MOTOR SPORT

Author

admin

FUN AND GAMES AT BROOKLANDS

The J.C.C. Opens the Season with a Well Attended Rally

FINE days in February are not a usual feature of the English climate, and the outskirts of London were thick in fog on the day of Junior Car Club Rally. In spite of this very few of the 121 entrants failed to appear at Brooklands. The organisation was excellent, and the enthusiasm of the drivers was kept up by the absence of unnecessary delays.

There were in all six tests, and the cars took part in each of them successively in numerical order. A non-stop climb of the test-hill, using all the gears, came first, and amongst the small engined cars there were only two failures, E. L. V. Haylock (B.S.A.) and Miss G. M. Cannon (Singer). M.G. and Singer drivers were sure of themselves but many of the drivers of the utility cars looked worried. In the next group Parker on a Landa was in trouble, Major Douglas Morris did not seem too happy and three Wolseley Hornets in quick succession came to a standstill.

The larger cars sailed up majestically for the most part, but C. W. Windsor Richards (Bugatti) came to rest amid considerable smoke. His car was so newly acquired that he did not know whether it was a two litre (which it was) or a 2.3! A timed half-mile was arranged at the far end of the Railway Straight, and cars up to 10 h.p. had to average 47 m.p.h. up to 16 h.p. 54, while

those over 16 h.p. were scheduled to do an even 60. These speeds did not cause much difficulty in the majority of cases, but not a few found that when the speedometer was showing a steady 78 or thereabouts, their average was a meagre 64. The highest speeds recorded in the three classes were :—Barry Appleby (Hillman Minx) 70.31 m.p.h., C. G. Allen (Standard) 70.31 m.p.h. and James Martin (Talbot) 77.59. The kerb test, which so demoralised the competitors in the first Scottish Rally once again took toll, for 56 out of 110 failed to get their

near-side wheels within six inches of the wooden strip which represented the kerb. A combination of high bonnets, lack of practise and in some cases, stage fright ! The surprise test was less exciting than one might have expected, but was less easy than it sounds. The two near-side wheels of each car had to be driven over a series of iron plates some 9 inches wide for 40 feet and then reversed back over them, without coming off them or stopping the car. Owners of ultralow sports saloons who could not put their heads out of the window were