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BROOKLANDS IN A HEAT WAVE A VERY SUCCESSFUL AUGUST MEETING. LARGE CROWDS. G. ABECASSIS WINS THE BIG RACE FOR ALTA. SENSATIONAL OUTER CIRCUIT RACING

BROOKLANDS sweltered in a real heat-wave on August Bank Holiday. In consequence, large crowds assembled on the Hill, and the Paddock was the scene of some sartorial sensations. Wilson’s E.R.A. had a neat blue overcoat over its bonnet. In the Paddock there was little of new in terest technically. Mrs. Hall-Smith’s 1i-litre Maserati had a large cowling round its scuttle and Peter Aitken’s singleseater Frazer-Nash had faired mirrors on both sides of the cockpit. All three Frazer-Nash-B.3/1.W.s ran with the customary full equipment, as did Arthur Dobson’s Riley. Pane’s B.M.W. had triple S.U. carburetters set over the centre of the head, with downdraught chokes and horizontal barrels. Powell had entered the ex-Follett Alvis and the Mills-Special was chiefly M.G., with a small tail and double exhaust system. The BentleyJackson had a sort of bird-cage wire-mesh over its cowling, which a wag suggested was to stop the ingress of eagles—certainly it would not save the honeycomb from damage by smaller feathered folk. The highly impressive B arnato-HassanSpecial had its long pressure-intake for the three S.U. carburetters, air-pump within the radiator cowling, disc rear wheels, and 7.50 x 20 Dunlop rear covers. Elgood’s veteran ft-litre Bentley sported a faired tail, Brettell’s Austin looked slimmer than ever, like many of the lady spectators, and Lord Avebury’s ]-litre Alta had twin cowling cowls for its valve

covers. Beadle drove his brand new fully independently sprung 2-litre Alta, and Baker’s 5i-litre Graham-Paige made a re-appearance. On the Saturday quite a lot of people watched the practice. Raymond Mays, who spectated from his ft-litre Bentley on race-day, was trying out Wakefield’s new Zoller-blown E.R.A., and the great Ramponi himself was attending Pollack’s E.R.A., brought down in High Speed Motors van, Pollack arriving in a f.w.d. Cord. Ramponi had the exhaust system off to check the carburetter setting. Brackeubury lapped slowly in the compact Bowler-Hofman-Special, the head and base of Appleton’s new Appleton Special were off in R. R. Jackson’s shop, Lord

Avebury’s Alta was sick, and one heard that Arthur Dobson’s E.R.A. was suffering from oil-pump trouble. Billy Cotton did some quick la.ppery with the Bellevuetuned E.R.A. Shura was supervising the running in of ” Bira’s ” E.R.A. for the G.P. de Berne, ” Bira ” being at Lake Garda with his Cris-Craft.

On the Monday big crowds attended. The channel between the finishing straight bridge and the Campbell Circuit grand stand is still closed, which entails crossing the track—it is a pity that Brooklands’ gates open inwards against the crowd. The first race on the card was the First August Long Handicap. The only nonstarter was Stocks’ old Lea-Francis, burnt out in the fire at the sheds in the Paddock. This left eighteen runners and there was some speculation as to whether the fast cars—Bertram on the BarnatoHassan, Duller on the Duesenberg, and Brackenbury on the Bowler-Hofman.— could get safely through so much slow stuff. Powell’s 1i-litre Alvis passed inside Money’s M.G. at the end of the Members’ Banking, and these two led Follett’s Lea-Francis. After a lap Follett was second, Harvey-Noble, a likely winner on Jackson’s 1i-litre Alta, had retired, and Bertram was going really fast, fairly low on the banking, in conrrast to Money. After 2 laps Powell led from Russell-Roberts’s M.G. and the LeaFrancis, which sounded unwell. In the run in” Mike ” Couper brought his famous Talbot up very fast, to win by 2 secs. from Bertram at 116.01 m.p.h., with

Russell-Roberts third. The BowlerHolman Special had to be towed in. down the Railway Straight. Humphreys held his M.G. Midget low, but Barker’s 3-litre Sunbeam, popping occasionally, rode high. The finish was immense, the back markers arriving on the tail of a bunch of slow cars. Duller elected to pass low down and weave a way through, and Bertram climbed high up. Follett got the new 1f-litre Lea-Francis home first by 7 secs. at 90.98 m.p.h., but Bertram was second, a bare + of a second ahead of the Duesenberg. This was outer-circuit racing as the Brooklands crowd loves it and we would like more of these races in future—and more 10 lap Campbell circuit events. Entries for outer-circuit races showed marked improvement this

time. The Bentley-Jackson split its off front tread and the Baraato-Hassan had a nasty cut in its off rear tyre—this in three laps !

Duller, we believe, prefers to wait until the Dunlop Jubilee Meeting before really extending ” Helle.” The Second August Long Handicap was most enthralling. The big BarnatoHassan Special was quickly refuelled from 2 gallon B.P. cans, and Lord Avebury’s Alta sounded like a motorcycle in the Paddock. The Mills-Special lacked pressure on its warming-up cir cuit. Brettell got a useful lead at first in his tiny Austin from the Lea-Francis and ‘Fuson’s Fiat Balilla, busily maintaining pressure. After a lap, however, Follett had got the Lea-Francis into its stride, and led Brettell and Powell’s Alvis. Duller very neatly pulled the Duesenberg down off the Members’ Banking below 31arston’s 2.3-litre Bugatti (the ex-Rayson car, we believe) and Aitken’s ” Shelsley ” Frazer-Nash, which was inclined to snake. Bertram also took a surprisingly low line here and passed inside B aker-Carr ‘s BentleyJ ackson, these two great cars hurtling almost level After this Major Gardner gave a brief and noisy demonstration round the outside with the 1,100 c.c. M.G. intended for sprint record-work. Railton designed the German-made body and the engine is tuned by R. R. Jackson. Lord Nuffield put the pennies in Major Gardner’s moneybox. We then had road-circuit racing. In the first of these events, Lord Avebury’s Alta could not be started in time, and Duke-Woolley’s M.G. was anon-runner. On getaway the Appleton-Special beat Fay Taylour’s 2.3-litre Alfa-Romeo, and Billy Cotton’s E.R.A. beat Wakefield’s E.R.A., which almost stalled. Brooke’s 1 /rare Brooke-Special, with new high cowling over its independent front suspension and in green paintwork, built up a big lead from .Abecassis on the If Alta and Wilson’s 1,100 c.c. E.R.A. Fay should have had the race In her handbag but she spun round at the Railway Straight bend and eventually retired on lap 4. The Appleton-Special had trouble and Abecassis finally came in to win by 11 secs. from Reggie Tongue’s E.R.A., with Wakefield and Brooke close

behind. The Alta, averaged 67.87 m.p.h. The E.R.A. Five-Lap Invitation Scratch Race followed. The runners were

Cotton, Dobson, Tongue and Wakefield.

Before the start Dobson examined his car and Cotton had his left arm bound. At the start Wakefield passed Tongue out of the Railway turn. After a lap Dobson led Wakefield by a small margin, Cotton on their heels and Tongue’s car misfiring. Tongue retired and that order held to the end, Dobson gradually draw ing away, to win by Of secs. at 72.35

m.p.h. Wakefield actually seemed to gain on the twisty section of the course, and Cotton was a poor third. In the next road handicap Dobson was a very popular scratch man with the fully equipped sports 4-litre Riley which, incidentally, has a non-sprung steering wheel with. central controls. The limit man, Roy Cutler in a Frazer Nash, had caught Ebby napping and led throughout to win by 24 secs. at 59.4 m.p.h., touring home. Wright’s rakish Frazer-Nash held second place until the last lap, when Michael May’s old Alvis came up, having slowly overhauled Miss Stanley-Turner’s Q-type M.G., along the Railway Straight. The course was obstructed for a while by Courtney, who crashed his Amilcar Six (running unblown)

mildly at the Hill corner. WindsorRichards’s Riley Nine went sick, and Aitken’s Frazer-Nash retired. In the following event Stuart Wilton with Mrs. Corbett-Fisher’s M.G. II

passed Wooding’s Talbot to win by 8 secs. at 67.0 m.p.h. Beadle in his new 2-litre Alta experienced wheelspin under acceleration, and Pollack drove his E.R.A. very slowly. Cuddon-Pletcher’s M.G. stopped with unhealthy noises on the Aerodrome and Wooding had trouble. Dobson, from scratch on’ the white E.R.A., appeared in trouble, but his car picked up to some extent and he finished fifth, just scraping into the final of the British Trophy Race thereby. Aitken was second on the fourth lap with his Maserati, holding that position to the end, and Maclure, bareheaded as usual on the Riley, came up to third place on the last lap. Another ordinary 5 lap handicap followed, Hurst on Dugdale’s M.G. spinning his wheels on getaway and Cutler, rehandicapped, beating Mrs. Barclay-Bishop on Miss Stanley-Turner’s M.G. After a lap le S. Metcalfe, making a return to the concrete in a Balilla Fiat, led from Hurst and Mrs. Barclay-Bishop. Another lap, and Mrs. Bishop was second and

Cutler third. On the third round the little M.G. led, but Pane’s sports B.M.W. was in third position. Pane was second on the next lap. and he ultimately won

by 11 sees. at 64.27 m.p.h., from Mrs. Barclay-Bishop, who drove an excellent race. Michael May’s Alvis was third,

and Lewin, who tried Dobson’s sports Riley’s brakes on the line, was not running well enough to come amongst the leaders. A special race for Talbot Ten saloons followed. T. B. Mills and Wooding about

shared the honours for rapid get-away, with H. O. Radbourne as runner-up.

After a lap the leaders were Wooding, Radbourne and T. M. Robinson. Ultimately, Wooding won by 2t secs. at 47.75 m.p.h., with Radbourne second and Miss Fay Taylour, in R. Brown’s car, third. The previous baby Fiat race was won at 42.45 m.p.h. So we came to the big race of the day, in the form of the 10 lap Final of the British Trophy Handicap Race over the road circuit, for a purse of 50. The runners were : H. L. Brooke (BrookeSpecial), 1 min. 36 secs., H. StuartWilton (M.G.), 1 min. 29 secs., I. H. Nichols (M.G.), 1 min. 29 sees., P. Maclure (Riley 1 mm. 5 secs., P. Aitken (Maserati), 1 min. 2 secs., G. Abecassis (Alta), 43 secs., R. Tongue (E.R.A.), 20 secs., J. Wakefield (E.R.A.), scratch, W. Wilkinson (E.R.A.), scratch and A. C. Dobson (E.R.A.) scratch. Aitken sprung his

RESULTS The That August Long Handicap Distance : About 9 miles 1. W.

1. W. M. Couper (3,377 c.c. Talbot), 38s. start, 116.01 m.p.h.

2. 0. Bertram (7.9-litre Barnato-Hassan), scratch.

3. E. G. Russell-Roberts (1,287 c.c. M.G.), lm. 39s. start. Won by 2s. with 71s. between second and third.

The Second August Long Handicap Distance : About 9 miles

1. C. Follett (1,490 c.c. Lea-Francis), lin. 558. start, 90.98 m.p.h.

2. 0. Bertram (7.9-litre Barnato-Hassan), owed 38.

3. R. L. Duller (4.3-litre Duesenberg), 108. start. Won by 7s. with is. between second and third.

The First Heat of the British Trophy Race (Handicap) Distance : About 11 miles

1. G. E. Abecassis (1,490 c.c. Alta), 25s. start, 67.87 m.p.h.

2. R. B. Tongue (1,486 c.c. E.R.A.) 10s. start.

3. 3. P. Wakefield (1,486 c.c. E.R.A.), scratch. Won by lis. with 10. between second and third.

wheels away, Tongue bounced off and Wakefield’s bonnet was just lowered in time. Wakefield actually crept forward before the flag fell but was beaten away by Wilkinson, on Cotton’s E.R.A., and then Dobson. After a lap the order was Brooke, Stuart-Wilton, Nichols, Maclure. Tongue was certainly using all his braking power. Lap ‘2 saw ‘Wilton leading Brooke and Nichols. On lap 4 Nichols was second, Brooke third, and Maclure fourth. Half-distance, and the back-markers had not come through, but Maclure was third. Lap 6, and it was Wilton, Maclure, Aitken, Nichols, Abecassis, Brooke, Tongue, and Wilkinson. Arthur Dobson had coasted silently to the pits to retire while the crowd was still apprehensively searching the course for sign of him ! By lap 8 Abecassis was third, and Aitken’s Maserati retired. Then, with a lap to go, poor Stuart Wilton found his M.G. developing trouble. Abecassis was still third, but close to Maclure, whom he passed on the last lap on Sahara straight. On the run in Abecassis got the 2-litre, fully independently sprung Alta home a winner by

1* sees. from the crippled M.G. His average speed was 67.0 m.p.h. Maclure missed third place with the multi-carburetter Riley by lc of a second.

The Invitation Race for E.R.A. Cars Distance : About 11 mites 1. A.

1. A. C. Dobson (1,480 c.c. E.R.A.), 72.35 m.p.h

2. J. P. Wakefield (1,480 c.c. E.R.A.).

3. Billy Cotton (1,486 c.c. E.R.A.).

Won by 648. with 4s, between second and third.

The First August Road Handicap Distance : About 11 miles

1. R. Cutler (1,496 c.c. Frazer-Nash), Im. 30s. start (limit man), 59.40 m.p.h.

2. M. W. B. May (2,511 c.c. Alvis), 22s. start.

3. Miss D. Stanley-Turner (747 c.c. M.G.), 33s. start. Won by 24s. with Is. between second and third.

The Second Heat of the British Trophy Race (Handicap) :

Distance : About 11 miles

1. H. Stuart Wilton (1,087 c.c. M.(l.), 558. start, 06.68 m.p.h.

2. Hon. P. Aitken (1,494 c.c. Maserati), 33s. start.

3. P. Maclure (1,486 c.c. Riley), 30s. start. Won by 88. with 28. between second and thir d.

The Second August Road Handicap Distance : About 11 miles 1. A. F. P. Fane c.c.

1. A. F. P. Fane (1,971 c.c. Frazer-Nash-B.M.W.) 12s. start, 64.27 m.p.h.

2. Miss D. Stanley-Turner (747 c.c. M.G.), 23s. start. 3. M. W. 13. May (2,511 c.c. Aivis), Os. start,

Won by with 4s. between second and third. Ninth Race. The Final of the British Trophy Race

(Handicap) Distance : About 224 miles 1. G. E. Abecassis 43s.

1. G. E. Abecassis (li-litre Alta), 43s. start, 67.00 m.p.h.

2. H. Stuart Wilton (1,087 c.c. M.G.), lm. 29s. start.

3. P. Maclure (11-litre Riley), lm. 5s. start. Won by 1s. with Is. between second and third.