Explanation

In last month’s report of the VSCC Silverstone races my explanation of why Neil Corner started in the Hawthorn Memorial Trophy Race from the back of the grid in the Hon Patrick Lindsay’s interesting Turtle Drilling Special ex-Indianapolis car was omitted, through space restrictions. So let me explain now. This 1960 front-engined car, permitted to run with its Indy advertising and its old race-number 23, has a 4.2-litre Offenhauser engine, and a two-speed gearbox controlled by a cranked-back gear lever on the n/s. The low gear is for starting and once the driver has changed up into “high” he cannot change down again while the car is in motion.

So Corner wisely elected to start from the back of the grid, knowing the car would be slow to get going. He was further hampered because the Turtle is set up for the left-hand Indy turns, not the tight right-handed corners of the Silverstone Club circuit. Moreover, Corner found the brakes, intended only for pit-stops or for steadying the car should another move into its path, heavy to apply. So his fourth place in this 1960 front-engined historic racing car was entirely creditable. Incidentally, it qualified at Indy in 1960 at 143 mph and finished eighth at 135 mph in the “500”, driven by Bob Vieth. — W.B.