rivals. It seemed absurd, continued the Duke, to be spending large sums

developing the I1.11.11. t le re existed no Circuit where it can be properly run.

There is no need to embellish these expressions of Royal interest in and approval of motor sport, except tO say that they are warmly appreciated.

say that they are warmly appreciated. THE ALPINE RALLY

Manufacturers of high-performance ears are kept on their mettle and the world’s buyers of such cars are well able to judge the respective merits and demerits of these products by the severe contests in which they appear. That great winter test, the Monte Carlo Rally, the many keenly-eonrested sports, car races held here, on the Continent, and in America, and that strenuous summer road trial, the Alpine Rally, collectively and individually ” pick the winners,”

We are glad to proclaim htdW will I tritish cars have performed. .Jaguar and Jupiter were prominent in the Monte Carlo Rally ; the Type C jaguar won outright, the great i.e Mans 24-Hour Rate after having made fastest time in the B.R.D.C. One-Hour Production Car Race, and Frazer-Nashes dominated the I.O.M. race, where the Jaguars were absent. Ian Appleyard won the highest placing in the R.A.c. and Tulip Rallies, driving his N.K120 .Jaguar. Now H.R.G., Frazer-Nash, DB II Aston-Mart in with Healey, and XIC120 Jaguar, share class victories and Coupe des A/pes in the Alpine Rally with Renault and Shnea. Tabulated results will be found elsewhere. Meanwhile, all praise to these British makes, 11.R.G., FRAZER-NAS11. ASTON MARTIN, HEALEY and JAGUAR, for their excellent showing in a very ” tough” trial. How ” tough ” this great Alpine competition is can well be judged by the iniSfortunes which befell other ears. Thus, looking at the casualties at random, we find i Sunbeam-Talbot reported as retiring with meeltanical trouble, an Allard losing too much time to make up because a suspension tic-rod bolt broke, a D.B. suffering distributor rot or failure. Allard and Jaguar drivers troubled by inadequate brakes, a Renault 750 and a Morgan Plus Four going out with criginc trouble, and a .Jupiter experiencing -electrical _maladies. A Citroen had trouble, an Allard gearbox broke up. a Dyna-Panhard found bothers in its cooling fan, a small Renault. ate one

or its exhaust valves, a Javelin was delayed by a defective fuel feed, a Jaguar’s water-pump leaked and a gasket blew. a rear spring pad pulled ,’lean away on a Sunbeam-Talbot, the Galiltier put paid to a 11.M.W.’s transmission, a Lamtia caught fire, one Jupiter got too hot:, another Jupiter cracked its brake drums, a Fiat’s front. wheels tried to fall to pieces, and sit on. The number of crashes, severe or otherwise, which eliminated others, is sufficient indication of the high averages .that had to be maintained. In sober fact, out of 65 starters, only 28 linisltvd, and only ten of these had lost ii, macks. Not one four-car team came ‘iodide intact. Besides the ears we have mentioned as wit1111 lig their classes, Lancia, another NK120 Jaguar and a Cadillac

a Allard gained the coveted Alpine Cups. Jaguar won the Team Award, Paithard the French Team award’. Incidentally, in the timed 14-kilometre climb up the Stelvio the Allard was faster than the Jaguar and a B.M.W. beat the Fraser-Nash..

Some confusion has arisen because a weekly contemporary reported and Jaguar misleadingly and very naughtily advertised that they had made ” best performance.” They also stated that Appleyard is the only competitor to hold three Alpine Cups. In fact, there is no ” hest nerformance ” in the Alpine Rally. The elass-winning hamar tied for best time in the final test with the smaller, but more costly, elass-winning Frazer-Naslt, bid. neither made ” best performance,” and M. Deseolles has also won Iltree Alpilie Cups. Jaguar did gain a cup for making what the liutocar deemed best performance by a British car.

Congratulations, too, to D. Price, whose Morgan Plus Four won its class in the Evian-Mont Blanc Rally, in spite of giving away many