THE PHOENIX PARK CLASSICS
THE PHCENIX PARK CLASSICS
B. BIRA ” (MASERATI) PUTS UP LAP RECORD TO 107.28 M.P.H. R. MAYS GAINS AN E.R.A. VICTORY IN THE SCRATCH RACE. RETIREMENT OF ” BIRA’S ” la-LITRE DELAGE.
THE races organised by the Irish Motor Racing Club at Phccnix Park
are established classics. With valuable B.R.D.C. “Gold Star” marks at stake Raymond Mays and ” Bira” had both deserted Shelsley-Walsh to race in Ireland and this lent considerable excitement to the issue, added to which ” Bira ” proposed to run the ex-Seaman Delage, now unfamiliar in new cowlings and ” Bira-blue” paint, in the scratch 14-litre race. In the 100-Mile Handicap Mays and ” Bira ” shared the scratch position, although ” Bira ” was at the wheel of his 3-litre Maserati whereas Mays was driving a works 2-litre E.R.A. ” Bira ” started magnificently, with a standing lap at 99 m.p.h., and had a 3 secs. lead over Mays, and after the next round he led by 13 sees., having set a new lap record at the very considerable average of 1064 m.p.h. Then, on lap 3, poor Mays retired with a broken con-rod, which did very extensive damage to the F,.R.A.’s engine. The Maserati-no longer a youthful carran faultlessly, establishing a new course lap record at 107.28 m.p.h., after having set the record lap during last year’s race. But that enthusiast, David Yule, driving his now famous 952 c.c. CoxMorris-Yule Special, was not to be denied, and with a start of seven credit laps less 2 mins. he got home 44 secs. ahead of the Maser., averaging 78.04 m.p.h. This blown Morris Minor conversion is the joint product of Yule and. R. D. Cox and it has developed meritoriously as originally it only lapped at 61 m.p.h. Behind ” Bira” came Michael Barrington’s Lagonda Rapier, passed right at the end by I. H. Nichols’s blown M.G. Midget, which thus took third place. McCracken’s Morgan 4/4 was fifth, Sir W. MacRobert’s blown M.G. Magnette sixth and Michael May’s old Alvis seventh. Behind came an assortment of cars, which, if judged solely by average speed, would have finished as ” Bira,” Nichols, MacRobert, lVfacarthur (blown M.G. Magnette), May, Barrington, Yule, Colley (Prazer-Nash), Blackburn (Aston-Martiu), McCracken, Sullivan (Balilla Fiat), Le
Fanu Killingley (Riley Nine), and Leachman (Ford Eight). How they actually did finish, on handicap, is shown in the results. ” Bira ” now had fiftynine points towards the Gold Star, against Mays’s fifty-seven. For the 100Mile 14-litre Scratch Race Mays brought out the 14-litre works Zoller-blown E.R.A. and ” Bira ” the ex-Seaman Delage for the first race since he acquired it. Billy Cotton was driving the ex-Seaman E.R.A., Tongue his E.R.A., Whitehead his E.R.A., while Wakefield, Hanson, Aitken and Austin Dobson provided Maserati opposition and O’Boyle had his Alta. After the first lap Mays, who started in the front row with ” Bira,” led by 5 secs. ” Bira’s ” Delage was next, followed by Cotton’s green E.R.A. Wakefield, whose car was given the incorrect fuel, a mistake only rectified a few moments before the flag fell, retired. Mays did his standing lap of 41 miles at over 95 m.p.h., and his second lap at 101.6 m.p.h., when he led “
Bira” by 6 sees. But the E.R.A.
showed that it was the winning marque, drawing steadily away from the Delage and Wakefield’s Maserati to lead by 31 secs. after fifty miles had been covered. Four times did Mays lap at 104.36 m.p.h.
-a 14-litre lap record. Wakefield, driving splendidly, hung 3 secs. behind the Delage for eight laps, both French and Italian car lapping at 102.27 m.p.h., after which Wakefield went up to 103 m.p.h. and passed “Bira.” For half-a-dozen laps this position held, then the Maser. slowed and ” Bira” went into second place, until, after a
further five laps, the Delage had vanished from the fray. The Delage was driven to its pit and retired, the reason being given as a broken rear spring. So Wakefield was able to ease a little, to take second place, while Cotton came home third, a most creditable first effort as an E.R.A. pilot, after a lap at 100.9 m.p.h. Hanson was flagged in, with one lap to do. “Bira” and O’Boyle retired after nineteen laps, Austin Dobson after twelve, Peter Aitken after twelve, when a fuel pipe broke and temporarily blinded him, and Tongue after two laps. It was excellent racing, at very high speeds. Mays now had sixty-seven marks towards the Gold Star and” Bira “
fifty-nine. There is still Brno, Crystal Palace and the Brooklands Meeting. It will be interesting to see whether this is the only outing of the Delage, after its fine season last year, as ” Bira” has entered his E.R.A. at Brno, though we do not know what he will drive at the Palace and Brooklands.
RESULTS Handicap Race :
1. D. Yule (952 c.c. S.), 7 laps less 2m., 78.04 m.p.h. 2. “B. Bira” (2,992 c.c. Maserati, S.), scr. 105.01 m.p.h.*
3. I. H. Nickols (746 c.c. M.G., S.), 4 lapslira., 88.09 m.p.h.
4. M. Barrington (1,104 c.c. Rapier, S.), 6 laps2m., 79.92 m.p.h.
5. D. M. McCracken (1,122 c.c. Morgan), 7 laps, 70.07 m.p.h.
6. Sir A. W. MacRobert (1,087 c.c. M.G., S.), 3 laps, 85.82 m.p.h.
7. M. W. B. May (1,991 c.c. Alvis), 4 laps-lm. 82.10 m.p.h.
8. G. D. P. Colley (1,496 c.c. Frazer-Nash), 6 laps-2m., 73.8 m.p.h.
9. A. P. Macarthur (1,087 c.c. M.G., S.), 82.4 m.p.h.
10. NV. Sullivan (995 c.c. Fiat), 6 laps, 70 in.p.h. 1]. N . 11. Killingley (1,089 c.c. Riley), 8 lapslim., 62.9 m.p.h.
12. W. J. A. Blackblime (1,495 c.c. Aston-Martin), 5 laps-1m., 73.3 m.p.h.
13. D. C. Leeclunan (933 c.c. Ford), 8 laps1 itn., 61.2 m.p.h.
14. 11. B. S. Le Fenn (1,496 c.c. L.E.R.A.), 7 laps -1m., 65.8 m.p.h.
*Lap record : “B. Bira” (Maserati), 2m. 23e., 107.28 m.p.h. 1,500 c.c. Scratch Race 1. R. Mays (E.R.A.) 102.90 m.p.h.*
2. j. P. Wakefield (Maserati) 99.24 m.p.h.
3. W. E. Cotton (E.R.A.) 98.08 m.p.h.
4. R. Hanson (Maserati) 93.25 m.p.h.
“B. Bira” (Delage) 19 laps.
F. O’Boyle (Alta) 19 laps.
A. Dobson (Maserati) 12 laps.
P. Aitken (Maserati) 12 laps.
R. B. Tongue (E.R.A.) 2 laps. P. N. Whitehead (E.R.A.) did not complete
lap. *1.500 c.c. Lap Record : R. Mays (B.R.A.) 2m. 27s.,
104.36 m.p.h.