A SUNNY SHELSLEY

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A SUNNY SHELSLEY RAYMOND MAYS BREAKS HILL RECORD WITH HIS 2-LITRE E.R.A., IN 37.37 SECS. MISS DOROTHY STANLEY TURNER TAKES MRS. PETRE’S LADIES’ RECORD WITH HER II-LITRE ALTA, IN 43.4 SECS.

FOR once a really glorious summer day greeted Shelsley-Walsh competitors, officials and spectators on June 3rd, but regrettably the crowd was not up to its usual impressive standards. Entries were also down, so that all the runs took place in the afternoon, and nothing happened in the morning. Practice was not especially eventful, save that Instone rolled over his G.N. “Martyr “-but it takes more than a little incident like that to upset Rupert and he was driving on the Saturday.

First of all the veterans, or Edwardians, attacked the famous hill, Clutton finding his sixty Itala more unmanageable than usual, because lie had removed the carriagework, so that Heal, in his beautiful trousers and the 1910 Fiat, made best time in 49.0 secs., which he later got down to 48.49 secs., beating twelve moderns. He also bettered the 19l0 record by 16.91 secs. The 750 c.c. class saw Bert Hadley do his usual great drive, the little Austin doing 40.50 secs. in a crash of sound. Buckley and Wisdom on the other Austins were slower, but easily beat Sir Clive Edwards’s M.G. George Povey’s 600 c.c. Midget, rather meaninglessly called a ” Shelsley Special,” climbed in 58.43 secs. and won the unblown class, in which only he started. Instone, still pinning his faith to the now eldeily, but not much modernized blown G.N. “The Martyr,” won the 1,100 c.c. class in 48.0 secs., though entering tbe ” Ess ” carefully. H. A. Richards took the unblown section of the class with his Riley, in 48.18 secs., and the cinder-track Sulman Singer was over 2 secs. slower. With the 11-litres came more excitement. Cutler anxiously toyed with a Bowden-lever on his FrazerNash and Wright (Frazer-Nash) had time to steady his crash helmet. Heinrich, with a T-type M.G., toured up, and Palethorpe’s ” Shelsley ” Frazer-Nash viciously flapped its front wheels. Miss Stanley Turner with the ex-Wakefield Alta entered the ” Ess ” with protesting brakes and raised a dustcloud and Vaughan went into the corner very fast with the Bec.ke Powerplus. Marston (2-litre Bugatti) had a nasty moment on the lower reaches, and Souter’s black Bugatti suffered fierce misfiring. On his first run Beadle’s Alta obviously was off form, Frost and Langley (B.M.W.$) let their cars broadside, Langley grinning widely, and Ned Lewis, with Baron’s 2.3 Bugatti, slid at the “S.” The A.C.N. was not fast, but wagged about neverthe less. Came Fane, with the improved ” Shelsley ” Frazer-Nash, now 2 cwt. or so lighter than before. Dust welled out behind the car, the front wheels locked momentarily, ” A.F.P. ” held her, opened up through the bends and was gonethe onlookers clapping appreciatively. He clocked 38.92 secs. Percy Maclure, using the blown engine in his independentlysprung Riley, dabbed his brakes heavily and blipped through the “S,” to take 42.11 secs. Now Raymond Mays was announced as on the line. He was appearing as an independent, the 2-litre E.R.A., purchased from Humphrey Cook, now black and silver. The car slid a bit from the line, you could hoar the brakes for quite a while as he steadied her for the “5” and in an immense burst of acceleration she was out of the corners

and away over the finishing line. A new Shelsley-Walsh record has been established-of 37.37 secs. This beat the old record, held by Mays, by .49 of a sec. and is the twelfth time this driver has established the fastest time ; nine successful runs have been made with E.R.A. cars.

We have so far been considering first runs in the 14-litre and 2-litre classes.

Later in the afternoon Mays made another terrific climb, but sun, glinting off the polished bonnet, worried him and he was working for 87.71 secs. this time. Pane, however, got down to 38.82 secs., easily winning the 14-litre class with a difficult car. A nsell (E.R.A.) using twin rear wheels took the ” S ” extremely fast his arms going high up over the wheel in real Nuvolari style and he was second in 40.53 secs. while Maclure, again blipping, got down to 41.85 secs., to fill third place. The unblown category of the 1i-litre class was won by Roy Cutler’s Frazer-Nash, which improved considerably, to 46.89 secs., on its second run, and Wright, with his car of the same marque, was runner-up, in 48.42 secs. Beadle’s Alta was another car which improved on its second ascent, to get second place to Mays, in the 2-litre class, in 41.67 secs. Brooke, his Brooke-Special looking an unusually big car between the banks at Shelsley, changed gear fiercely and squealed his tyres. The Midlanclers obviously loved it and Clapped his time of 43.6 secs., which gave him 2nd place in the unblown, 2-litre class. First place went to W. E. Wilkinson, handling the

ex-Fernihough, white Riley. Sliding from hedge to hedge at the start, the car was still sliding at the “S,” but was splendidly held on a really fierce run,.

clocking 42.04 sees. Both ” Wilky ” and Brooke were slower on their second ascents. A good run, not to be overlooked was Fane’s 44.2 secs. with the sports FrazerNash-B.M.W., while, coining to the 5-litre class, Newsome braked hard.,. fairly diced into the ” 5,” and held a slide well, to win for S.S. in 42.95 secs. Bolster was second on his four-engined Bolster-Special, which we see all too infrequently these days, in 43.3 secs., the front wheels trying hard to come off as he braked and grim moments occurring quite frequently along the final straighteveryone stood up to see this ascent . . . Of the big blown cars, Baron drove very well indeed, and was notably steady, to win the class in 41.14 secs., with Hans Ruesch runner-up with his familiar AlfaRomeo, which he got to the summit in. 41.67 secs., a most credible time for what is rather too bulky a car for the Worcester shire hill. Lemon-Burton, twin rear booted in his smart Bugatti, entered the ” S ” really quickly and put up a very neat, polished climb in 42.45 secs. Ian Connell took the T.T. sports-car prize for fully-equipped sports-cars using pump fuel, the 4-litre Dairacq taking 43.76 sees. Sydney Allard, whose sports Allard was described as a ” Shelsley-Special for some obscure reason, seemed to slide about in his seat at an important moment,. but clocked 49.09 secs., beating Monro’s Invicta, Glegg’s Atalanta and two other 44-litre Invictas. Forrest Lycett, alone in the unlimited class with his 8-litre Bentley, did a great run in 44.08 secs., and has told us that he had to work quite hard to keep on the road. He certainly tail-slid considerably at the ” S ” on his second run. Reg. Parnell probably worked harder than anyone in keeping control of the big B.H.W., sawing at the wheel on a climb which occupied 44.0 secs. Peter Skinner was steady on his 43.6 secs. rim with the Skinner-Special, and Mrs. Bolster, took 47.67 sees. with the same car. Moore missed his gear-change some four times in the ” ” with Mrs. Darbishire Bugatti, but managed 44.89 secs. on the second attempt and the cars, owner did a rather feather-footed run in 45.51 secs. Incidentally, Miss Stanley Turner clipped .3 of a second from Mrs. Petre’s Austin record and was announced

as holder of the Ladies’ record before Mrs. Darbishire and Mrs. Bolster had done second runs. Dorothy was more microphone-modest than Mays. Mays said he would have gone faster on his second run, he believed, if sun had not bothered him. The Edwardians rounded things off, and Heal made his fine run aforementioned and John Morris, the Benz rebuilt, managed to net second place by doing a run in 50.77 secs. Shakspeare’s 1907 7-litre Renault toured up in 97.28 secs. and went home under its own power, as it had done four years ago, when the writer of this report was passenger and when Marcus Chambers drove. Out of a perhaps confusing mass of times it materialises that the victorious marques in the supercharged classes were : Austin, G.N.-Special, Frazer-Nash, E.R.A., and Bugatti, and, in the unsupercharged classes :-PoveySpecial, Riley, Frazer-Nash, Riley, S.S. 100 and Bentley. In addition, Mays (E.R.A.) took the Shelsley Challenge Trophy and L100, Pane (Frazer-Nash) took the M.A.C. Challenge Trophy and L50, Ansell (E.R.A..) won L15, Wilkinson (Riley) won the DO prize for the fastest unblown car, Coimell’s Darracq carried off the T.1`. sports-car prize, Miss StanleyTurner’s Alta won the Ladies’ Challenge Trophy and £15, Bolster took the Gordon Rossiter Challenge Trophy and £10 for the fastest Shelsley-Special, Skinner (Skinner Special) the L5 prize for second fastest Shelsley-Special (is this a true

Shelsley-Special ?), Heal’s F.I.A.T. won the M.A.C. Challenge Trophy for fastest veteran and, finally, the Team Prize went to the Mays-Ansell-Fane M.A.C. team. We hope a bigger crowd will attend

next September. Shelsley-Walsh is still our leading speed hill-climb. RESULTS NEW RECORD FOR THE HILL

Raymond Mays (1,980 c.o. E.R.A.), 37.87s. (approx. 54.5 m,p,h.). (Old record : Mays with same ear37.86s. in the September climb, 1938). NEW WOMEN’S RECORD Miss Dorothy Stanley Turner (1,500 c.o. Alta), 43.40s. (Old record : Mrs. K. Petre (Austin), 43.7s.) FASTEST CLIMBS Irrespective of Category

1. Raymond Mays (1,980 c.c. }I.R.A.). 37.378.

2. A. F. P. Pane (1,500 c.c. Frazer-Nash), 38.848.

3. R. B. Ansell (1,500 c.c. E.R.A.), 40.538.

4. H. L. Hadley (744 c.c. Austin), 40.56s. 6. A. Baron (3.3-litre Bugatti), 41.14s.

6. A. H. Beadle (2-litre Alta), 41.678.

7. Hans Ruesch (3.8-litre Alfa-Romeo), 41.67s.

8. P. Maelure (1,500 c.c. Riley), 41.85s.

9. W. E. Wilkinson (1,987 c.c. Riley ti/a), 42.04s.

10. N. Lewis (2.3-litre Bugatti), 42.40s. FASTEST UNSUPERCHARGED CARS Irrespective of Category

1. W. E. Wilkinson (1,987 c.c. Riley), 42.04s.

2. S. H. Newsome (31-litre SS Jaguar 100), 42.95s.

3. John Bolster (4-litre Bolster), 43.30s.

4. P. G. Skinner (4.2-litre Skinner), 43.60s.

5. H. L. Brooke (1,746 c.c. Brooke-Special), 43.60s. 6. Ian Connell (3.9-litre Darracq), 43.76s

7. Forrest, Lyeett (8-litre Bentley), 44 08s.

8. A. F. P. Pane (2-litre Frazer-Nash-B.M.W.), 44.20s. CLASS WINNERS Supercharged Cars H. L. Hadley (744 c.c. o.h e. Austin)’ 1. 0. R. Instone (988 c.c. Martyr), 1. A. F. P. Pane (1,500 c.c. Frazer1. Raymond Mays (1,986 c.c. E.R.A.),

1. N. Lewis (2.3 Bugatti), 42.408. 1. A. Baron (3.3 Bugatti), 41.148. Unsuperoharged

750 c.c. G. Povey (600 c.c. Special), 58.438. 1,100 c.o. : 1, H. A. Richards (Riley Nine), 48.18s. 1,500 c.o. : 1, Roy Cutler (1,500 c.c. Frazer-Nash),

46.89s.

2,000 c.o. : 1, W. E. Wilkinson (1,987 c.c. Riley), 42.04s.

8,000 c.o. : No runners.

5,000 o.o. : 1, S. H. Newsome (31-litre SS 100), 42.95s.

Unlimited : 1, Forrest Lycett (8-litre Bentley), 44.08s. Veterans : 1, A. S. Heal (10-litre 1910 Fiat), 48.49s SPECIAL AWARDS Fastest Climb of the Day (Shelsley Challenge Trophy and £1.00) : Raymond Mays (1,080 c.c. E.R.A.), 37.378. ,

Second Fastest (M.A.C. Challenge Trophy and £50) : A. F. P. Pane (1,500 c.c. Frazer-Nash), $8.848.

Third Fastest (15): R. E. Ansell (1,500 c.c. E.R.A.), 40.53s.

Fastest Unsuperaharged Car (Shelsley Specials barred) (£10) : W. E. Wilkinson (1,986 c.c. Riley), 42.04s.

Fastest T.T.-type Sports Car (fully equipped and running on pump fuel) (Henry Edmunds Challenge Trophy and £10, presented by the R.A.C.) : Ian Connell (4-litre Darraeq), 43.768.

Ladies’ Challenge Trophy and £15: Miss Dorothy Stanley Turner (11-ht re Alta) : 43.408.

Fastest ” Shelsley Special” (F. Gordon Ro-giter Challenge Trophy and £10) : John Bolster (4-litre Bolster Special), 43.308.

Second Fastest ” Shelsley Special” (£5) : P. G. Skinner (4.2-litre Skinner Special) : 43.60s.

Fastest Veteran Car (prior to 1914) (M.A.C. Challenge Trophy) : Anthony Heal (1910 10-litre Flat), 48.498.

Team Prize (best aggregates) (Fray Challenge Trophy) : Midland A.C., Team A-R. Mays (E.R.A.), R. Mizell (E.R.A,), and A. F. P. Pane (FrazerNash), 116.748.

750 c.c. :1. 40.56s.

1.100 c.c.: 48.0s. 1,500 0.0. : Nash), 38.84s

2,000 c.o.: 37.37s. 8,000 c.o. : 5,000 c.o.: