On the road with Reg

On the road with Reg

Sir,

I very much enjoyed Lunch with Tim Parnell in the August issue. However, please allow me to make a correction to the Reg Parnell Le Mans/ British Empire Trophy story: it was in fact Eric Hind and not Rex Woodgate who travelled along as a mechanic to the Isle of Man.

Reg travelled on his own in the Aston Martin DB3S from Le Mans to Feltham, where he picked up Eric before they went on to Derby to stay the night on Reg’s farm. Eric would remember in an interview with Chris Nixon that he was frightened to death as there was no space for a passenger in the car, nor was there a windscreen!

Reg did indeed go on to win the race, but he almost didn’t even take the start: when driving the car back to the garage after practice, Eric broke a half-shaft. Amusingly, Eric claims he went to find John Wyer in a bar to own up immediately, while Wyer claims he had to go and find Eric in a bar to ask whatever had happened to the car! As the Le Mans cars were back in Feltham by then, a replacement shaft was brought to the Isle of Man overnight to arrive on race morning.

All information above is gathered from Chris Nixon’s excellent Racing with the David Brown Aston Martins, Volumes 1 and 2. Karel De Cuyper Wilsele, Belgium KEEP IN TOUCH

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