Shelsley Walsh (August 26th)
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Those who braved the elements to witness the last Shelsley Walsh Championship Hill-Climb of the 1962 season were rewarded by one of the best entries to grace the Championship series so far. Tony Marsh made a welcome return after his Rest-and-BeThankful crash, reverting back to his 2½-litre B.R.M. David Good (the current Champion) should have had a 1½-litre, twin-cam Climax engine in his Formula Junior Cooper chassis; but was still awaiting a suitable gearbox, and appeared in the Championship class with Marsh’s B.R.M. Both Phil Scragg (Lister-Jaguar) and Peter Boshier-Jones (Lotus-Climax 23) managed to get one class run before the rain began to fall, the similar times of 37.24 sec. giving them equal fastest time of day for the cars, the first occasion for sometime that a sports car has beaten the racing cars, while another fortunate competitor to have a first ascent before the weather broke was George Brown with his Vincent Special “Nero,” which broke the car domination at Shelsley by gaining outright fastest time at 36.82 sec. (the record stands to Tony Marsh’s B.R.M. at 34.41 sec.).
Undoubtedly a welcome innovation to the programme was the Vintage and Edwardian Handicap. Major Charles Lambton and Major Richard Chichester brought their 1½-litre 1936 supercharged Alta all the way from Wiscombe Park and were rewarded with first and second places, respectively. Oldest car in the class was B. Clark’s 1913 41-litre Talbot which went up in 59.87 sec. on the first ascent, just beating J. Goddard’s 35C Bugatti. Cecil Clutton had the honour of driving the largest car, his 12,000-c.c. 1908 ltala (this time he really needed that umbrella!). The intrepid Basil Davenport with his orginal G.N. Spider still does not consider himself (or his car) eligible for the Vintage category having entered for the Unlimited Racing Car Class, where he managed to show up several of the more youthful competitors.
The first runs in the Championship class were undertaken in almost torrential rain and gave Peter Westbury’s Cooper-Daimler the lead with 39.75 sec. from Marsh’s B.R.M. at 40.48 see., Chris Summers’ 4.6-litre Cooper-Chevy at 40.20 and Arthur Owen’s 41.68 sec. The second ascents were again affected by the weather, the rain ceasing and the hill drying in clouds of vapour. Soon the track at the Esses was almost dry and Owen made the most of things in 39.70 sec. Marsh was able to make use of the B.R.M.’s full power along the final straight, clocking a time of 38.48 sec. to again prove himself unbeatable at Shelsley.-E. L. W.
Results
F.T.D.: G. Brown (Vincent “Nero”) 36.82 sec.
R.A.C. Championship Class: 1st A. E. Marsh (2.5 .B.R.M.) 38:84 sec.; 2nd C. Summers (4.6 Cooper-Chevrolet) 38.94 Sec.; 3rd P. Westbury (CooperDaimler V8) 39.06 sec.; 4th A. Owen (2.5 Cooper-Climax) 39.76 sec.; 5th R. Feilding (2.5 B.R.M.) 39.95 sec.; 6th D. R. Good (2.5 B.R.M.) 40.85 sec.
Vintage & Edwardian Handicap: Malor C. W. Lambton (1936 1.5 Alta) 43.40 sec.
Cars v. Motor Cycles: “The Motor Cycles” 114.24 sec.
Racing Cars : 500 c.c.: J. Macartney-Filgate (Cooper-.J.A.P.) 48.16 sec.
501-1,500 c.c.: R. W. Phillips (Fairley-Climax) 43,33 sec.
1,500 c.c. and over: P. Westbury (Cooper-Daimler V8) 40.78 sec.