B.A.R.C. WHITSUN MEETING

BROOK LAN DS. B.A.R.C. WHITSUN MEETING

GOOD DAY’S RACING IN BRILLIANT WEATHER WATCHED BY RECORD HOLIDAY CROWDS.

THE Whitsun meeting of the B.A.R.C. will long be remembered as one of the brightest we have known. The weather, which had been terrible all the week end, relented on the Monday, and Brooklands was bathed in sunshine. The crowds, attracted largely no doubt by the wise step taken by the authorities in reducing the entry to 2s. 6d. for the public enclosure, turned up in their thousands. The attendance was as good as the track has ever known, in fact so good that it caused a certain amount of difficulty in the matter of getting cars in to the grounds. It was unfortunate that the supply of programmes ran out so early, but the excellent announcements of the progress of events made up for this, and some of the best racing of recent years added to the delights of one of the pleasantest days we have spent at Weybridge.

The first race of the meeting was the first Mountain Speed Handicap, which produced a full complement of 15 starters. The fine weather seemed to have cheered up the drivers, and the cornering was on the whole very fast. Hebeler’s M.G. Midget was among the fastest on the corners, while other fast men were Randall (Austin), Vernon Balls (Austin), Berry (Frazer-Nash) and the two front drive Alvis driven by Fishe and Farley. Clover’s M.G. skidded round at the top bend, and lost a certain amount of time. Randall’s Austin got away well and held his lead from Boote and Hebeler, the latter changing places at half distance. Vernon. Balls and Parker were creeping up, and on the 7th lap Balls took 3rd place. On the 9th lap Parker (Alvis) took the fork bend too fast and hit the barrier,

carrying on with portions of same draped over the front dumbirons.

The race finished with desperate efforts on the part of Hebeler to catch up, but Randall just got home by a small margin.

RESULTS.

1st. E. C. H. Randall (749 c.c. Austin), 1w.458.

2nd. R. S. S. Hebeler (847 c.c. M.G.), ltn. 20s.

3rd. V. S. Balls (749 c.c. Austin), 10s. r Winner’s speed, 53.6 m.p.h.

The next race, the Junior Short Handicap, produced some interesting entries, notably the low orange Austin, which has been built chiefly for attempts on records. V. E. Horsman was limit man with lin. 42s. start, but was quickly passed by Burcher’s Riley which held its lead for 2 laps, to be passed almost on the line by Meeson’s Vauxhall. The third man home was Ilorsman’s Triumph. The Austin picked up to 5th place from 12th, a very good performance, while Ford’s Bugatti was another fast car which just missed a place.

RESULTS.

1st. E. L. Meeson (4234 c.c. Vauxhall), 52s.

2nd. G. L. Willis (749 c.c. B.C. Special), lm. 20s.

3rd. V. E. Horstnan (832 c.c. Triumph), 1m. 42s.

Winner’s speed, 94.44 m.p.h. The third race the Senior Short, produced yet another reminder that the 30-98 Vauxhall is still a fast car, and when driven by E. L. Meeson is liable to shake the handicappers severely. He passed A. S. Llewellyn (Riley), the limit man, on

the Byfleet banking on the first lap and held his lead to the end. For a moment it looked as if Sir Henry Birkin would bring his famous “44” Bentley right through the field, and on the second lap he swept past a great bunch of competitors on the Byfleet banking, and ran into third place. The rather tricky wind was making very high speeds difficult. Spottiswoode’s Bugatti went well as usual, and just got second place with the Bentley close on his heels. An interesting car in this race was the 2-litre Delage of W. B. Scott’s, driven by R. 0. Williams. This is one of the old Grand nix Pelages which was built just prior to the introduction of the 14-litre rule.

RESULTS.

1st. E. L. Meeson (4,234 c.c. Vauxhall), 5s.

2nd. A. N. Spottiswoode (1,990 c.c. Bugatti), 34s.

3rd. N. A. Carr (1,990 c.c. Bugatti), 34s.

Winner’s Speed, 97.97 m.p.h. The Junior Long Handicap over 3 laps followed with another very full entry, but one or two non-starters let Butler’s Vauxhall into the race from rescrve. Horsinan (Triumph) got away well and held his lead until near the end when he was passed by Major Cairne’s Invicta driven by G. Field. The Invicta was 7th on the first lap and caught up to 4th on the second lap, passing Vernon Balls’ Talbot and some smaller cars, and on the last lap came off the home banking to snatch a narrow victory from Horsman. T. K. Williams on the 16 sec. mark, went well and came through to the field to take third place from Gilbert on V. S. Balls’s

Talbot. [Continued on page 366.

RESULTS.

1st. G. Field (4,467 c.c. Invicta), 31s. 2nd. V. E. Horsman (832 c.c. Triumph), 2m. 4s.

3rd. T. K Williams (4,398 c.c. I3entley), 16s.

Winner’s speed, 100.26 m.p.h.

The Mountain Racing Handicap was a real Bugatti Race, with Penn-Hughes in a real Targa Florio 2,300 c.c. car on scratch and Sir Malcolm Campbell and C. S. Staniland on 2i-litres, of which Staniland’s was the faster. In fact he actually held. Penn-Hughes for the first three laps, but then had trouble and dropped out. The start saw” Ormonde’s ” Austin in the lead for the first five laps when P. L. Farquharson.’s Salmson, which was handled with great verve took the lead and held it to the finish. Penn-Hughes was catching up rapidly and took second place on the eighth lap. His acceleration from both corners was a most stirring feature of the event, while the notes of the screaming Bugattis was worth coming miles to hear. In fact it seemed that Penn-Hughes had brought some of the spirit of the Monaco Grand Prix, and

infused the race with extra competition. Brian Lewis drove the single seater Talbot with his usual skill, and captured third place.

RESULTS.

1st. P. L. Farquharson (1,087 c.c. Salmson), lin. 20s.

2nd. C. Penn-Hughes (2,263 c.c. Bugatti), scr.

3rd. B. E. Lewis (2,276 c.c. Talbot), 30$.

Winner’s speed, 61.94 m.p.h.

The one-lap sprint handicap gave us the closest finish of the day when John Cobb came through the field in terrific style in a valiant attempt to catch Munday’s Vauxhall. Cobb swept off the home banking to the finish and it was impossible to tell the result from the paddock until the official announcement confirmed that Munday had got home with a few feet to spare. Vernon Balls, whose Austin seemed to be going extremely well the whole meeting, was third.

RESULTS.

1st. R. J. Munday (Vauxhall), 21s. 2nd. J. R. Cobb (Delage), scr. 3rd. V. S. Balls (Austin), 38s.

Winner’s speed, 93.09 m.p.h.

The race of the day was the Gold Star Handicap over seven laps, in which Earl Howe, also apparently inspired by his recent continental exploits, won the race with the really wonderful average speed of 120.8 m.p.h. He drove the 1i-litre Grand Prix Delage, one of the cars which swept the board in the Gran.ds Prix of a few years ago. Earl Howe’s performance was all the more meritorious when it is remembered that he specialises more in road than track work. The race itself was full of incident, a constant reshuffling of positions making it hard to follow. What might have been

a nasty incident occurred when E. R. Hall (Bentley) in trying to overtake Carlson’s Bentley, when coming off the members banking touched the grass verge and sent up a great shower of sand and stones. He recovered control and continued. John Cobb was travelling very fast indeed and was actually increasing his 5 secs. lead over Sir Henry Birkin. Ire lapped at 132.8 m.p.h., while Earl Howe’s best lap was 126.4 m.p.h. and this with only 1 litres I Cobb had the wretched luck to blow up his engine while doing an extra lap at the end by mistake. Purdy with the Thomas Special went very well and ran into third place.

RESULTS.

1st. Earl Howe (1,484 c.c. Delage), 42s. 2nd. J. R. Cobb (10,688 c.c. Delage), 5s. 3rd. H. W. Purdy (1,493 c.c. ThomasSpecial), lm. Os.

Winner’s speed, 120.8 m.p.h.

Sir Malcolm Campbell then gave the public a view of his famous Bluebird, and did a couple of laps while the cars were being got ready for the Senior Long Handicap.

Earl Howe was again in form and proceeded to drive the Delage once more into first place at 119.47 m.p.h. The chief feature of the race was the great scrap between Howe and Cyril Paul, on Bout’s Sunbeam. Paul ran just ahead throughout the last lap till the straight was reached when Earl Howe forged ahead to in on the post.

RESULTS.

1st. Earl Howe (1,484 c.c. Delage), 23s 2nd. E. L. Bout (1,988 c.c. Sunbeam), 19s.

3rd. E. R. Hall (4,398 c.c. Bentley), 45s.

Winner’s speed, 119.47 m.p.h. The final race of a good meeting was the second of the Mountain Speed handicaps, with Sir Malcolm Campbell on the big 1VIerce.des at scratch. At the start Hepburn’s M.G., driven by Hebeler, held his lead till half distance. Aldington was

catching up well on one of the DoubleTwelve unsupercharged Frazer-Noshes. Gilbert on V. S. Balls’s Talbot was also going well and pulled up to second place. Aldington was in his usual form and took the lead at six laps and remained in front. Campbell was going great guns on the Mere and on the 9th lap alone picked up 4 places. He just lowered the lap record for the mountain course and ran into third place after a fine race.

RESULTS.

1st. H. J. Aldington (1,496 c.c. Frazer Nash), Int 48s.

2nd. A. B. Gi_bert (2,276 c.c. Talbot), lm. 44s.

3rd. Sir Malcolm Campbell (7,020 c.c. Mercedes), scr.

Winner’s speed, 61.40 m.p.h.