The V.S.C.C. at Oulton Park
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
One of the most enjoyable vintage fixtures of the season is the V.S.C.C. Oulton Park Race Meeting. This year it takes place on June 25th, starting at 1 p.m., and includes the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy Race for pre-1940 racing cars, over 12 laps of the 2.76-mile road circuit, the companion race for vintage, pre-1931 racing cars, over 10 laps, a 4-lap handicap for chain-driven G.N.s and Frazer Nashes, a 10-lap All-Comers’ Race which will feature those very fast 2,50F Maserati, Connaught, Lotus and other post-war historic racing cars, and a number of 4-lap Handicaps and 4-lap Scratch and Group Handicap races, the last-named a welcome innovation at the April V.S.C.C. Silverstone Meeting. Entries close on June 4th.
The racing will be preceded by the Club’s most important Concours d’Elegance of the year, followed by a parade on the circuit. Pre-1940 cars score further points towards the 1966 Motor Sport Brooklands Memorial Trophy. The public is welcome to spectate, gate money going to the Cheshire Car Circuit, not to the V.S.C.C. Admission costs 12s. 6d. each adult, 5s. for a schoolchild, younger children free, a Paddock transfer 10s. Car parking is free, but you must leave the dog behind. There is nothing comparable with the sight and sound of the old racing cars in action, so make sure you get to Oulton Park on June 25th. Details from T.W. Carson, 3, Kingsclere House Stables, Kingsclere, Newbury, Berkshire.
A vee-twin McEvoy motorcycle is being meticulously restored by a V.M.C.C. member in Bucks, who recently found a 1923 Ladies’ Model Francis Barnet in running order. A Calthorpe chassis, sans wheels, has been rescued in Norfolk.
V.-E.-V. Miscellany.
A reader has sent in an amusing souvenir of the past, in the form of a gambling game given away with Overland Whippet and Willys-Knight cars. It is inscribed : “If you win, buy a Willys-Knight and luxuriate; if you lose, buy an Overland Whippet and economise—they are both winners!” Another Rolls-Royce Twenty with van body was seen recently in London. Birmingham Science Museum is restoring a Lanchester petrol/electric car said to have been one of three built in 1922 by Dr. F.W. Lanchester, its 10-h.p. twin-cylinder engine driving a dynamo that provided energy for the electric propulsion. Three prototypes are thought to have been built, of which one was broken-up, another crashed, this surviving example having run only 757 miles in 44 years.
An old lady is said to be harbouring her original side-valve Riley tourer and a Wolverhampton Sunbeam is rumoured to be bricked-up somewhere in Essex. The 22.4-h.p. Sizaire-Berwick depicted in the picture on page 493 was discovered recently rotting away in a disused Army camp at Berwick-on-Tweed. It is a 22 h.p., originally owned by Lady Waldie-Griffid of Grosvenor Place, but fitted with a truck body when found. In these days of inflated values it is unusual that the owner didn’t care what became of it and thought of giving it to a children’s playground. It has been saved by a Northumberland reader. The number-plates are missing but he wonders if it is the same Sizaire-Berwick as the one referred to as being converted into a commercial vehicle in Edinburgh by Dr. Killie in his recent letter; restoration information is required, but the engine appears to be sound. Another reader encountered a late-model Model-T Ford tourer in France, with a non-standard radiator . Is there any significance in the car’s unusual radiator and its domicile across the Channel ? The Spring issue of the S.T.D. Journal contained a provocative article suggesting that the Coatalen racing Sunbeams were not such a slavish imitation of the Henry Peugeots as is usually imagined, the author stating that the 1913 Coupe de l’Auto Peugeot chapter in “The Grand Prix Car” was erroneously based on a study of Sears’ 1914 T.T. Sunbeam and should be rewritten!
General Motors confirm that Cadillac was the first car to be equipped as standard with electric starting, the 1912 models having Delco starters. On May 8th the Rolls-Royce E.C. held an exhibition of Rolls-Royce cars in Berkeley Square, at the request of the National Savings Association, to mark its 50th anniversary, the cars present ranging from six Silver Ghosts to the Silver Shadow, 47 Rolls-Royces being on show in this famous London square, which attracted a large crowd.