IN AID OF GUY'S
IN AID OF GUY’S
THE Duke and Duchess of York were present on Saturday, July 2nd, at one . of the best days racing seen at Brooklands this season.
The occasion was the Guys Gala and Motor Race Day, organised by the Junior Car Club in aid of Guy’s Hospital. An air of gaiety and fashion pervaded the paddock, due, perhaps, to the presence of a Royal Enclosure, and the array of beautiful dresses in the best Ascot and Goodwood tradition. Last, but by no means least, there was a green-clad Tzigane orchestra playing soft Hungarian music. In the morning Guy’s students settled once and for all the question of the relative speeds of their cars. In the first race, a one-lap affair, J. 111. Lees on a ” blown ” Lea Francis, romped his way through the field of Austins, Morris-Co-wleys, Hornets and others, and won by 100 yards. Then followed a ladies’ race, under the auspices of that enterprising body, the W.A.S.A., which resulted in a win for the Hon. Mrs. Chetwynd, who drove J. M. Lees LeaFrancis to victory at a speed of 76.73 m.p.h. Five yards behind came Mrs. Scudamore, who started from the limit mark on her Triumph. The morning’s programme concluded with the Guy’s Senior Handicap, a two-lap race which was won rather easily by D. M. Wilson’s Talbot coupe, at the
excellent average of 72 m.p.h. Lee’s LeaFrancis was second. During the luncheon interval a Concours d’Elegance took place on the old tennis courts, on the left as you emerge from the tunnel under the track. Rows and rows of glistening, immaculate motor cars, som gaily coloured, like Mrs. Gripper’s Delage, the white 1 9 2 2 Morris Cowley,
GALA MEETING ORGANISED BY J.C.C. PROVIDES GOOD SPORT AT BROOKLAN DS.
and the bright blue 8-litre Bentley, others all-black, or grey, notably the impressive group of Continental Rolls-Royces. Plenty of material here for the winner of the Irish Sweep to choose his car from !
The proceedings opened in the afternoon with one of those terrifying events, a Driving Skill Handicap, in which competitors have to drive in and out of tubs in the quickest possible time. Heeling over at a sickening angle, with screaming, bending tyres, the wretched cars, ranging in size from Dickson’sGeertz gaudy Hispano-Suiza to a couple of Midgets, twisted and writhed in their efforts to turn quickly on the concrete. The event was divided into classes according to the length of wheelbase, and the fastest time of all was made by R. S. Pook on a Riley Nine, in lm. 26s. While this was going on, the cars for the first racing event were lined up at the side of the Finishing Straight, preparatory to being sent down to the Fork for the start of the Gala Short Handicap. For the first
lap of the race it looked as though rarmiloe (Hornet), the limit man, would score a runaway win, but the little car suddenly lost its speed, and Rose-Richards drew ahead on Eric Burt’s black Talbot ” 90 “, not to be headed for the rest of the race. Cobb, coming up fast from scratch, made a great effort, but could not catch Kenneth Evans, driving Rayson’s Riley, for second place. Rose-Richards’ speed was 90.17 m.p.h.
Then a motor cycle ” speed-cop ” picked his way slowly through the crowded Paddock, followed by two Humber ” Snipe ” saloons carrying the Royal Coat of Arms on a disc in front. After Col. Lindsay Lloyd and Mr. Percy Bradley had been presented to their Royal Highnesses, the party entered the Royal Enclosure. The Gala Long produced a memorable spectacle, that of Sir Henry Birkin bringing his red Bentley through the field to win from scratch, equalling his lap record of 137.96 m.p.h. in doing so. Chetwynd’s Midget, fully recovered from its internal troubles in the 1,000 Miles Race, led until near the end, when Birkin swooped off the Members Banking and hurtled down the Railway Straight to win by 300 yards. Rose Richards, in spite of a rehandicap of 17 secs. took third place. Birkin”s average speed of 124.33 ni.p.h. is
the fastest recorded this year. The Duchess of York’s Race, for ladies, resulted in a win for Miss Ellison on her white Bugatti by the narrow margin of 5 yards, from Mrs. Petre , driving her red E. W. Daytona Hornet Special. Several of the competing cars develop e d trouble during the race, notably the two old Alvises driven
by Miss Worsley and Miss Buckley, but both finished. The back markers could not make much headway, Miss Taylour having a spot of bother with the breakage of her gear-lever on one of the racing Talbot 105’s,’ and Mrs. Wisdom not having sufficient speed at her disposal with the Invicta. The next event, the Duke of York’s Race, was a thrilling affair, run over six laps of the outer circuit, and open only to cars capable of lapping at 100 m.p.h. Ashby’s beautifully streamlined Riley proved to be in the best form, and set a cracking pace, lapping at about 105 m.p.h.—unsupercharged ! Widen gren’s Amilcar developed a curious rough noise, and fell out, but with Eyston on the 6-cylinder Riley, Brian Lewis on the single seater
‘ 105 ‘ Talbot, Gardiner on the Delage and Jack Dunfee on the 2litre Sunbeam, all going great guns, it looked as though tne back markers, Cobb and Sir Henry Birkin, would have a diffi cult task to win. 13i rkin had given the Delage 4 secs. start, which by virtue of superior acceleration, Cobb increased to a substantial distance. Then Birkin gave the handful of spectators on the Bylleet
bridge a thrill by casting the tread of his off-side back tyre, the rubber being thrown high above their heads. Meanwhile the squat little orange Riley was streaking away ahead, with the field gradually converging on it. Just as it looked as though Cobb stood a real chance of catching the Riley, he caine up behind a group of cars, which, travelling very fast, were lurching about right at the top of the banking. Nosing from side to side Cobb did his best to get by, but it took him the whole of the Byfieet banking to do so—and Ashby secured a meritorious and very popular Victory at the wonderful average of 102.69 m.p.h. As consolation, Cobb learnt that he had broken the Class A (over 8,000 c.c.) lap record at
133.88 m.p.h. During the interval before the next
race, Flt. Lieut. P. W. S. Bulman showed off the paces of the Hawker ” Hart ” aeroplane, fitted with a Rolls-Royce Kestrel II engine. After a series of dives, followed by rolls as he climbed almost vertically, he gave a very neat display of slow flying, both inverted and in the normal position. Then in long, slow sideslips the machine was brought down to a perfect landing. The last race, the Gala Mountain Handicap drew 19 starters, ranging from Ripley’s standard Riley ” Gamecock ” on the limit mark, to G. E. T. Eyston on Kaye Don’s 4.9 Bugatti ‘Tiger-Two’ on scratch. Nothing untoward happened for several laps, while Aldington caught up to second place, and looked a likely winner on his normal black Frazer-Nash. Then the corner ing at the Fork began to warm up a bit and Cholmondeley-Tapper took Miss Ellison’s Bugatti in a wide sweep behind the barriers through failure to pull up. Then Dr. Roth, on a Talbot “90,” whose methods were getting more lurid with every lap, demolished a barrier with delightful abandon. Unperturbed, he attempted to regain the course, but another barrier became entangled with his
front wheel. He tried to
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remove this from where he sat in the driving seat. The next man to come round the corner was Featherstonhaugh, who found the Talbot right in the path he usually takes, his Alfa Romeo. Treading on everything, Featherstonhaugh brought his car round in a shrieking broadside, while ” Archie ” Nash waved the blue flag, which meant “Slow down, proceed with caution,” to other approaching cars. Aldington dropped out, and Elwes took the lead on his green Austin Seven, his cornering at both turns
being a model of what this manoeuvre should be. Eyston was having difficulty with the brakes of the 4.9 Bugatti. An over-zealous mechanic had made an adjustment at the last moment which caused the front wheels to brake first. The result was violent “judder” as the car approached the fork. His acceleration up the Finishing Straight was terrific, and he covered one lap at 76.03 m.p.h. Mathieson was another driver who lost no time at the Fork, but no one could catch the speedy Austin, which won by 300 yards
at the excellent average of 61.76 m.p.h.
The meeting concluded with a parade of the cars in the Concours d’Elegance down the Finishing Straight, and then when most of the spectators had gone home that wonderful machine, the Graf Zeppelin, hummed slowly over the Track. It hovered, low down, over the Paddock for some time, with one engine at the rear revving slowly, then with a roar the other engines burst into life and the great airship slid forward, and cruised peacefully away towards Hanworth.