SPORTING EVENTS OF THE MONTH.

display_0957d51541

SPORTING EVENTS OF THE MONTH.

B.M.C.R.C. Championship Races : Some Fine Sport at Kop Hill : An

American Hill Climb at Camberley : Records Broken at Brooklands.

THE postponement of the latter portion of the Championship events of the British Motor Cycle Racing Club from Saturday, October nth, when rain put an untimely end to the proceedings, to Wednesday, the 15th October, did not, as had been hoped, enable some of the absentee experts to put in an appearance, Le Vack and Marchant being still on the Continent when Wednesday came round. Notwithstanding this, however, quite a representative meeting took place and some exciting finishes and surprising results occurred.

The first event for three-wheeled cycle cars provided an interesting beginning. There were only two entrants, Beart and Norris, both on Morgans, the former having his machine equipped with a Blackburne engine. It was generally anticipated that Norris would win easily and on form, and judging by his performance in the 200 Miles Race,

he should have done so. It was evident, however, after the first lap that he had, on this occasion, met his match. Beart was obviously playing with him, making him act as pace-maker, and in the end . Beart won easily by 20 lengths at 83.99 m.p.h.

The event for 250 c.c. machines was easily Johnston’s (Cotton-Blackburne). He was leading in the first lap and continued to do so, increasing his lead each time and coming in well over xoo yards in front of Greening (Zenith J.A.P.) at 67.48 m.p.h., which compares poorly with the record of 83.03 m.p.h. In the sixth event for solo motor cycles’ 35o c.c., H. M. Walters (Zenith J.A.P.) led from the start, but the gap,between him and J. Wright (Zenith J.A.P.) at the end of the second lap was zoo yards, which was considerably increased by the time the third lap was completed, and he ran home an easy winner at 85.56

m.p.h., Wright being second and J. S. Worters (TorondaBlackburn e) third. The turn-out for event 7 was a disappointing one : out of 19 entrants, more than io having scratched. With Le Vack, Grogan, Anstice and Walters all out of the running, Horsman (Triumph) was an easy favourite. At the end of the first lap, however, he was being led by Spring, a private owner entrant, riding a Norton. S. F. Ashby (Montgomery-J.A.P.) was just behind him, followed by A. Denly riding O’Donovan’s Norton, with Judd, on Pullin’s Douglas, close behind. R. 0. Lowe, private owner of the Norton, who did so well in the Amateur Races in the Isle of Man, had the misfortune to run a big end out on the first lap. The second lap shows a re-shuffling. Spring had dropped behind and the order was, Ashby, Horsman, and Judd, and thereafter it was a ding-dong fight between Ashby, Horsman and Judd, when within a couple of yards of the finishing line, Ashby got ahead to win by inches from Horsman, with Judd not half a length behind. The win was a surprising one, so much so, that the bookies during the

last lap were offering 4 to i against Ashby. The winner’s speed was 87.99 m.p.h.

Horsman made no mistake in the next event, for 750 c.c. machines, For more than half the race he was fighting it out with H. Glover on Pullin’s Douglas, but by the end of the fourth lap, was leading by more than 20 yards, with Judd on another Douglas, and Ashby (Montgomery J.A.P.) behind. Judd, however, was obviously in trouble on this lap and it was no surprise to anyone that he had dropped out before reaching the finishing line. Ashby passed Glover on the fifth lap, and in the result Horsman ran home an easy winner, almost lapping W. L. Gard, a private owner on a Norton, with Ashby second and Glover third. The winner’s speed was 94.68 m.p.h. There were only four starters in the race for solo machines of 1,000 c.c. capacity, these being Temple on a Montgomery British-Anzani, H. J. Knight, private owner on a Zenith J.A.P., 0. M. Baldwin on a ZenithBlackburne, and A. F. Longman (Harley-Davidson). Baldwin was away quickly and seemed to be increasing

his lead as he went round the short banking. Temple, however, passed him during the first lap, at the end of which the order was, Temple, Baldwin, Longman and Knight. The second lap, however, found Temple in difficulties, and Baldwin was able to get the lead again, which position he maintained until the end, the order being Baldwin, Longman and Temple, and the speed of the winner 84.96 m.p.h.

Kop Hill.

The Essex Motor Club experienced its usual good luck with the weather on the occasion of the Open (and Members) Hill Climb which was held at the popular venue, Kop, on Saturday, the i8th ult. There was a very large entry, totalling 134, of which 88 were cars and 46 motor cycles, and of those who entered there were remarkably few non-starters, the most notable being amongst the cars, and such stalwarts as W. Barnato with his Hispano Suiza, and E. C. Gordon England (Austin) and C. G. Pullin were amongst them. The fine day, and the week which had preceded it, had converted what might have been an exciting and

difficult event into very little more than a picnic. No doubt, too, the favourable atmospheric conditions were in part responsible for the very large attendance of spectators which lined the hedgerows and fields on both sides of the test route from the starting point to the finish. It is worthy of note, too, that notwithstanding the unusually large attendance, the stewards had very little to do in the way of keeping the course clear, an occasional word proving sufficient for that Purpose.

In addition to being well attended the event was both well organised and well stage managed. The events were run off quickly—no time being lost beyond the preliminary ten minutes at the commencement—and it was well stage managed, in that both series of events, those for motor cycles and those for cars, worked up from a moderately interesting beginning to an exciting finish in each case. The fastest time of the day was made by that popular and expert rider Freddy Dixon, riding a 997 Harley-Davidson, his time for the Hill being 2,0 secs., which works out at slightly over 74 miles per hour, and having in mind that a considerable portion of the climb is at an inclination of r in 5, the significance of the speed is apparent. The same rider also made fastest time with the same machine in the sidecar event, covering the distance in 28 secs., and even on a 594 c.c. Douglas and sidecar he only toQk one second longer. Other good climbs were made by L. Parker (494 Douglas), 251 secs., F. 0. Hicks (348 A. J.S.), 27i secs., F. W. Dixon (494 Douglas), 251 secs., and 0. M. Baldwin (994 Matchless M.A.G.), 25-,1 secs. The last-named was extremely unfortunate. In what would have been his best run, he inadvertently changed right through from first to third gear, missing the second, which was the one he wished to use. He did not discover his error until it was too late to rectify it. Amongst the sidecar riders, E. C. Baragwanath, riding a 976 Packman and Poppe, covered the course in 341 secs. Greening, on a 346 Enfield J.A.P., 54* secs., and G. N. Norris, on a Morgan, 30 secs. Amongst the car drivers, J. A. Joyce made a most spectacular ascent in 26 t secs., this being the fastest time of the day amongst