V-to-C Miscellany, May 1996, May 1996

Brooklands Museum fixtures for 1996 include meetings there by such clubs and cars as the Singer OC (May 5), MG Day and Packard OC (May 12), Citroen Specials Club (May 26), Italian Inter-Marque Association and Vintage Scooter Club (July 7), Kit-cars and Austin Cambridge & Westminster Club (July 14), Rover Sports Register (August 4), VMCC Special Day (September 1), T-Fords (September 8), Alvis OC (September 22), Wolseley Hornet Specials (September 29), and Sunbeam-Talbot Alpine Register (October 20). In addition there are the big Bank Holiday occasions, the start of well known runs from there and British Sports-Car Day (June 16). The Brooklands Museum Trust has its professional magazine Spirits, edited by Morag Barton, the Spring issue of which has articles by Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, David Burgess-Wise, the Earl of March, the President Sir Peter Mesefield and Rupert Prior, etc. But surely the Museum should know that the BRDC 500 Mile Race was always run counter-clockwise on the outer-circuit, not in 1930 “. . .clockwise, which presented everyone with previously unknown bumps”!

The Triumph Club draws our attention to what could be described as a historic conversion of a standard Triumph Herald for competition work. Owned by their member Arthur Stroud, it is a Coventry-Climax-engined car, as converted in the early 1960s by Jack Brabham Motors of Chessington for £395, plus the price of the Herald. The saloon body is from a Herald 1200. The car was purchased originally by a Poole doctor in 1962; the present owner got it around 1964 and it has been in family use ever since, with an extensive rebuild in 1994. Non-standard features include servo disc front brakes, a Kenlowe fan and special Smiths speedometer and tachometer. The Club says this unusual car has escaped even the attention of Graham Robson in his Triumph books, so it is a specially rare Classic.

The Brooklands Society has its annual Reunion at the Track on June 30, and a rally there in conjunction with the VSCC speed trials on October 6. Its Gazette, edited by Rupert Prior, has reached its 21st year.

The NSU OC will celebrate its 35th birthday this year, with a rally at the Leatherhead Leisure Centre in Surrey, from June 20/23. It got going thorough an announcement in MOTOR SPORT, the only journal to publish this appeal for a club from a N London owner of a Prinz 4, perhaps because by then I had driven the 583cc Prinz, and a 1960 version. (Later came a 1963 Prinz 4, the Sports-Prinz II, another of those, the memorable Wankel-engined Prinz, NSU 1000, 1000L and 1000C, Wankel-Spyder, NSU 1200TT, and the excellent Ro80, and a visit to the factory. So I wish this 16th International Treffen well; profits go to two cancer hospices. Entry forms from the NSU OC. Tel. 01737812412; Fax: 813611.

The Shuttleworth Veteran Aeroplane Society has its Great British Picnic at Old Warden Aerodrome, Biggleswade, Beds, on June 2, which is an informal event. Those who arrive in pre-1956 vehicles will have their own car park, close to the flying. Details on 01 767 627398.

Under the “Nothing New” heading, in connection with the enticements being offered to customers by Daewoo, what about The Atom Motor Co Ltd of Mill Lane, London, which in 1926 was offering all models of the Mathis supplied tax-paid to the end of that year and with free insurance for a year? WB