THE GOODWOOD SEASON OPENS

THE GOODWOOD SEASON OPENS

THE. B.A.R.C. opened the Goodwood season with a SportsCar Meeting on March 24th which was extremely well attended in spite of bitterly cold weather. The new track surface was given a thorough try-out but the new stand at St. Mary’s had not been erected. But new enclosures were in use, enabling spectators to get a very good close-up view of the racing.

The programme opened with a 5-lap Scratch Race for 1,too-c.c. sports cars. Scans was amongst the non-starters, having crashed Panin’s Lotus at St. Mary’s that morning. He Was thrown out, the battery narrowly missed him and his strapped-up crash hat was torn off. He suffered scalp injuries and a brOken wrist. Hegbourne had things all his own way, building up a useful lead in his Lola-Climax to win by I r.8 sec. from Hyslop in Diekinson’s Lola-Climax, Veness (Elva-Climax) snatching third pike from Jerham’s Gilby-Climax, which had begun to smoke, on the run-in.

The next race, from a Le Mans start, was .a 7-lap Scratch event for Marque Sports Cars and counted towards the Veedol Prize of an F.J. Lotus. Burnard won this One, his A.C.-Bristol, hood up, leading from lap two. Jones in the ex-Lawrence Morgan Plus Four had a fine tussle with Bell’s Lotus Elite, passing the latter on the inside out of St. Mary’s on the last lap to secure second place by 1.8 sec. Eva had a bad start (I dislike Le Mans-starts for short races) in his Twin-Cam M.G. coupe but recovered splendidly, to finish fourth and make fastest lap at 82.29 m.p.h. The first of many accidents happened when Hodgson’s SunbeamHarrington left the road at Fordwater and up-ended. Banks’ A.C.-Bristol retired with gasket trouble.

In the first race Paul (Lotus) was penalised a minute for spinning and the same fate befell Amato in this race, his Elite performing astonishing gyrations at St. Mary’s but continuing safely and promptly.

Another 7-lap Veedol Scratch Race followed, in which Brooke’s Lotus 7-Cosworth Ford tried hard to catch Soley in Manfield’s neat D.R.W.-Ford, which is the 1961 ex-Oliver car. But the D.R.W. won by o.6 sec., both lapping at 84.71 m.p.h. No-one else had a look in but later in the afternoon Cole’s Lotus-Ford came in to take third place. Lewis crashed the other D.R.W.-Ford on the outside of St. Mary’s, and Grant (Sprinzel Sprite) stopped at his pit for petrol—in a 7-lap race!

Raby, Jur., in a Turner-B.M.C. tuned by himself, shed fluid and retired. This race saw the advent of Spender in a remarkable idea t)f Chris Lawrence’s—no less than a rear-engined 13.M.C. Mini, called a Deep-Sanderson, on Michelin-shod Mini wheels, its power unit housed in a box behind the driver, reminiscent of one of those discreet delivery vans used by perfume firms or family butchers. It managed to pass Young’s sick Sprite.

The next race was much more interesting, for although the programme said we were at a Sports-Car Meeting, every one of the z5 starters in this to-lap Scratch contest was a Formula Junior car. Moreover, the entire Lotus team seemed to be present to watch Peter Arundell drive the new Lotus 22, and three of the new Lola-Fords were there to do battle with it.

The race was fully up to F.J. standards, for four drivers were penalised for jumping the start and Ruby in the new MerlynFord with his own ideas of engine tuning collided with the Lotus 22 and although he did one lap Arundell was virtually finished from the start. For a couple of laps Peter Ashdown carried Lotus hopes, in a Lotus zo with inboard disc brakes at the back and5-speed gearbox, after which first Prior and then Taylor in the very low, very stable new Lolas passed him, the latter on the last lap, by which time the. Lotus was smoking with discomfort. But as Taylor had jumped the start he was relegated to fifth place, and the result was Prior, Ashdown, Hine (another new Lola-Ford) and Lyon, from the U.S.A., in a Lotus zo. Unusual in modern racing, Berrow-Johnson’s Lotus 2o burst a tyre (off-side front) and in avoiding. hint Fruitnight’s new Merlyn-Ford spun off—the B.A.R.C. decided this would be excused under the circumstances! Horace ‘Gould’s 17-yearold son drove, a Lotus and Ghazala came from Sweden to drive a last-year’s Caravellc-Ford. Pillette appeared in Fitzwilliam’s Ecurie Milk Miglia Lola from Le Zoute. Dick Prior did a lap at 97.08 m.p.h. (x min. 29 See.)—the commentator thought this must be a new F.J. lap-record (old boy I) but wasn’t sure and no-one else enlightened us.

De Selincourt proved his mastery of mighty machinery in the so-lap Scratch Race for unlimited sports and G.T. ears, his ex-Whitehead 3.8 Lister-Jaguar leading all the way, out on its own, to win a dull race by i8.4 sec. Nicholson’s xioo Lola, Salmon’s Aston Martin Zagato and Derisley’s ex-Lumsden Elite followed at discreet intervals. The big crowd in the new St. Mary’s enclosure saw Pearce demolish the front of his Jaguar XKI5o against the bank. Officially, he was given as ” retired, with collapsed front suspension.” As only one breakdown truck had all the clearing up to do the next race started late, being held after the 3-min. signal had been given—which is not in the B.A.R.C. tradition. Alas, we never saw Addicott’s splendid Lotus, said to do 140 m.p.h. along Lavant straight, on which a power bulge on the bonnet from which two carburetters protrude hints at the presence of a V8 light-alloy 31-litre Buick engine. It lost its gears in getting away—better perhaps if Addicott had merely used top, which he claims is all he needs, instead of a lower ratio of the five available. Keates drove—Slowly—the prototype Le Mans Viz Lagonda, now with Aston Martin DB3S engine.

A 5-lapper for non-o.h.c. 1,2.0o-c.c. sports car allowed Manfield’s D.R.W.-Ford to display its superiority over sundry Lotus cars, although five of the latter followed it home. The Lotus 75 of Smallman and Wilson did not appear to benefit from enormous and incongruous head-rests, the latter’s being delayed with fuel starvation; the aforesaid Deep-Sanderson-B.M.C. delivery van lost its transmission and Fletcher’s Lotus had clutch trouble.

There followed the best race of the afternoon, another to-lap Marque Scratch Race, in which Eva again drove his Twin-Cam M.G. coupe magnificently but was hard-pressed to hold off Meredith’s Morgan Plus Four, although, having been passed on the last lap, Eva contrived to get by Meredith on the inside going into St. Mary’s—quite something! There was also an unholy dice for third place between Burnard’s A.C.-Bristol and Jones’ Morgan Plus Four, until the A.C. pulled away somewhat on the last lap. J. Dangerfield spun his A.C.-Bristol but worked his way up again, ending in a harmless spin. The other Dangerfield held a smart Triumph TR4 in fifth place.

A freezing afternoon ended with the crowd on its toes as de Selincourt streaked through the field from scratch in a 5-lap Handicap but failed to catch the flying Meredith.—W. B. ‘rhe winners were :—

The next round in the MOTOR Sroirr Brooklands Memorial Trophy Contest will be contested at Goodwood on May ’26th.