CHARTERHALL

CHARTERHALL

Wharton Wins Both His Races

Tu. Scottish International, run partly in rain, produced attractive, accident-free racing on the interesting if bumpy two-mile Charterhall airfield circuit. The racing was organised by the Winfield joint Committee and sponsored by the Daily Record and Newcastle Journal.

In practice Farina lapped in the Thinwall Ferrari in 1 min. 21.8 sec., Parnell, trying hard in the B.R.M., had a wheel lock-on and the resultant skid ended in a nasty accident, from which Parnell fortunately emerged unhurt. The car Was badly damaged and the B.R.M. cipiipe was forced to engage.in more of the familiar all-night work to put Parnell’s engine into Wharton’m car, Wharton’s engine having pulled a bearing stud. Farina was in trouble, too, with the big Ferrari, leaving the Formale Libre 100-Mile Race an open issue..

Rain fell heavily on the Saturday morning. but this did not prevent the racing commencing smartly on time. The. up-to-1,200-c.c. supercharged and 1,500-c.c. urtsupercharged sports ears lined up for a 20-mile scratch race, starting Le Mans fashion. Cliff Davis led all the way in the Cooper-M.G., which has a compression-ratio of 10.6 to 1. II. Gould, continuing his Thrtniton promise, stuck close behind in his Cooper-M.G. and on lap two Tyrer, in his Supermotor with high-compression 1,400 Fiat engine, shot past Ted Lund’s alloy-bonnet M.G. going into the back-leg S-bend, to take third place. Davis increased his lead over Gould on laps five and six, but the gap Closed thereafter, Gould leaving his anchorage later than Davis at the corners In the end Davis led Gould home by a mere 0.4 see.. after a lap at 67.04 m.p.h., his average for the race being 64.65 m.p.h. BCROMIOI brought his T.T. Riley home third, having taken Lionel Leonard’s M.G., driven by Blakey, on the ” S.” Hacking had a

..tonney ride in his Cooper. MG., Blackburn duelled with Rain’s TD M.G. until his Jupiter spun, Jackson crunched in his Cooper-Rover’s gear. A similar race for blown Jflitre and unblown 2!,-litre sports cars followed. Davis now driving his Cooper-Bristol, ith 9 to 1 compression-ratio. Ile led from the start, but thereafter Walton drew right away. in his narrow-bodied Cooper-Bristol, which lapped the buck-markers and won from Davis by 25.6 see– at 71.73 m.p.h., after a best lap at 71.38 m.p.h. Behind Davis ran a gaggle .4 Le Mans Replica Frazer ashes, Kenneth leading Currie and ‘Melvin, until, on lap live, Melvin went past Currie. This lasted until lap eight (the rate its over 10 IttpS) W11,11 Kenneth fell back two places, the trio finishing thus. ah,ad of Gibbon’s 2f-litre. Rover special. Tyrer’s

Supe tor was distinctly oil colour, perhaps because this Was jIS fieSt 1’et race. After a lunch interval the big sports ears had a 40-mile race. In practice Ian Stewart’s Ecurie Ecosse Type C Jaguar had been fastest., but now, on the wet course, it looked pretty hectic, and after three laps Reg Parnell in a works 1111:t(S) tst on Martin was in the lead. He pulled farther and further aw:ty from the bigger Jaguar, to win by 36.2 sec. at 72.07 m.p.h.. after a lap at 73.77 m.p.h., his

controlled tail slides through the S-bend delightful to behold. Jimmy Stewart’s Jaguar was third, Walton’e game Cooper. Bristolfourth. Dickson drove an Austin Beaky 100 but, if nicely suspended. it wasn’t fast. The 100-mile Formula 11 race promised excitement, for the three works Connaughts were running and Moss had his CooperAlta, now with u normal Cooper 1.’2 chassis. The Connaughts comprised a new, -unpainted 7 ft. 6 in.-oheelbase car with fuel injection and Ferrari-shape nose eowl, driven by Coombs, the ex-Lyons 7 ft. 6 in. car with carburetters, driven, in the absence of McAlpine through illness, by Salt adori, and the original 7 ft. 1 in.wheellia.,e Connanght, with fuel injection. driven by young Hoek

hart. It4,i?leS these there were privately-entered (.t,t,uiht i, lw handled by Holt and lan Stewart, the Cooper-llristols of W hurtful. Gerard. lbe Border Iteivers, Eeurie Gotibl’s t:arage and the sports ver,ion °M. If. Walton, Nurse’s IL W Itrandon in a Cooper

1.1 nu.

Nlos, dkplayed enormous acceleration. t harton after the first eorner. ln Oil the next lap the . lit severed an oil pipe and stirfite!’e race was over. Thereafter W harton led in impeccable st yle, Ids Coeper-Bristol comfortably ahead of all opposition. Ile o ” Ill it ranter ” at 70.1:5 m.p.h. For 17 of the 50 laps Holt lay second ill the filker Connaught, but the car for once was off,eolour, with a leaky carburetter foot (it has had a hard hut successful season). and Salvadori came by. Three laps later Gerard. driving his usual fearless rttee in the Cooper

Bristol, also passed Rolt and Flockhart, signalled from the S-bend by his pit crew, a girl-friend keeping the lap chart, was knocking off a second or more every lap, until, on lap 31, he took Rolt. He then set about catching Gerard, a task accomplished successfully after a fine tussle, on lap 39. The electric Floekhart then proceeded to close up, during the remaining ten laps, to within two seconds of his team-mate, but neither could get within sight of the calm, purposeful Wharton. Coombs had brake trouble in the new Connaught. The Walton Cooper-Bristol went remarkably well for a sports-car, holding Brandon’s twin-banger racing car at bay. Fastest lap, 83.7 m.p.h., was shared by Wharton, Salvadori and Flockhart.

A heart-stopping Formula III race saw Moss win, at 76.47 m.p.h., but only after a battle which Stirling seldom has to fight. Brandon led away, was passed by Moss, with Leston third, but Parker then got past Brandon and Moss. Stirling led again only to go wide at the S-bend and let both Parker and Gerard through. Leston had dropped back somewhat, SO MOSS was third. He fought hard but Gerard was truly on form, his Cooper lapping at 79.12 m.p.h., fastest lap in the race. Stirling pushed Gerard and Parker all he knew how, until Gerard’s engine gave up, and Moss got ahead of Parker, corning in 17 sec, in front with, Leston, who afterwards flew home in an Auster, in third place, ahead of Charles Headland. Alas, one car shed a wheel and a spectator was injured-500s do this far too frequently.

This absorbing day’s racing concluded with the 100-mile Formula Libre race. Raymond Maya attended the B.R.M. equips in a Bentley Continental, Berthon in a Ford Zephyr, while Farina arrived in Vandervell’s 41 Bentley.

The Connaught team again swopped about, Fairman driving the ernFlockhart had driven in the F2 race. Lap one saw Farina comfortably ahead in the Thinwall Ferrari, Moss in second place in his F2 Cooper-Alta and Wharton, going at prodigious speed up to the corners, in the B.R.M. For the next four laps the leaders were Farina, Wharton, Moss. Then; on lap six, Bolt, his Connaught on form again. took MOSS.

Farina was drawing away from the B.R.M. until the Ferrari’s engine went ragged, whereupon Wharton closed right up and as Farina pulled into his pit, the B.R.M. flashed into the lead on lap 14. Bolt was now second, the Connaught cornering more steadily than Moss’ Cooper, which he was hurling into the bends. Gaze’s 3-litre Maserati retired early with what looked like a leaking tank.

Farina appeared for a lap sometime litter, but the Thinwall Special was obviously too lacking in working cylinders to continue. It would have won easily had it run properly and one is left wondering what had occurred between Silt erstone and Charterhall to Cause this eitange of fortune. We hope flu see this Formic I.ibre BALM./ Ferrari duel rejoined at Goodwood on September 26th.

The B.R.M. continued to ga very well indeed, so that Wharton set a new lap record of I min. 24 sec. (115.71 m.p.h.), beating Farina’s record by 0.•1 see. It sounded, perhaps, slightly ragged a few laps from the end. Ina won with a lap in hand. Bolt held a splendid second place, his privately-owned carhuretter-Cannanght beating the works entries, of which Sulvadori’s spun on lap one and was not seen again. but Cooinbs’ was driven nicely into third place, only to suffer severe loss of pawer, so that Salvadori (now in Fairman’s car) took this position on lap 40, holding it to the end. Moss’ Cooper-Alta was passed by Coambs’ Connaught after 18 laps and went sick after 25 laps; it resumed after a long pit-stop and we witnessed the pathetic sight of Stirling circulating slowly with One hand lifting his helmet so that he could listen to the engine’s changed note. The Etturie F.cosse Cooper-Bristol was fourth, two laps behind, and MeBain’S Border Reive;rs CooperBristol fifth after a stern duel with Somervatil’s tilt1 11-litre C.R.A. from the same stable. We hail expected great things of Floekhart’s !nit it started with its second-best Zoller, the oil. feed valve of which became dirty, so that more lubricant was pass.ed tItan was good for the plugs, the car retiring after four laps when in seventh Ida, * *

The Newcastle Journal entered into the spirit of the meeting with a well-illustrated ” Charterhall Special ” edition. This is a good idea, even if the articles are intended for the public rather than for the knowledgeable. One amusing error had crept in -when the name of the Thinwall Speeial was diseussed as follows : ” That IS an odd and intriguing name, and one wonders continually what it conceals in affecting to reveal; something to do. possibly, with the thickness and metallurgy of the cylinder block casting.’ We only hope Mr. Vandervell has by now sent the writer concerned, William Poulton, a set of Thinwall beariugs for hits journalistic transport! * A smell of ” boot-polish ” fuel Was noticeable after certain ears had gone by