Dead Heats

Although uncommon today, dead-heats were not unheard of at Brooklands: there had been one at the very first race meeting in 1907, between a Napier and a de Dietrich, and there were others subsequently. E L Bouts, whose well-known Wolverhampton garage is now a Citroen agency, reminds us that the fastest of these occured 50 years ago, at the BARC Autumn Meeting.

The Taylor Cup was a Sprint Race over one lap, contested by ten runners, from A7 to 6.7-litre blown Mercedes. The result was a dead-heat between Bouts’ 5-litre Sunbeam and the donor of the Cup in the 5.1-litre Delage II which had given Bouts a start of eight seconds. The Delage did 105.29 mph, the Sunbeam 94.33 mph.

Bouts is the oldest surviving holder of a 120 mph Brooklands badge, which he gained with his 1924 two-litre GP Sunbeam in 1931… WB