This Organisation

At the Second Motor-Racing Brains Trust on March 28th last, the announcement of an advisory panel to assist Messrs. S. H. Capon, A. Rivers-Fletcher and Peter T. C. Clark to organise these meetings was announced. It is evident that this organisation, for which a suitable name is required, hopes to exert a considerable influence on motoring sport after the war, quite apart from advising the organisers of future Brains Trusts. At the time of writing it comprises five persons: Captain A. W. Phillips, secretary of the B.A.C. Competitions Committee, which is the governing body of motoring sport in all its four-wheeled aspects; A. Percy Bradley, late clerk of the course at Brooklands Track; H. J. Morgan, who succeeded Bunny Dyer as secretary of the Junior Car Club; Eric Giles, hon. secretary of the exclusive club for Bugatti owners, and A. S. Heal. member of the committee of the Vintage Sports Car Club and collector and exerciser of veteran racing cars. Naturally, the coming together of these well-known personalities in this capacity has given rise to a number of rumours, which, as their future policy has not been so much as hinted at, is not surprising. It has, for instance, been suggested that this panel will, in future, replace the body of aged gentlemen comprising the present R.A.C. Competitions Committee, and will thus control the Snort in this country. While some of its members might well be elected to the aforesaid committee, we understand that Captain Phillips has no intention, nor, indeed, the power, of handing over national control of the Sport to any fresh body of men.

It has been rumoured that this panel may set about running a few good races and trials after the war, to obviate a return to the over-crowded calendar of pre-1940. While this may come true to some extent, we believe that Captain Phillips is very anxious to preserve the individual character of the smaller clubs. One hears that this new organisation seeks to popularise motor racing with the general public, which could be quite a good thing, provided no revolutionary change distasteful to drivers, manufacturers and enthusiastic followers of the Sport is brought about by an overdose of enthusiasm.

In the absence of any statement of concrete aims and objects, there is little that one can say about this organisation, save that any attempt to give a better status to motor racing, to bring live persons on to its controlling committee, and to stand up for the rights of its participants and supporters, must, on the face of it, seem highly commendable. If this new body develops into nothing more than a committee of representative club secretaries who are able collectively to discuss their club’s events before finalising plans and seeking a Permit, it should do invaluable work for the betterment of the Sport as a whole. If it (or anyone else) attempts to commercialise a New Motor Racing, by linking up with cyclists, footballers and hikers and staging “circus-dices” for them, then it (or they) must be disbanded before incalculable harm is done. For the time being, we refrain from comment-the five present members are sufficient guarantee for us to wish this organisation well and to ignore mere rumour.