CLUB NEWS, June 1939

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VINTAGE S.C.C.

This Club’s next fixture is a hill-climb at Prescott on August 26th, but invitations have been accepted for Lewes on July 15th and Doniugton on August 12th. The May issue of the ” Bulletin” is beautifully done, and so thorough is the Club that, the first issue being wrongly captioned in respect of two photographs, the whole thing was reprinted and sent out afresh. The success of this Club for pre-1981 cars is one of the things that never fails to both please and astonish

us. Recently increased membership includes eleven more Bentley owners, and owners of : 1923 Talbot, five LeaFrancis, a 1903 Martini, a Frazer-Nash, an Aston-Martin, four 12/50 Alvis, a 1910 Mercedes, two Lagondas, an M.G., a 1914 Mors, two Lancias, a Riley Nine, two Darracqs, two Salmsons, a 1928 Fiat, three more 30/98 Vauxhalls, a Rolls-Royce, three Bugattis, an YiustroDaimler, a big Mercedes-Benz, an Amilcar, a Ballot, an Hispano-Suiza, a special Austin Seven, two early Renaults, a 3-litre Sunbeam, of which a correspondent wrote in praise last month, and, in addition, nine new driving members with non-vintage cars and four fresh associate members. The ” Bulletin” contains reports of the Welsh week-end. The February Northern Trial won by Ashton’s 3-litre Bentley, of a Northern Speed-Judging Contest, and of the Stanley Cup Contest, together with some excellent random jottings and the usual Northern Notcs. There is also an excellent Editorial commending the virtues of the Edwardian touring car— and there is a list of whole lots of Edwardian cars which are for sale at prices from to £100, including a 1914 G.P. Mercedes and a 1914 T.T. Sunbeam ; incidentally we know of quite a few more not in the list, so there is certainly no shortage of pre-1915 material. Special events for such cars will be held, over and above

the main fixtures. We should like to see some further issues of the Northern section’s publication.

Hon.Secretary : Tim Carson, ” Egarston,” Park Lane, Basingstoke, Hants.

THE LIGHT CAR CLUB

The L.C.C. did not hold its sprint meeting at Brooklands on May 17th. Instead, it is going all out to make the Second Three Hour Sports-Car Race at Brooklands a greater success than it was last year, when a Delahaye was

victorious. The date of the race is July 22nd and the regulations aim at excluding anything at all in the nature of a semi-racing car. Full details from: A. E. S. Curtis, ” Levallon,” Longdown Lane South, Ewell, Surrey.

ABOUT BADGES

Of course, it’s really so very simple. You join a club, pay for a car-badge, and display it. Sometimes the badge remains the property of the club and you are asked to return it if you cease to be a member, while in other cases the badge is all yours. That is where one complication can wise. You see cars in a dealer’s or breaker’s yard still displaying a club badge, and that is a very had show indeed. If the owner has no intention of paying a further subscription to the club in question, he can at least remove and destroy the badge before selling the car. Sooner or later a fellow member will probably spot the badge and notify the secretary of the club concerned, and, unpleasant as the task may seem, the secretary really should do something towards recovering the badge. Even more despicable is the person who refuses to renew his club subscription and who still uses the club’s badge. Such persons should be sternly dealt with and might well be boycotted by all motoring bodies— the average motor club gives excellent value for money and is very lenient about renewal dates, and to thus exploit it is extremely unfair. A further point is that one’s driving and general behaviour can reflect on your club or club’s if you act unwisely at any time when in charge of a car displaying its owner’s badges. There is also the question of whether it is fair for two persons to share one an other’s badges. Naturally, if a car is borrowed for an ordinary run, no one would suggest prior removal of any badges, carried, but if a car is loaned for a long period, especially if it is loaned for any competitive event, we rather incline to the view that it should carry only the badges of the driver’s clubs. If he puts on his own badges he should surely remove any others—if they mean so much to him he should pay up to the clubs concerned. He may argue that he is giving all the clubs whose badges are displayed a free advertisement—if he does, we only hope he will look foolish when members approach hiin as one of themselves and ask unanswerable questions. The only conditions under which someone else’s badges can, as we see it, be permissibly added to another person’s car is when these two persons jointly own a car for competition work and purposely belong to different clubs so as to be able to enter for as many events as possible during a season, driving in turn. In such a case as this the badges belong more to the ” stable ” than to the individuals— even so, most clubs can do with all the money they can lay hands on, so each individual should purchase a second badge for the competition car, keeping his rightful badges on his utility car in each case. Actually, the car carrying a whole row or tier of badges is much less

imposing than one carrying just a few badges of well known and respected institutions. The temptation always to buy a badge and add it to the display whenever you pay a fresh subscription, no matter for what reason, is best nipped early in the bud. How frightful the Allard-Specials would look if Hutchison, Allard and Warburton were overcome by a passion to show you the badges of all the divers motor clubs to which they subscribe Yet some folk do just that, and throw in a few mascots and aero-club labels and cad’s club identification discs, into the bargain. A friend of ours, who used to drive an M.G. in trials, some years ago, hit upon the idea of mounting on his car button-hole badges to replace the full-size badges. It was a really neat scheme and you could see at a glance to what clubs he belonged when the car was stationary, even if you could not do so when it was moving—a mass of big badges also passes individually uniden tified, anyhow. A possible variation of this idea would be to have all your badges this size on the utility barrow and the full-size badges mounted on the trials car, or, if in the competition world you feel that everyone knows to what clubs you belong, you might decide to do it t’other way round. Or you might put all your small badges on the everyday car together with one large badg2. For instance, normally the full-size badge would be the one most appropriate to the car—Vintage S.C.C. badge on an old-school motor, or I3.R.D.C. badge if you race, or the appropriate one-make badge. This could be mounted removably and replaced by a full-size badge of another club on occasion, as when going to a particular club’s event, or competing therein. Again, you might permanently display one full-size badge, and allow one other full-size badge of whatever club’s event you were attending at the time—A.A. and R.A.C. badges are in a

rather different category and are often kept apart from other badges in any case. At all events, we commend the idea to those who just cannot find space on the bar for another badge. The small button hole badges look very well on a small diameter polished bar, with a back ground behind. Actually, of course,

you can do almost anything with badges. One bright young thing, for instance, displays B.A.R.C. ladies’ brooches all around the brim of her dicing-hat . . .

BERKHAMSTED AND D. M.C. & C.C.

The Dancer’s End Hill Climb on May 7th proved a very good training ground, as usual, for beginners, and resulted in fastest time being made by G. D. Claridge’s Frazer-Nash which, however, did not smash the Appleton-Special’s course

record. Claridge climbed in 27.8 sees.

The acute corner half-way up the course is now rather easier than before, but resulted in many wild moments, fortunately without any casualties. A very fine, stripped Rapier chassis and a Salmson chassis were amongst the runners and E. G. M. Wilkes brought out his beautifully polished G.N., without finding very much urge. Jarvis’s stripped, blown Austin Seven, with twin water outlets in the cylinder head, had the bad luck to strip its timing gears, while Mills hit the fence with Red Biddy

and damaged the front axle. E. J. Haesendonck’s blown PB M.G. Midget was going really well, and Frazer-Nashes ran in considerable numbers.

REM’S

850 c.c. Sports : L D. W. Pritchard (847 c.c. M.G.), 35.9s.

1,100 c.c. Sports and 850 c.c. Supercharged : 1. It It Willis (747 c.c. M.(Lt. S), 31.8s.

1,500 c.c. Sports and 1,100 c.c. Supercharged : 1. E. J. Haesendonek (039 e.e. M.G. S), 28.9s.

850 c.c. Racing : 1. S. I. Deane (747 c.c. Austin), 32s.

1,100 c.o. Racing and 850 c.o. Supercharged : 1, T. N. Sulthan (972 c.c. Sidman Singer Special) 30.1s.

1,500 c.c. Racing and 1,100 c.o. Supercharged : G. D. Claridge (1.496 e.c. Frazer-Nash), 27.8s.

1,500 c.c. All-Comers and 1,100 c.c. Supercharged : E. J. Haesendonck (939 c.c. M.G. 5), 28.2s.

*Fastest time of the day.

GENERAL NOTES

The Brighton Rally was preceded by some interesting hours in various workshops where truly beautiful work is executed, so that, in company with fellow enthusiasts, we examined cars and talked cars and reflected that it is not only out on the road that motoring enthusiasm and the appreciation of good cars uplifts me’s soul. Nevertheless, off we went to Brighton, at first in a Riley which, as it neared the famous seaside resort, threw out clouds of oil smoke just like a racing-car about to retire with distinctly expensive derangements, so that a hasty halt was called, when an oilpipe union up by the valve cover was prescribed guilty and much hasty brazing had, preforce, to be done over a highly inflammable blow-lamp. Next day we went down to see the final tests in a dependable baby saloon, and the writer got his usual jitters when a return was made Londonwards in the early evening on what is only a 50 mile route—unless you are very late, nothing short of these times that distance seems a fitting con clusion to a motoring day. However, all suggestions that we explore Brighton’s adjacent countryside were suppressed by the rest of the crew, albeit there must be some excellent motoring to be had about here which Londoners scorn because it is so close. home. Actually, the afternoon had been enlivened because Mr. Platt, who used to run the Targa Florio 3-litre Alfa-Romeo (apparently the car Lanfranchi once raced at B.A.R.C. meetings) lent us the little D.K.W. saloon to try. It was driven in the Rally by H. F. Owen and was the second smallest car competing. We once again enjoyed to the full the wonderful controlability, and comfort of these remarkable cars, and also got it very successfully up a trials-type hill, when front drive worried it not at all and the tiny two-stroke engine pulled with immense vigour. Although it had just been through the Rally this D.K.W. seemed as fresh as ever, save for a rattle by the facia, and any illusions we were developing about the respective road-clinging qualities of Continental, as against British, utility cars, consequent on rolling a small British saloon of long acquaintance quite quickly round bends, has been dispelled

for a very long time to come. The D.K.W. is not only far faster on a twisty route, but also safer and ever so much more fun if you drive, as distinct from moving the pedals and grabbing the levers of your automatic carriage. Perhaps the difference was still further emphasised when the aforementioned British box was asked to convey us rather rapidly to Salisbury and back the following day, over soaking roads—the average was about 31 m.p.h. to be precise.

Incidentally, isn’t it rather pleasant to be able always to enjoy your motoring, no matter what the car, or on what expedition ? Which is where the enthusiast scores over the average car-owner, even over the fairly knowledgeable, but not actually, sporting motorist. The years certainly roll on, but Prescott brought back in almost full measure the fascination of arising early and going a goodly distance to a big meeting, with and amongst friends to whom the sight of a good car travelling really well is something to be observed with reverence, and who take a meal at the end of a long day in an atmosphere of motoring discussion, in our case at Sturt Farm. So much trouble did our party have attempting to reach Prescott meetings last year in queer motors, that this time we made use of a very sober carriage which, however, experienced a puncture, began to boil and finally spat and banged to indicate that the string holding the distributor at full-advance had broken— and that as soon as the writer had taken the wheel . . . But at least we did get in under Our own steam, and not so slowly,

either. Touching wood, I suppose, for Shelsley usually brings adventures untold . . .