From βMotoring β The Golden Yearsβ compiled by Rupert Prior
CURIOSITIES OF MOTOR RACING
By R. King-Farlow
From 1914 to 1918 Europe was a trifle too preoccupied with other matters to pay much attention to motor racing. However, the sport continued to flourish in America, occasionally with startling results. For example, in a race at San Diego, California, in January, 1915, Huntley Gordon had three tyres burst simultaneously. The car turned round a record number of times, finishing in a ditch, but the driver was unhurt.
Then in June of the same year came a 500 miles event at Maywood Speedway, Chicago. The winner was Harry Grant, with a Sunbeam, covering the course without a single stop, a performance that was unequalled until Hindmarsh’s run with a Talbot in the 1930 B.R.D.C. event. Grant, however, came perilously near to missing his win. Two hundred yards short of the finishing line his 35-gallon fuel tank ran bone dry. Fortunately, nobody was close on his tail, and he was able to coast across the line to victory. It is interesting to compare Marcel Lehoux’s luck in the final of this year’s Grand Prix du Comminges. His Maserati also ran out of fuel 200 yards from the finish, when lying second. But in this case the road ran uphill just before the pits, and poor Marcel was done completely.
A third American excitement came in the Fort Snelling race in September, 1915. After a terrific duel Earl Cooper and Gil Anderson, both on Stutz cars, appeared to cross the line absolutely simultaneously. Luckily electrical timing was used, which gave the verdict in favour of Cooper, with a margin of five one-hundredths of a second, the closest finish ever recorded.
The first important post-War event was the 1919 Targa Florio. This race was won in sensational fashion by the French ace, Andre Boillot, with a Peugeot. Boillot’s car was greatly handicapped by its small size, but its driver more than made up for this by driving with an abandon that shot him clean off the road no less than six times. Each time the car was hastily rescued and set going again, undamaged. Finally, he arrived at the finish at top speed, to find the entire road blocked by spectators. Boillot braked madly, spun round three times, and shot into the grandstand, ten yards or so short of the line, the driver and mechanic being flung out. Willing assistants dragged the Peugeot back on to the road and thrust its dazed crew back into it, the car then crossing the line triumphantly in reverse. Loud cheers, and then panic … would the car be disqualified for finishing backwards? Boillot and his mechanic, by now almost in a state of collapse, were again thrust back into the car, which then retired about twenty yards down the road, turned round and recrossed the finishing line in the orthodox manner. During the race Boillot carried out a distinctly novel refill. The car did not actually stop
at its depot, but a can of fuel was thrown to the mechanic as he cruised by. The mechanic then waited till the car was descending a hill, opened the filler cap, poured in the contents of the can and had the pressure back to normal before the bottom of the hill was reached.
The year 1923 saw Brooklands stage its most original speed trial. The September Meeting was completely washed out by rain, making all racing impossible. However, to pass the time while waiting for it to clear, a bet was made between two members that it was possible to run up and down the Test Hill in a minute. "Alec", one of the Clubhouse waiters, a noted sprinter, was requisitioned, and accomplished the trip in 44 seconds, the applause being considerably louder than for any mere motor race. The only other Brooklands event that can compare with this novel hill climb was the golfing performance of John Cobb, who bet that he could drive a golf ball round the outer circuit in a certain number of strokes … I forget the exact number. Before a large and notable gallery, Cobb accomplished his task, the incident laying further claim to history as being the only competition that has ever taken place at Brooklands on a Sunday. There is no record as to whether Cobb was fitted with an adequate silencer and fishtail to deal with language when balls darted into the sewage farm.