Turnberry

Turnberry on the Ayrshire coast is best known for golf, but it was the centre of the British racing scene on 23 August 1952. The Scottish Sporting Car Club had run a trial on the runway of its aerodrome on 12 May 1951 and a first race meeting in September drew a healthy crowd due to publicity in the Scottish Daily Express. A crowd of 50,000 was claimed for the following year’s National Trophy. Reg Parnell’s V16 BRM won the Formule Libre race after team-mate Ken Wharton and Mike Hawthorn’s Thin Wall Special Ferrari 375 both retired. Hawthorn’s Connaught dominated the F2 race and Stirling Moss won all three races he entered. The bumps on the back leg were so bad that faster cars were launched into the air, so a temporary chicane was inserted between Farm Turn and Hodge’s Corner. That was the final race meeting for a proposed increase in council payments were prohibitive.