R T Horton

We are sorry to learn belatedly of the death of R T Horton, in Shrewsbury, aged 89. Ronald Tombs Horton was well known in motor racing circles, staring with a 1912 Morgan but going on to more serious racing with a faster Morgan threewheeler, Amilcar and Riley cars. He owned the Avon-JAP for a time and built a Horton Special that won its class at Shelsley Walsh. Ronnie Horton then turned to MGs, being in Major “Goldie” Gardner’s team with a C-type Midget, for which he then had a single-seater body made. With it he won the BRDC 1933 500 Mile Race at Brooklands, with Jack Bartlett, and was awarded the BRDC Gold Star. He drove MG Magnettes abroad, one prize handed to him by Hitler, and he competed in an Alpine Trial with a Triumph Southern Cross. Finally, with a single-seater MG Magnette he went very fast at Brooklands, netting both 750cc and 1100cc laprecords in the 1930s.

The full story was told in MOTOR SPORT after WB interviewed this modest and humorous amateur driver some years ago. He left a fortune of over £3 million, derived from the Warwick Hotel chain. Our deepest condolences on his death to his son Michael, daughter Wendy, and to his six grandchildren. Michael has dedicated a bar Brindley Place, Birmingham, to his father’s racing activities. W B