Inter-Club Speed Hill-Climb, Prescott (July 24th)

On Sunday, July 24th, the Bugatti Owners’ Club held their fourth Inter-Club Speed Hill-climb event at Prescott, when teams from over twenty of the leading motor clubs in the country competed.

The programme in the morning consisted of single runs up the hill, the cars being divided into classes according to engine capacity. During the afternoon teams of three cars from each club were made up and all were allowed two runs.

Good times were made in the morning by M. Kearon (Liverpool M.C.), driving a Cooper-Bristol (49.59 sec.), although in the later runs he was forced to retire down the hill; D. A. Wilcocks (Herts County Aero. & Auto. Club) in the “Rapid Fire,” air-cooled Steyr-Allard V8 (46.90 sec.); and J. Clark (Midland A.C.) in the very smart H.W.M.-Alta-Jaguar (49.79 sec.). K. J. Allan (Allard O.C.) tried very hard with his Allard coupé, cornering so fast in the Esses that one of the front tyres almost left the rim — a case of lack of air perhaps; Sidney Allard in the Allard-Cadillac was on form (48.92 sec.); and J. Shutler in the well-known 4 ½-litre Invicta coupé cornered very fast, the automatic gearbox allowing beautiful snap-down changes to be made.

Notables in the team events were J. W. Broad (V.S.C.C.) in the twin rear-wheeled E.R.A. “Remus” (46.98 sec.), Wilcocks’ Steyr-Allard again (46.25 sec.), and the Jaguar of G. D. Parker (48.34 sec.). I. D. Lewis was unfortunate in having the front wheel and brake drum part from his Morgan on the second run, but no other damage resulted; W. H. Morgan (Herefordshire M.C.), driving one of the many TR2s present, stopped halfway up the course, but after various under-the-bonnet exercises he continued to the top; G. E. Pinkerton failed to reach the summit, however, for his H.W.M. took to the bank at Orchard and he had to come back down. W. A. Cleave (Bristol M.C. & L.C..C.), driving a pre-war Morris Ten Special, was quite fast; J. M. Perkins (V.S.C.C.) produced his fine supercharged 2-litre Bugatti and D. Vickers Jones (B.O.C.) a Type 35A, the unblown “Artificial G.P.” model with the plain big-ends and three ball-race main bearings.

After the team handicaps had been worked out the winning club was announced as being the V.S.C.C., followed by the Shenstone & Dist. C.C. and the Brighton & Hove M.C., thus concluding a very pleasant gathering. — I. G.