An unlikely basis for a racing car

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After the war most car manufactures were occupied with resuming production, having made war-time components, and had little time for motor racing. But Herbert Austin, who had motor racing connections, and remembering his unfortunate entry in the 1908 French Grand Prix (two of his cars placed 18th and 19th out of 22 and a third car retired after only four laps with engine problems), found time to produce cars for racing at Brooklands in 1921 based on the production Austin 20, which with a sidevalve 3601cc engine was not an easy car to use for this purpose. Nevertheless, in 1921 he had two wins with a fastest lap of 86.92mph, two second places and one third place. In 1922 he had three third places with a fastest lap of 98.04mph, all being driven by L Kings (left). In 1923 he entered it in two races but had no success.