A MONTH OF RECORDS.
A MONTH OF RECORDS.
THE USUAL END OF SEASON ACTIVITY RESULTS IN RECORDS BY THE NAPIER RAILTON, M.G. MIDGET AND MAGNA, HOTCHKISS, AUSTIN, DERBY AND AMILCAR.
The Napier-Railton’s ‘Bag.’
LAST month a determined onslaught on World’s and Class” A” records was made by the Napier-Railton at Itilontlhery. A full squad went over with the car, consisting of the drivers John Cobb, Cyril Paul, T. E. RoseRichards, and the Hon. Brian Lewis ; two Thomson and Taylor men ; the two ” Macs ” of Dunlops ; Coe of Napiers : a Lucas headlight expert ; a petrol man ; King-Parlow, the mathematical and sliderule exponent ; S. C. H. Davis, pitmanager ; and last but by no means least, Railton himself. In practice the car covered a lap at 138 m.p.h. without undue effort, and everything was set for a start at 7 a.m. Of course it was foggy, so the start was delayed until 1 o’clock. Each driver took a spell of roughly 200 miles, in the order given above, and then the car was brought in for tyres and fuel. The pitstops were amazingly well executed. The heavy wheels were far from easy to handle with speed, and all four were changed, and forty gallons of petrol, and oil and water were taken on in less than a minute. There was an army of helpers ; two on the petrol, one on each wheel, one on each jack
(later going to help the wheel men), and one on oil,
Unfortunately for the tyres, the track began to crack up badly in one particular spot, where the great fire had caused a new section to be laid. There was a f” ridge of concrete, and this soon crumpled under the strain of the 2 ton car hitting it at 130 m.p.h. and the inevitable pit was made. This abnormal stress caused the off side rear tyre to have percussion bursts, and was responsible for the scheduled 24 hour attempt being abandoned. These bursts had no effect on the stability of the car, which was as steady as a rock.
Full preparations had been made for the night run, three huge Lucas headlamps being fitted onto a single bar which was detached during the day. A row of red hurricane lamps was placed round the inner edge of the track, and red electric lamps round the upper edge. As it turned out, however, the record attempt was stopped at 7 p.m., so that only a quarter of an hour’s darkness was experienced. During this short period the car held its scheduled speed for the record without difficulty.
The car was an impressive sight (and sound) as it roared round the tiack.
Montlhery is free from noise regulations; so the exhaust system simply consisted of little three-inch pipes sticking out of the block. An interesting feature of the car is the throttle control. The revolutions of the big Napier engine are so low that no normal speed increase shows on the rev. counter. The result is that it is impossible for the driver to gauge accurately a definite increase in his speed when signalled to do so by the pit-control. To get over this difficulty a micrometer throttle-stop, operated from the steering column, has been fitted. One turn of this allows the throttle to be depressed a bit further. When the car finished its run, 6 World’s and 12 Class ” A ” records had been taken, as follows :— World’s records :
116.36 m.p.h.).
3 hours, 124.33 m.p.h. (Bugatti 120.64 m.p.h.).
6 hours, 122.62 m.p.h. (Pelage 117.12 m.p.h.). Class ” A” records :
50 kms., 125.64 m.p.h. (Delage 121,22 m.p.h.).
50 miles, 126.67 tn.p. h • (pelage 121.28 m.p.h.).
100 kms., 126.73 m.p.h. (Delage 120.93 m.p.h.).
100 miles, 127.09 m.p.h. (pelage 112.13 m. p. h. ) .
200 kms., 126.84 m.p.h. (Delage 105.97 m.p.h.).
1 hour at 126.83 m.p.h. (Delage 112.18 m.p.h.).
The previous records are in brackets. A curious position has arisen concerning the world’s records. All the above figures have been confirmed by the I.A. R.A.C. , but in actual fact the 500 kms., 500 miles and 6 hours had already been bettered by Jenkins’ Pierce-Arrow at Murock, before the Napier-Railton took the track. Although the American’s 200 miles, 126.44,
m.p.h. (Bugatti
118 m.p.h.). 500 lans., 123.63
m.p.h. (Bugatti
119.98 m.p.h.). 500 miles, 123.27
in.p.h. (I3ugatti 119.24 m.p.h.), 1,000 kins., 122,05
m,p.h. (Delage
speeds were higher than Cobb’s, he has not yet officially claimed them, so for the time being at any rate the Napier-Railton is the holder.
The actual world’s records broken by the car were previously held by Divo and Chiron’s Bugatti, and Eyston & Co. with the Delage. The Class records previously stood to the credit of Cobb’s Delage and the Renault.
The equipment of the car was as follows: Dunlop tyres, Castrol oil, K.L.G. plugs and National Benzole petrol.
The Wonderful M.G. Magna.
Records made with cars differing but little from standard productions always compel the admiration of those conversant with the difficulties of record-breaking. For this reason the series of records broken last month by an ‘L’ type Magna are especially praiseworthy.
The drivers were G. E. T. Eyston, A. Denly, R. A. Yallop and T. H. Wisdom. The objective was the long distance records of 12 to 24 hours, held by Riley’ and Salinson. The whole thing went absolutely according to plan, for no trouble was experienced and the Magna ran at its scheduled speed with the utmost regularity.
Steadily the car circled the track, and at last when the 24 hours had elapsed the following records had been annexed in Class ‘G.’
12 hours, 81.24 m.p.h. (Salmson 76.1 m.p.h.).
24 hours, 80.56 m.p.h. (Riley 66.62 m.p.h.).
1,000 miles, 81.25 m.p.h. (Riley 67.80 m.p.h.).
2,000 kms., 80.75 m.p.h. (Riley 66.82 m.p.h.).
3,000 kms., 80.57 m.p.h. (Riley 65.78 m.p.h.).
2,000 miles, 80.49 m.p.h. (Riley 65.53 m.p.h.).
Castrol was used in the Magna, which ran fully equipped.
Austin Seven does 119 m.p.h.
One of the most astonishing news items of the month was undoubtedly the record run at Mont1h6y by the singleseater Austin. It is well known that this car has been undergoing experimental work for some time past, both in the application of a Jainieson supercharger to the power-unit, and to special streamlining of the body.
To those not in the closest touch with these developments the increase of speed which has been obtained is little short of miraculous. The car was taken to Montihery, and there in the hands of Mr. T. Murray Jamieson himself proceeded to raise the 5 miles, 10 miles and 10 kilometre records in Class ‘ H” to the amazing figures of 119.38, 119.39 and 119.19 m.p.h. respectively. These records previously stood to the credit of George Eyston’s M.G. Midget at 116.71, 117.42, and 114.46 m.p.h.
These Austin records, with a side-valve 747 c.c. engine, are a great achievement and of the greatest credit to the Austin Company and to Mr. Murray Jamieson himself.
Mrs. Stewart I mproves the 10 Miles Record.
In September Mrs. G. M. Stewart made one of those meteoric record attempts at Montlhery which are among the most remarkable phenomena of motoring today. Her goal was to improve in her own record in Class E’ of 134.26 m.p.h. for 10 miles. This she did in a most convincing fashion, the new figure being 138.34 -and this with an engine of 1,681.9 c.c. !
The M.G. Midget regains some records.
Two days before the 500 Miles Race at Brooklands (in -which the car was entered), G. E. T. Eyston took out the ” Magic ” Midget at Brooklands for an attack on the records of which it had been deprived a month earlier by L. P. Driscolns Austin. These were the 50 kilometres, 50 miles and 100 kilometres, which the Austin had raised to speeds of 101.52, 102.23,
and 102.26 m.p.h. respectively. The M.G. Midget was in fine form, however, and a little over a half an hour’s running sufficed to improve on these figures, which now stand to its credit at 105.65, 106.67 and 106.72 m.p.h. And so the fight goes on.
An Amilcar record at Brooklands.
The oldest record in Class’ G’ for many years has been the standing mile, held by ” Amhie ” Nash on a 2 cylinder Frazer Nash at 71.12 m.p.h. This record has successfully withstood the onslaught of modern 1,100’s, but recently fell to H. T. H. Clayton’s Amilcar, at Brooklands. This car, once owned by Maj. A. T. G. Gardiner, is by no means a new machine, but its speed of 74.57 m.p.h. is extraordinarily good.
Eyston again-this time on a Hotchkiss.
George Eyston is undoubtedly the world’s most indefatigable record-breaker. His latest effort was at the wheel of a special streamlined Hotchkiss, having a completely enclosed cockpit. With this car he and M. Vasselle, the well known Hotchkiss driver, recently secured three records in Class E (up to 2,000 c.c.). They were the 6 hours, 500 miles and 1,000 kilometre records, and the speed of the Hotchkiss was 101.50, 101.13, and 101.54 m.p.h. The previous records were held by an Alfa Romeo at 97.38, 97.99, and 97.11 m.p.h.
The Hotchkiss was one of the new 4 cylinder 2 litre jobs, and this record attempt indicates that in sports form it should have a remarkable performance.
Amazing Records of the M.G. Midget.
For some time the M.G. Magic ” Midget has been gradually undergoing modifications, and following the Austin’s remarkable run at 119 m.p.h. the car was taken out in order to regain the lost records.
Denly was the driver, for improvements in frontal area have resulted in a narrower cockpit, into which George Eyston found that he could not insert himself. The car was in marvellous form, and was a most impressive sight as it hurtled round Mont1h4ry track, at a speed far beyond anything deemed possible from a 750 c.c. engine a few years ago. Six records were taken during the run, as follow, all of them in Class H’ :
1 Mile : 128.62 m.p.h.
(M.G. 120.56
m.p.h.). 1 Kilometre : 128.62
m.p.h.
(M.G.
120.56 m.p.h.). 5 Kilometres : 127.65
m.p.h.
(M.G.
120.52 m.p.h.).
5 Miles : 127.80 m.p.h. (Austin 119.38 p. h ) .
10 Kilometres : 127.23 m. p. h . (Austin 119.39 m.p.h.).
10 Miles : 125.43 m.p.h. (Austin 119.19 m.p.h.).
With this latest series of figures it seems that the M.G. Car Company has put the records up to an extraordinarily high degree. It seems unlikely that they will be improved upon for some time to come, but so unexpected have been the increases in the speed of 750 c.c. cars in recent years that a further improvement cannot be regarded as impossible.