The sight of Teddy Whitten interviewing Black Jack on the victory dais gave me a chuckle. Whitten (RIP) is a legendary Melburnian, one of our most decorated of all VFL/AFL footballers. While he had the gift-of-the-gab, his motor racing knowledge could fit easily on a postage stamp so his banter with Jack for the punters at the circuit and on Channel Seven would have been amusing.
He enjoyed the Formula Ford foray, brief as it was, commenting in his Auto Action column; “My car – Morley Ford Wren went like a charm. I enjoyed the change in handling and the beautiful response you get. There’s no doubt that these cars teach you quickly and teach you well.”
“Sitting out there in the open with the front wheels bobbing a few inches away and the track disappearing alongside is a really thrilling experience. Formula Ford just has to be the way for the young drivers,” was great endorsement from Moff during FF’s second full season in Oz.
If those who would change FF fuck-off and leave things well alone we should have the category for another 50-years. When it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
Credits…
Auto Action, Sydney Morning Herald
Tailpiece…
(SMH)
The great EJ Whitten, wearing his beloved Big V, Victorian state side jumper, during training for a state carnival game in 1963.
To those of us from less exalted climes, they were known as “the three ‘Ds’ from Toorak”, Dale, Duckett and Davey-Milne; all imbued with a fine sense of what a good motor car should be. They lived in close proximity, Duckett just around the corner from Davey-Milne and the Dales less than a kilometre away. They and their cars were often seen together. A fourth ‘D’ was their friend Lex Davison, four times winner of the Australian Grand Prix, but he was farming at Killara Park, near Lilydale.
Lyndon’s family had a thriving hardware business in Melbourne. He was only a teenager when he ventured to Europe in the late 1930s. Whether the primary purpose of this visit was to find a racing car is not known, but he certainly brought one back with him, the car he made famous, the Anzani Bugatti Special. Lyndon wanted a twin cam Grand Prix Bugatti – in other words, a Type 51. As these were still being actively raced in Europe, they may have been a little beyond his purse. In a London mews he did find a single cam Type 35 with a blown-up motor. With his young mind obsessed with the twin cam idea, he contacted the works of Ettore Bugatti in Molsheim, France, and was assured that they had such a car (or was it an engine) for him. This was to be a disappointing trip, for on arrival there, the only Grand Prix Bugatti they had available had but a single camshaft; he did not purchase it. He took a side trip to Nuremburg for the annual Nazi Party rally and heard Adolf Hitler’s address, an event which horrified him. On return to London, he bought the 35 sans moteur.
The opening photograph is the engineless 1925 Type 35 Grand Prix Bugatti, chassis no. 4450, as found by Lyndon in a London Mews. Lyndon noted that there was a lot of sand in the chassis rails – it had an extensive racing history at Southport Sands and other venues in the hands of TGV Selby who was later involved in the development of Bristol cars. Its first owner was Glen Kidston and it was the first Grand Prix Bugatti to be raced in England. Kidston later became one of the ‘Bentley Boys’.
(Bugatti Trust)
Glen Kidston on his way to a class second place in the Grand Prix de Provence in March, 1925. The band over the bonnet was yellow and denoted the 2-litre class.
(B King)
TVG Selby on Southport Sands. The Bugatti, chassis number 4450, can always be distinguished by the unusual bonnet lift handles that Kidston had fitted by the Nice Bugatti agent Friderich while it was there for the GP de Provence.
Lyndon’s search for a twin cam motor bore fruit when he found a brand new Anzani R1, 2 OHC, 4-cylinder, 1496cc motor; the same as fitted to the Squire motorcar. This engine, numbered R1 62, was the last engine to leave the Anzani works in Kingston-on-Thames – there were probably only 12 made. The English Bentley specialists Pacey’s were tasked with adapting the motor to the chassis, but this work was unsatisfactory and had to be redone in Australia. (Sound familiar?) A neat round tailed body was constructed by Cardigan Motor Body Works in Carlton. Initially there were problems with the motor (they had never been properly sorted by the factory, but Lyndon’s engineering skills overcame these problems).
(B King)
Lyndon Duckett in his immaculate Anzani Bugatti special.
For 10 years after the war Lyndon used the car for all sorts of motorsport. 1946 saw early success with ftd at a vintage sprint held at Lex and Diana Davison’s property, Killara Park. Duckett and the ‘Anz’ went on to be the inaugural winners of the Vintage Sports Car Club’s premier trophy, the ‘Vickery’.
(B King)
Lyndon at Marsden Park, NSW.
Not only did Lyndon set fastest under 1500cc time at Rob Roy, but he also beat allcomers at Marsden Park in a quarter mile sprint after an epic drive from Melbourne. Motor racing was just getting back on its feet after WWII and events were few and far between. Lyndon and Lex Davison had decided to make the long journey to north-west Sydney; Lex accompanied by his 17-year-old fiancé Diana Crick on the bodyless chassis of his 1500cc Alfa Romeo.
They had only reached the northern outskirts of Melbourne when the Alfa had a fit of Italian temperament and Lex needed Lyndon, the engineer, to travel with him. Diana, who did not have a licence, was installed in the Anzani and given a quick lesson on gear changing. In particular, she was told to get into top gear and stay there until she reached the outskirts of Albury, over 300 kilometres north! Lyndon had many more successes with the car, including wins at Ballarat Airfield races in 1950. Its last competitive outing with Lyndon ended as it had begun with a handicap win in the Tasmanian Trophy at Longford Road Races in 1955.
(B King)
It was wet in Ballarat for the 1950 Road Races held on Ballarat Airfield. It won the D Grade race. Note the stub exhausts.
(B King)
The writer also had 52 years of pleasure and some success in Historic Racing with the car. Here it is seen on the long climb up the hill at Laguna Seca in 2003 at a ‘Bugatti Grand Prix’.
(AMS)
This drawing of Lyndon’s Semmering Mercedes, aircraft seats and all, appeared in the July 1947 Australian Motor Sport.
The Anzani Bugatti could hardly have been off the boat from England when the young Lyndon purchased this monster. At the time of Bob Shepherd’s AMS drawing, there was much discussion as to just what type of Mercedes it was. At 17.3 litres, it did not conform with the specifications of the 1907 or the 1908 Mercedes Grand Prix cars – it was larger than both and the largest Mercedes ever. Subsequent research has identified it as a 1908 car developed specifically to win the 10Km Semmering hill climb in Austria; it succeeded in 1908 and 1909. Lebbeus Hordern was just 18 years of age when his merchant father died, leaving him a £4,000,000 fortune. What better way to spend it than on the ultimate bird puller?
(G McKaige)(G McKaige)
No account exists of Lebbeus using the car, but the next owner Colin Smith, another millionaire, competed in 1911 at Artillery Hill, south of Sydney, before selling the car to Percy Cornwell, owner of potteries in Brunswick, an inner suburb of Melbourne. It was raced in a few events by Cornwell who also had the notorious Rupert Jeffkyns drive it for him before it passed to Ike Watson in Melbourne who dismantled it. It was bought by a brave young Lyndon in January 1942, and he had it running within a year. He confirmed that it had engine dimensions of 175×180 mm, consistent with the hill climb car. The gear ratios were equally heroic, 1st, 5:1; 2nd, 2.25:1; 3rd, 1.5:1 and 4th, direct drive.
(SLV)
Rob Roy with the Semmering Mercedes and Anzani Bugatti; also, the Davison ‘Little Alfa’ 6C1500 and 38/250 Mercedes Benz with Lex at the rear.
In July 1953 at Fisherman’s Bend race track the Melbourne Mercedes dealer attracted some attention which they may have preferred to have avoided. They pitted their new 300 model against the 1908 car, and to the delight of the considerable crowd, it was soundly beaten.
The writer recalls the only time he saw the Mercedes mobile; it was on the Argus Veteran Car rally in January 1955. The car was observed leaving a control in St Kilda Road and each time the engine fired the rear tyres left two black skid marks on the road – impressive.
(G McKaige)
Barn find. Lyndon’s Type FENC Isotta Fraschini.
This remarkably complete little jewel of a 1908 Isotta Fraschini Voiturette was found in rural Victoria; two of them had come here and they both survive. There are three others known, two in Italy and one in USA.
(G McKaige)
Professionally Lyndon had a motor engineering business in west-central Melbourne where he attended to client’s cars while accumulating a collection of vehicles for his own amusement.
At the time of his death, he had low-mileage Alfas, an Aston Martin, a Ducati and several other bits and pieces, including a rare Jowett Jupiter R1 and a Tojeiro chassis to which he hoped to mate a new MG twin-cam motor which was still in its box. I believe this was for a projected Le Mans car that he and Jumbo Goddard had dreamt up. The Isotta Fraschini remains with his sister.
(B King)
Isotta Fraschini FENC in recent times with Noel Cunningham at the wheel in Victoria’s Western District on a Bugatti Rally.
Etcetera…
Enthusiast, historian and restorer, Chester McKaige knew Lyndon as a child and shares his memories.
“He was a great bloke, he Bob Chamberlain, Earl Davey-Milne and a couple of Bentley Club bods in the Bentley Club were great to a kid growing up.”
“I have many fond memories of Lyndon and his mother Edith. The huge kitchen in Towers Road, Toorak, with kitchen table at one end piled high with car magazines. The stag head on the wall in the hall, the mosaic covered fountain. Lyndon’s obnoxious nephew too! Edith teaching me to play the saxophone. And towards his later years, the stick to keep the hoist up at his garage. The huge quantity of oil filters he had in stock that turned out to be empty boxes or filled with used ones.”
“I was his Godson and fortunate to get a guernsey in his will, so I was able to buy his Coventry Climax engined Morris Minor. I have his garage sign hanging on the wall in my garage. He used to keep spare cash under the carpet in his cars. I found $8 in $2 notes under the carpet in Morris. Dad used to call him Fella”.
Credits…
Australian Motor Sport, 1947, ‘Bugattis in Australia and New Zealand’ 1920 to 2012. King and McGann, Serpollete’s Tricycle, Volumes 2 & 3. https://earlymotor.com/serpolettes-tricycle/ The Brescia Bugatti, Bob King, Earl Davey-Milne, State Library of Victoria, George McKaige
Jackie Stewart leads Jim Clark through Lakeside’s Eastern Loop during the 1967 Tasman round at the fast Queensland circuit on 12 February…
You can just see that the lightly loaded right-front wheel of Jackie’s 2070cc BRM P261 V8 is off-the-deck. Jim is chasing him in Lotus 33 R14 powered by a 2-litre variant of Coventry Climax’s 1.5-litre FWMV V8 Climax built for Lotus to tide them over pending delivery of the BRM H16 engines they used in the 1966, the first 3-litre GP year. The Ford Cosworth DFV V8 arrived at the ’67 Dutch GP in the back of a Lotus 49 and changed the GP world of course.
Stewart was the reigning Tasman Champion, BRM cleaned up in 1966 winning seven of the eight races – Jackie won four, Graham Hill two and Dickie Attwood one.
It was a lot tougher in 1967.
Lotus put to one side the 2.5-litre Coventry Climax FPF four cylinder engines they had previously used in their Tasman cars and used the F1 33 powered by the Climax V8, creating a very competitive mount despite giving away 500cc to some of the competition.
Jim finished all eight rounds and won five races including three point-scoring events. Jack Brabham’s Brabham Repco 640 Series V8s driven by he and Denny Hulme were also fast but had poor reliability. Jackie took two wins in 1967 for second in the series but was well behind Jim.
The BRMs were still very competitive in 1967 but the final increase in capacity – and resulting power and torque proved a bit too much for the transmission. BRM suffered gearbox problems in ’67 with the 2070cc variant of the P56/60 V8, they had not experienced with the 1930cc version used the year before.
(HRCCT)
The photo above shows the pair again, this time with Clark in front of Stewart during the final 1966 Tasman round at Longford, Tasmania on 7 March.
There Jackie won from teammate Graham Hill, Jack Brabham’s Brabham BT19 Repco third. It was the Brabham Repco V8 combination’s third race, by the early European Grands Prix the 1965 BT19 chassis and Repco 620 Series V8 was finding ultimate race and championship winning pace and reliability.
Clark’s 1966 Tasman Lotus was the 39 Coventry Climax FPF, he took one round win it at Warwick Farm.
Lynton Hemer’s great shot catches the Frank Matich McLaren M10A Chev in the braking area before Creek Corner during practice for the Warwick Farm 100 on February 15, 1970.
Love the ABC TV outside broadcast van and flaggies and other officials cars sprinkled amongst the trees.
The 1970 Tasman was an interesting one in that the 2.5 Tasman cars which were on the way out (sadly) ended up having, just, the pace and the reliability to lift the Tasman Cup one last time over F5000, which was on the way in. Graeme Lawrence took the title with one win in the Ferrari Dino 246T Chris Amon raced to victory the year before, Matich was second in the points score with two wins.
(R Thorncraft)
The Matich crew first raced their M10A in September 1969 and progressively modified the car in many respects to the new M10B specifications- Hewland DG300 gearbox instead of LG600 etcetera, see this epic on Matich here; Frank Matich: Matich F5000 Cars etcetera… | primotipo…
Frank’s car was the quickest of the series, he won the NZ GP at Pukekohe and at Wigram. Only a splash and dash stop for fuel at Surfers gifted Graham McRae that win and engine problems at the Sandown final round- having started from pole – spoiled his Tasman, Niel Allen’s new M10B won that day with Lawrence’ second place enough to give him the series win.
Jaime Gard susses, whilst FM sucks on the sponsors product
Matich started at Warwick Farm from grid two with Graeme Lawrence on pole, he had an early coming together with Kevin Bartlett’s Mildren Waggott TC-4V, which Derek Kneller believes was the cause of the broken left-rear upright after 29 of the race’s 45 laps.
In a splendid drive, KB he won the race in the sweetest of racing cars, the Mildren Yellow Submarine, from Max Stewart’s Mildren Waggott TC-4V, Graeme Lawrence Ferrari Dino 246T 2.4 V6 and then the first of the F5000s- Niel Allen’s McLaren M10B Chev.
FM talks to Lugsy Adams looking particularly summer-posh in Rothmans Team Matich shorts ‘n long sox whilst Jaime Gard looks altogether more casual – not much they can do at this stage of proceedings.
FM’s Matich SR3 Repco was owned then by Don O’Sullivan, I imagine Gard was over from Perth and in-situ at the Matich workshops looking after the prep of that car, and totally involved otherwise – he of ‘Gardos’ fame I wrote about a while ago;https://primotipo.com/2017/11/30/dons-party-f5000-party/
Credits…
Lynton Hemer, John Lindsay, Russell Thorncraft, oldracingcars.com
Thanks to Kris Matich and Derek Kneller for assistance with event and people detail
Tailpiece…
FM’s Matich is fitted with an injected Chevvy here having commenced the series in New Zealand with units fitted with Webers. By this stage Matich’ Repco sponsorship was being refocused away from the Matich SR4 sportscar powered by 4.8/5 litre Repco RB760 V8’s in favour of the Repco Holden F5000 engines which were in the early stages of development by Phil Irving, Brian Heard and the rest of the crew in Maidstone.
The early promise of that Repco Holden engine was realised with FM’s Australian Grand Prix win aboard his M10B Repco at the Farm ten months hence
Marquis Alfonso de Portago and Edmund Nelson accelerate their Ferrari 335S away from the Rome control, heading north on the homeward leg during the 1957 Mille Miglia on May 12.
At that stage the ill-fated crew were placed fourth. They later crashed only 35km short of the Brescia finish, killing eleven – five of whom were kids – after tyre failure. I wrote about this race and car some years ago here; Peter Collins: Mille Miglia 1957: Ferrari 335S… | primotipo…
This piece is a pictorial delving into the the Klemantaski/Getty Images archive, remembering an event which changed the face of motor racing, ended the lives of two combatants, nine innocents and the Mille Miglia.
The table of nobles. De Portago along side Wolfgang von Trips during a ‘training camp’ or perhaps more accurately a pre-event briefing and planning session in the weeks before the Mille, held on 11-12 May 1957. See this wonderful Doug Nye piece on De Portago in MotorSport; Ferrari’s fastest playboy: Alfonso de Portago – Motor Sport Magazine
Peter Collins leaves Maranello for a quick blast up the Abetone Road to check that all is good with his 335S, note the bonnet is still to be painted.
The team cars below in the famous factory courtyard are the four four-cam cars for Piero Taruffi – the winner – Von Trips, De Portago and Collins, with the Collins/Klemantaski machine at left. A blur of activity.
The series of photographs below are at Brescia, the start and finish of the classic event. The shots show the sheer pageantry and grandeur of the event tinged with no shortage of pathos given the events that day which took De Portago, Collins twelve months later aboard a Ferrari Dino 246 during the 1958 German GP at the Nurburgring, and at Monza in 1961 when Von Trips perished in the early laps of the Italian GP aboard a Ferrari 156 along with another group of spectators.
De Portago and Von Trips swapping notes before the off while Taruffi seems a little more focused on the needs of the adoring locals.
Enzo Ferrari with Peter Collins (above) before the start, and De Portago below.
De Portago and Collins shortly before Alfonso’s departure from Brescia, car the ill-fated 335S chassis 0676. Louise Collins is mid-shot.
It was the first time De Portago raced the 4-litre car, the most powerful car he had ever driven. He drove it with skill and seemed set to finish well in this most difficult of races in the world’s fastest sportscar.
De Portago and Nelson departing the Ravenna control – in Emilia-Romagna – a couple of hours into the race.
Piero Taruffi won in a 315S from Von Trips in another 315S, while the Collins/Klemantaski 335S DNF with driveshaft failure in the fifth hour. The De Portago/Nelson accident happened after five hours, seventeen minutes, at 3.30pm near the village of Cavriana 35km from Brescia.
De Portago’s final pitstop was in Montova where he refused a tyre-change to save time, at that stage the crew were fourth, third by some accounts. “This may have caused his car’s tyres to be more susceptible to failure when the Ferrari ran over cat’s eyes at high speed.” The left-front failed at a little over 150mph.
Not too many photos exist of Edmund Gurner Nelson, De Portago’s navigator, friend, confidant, fixer, Bob-sled coach and whatever else, in the car.
Here they are leaving the Ravenna control, the shot gives a sense of immediacy and pressure, note Ed’s sports-blazer casual attire.
Credits…
All photographs Klemantaski Collection/Getty Images, motorsportmemorial.org
Tailpiece…
This moody shot was taken by Louis Klemantaski at high speed during the event alongside Peter Collins in his 335S. 150mph plus is all fine and dandy – even with an enthusiastic Italian crowd encroaching on the road – until something goes wrong. Apologies for the statement of the bleeding obvious…
We should all be thankful the Targa Florio survived in its traditional form for as long as it did given the ’57 Mille.
Froilan Gonzalez launches his BRM V16 Mk1 off the line. 19 July, Silverstone ‘Daily Express Formula Libre Trophy’…
He is slow away on the inside though, Piero Taruffi is quicker off the line in the Thinwall Ferrari on the outside with Ken Wharton in the other #8 BRM, similarly sluggish. Big, heavy beasts that they are, with Gigi Villoresi in the factory Ferrari 375 V12 between the two V16’s.
‘Get knotted’, hmm, maybe not. ‘Take it easy for two laps’ Raymond Mays seems to be saying to his driver? (Ronald Startup)
2-litre F2 became the World Championship category in 1952, a consequence of there being too little opposition to Ferrari upon Alfa Romeo’s withdrawal from Grand Prix racing at the end of 1951.
BRM’s unreliability in terms of commitment to GP racing forced the issue upon the CSI. The choice was to have Ferrari dominate F1 or potentially open up the fields by running the World Championship to F2 of which their were plenty of manufacturers, ignoring the fact that the Scuderia dominated there anyway.
Despite the change to F2, ten F1 races of substance were held in 1952, but quite a few of them were in reality Formula Libre events, as Silverstone was. Event organisers were keen for the Grand Prix car spectacle, there were plenty of them even if the grids were thin of recent F1 cars.
The big, brutish, distinctive BRM Type 15 profile. Gonzalez, Silverstone (Louis Klemantaski)
The 35 lap race was won by Piero Taruffi in Tony Vandervell’s Ferrari 375 Thinwall Special from the Scuderia Ferrari 375 of Luigi Villoresi and Chico Landi’s 1951 spec Ferrari 375. Fourth was Australian Tony Gaze in a pre-war Maserati 8CM.
Gonzalez was out on lap eight after an accident, Ken Wharton in the other BRM completed 33 laps before retiring with a gearbox problem. The mixed nature of the grid is indicated by the place-getters below fourth who were Ron Flockhart and Bob Gerard in ERA D and A Types, John Barber in a Cooper T20 Bristol, Graham Whitehead in ERA C Type, and Bira in Maser 4CLT Osca V12 and the rest. There was no shortage of variety in the field which comprised pre and post War, supercharged and normally aspirated, F1 and F2 cars.
Although not GP wins the BRM was finding some form later in the season with victories for Reg Parnell at Turnberry in August and Gonzalez at Goodwood in late September. Gonzalez led home Parnell and Ken Wharton in a BRM 1-2-3 in the 15 lap ‘Daily Graphic Goodwood Trophy’ that day in a grid comprising mainly F2 cars.
If only it’s development were a year or so further advanced at the time…
Credits…
Louis Klemantaski, Ronald Startup
Tailpiece: Gonzalez wowing the Silverstone crowds with the stunning music of 1.5-litres of supercharged BRM V16…
Ya gotta be kiddin’ blokes! This thing is rattling my teeth!
Is the look on Jack Brabham’s face aboard his Brabham BT24 Repco in the Mosport pitlane. By the end of the weekend he was a happy-chappy as winner of the first, soggy, 1967 F1 Canadian GP…
These days every Tom, Dick and Harold has a little, lightweight GoPro to capture their every move aboard their kart, board, bike, girlfriend or racer. It was a whole different ballgame in 1967, the state of the art was somewhat more cumbersome.
The interesting thing is where the footage ended up? Perhaps it was quickly consumed by the local TV news audience. I’ve had a fossick on that YouTube thingy but cannot find anything, do let us know the link if you discover its whereabouts.
Jim Clark and Graham Hill were quickest in qualifying aboard Lotus 49 Fords from Chris Amon, Ferrari 312, Dan Gurney, Eagle Mk1 Weslake, Bruce McLaren, McLaren M5A BRM V12, Brabham’s BT24 Repco and Jochen Rindt, Cooper T81 Maserati.
Into the first turn at Mosport its Clark Lotus 49, from L>R Stewart BRM P83, Hill Lotus 49, Gurney Mk1 Eagle and Hulme Brabham BT24. That’s Rindt far left Cooper T81, Amon’s Ferrari 312 is in the murk behind Stewart’s left rear and the rest (unattributed)
Rain fell before the race to make things interesting. Clark led from Hulme, who took the lead on lap four, with Jack passing Hill for third. I rather fancy driving the Brabham, with its nice flat, fat torque curve rather than the DFV engined Lotus with its very abrupt power delivery in its earliest days in these conditions.
Bruce McLaren worked his way up thrugh the field, taking Jacks third place, then on lap 22 he took Clark’s second too. Clearly the conditions suited the V12 BRM engined McLaren. As the track dried, Jim and Jack both passed Bruce. Denny was still happily in the lead but Clark’s Lotus was quicker in the dry conditions and soon led, it rained again. Clark kept the lead but then his DFV went kaput. Jack overtook Denny at about the same time and won from Hulme with Gurney a distant third.
At the end of the meeting Denny had a nine point lead in the drivers championship over Jack, but with three GP’s to go; Italy, the US and Mexico City it was well and truly game-on between the buddies and teammates.
Jack is on the drying line in BT24 so I think its him re-taking McLaren’s M5B third place, rather than Bruce taking Jack earlier on (R Laymon)
Jack was out-fumbled by John Surtees’ Honda RA300 on the last lap, last corner at Monza with Hulme retiring due to overheating early in the race. At Watkins Glen Clark’s Lotus 49 Ford won from Hill’s with Denny third and Jack a distant fourth. Denny then led the championship from Jack by five points before the final round. It was all down to Mexico where Clark won from Brabham and Hulme. Denny bagged the title from Jack – 51 points to 48 points and Jim third on 41.
The car of the year was undoubtedly the new Lotus 49 Ford in terms of outright speed, but the less powerful, not much slower and more reliable new Brabham BT24 chassis with its new Repco Brabham 740 Series V8 should never be forgotten in the shadow of the sexy Lotus 49, as it always is! It did win the Manufacturers Championship after all.
Credits…
Ron Laymon Photography
Tailpiece: Winners are Grinners and Jack had a smile which lit a room. Mosport 1967…
CS Rolls passing a group of spectators during his winning drive of a Panhard 12HP during the 1000 Mile Trial, 23 April to 12 May 1900…
Charles Stewart Rolls was a pioneer English motorist, an aviator and founding partner of Rolls Royce together with Sir FH Royce in 1906. Prior to founding that iconic company Rolls’ business assembled and sold French cars, including Panhards.
Rolls, Panhard 12Hp (Getty)
Rolls entered a Panhard in the 1000 Mile Trial which was the first public demonstration of the potential of the car for long distance travel in the UK. 65 vehicles started, 23 finished the course which started in London, headed west to Bristol, then north to Edinburgh before returning to London.
Etcetera: ‘The Motor Car – One Thousand Mile Trial in England’…
From ‘The Brisbane Courier’ (Australia) Saturday 4 August 1900.
It’s very interesting to read this article, published in Australia but clearly written by a journalist on-the-spot in Britain – by whom I know not. Of historic interest are the observations about the evolution from horses and horse-drawn vehicles to motorcars.
‘…The principal object of the organisers was to prove what it was considered the people of this country need to be to be taught-that the motor car is, even in its present state of development, a serious and trustworthy means of locomotion; not a toy dangerous and troublesome alike to the public and its owner, but a vehicle under as perfect control as a Bath chair, capable of accompanying long journeys in all weathers and over every kind of road with ease and safety, destined to take its place with the train and bicycle as a common object of daily life, and as superior to them, in many respects, as they are superior to the horse and cart. In so far as any demonstration ever brings conviction to indifferent or hostile minds the tour must be considered amply to have achieved its object’.
‘The trial, in fact, from the point of view of those who have taken part in it, has been entirely satisfactory. It is a considerable achievement for fifty new-fangled vehicles to have travelled nearly 1100 miles in eleven days through a densely-populated country at a speed seldom, if ever, below the legal limit, with no incident more untoward than the deaths of one dog and one unmanageable horse, whose leg, coming in contact with a passing car, received such injuries that he had to be destroyed’.
‘The mechanical results of the trial have been very much what they were expected to be. That is to say, the established type of machine has proved itself entirely trustworthy, and between the Daimler, Napier, and Panhard motors there has been, in the matter of “staying power,” practically nothing to choose. Of the cars which entered, only four were driven by any other motive power than petroleum spirit.
Among the large machines the more prominent have been the Hon. C. S. Rolls’ racing 12 horse-power Panhard, the 12 horse-power Daimlers owned by the Hon. John Scott-Montagu, M.P., Mr. J. R. Hargreaves, and Mr. J. A. Holder, and Mr. E. Kennard’s 8 horse-power Napier. In the 6 horse-power class the Daimlers and Panhards have been well represented, and with regard to these it may be said that, apart from special racing machines, the English-built cars have shown themselves to be at least as good as the French, and most people admit that the English workmanship is the better of the two. But it is a regrettable fact that English manufacturers still have to go to France for some of the most essential parts. Our spring and axle builders do not yet appreciate the opening that lies before them.’
‘The results of the hill-climbing trials, when published, will prove a better means than any other for comparing the respective merits of the cars from the purchaser’s point of view. To speak generally, the best cars of each class climbed astonishingly well, though there were probably few drivers who had no moments of anxiety on the way from Kendal to Carlisle. The condition of the roads on three out of the four test hills was fortunately good. Indeed, the roads throughout, with the exception of that between Manchester and Preston, which was execrable, have been in a satisfactory state of repair, though often muddy and greasy. There can be no doubt that, if the road authorities were provided out of the rates with solid-tired motor cars instead of horses and traps, the immediate improvement in the roads would be so great as to be well worth the increased cost of the vehicle.’
‘Speed pure and simple is in this country a secondary consideration, but, by way of fully testing all the powers of the cars, an optional trial of speed was carried out on Friday in Welbeck Park. The following speeds were attained by the fastest cars: Min. Sec. The Hon. C. S. Rolls’s 12 horse-power Panhard . 1 35 3-5 Mr. Ed. Kennard’s 8 horse-power Napier and Mr. Mark Mayhew’s 8 horse-power Panhard . 2 1 3-5 The Ariel Motor Company’s tricycle, with trailer . 2 2 1-5 Mr. T. A. Holder’s 12 horse-power Daimler. 2 17 1-5 The Hon. John Scott-Montagu’s 12 horse-power Daimler. 2 18. The distance was one mile, with flying start and the figures given are the mean of one run over the course in each direction. The road, which had slight gradients, was in good condition.’
‘If I were asked what had chiefly impressed me in the course of this journey of 1000 miles, I should say that it was the certainty that the next few years will see an enormous increase in the use of motor cars. The new method of locomotion has been taken seriously, and the friendly interest in it displayed by the thousands who have witnessed this trial will greatly facilitate its progress. At present good motor cars are somewhat expensive and difficult to procure at a moment’s notice. They also require for their maintenance in working order the services of a professional driver or of a mechanically-minded amateur. But these are difficulties which competition, the first place, and familiarity, in the second, will speedily overcome. There are in the country at this moment far more motor cars than might be supposed-the indifference to them of the horses in many districts, is already very remarkable and it is impossible to believe that, so soon as they become cheaper, their numbers will not largely increase.’
Indeed!
Credits…
Science and Society Picture Library, Getty Images, The Brisbane Courier
Tailpiece…
Unfortunately none of these shots Getty captions indicate the exact locale. A bumma.
Stan Jones wins the 1954 Victoria Trophy at Fishermans Bend in his shortlived, brand new Maybach 2, 21 March 1954…
Regular readers may recall the feature on Stan, Alan’s dad and a champion in his own right a while back. There are not many photos of Maybach 2 as it was only raced briefly before Stanley comprehensively destroyed it after a chassis weld failure, at the ’54 AGP at Southport on Queensland’s Gold Coast.
Jones raced Maybach 2 at Easter Bathurst, then Altona, Victoria on May 2 and at Fishermans Bend in October before that fateful November weekend. Still, he was lucky not to lose his life in the high speed trip backwards through the Southport scrub and trees.
The beauty of these online blogs is that you can continually update them as you find new shots, this set are so good I thought it worth a fresh post.
Davison in his new HWM Jag (VHRR Archive)
Maybach wasn’t ready for the Victoria Trophy preliminary on Saturday, but contested the 64 mile feature eventon the airfield circuit in Melbourne’s inner west.
He took the lead from Lex Davison’s HWM Jaguar before the first corner. Davos’ original intention was to fit the HWM with the engine from his Alfa Romeo P3, the complexities of that undertaking with the straight-eight, supercharged engines central power take-off were immense! He therefore fitted the HWM with a Jaguar engine topped by a C-Type head, the car was victorious at Southport in November winning the first of Davison’s four AGPs.
It was Jones’ Victorian Trophy though, he lapped the field, leading Jack Brabham’s Cooper T23 Bristol over the line by three miles.
Davison #3 HWM Jag, Ted Gray #8 Alta Ford V8 and Brabham’s obscured Cooper T23 Bristol. Fishermans Bend 1954 (VHRR Archive)
Arthur Wylie in the Wylie Javelin ahead of Brabham’s Cooper Bristol. Victorian Trophy 1954 (VHRR Archive)
Silvio Massola’s HRG, Fishermans Bend 1954 (unattributed)
Etcetera…
(The Age)
Stan won in 1953 too.
Here he is, two happy chaps Ern Seeliger at left, again at Fishos, on this occasion Ern had prepared Maybach. But he was also a racer as well as an engineer, famously adapting Maybach 3 to accept a Chev V8 creating, you guessed it, Maybach 4.
A very talented man, little has been written about him and the products of his Richmond workshop, a great future topic.
Alan Bruce poses in the UK on Leaping Lena : Brough Superior J.A.P 1000
Bob King looks at this record and the man who achieved it – Alan Bruce.
To this motor racing historian, motorcycle records were a peripheral issue, at least until I heard Alan Bruce’s story.
Let us start at the finish with an excerpt from the London Daily Mail May 4, 1932:
RECORD BREAKING IN HUNGARY, Alan Bruce, riding the J.A.P. 1000 c.c. machine on which he attained a speed of 200kmh on the Tat road near Budapest, April 30, 1932.
Alan Bruce is the first Australian to hold an officially recognized, WORLD LAND SPEED RECORD, the streamlining is noteworthy. This reads as a photo caption.
Another report, this time possibly from an Australian source, is headed:
AUSTRALIA “Knocks it for Six”, Alan Bruce on his now famous “Leaping Lena”, Sidecar outfit at Tat near Budapest, successfully attacked the Worlds (sic) Record for the two-way flying kilometre. His time, 17.88sec, is an average speed of 200.220 kmh, equal to 124.41 mph.
“The Motorcycle”, in another report noted that it improved on the “German figure by 6 mph”. The mention of ‘German Records’ hints at mounting tensions in Europe, which, to a certain extent, would be played out on race tracks and through record breaking.
Records like this do not happen by chance, but are usually preceded by months and possibly years of planning with the expectation that there will be set-backs. The unusual venue indicates the seriousness of this attempt. At that time the Tát road was thought to be the only suitable stretch of road for record breaking in the whole of Europe. Google maps suggests that the likely venue is a straight stretch of road that runs with no crossroads for approximately 8 kms north-east from Tat to Nyergesüjfal; it borders wide stretches of the Danube and is now known as Route 10, or locally as Kossuth Lajos U.
The team: Keith Horton, Alan Bruce, Phil Irving and Arthur Simcock
Most of my information on ‘Leaping Lena’ comes from Phil Irving’s Autobiography, 1992 (Turton and Armstrong). Phil Irving and Alan Bruce, who were of a similar age, had met at Stillwell and Parry’s in Elizabeth St. Melbourne, where Alan had been tuning racing machines. They shared a passion for motorcycles, particularly AJS, and had a continued friendship for the rest of their lives. Between them they cobbled up an overhead camshaft for an AJS, which was not particularly successful.
It is said that Alan got the notion of setting a Land Speed Record when he saw Paul Anderson take local records on Sellicks Beach, South Australia, in 1925. By 1926 Alan had done a lot of record breaking including the sidecar record for 350 c.c. machines on Bakers Beach in Tasmania. He also set the sidecar record from Hobart to Launceston; his speed exceeded the existing solo record.
By 1930 Alan had found success on the English speedways with a Rudge to which he had added his own modifications to the frame and forks. That year Phil arrived in England as Victorian 350c.c. Sidecar Champion. In 1931 they got together and cooked up a plot to break existing solo and sidecar world records – an ambitious plan for a couple of under-funded Australian battlers. They were joined by Arthur Simcock who was able to bring some Shell sponsorship. He was to ride solo, with Alan on the outfit. Although it was not his core skill, Phil was inveigled into designing a streamlined shell for the bike. The design was an attractive and unusual example of form meets function achieved without access to a wind tunnel. The front of the rig was not faired to avoid the adverse effects of crosswinds; the engine and sidecar were enclosed and the tail of the bike was shaped so that the rider’s backside was encased in a bucket seat. Eatons of Euston Road were tasked with beating up the shell; they formed the cowling over Arthur Simcock’s helmet. Phil’s involvement was confined to London; he did not go to Hungary.
The chosen machine was a Brough Superior SS100 with a J.A.P. V twin of 996 c.c., supercharged with a Powerplus blower. Alan assembled the power plant meticulously, but did not dyno-test it as its expected 100bhp exceeded the capacity of J.A.P.’s dynamometer. Phil already had a grasp of exhaust tuning; opting for short stubs finishing inside the fairing to avoid loss of charge down a long pipe. Theirs was a private venture with some trade support in the shape of parts as well as Shell fuel and lubricants; quite different from the Reichsmarks being spent elsewhere.
Their first visit to Hungary was in April 1931. Records were to be set on the average speed over the measured kilometre in two directions. After Arthur achieved a two-way average of 143 mph (229 kph) his attempt failed when a piston partially seized on a further run and the venture was abandoned until the following year. One can imagine their disappointment after traipsing all the way to Hungary.
Back in the UK, Phil and the team had other things to concern them, as they were also preparing a number of bikes for the forthcoming Isle of Man TT. In 1932 they trundled off to Hungary again with the bike on a truck. This time the record attempt went off without a hitch until Alan aviated the bike at near his maximum of 135 mph causing him to shut off. He then thumped a railway crossing, not realising he had passed the finish timing strip.
Not being across motorcycle records, this bit of Aussie fame had escaped my notice; at least until about 1983 when I had as a patient in my medical practice Alan Bruce’s middle-aged daughter. She told me of her record -breaking father whom she had not seen since before the war. He was shortly to come home for his eightieth birthday and she would like us to meet.
This culminated in a visit from Alan to see my cars and with me attending his birthday party which was also attended by Phil Irving and numerous elderly gentlemen, most of whom had pronounced limps. Alan entertained me with stories of his successful career on European tracks and was justifiably proud of is world land speed record. Seeing my Bugatti, he told me how he had been given a lift from Budapest to Tat for the record attempt with Swiss racing driver Armand Hug in his supercharged eight-cylinder Bugatti; Hug was also after some records. The whole journey was taken flat-out, including through villages, scattering chickens etc. in their wake. Among other achievements, Alan had designed a banking side-car for racing outfits on cinders which was a considerable improvement over Freddie Dixon’s pioneering eight-year-old design. The reason he had stayed overseas after the war was that he had joined the occupation forces in Germany, remaining there after marrying a German fräulein.
Alan’s final word on his record attempt: “Yes, it felt fast alright”.
Alan Bruce, his wife, Erwin Tragatsch, a German Bugatti authority, and Bruce’ son. East Germany in the mid 1980s (B King Collection)
Postscript…
The mention of Ernst Henne in regard to land speed records brought to mind an interesting anecdote told to me by my late, lamented friend Lucien Chabaud.
Lucien had spent his teen years in the Vaucluse, Provence. During the war he and his mates shared a racing Terrot motorcycle that they would start up from time to time, according to the availability of dope with which to fuel it.
One day they were playing with the Terrot in the main street of Orange; Avenue de l’Arc de Triomphr on Route National Sept. Their play was interrupted by the arrival of an imposing German staff car. A German officer stepped down, studied the bike, and asked if he could try it out. Moments later he was streaking up the highway, rounding the triumphal arch at an impressive speed: shortly after reappearing, still flat-strap.
Next day a German army truck arrived and a 200-litre drum of aviation fuel was unloaded, to which was attached a note reading: “Merci, Henne”. At that time Henne was the holder of the World Land Speed Record for a motorcycles at 279.5kph – set in 1937, the record was not broken for another 14 years.
Etcetera…
On location in Tat, Hungary, in Solo format, probably Arthur Simcock.
Sydney ‘Referee’ June 8, 1932 (B King Collection)
‘Fan-card’ shot shows the canted speedway sidecar.
Credits…
Bob King, The Vintagent, Moto Revue Jan-March 1933
Tailpiece…
(Hockenheim Museum Archive)
Stylised machine is a blend of 1930 OEC-Temple-Jap record breaker and the bodywork of Leaping Lena.
primotipo... 