Tony Rolt elected to Brooklands Society role

Following the sad death of Tom Delaney who had been racing his Lea-Francis in vintage events at the age of 95, Tony Rolt has been elected a Vice-President of the Brooklands Society, the other Vice-Presidents being D Holland and A Hutchings.

Apart from his appearance at the Weybridge venue Rolt established himself as a top-class racing driver elsewhere. He won at Le Mans in 1953 with Duncan Hamilton in a C–type Jaguar (2450 miles, 105.85mph) and the same pair were second in 1954, and he took the same place in the Reims 24-hour event.

During the war Rolt served in the Army with the rank of Major and then resumed racing in F2 Connaught, HWM, Austin-Healey and Jaguar cars, not forgetting the Alfa Romeo constructed from Bimotore components.

His Brooklands appearances included an exciting win in 1938 from the Alta of George Abecassis by one second, with his ERA well on fire. In 1939 he won from scratch a race over the Mountain circuit after a well-driven performance in the Dixon-tuned ERA. He was second again in a Road Circuit handicap and later showed his ability when the ERA’s brakes failed and nearly took him over the banking in a Mountain race.