Miscellany, December 1998

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The 1998 Penrite Oil Award for outstanding achievement in the historic vehicle world has been awarded to Brooklands Museum for its recent developments, including the acquisition of the lap-record Napier Railton and the Motoring Village, which is to feature a British GP exhibition from 1926 to the present day (although this race was only held at Brooklands in 1926 and 1927).

Following our coverage of the jockey/racing driver George Duller, a reader reminds us that Duller, although an outstanding hurdler, did once ride in the Grand National at Aintree. Another driver who competed at this horse/motor racing venue was the swashbuckling Marquis de Portago, an accomplished all-round sportsman who also rode in the Grand National, and drove a Ferrari at Aintree in 1955. Duller was remembered by the George Duller Handicap.

The Michelin Tyre Company, celebrating its Centenary, has a book about Mr Bibendum, the Michelin Man and had at the Motor Show the replica of the Jenatzy Electric timed at 65.79mph in 1899. MOTOR SPORT wrote about the Michelin pictorial tiles at the Michelin Building in London long before other articles about them appeared. Michelins were for many years my favourite tyres (with motorcycle Avons on the A7s, of course) but now I am on Pirellis, by a supplier’s quirk.