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19 13 on tiERGE

Good News About Sheisley.

WHEN a hill climbing record has been keenly contested for the past 27 years, it seems a thousand pities that the course should be altered and new figures made. I was very relieved to hear from Leslie Wilson, the secretary of the Midland Automobile Club, and to whose efforts the success of the annual hill-climb is largely due, that the length of Shels

ley will remain unchanged for next year. The Committee were inundated with requests from competitors and spectators that no alteration should be made, and it looks as though Von Stuck’s record will be subject to a fierce onslaught next year. Two other points connected with the event have been modified. First of all, the Amateur climb in September (it’s not certain yet whether it will be on the 23rd or

the 30th) has been changed to the Autumn Open. Incidentally, the open event takes place on May 27th.

Then the spectator’s accommodation is being altered. The Members’ Enclosure is to be moved to a spot about 30 yards before the first bend, and is to be fitted with

more comfortable seating arrangements. The old Members’ Enclosure will be used as a special stand for the public at an extra charge. Finally, the footpaths to the top of the hill will be widened, so that congestion will at any rate be reduced.

Enterprise of this sort is what is wanted.

“The Terror” Changes Hands.

Cars are changing hands at this time of year, and R. G. J. Nash has sold the ” Terror ” to A. A. Arnold. He has bought the ” Slug,” and is moving his garage to Brooklands so will have plenty to do this winter. The ” Slug ” weighs a ton, so one cannot expect the same sort of performance as the Terror had, but it might be amusing for Round the Mountain races, or Lewes Speed Trials.

A New Use for Brookiands. . . .

As Mr. Bradley announced at the B.A.R.C. dinner, there is going to be a bicycle race at Brooklands next year. The meeting is being organised by the Charlotteville Cycling Club, whose headquarters are near Guildford, and I understand that a full day’s sport is being arranged, including a Mountain race. Chronograph Villa corner should provide some fun.

. . . and a Mountain Meeting.

I am glad to hear that a meeting composed entirely of races round the Mountain Course at Brooklands is being arranged. A suggestion that this should be held was made in MOTOR SPORT last July, with the further idea that the races should be run in classes and the whole affair be called a Championship Meeting. Scratch racing is what we want, after all, and the reward of a championship for the winner in each class should make the meeting more attractive from both the competitors’ and spectators’ points of view.

Esprit de Corps.

I am sorry I missed the J.C.C. Annual Dinner-Dance at the Connaught Rooms last month. The LondonGloucester trial was my job for that evening, but a colleague who was present at the function tells me he has never seen so much enthusiasm shown by members of a club before. Probably the speech of the evening was made by Lt. Col. J. T. Moore-Brabazon, who had an amusing word to say about many well known people in the motoring world. Professor A. M. Low, who was in the chair, entertained everyone with anecdotes, while L. F. Dyer, the Secretary and prime mover of the Club, gave a very fine speech in announcing the New Race for next year.

That 120 m.p.h. Racing Car.

My enquiries for racing cars last month brought in some interesting replies. One reader wanted to dispose of Sir Malcolm Campbell’s 350 h.p. Sunbeam, on which he took the World’s Land Speed Record at Pendine in 1924. The same man also possesses the green two-seater Eldridge Special, a photograph of which appears on the next page. Strangely enough, only a week or so before I had learnt that the engine of the single-seater car was to be found at Booth and Croft’s garage in Basil Mews, S.W.1, so I went along to see it.

In its original form the Eldridge Special consisted of a 1,500 c.c. side-by-side Anzani engine, supercharged, and fitted with a roller-bearing crankshaft in an Amilcar chassis. During 1925 a large number of records were captured by it, the flying kilometre at 113.2 m.p.h. and the 5 kilometre at 109.8, also the flying mile and 5 miles. Later that year the 5 kilometres was raised by the same car to 121.5 m.p.h., and 10 mile and 50 kilometres records were also taken.

The two-seater appeared at Monza and San Sebastian, but clutch trouble was experienced on both occasions. It was also entered in the 200 Miles Race. During the winter, Eldridge decided to improve the cars by fitting overhead camshaft heads, at that time all the rage, and in 1926 they were taken over to Indianapolis and were driven there by Hawkes and Eldridge. Their performance was disappointing, so Eldridge bought a Miller on which he was later very successful at Montlhery. Hawkes drove one of the cars in the 1926 200 Miles Race, but got no further than running into Eyston at the beginning of the race.

After some years of varied adventures, the single seater came into the hands of Booth and Croft and by dint of much hard work, all the teething troubles of the O.H.C. engine, which had never really been tackled before, seem to have been overcome. The crank case and block of the Anzani engine were retained, and on those the Eldridge head was mounted. The way in which the alterations were carried out was most ingenious. The valves were arranged at 90°, and the valve springs worked in chambers bored out in the head. The spring caps were secured to the valves by split collars, and were wide enough to bear against the sides of the spring chambers. They carried a roller running on a pin mounted on the top side, and this roller was directly acted on by the cams of the camshaft. All the side-thrust was taken by the spring caps or pistons, and the design was one which promised a long life to the working parts. The two camshafts were driven by a single chain at the rear end, with a a jockey pulley to take up the slack.

The engine was fitted for dual ignition, the two plugs being arranged beside one another between the valves. As originally arranged, these was no room for two magnetos alongside the engine, and a coil was used to fire one set of plugs. In its latest form two magnetos are fitted driven off the front end of the camshafts.

The O.H.C. head of course carries its own inlet and exhaust ports, so those in the Anzani block are left idle.

In the Eldridge these are used for cooling purposes, and a water jet is directed on the under side of each exhaust port.

Only a bench test can give an indication of the engine’s capabilities, and this is to be done in the course of a week or so. It is to appear next season mounted in a light chassis, possibly a Frazer Nash.

A 1922 G.P. Racer.

Another interesting 2 litre Sunbeam, which was driven by Lee Guinness in the 1922 French Grand Prix at Strasbourg. It is still capable of over 90 m.p.h. and is regularly used by its owner on 400 mile runs to Scotland. The four cylinder engine had the fantastic stroke of 130 mm. with a bore racing car I saw there was a

of 68, and the valves were operated in a somewhat similar way to those on the Eldridge, the camshafts being geardriven at the font end. The block is a peculiar shape at the bottom of the cylinder bores, in order to clear the connecting rods at their position of greatest angularity. The block, incidentally, was slightly off -set.

The New J.C.C. Race.

There seems no reason why the new race for this year should not be a complete success. On another page there is a full description of it, with an imaginative aerial view of the race in progress by R. A. Nockolds, whose work has appeared in MoToR SPORT for many years. The only possible criticism I can see is that the middle class, which will presumably be composed of cars considerably larger than the 750’s, will not be sufficiently penalised by the corner shown in this drawing. No doubt a cure could be found for this by an additional S bend after the first curve. Anyway, the idea is a great one, and the fact that the cars will be running level, without a time handicap, is enough to ensure its success.

Hats off to the J.C.C. !

The Brighton Grand Prix ?

During the Brighton Speed Trials last summer I heard several people remark that a very fine road race could be held by using both the Madeira Drive and the Marine Parade. A similar thought was evidently in C. L. Clayton’s head, for I now hear that the Brighton & Hove Club are considering the possibilities of such a race. Naturally nothing can be done for 1933, as all the International Calendar is allotted, but if all goes well there may be a race in 1934. Meanwhile, a date has been fixed for the Speed Trials on the Madeira Drive about the same time as last year.

In the Steps of Isaak Walton.

The gentle pastime of fishing seems to exercise a curious attraction for those connected with motor-racing. Two of England’s most prominent sports car manufacturers, Victor Riley, head of the famous Coventry firm bearing his name, and Cecil Kimber, who guides the destiny of M.G.’s down at Abingdon, are both ardent disciples of the piscatorial art, and depart into the wilds periodically to wage war on the elusive trout. The other day I met Harry Edwards, Secretary of the B.R.D.C., and learnt that he also has aspirations as an angler. He had just come back from a long week-end fishing in the country, and I tactlessly enquired as to the results of his expedition. But Edwards is not of the usual breed of fisher

men, who a.utomatically stretch their arms to their widest extent when you say “What luck ? “

Oh, no. He just sneezed and blew his nose. “Not a single bite,” he replied, “the only thing / caught was a beastly cold.”