Brands Hatch (October 9th)

The last of the summer race meetings at Brands Hatch was held on October 9th, when over one hundred racing and sports-car drivers assembled, some to take part in championship finals.

The greatest battle was for the National 500-c.c. Championship which was fought for by Russell and Bueb, Russell eventually taking the title with 31 points to Bueb’s 29, although the latter had the satisfaction of beating the 74.40-m.p.h. record, recently made by motor-cyclist Surtees, by 0.25 m.p.h. The first three heats of the Sporting Record Trophy Race went to Russell, Bicknell and Bueb respectively. S. Lewis Evans and Boshier-Jones took the lead from the start of the first heat but the order steadied down with Russell leading Lewis-Evans. On the opening lap D. Gray received injuries when his Cooper overturned several times coming out of Druids Hill Bend, this happened when the chassis frame broke allowing the rear wheel and driving shaft to part company with the car. In heat two Taylor and Bicknell had a grand dice, Taylor taking second place and Barrett third; heat three saw Wicken and Parker close together but the latter dropped back towards the end after which the breakdown lorries converged on the paddock towing in those unhappy victims that had “fallen by the wayside.”

In the fourth event, the 1,200-c.c, sports-car race, first car to roar out of the paddock tunnel as if to portray determination was the Lotus of Colin Chapman. Ivor Bueb and Peter Gammon were also on the scene in their Coopers; the Lotus, however, was able to keep the lead throughout the race, but the two Coopers lurked perilously near as if to await the deviation of the Lotus from the straight and narrow, but the chance never came and Chapman was in first at 70.81 m.p.h. The only incident in this event was when J. Shove, in the curious-looking Lester saloon, bumped Ackerman’s Buckler which motored into the paddock after the race without the rear-end, this component following on the breakdown lorry.

The J.A.P. race went to Taylor with Lund second, there being very few retirements in this event compared with previous occasions. Next came one of the most interesting events of the day, the Fibre-glass Trophy Race, for racing or sports cars with bodies of at least 80 per cent. fibreglass. The exterior finishes of these models varied considerably, many of them were indistinguishable from pressed steel. G. Wicken in a Cooper and Les Leston in a Connaught were first and second, respectively. E. Bush had a very pretty maroon and cream coloured Ford saloon which was quite rapid. R. E. Pryce also had an attractive open cream coloured Ford, but this was rather slow. Silver trophies were presented to the winners and to conclude the meeting a Concours d’Elegance was held for cars with bodywork of this material, which was won by a very pretty flesh coloured Coventry-Climax-engined Arnott entered by Miss Daphne Arnett. The results of the race one finals were: first Lund in a Cooper and second Taylor also in a Cooper in the ten-lap second final, while in the 12-lap final Russell, Wicken and Bueb walked off with the honours, the last two having changed places every few laps throughout the race. Don Parker and Stuart Lewis-Evans had quite a chase as did Boshier-Jones and Bradley, while further down the scale dogfights were going on between Raby, Bridger and Brown. The consolation final went to R. Ham in an Arnott; one of the retirements in this race was II. Tawse in a Cooper who was sitting patiently in his car beside the barricade on the lower straight having retired gracefully earlier on when Bourke spun on to the grass verge and clouted the bank a few feet from the stationary Cooper.

There remains only the 1,900-c.c. sports-car race to discuss, a ten-lap event won by Archie Scott-Brown in a C-type Jaguar instead of his usual Lister-Bristol which has a broken crankcase incurred at Aintree. — I. G.