From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Newspaper report from The Sunday Times covering the Tourist Trophy car race on the Ards Circuit.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 90a\3\ Scan173 | |
| Date | 8th September 1935 | |
| THE SUNDAY TIMES, SEPTEMBER 8, 1935 DIXON WINS THE "T.T." THRILLS IN FAMOUS RACE CAR LEAPS A HEDGE ANOTHER FALLS ON TOP OF IT BY OUR MOTORING CORRESPONDENT BELFAST, Saturday. Held this year for the eighth time, the Royal Automobile Club's Tourist Trophy Race on the Ards Circuit, outside Belfast, was run to-day in perfect weather. The course, which is hilly and tortuous, measures 13 2-3 miles round, and forms a rough triangle between the towns of Newtownards, Cober, and Dundonald. About 36 sharp corners and a number of bends make it one of the hardest road-racing circuits in Europe. The total length of the course was 478 miles. The result was: 1. F.{Mr Friese} Dixon (Riley), 6 h.{Arthur M. Hanbury - Head Complaints} 3 min. 31 sec. Speed 78.01 m.p.h. 2. E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} R.{Sir Henry Royce} Hall (Bentley), 6 h.{Arthur M. Hanbury - Head Complaints} 4 min. 44 sec. Speed 80.36 m.p.h. 3. Earl Howe (Bugatti), 6 h.{Arthur M. Hanbury - Head Complaints} 7 min. 37 sec. Speed 59.72 m.p.h. The Duke of Abercorn, Governor-General of Northern Ireland, Lord Craigavon, the Prime Minister, and Lord Londonderry witnessed the race. Thirty-five cars started in the race. The only absentees being Mr. T. Rose-Richards's Railton and Mr. D.{John DeLooze - Company Secretary} G.{Mr Griffiths - Chief Accountant / Mr Gnapp} Evans's Magnette, which was to have been piloted by I. F.{Mr Friese} Connell. Despite having sustained cuts and bruises when his Aston Martin overturned during practice, P. L. Donkin pluckily started off with his head swathed in bandages. The race was a handicap, the smaller cars being given starts according to their cylinder capacities. The four-cylinder 11 litre Rileys and Aston Martins were credited in advance with one lap and given a start of 8 min. 23 sec. The big Lagondas and Bugattis and the Bentley had to cover the full distance of 35 laps, but were allowed 1 min. 45 sec. start over an imaginary "scratch" man. The 1,000 c.c. Singers and Fiats had to cover only 31 laps, and had 1 min. 37 sec. start. RECORDS FALL QUICKLY Freddy Dixon's Riley took the lead almost from the start, but soon had a formidable challenger in Lord Howe's big eight-cylinder Bugatti. Records were shattered one after the other in the duel that ensued. Earl Howe covered the 13 2-3 miles in 10 min. 1 sec., equal to an average speed of 81.82 miles per hour. Then John Hindmarsh in one of the big red Lagondas lapped in 9 min. 57 sec. the highest speed ever obtained by an unsupercharged car on this course, and only eight seconds slower than the lap record of 83.20 m.p.h. set up by the late Sir Henry Birkin in 1932 on a supercharged Alfa Romeo. Before long the Hon. Brian Lewis on another Bugatti did still better with 82.51 m.p.h. DIXON'S AMAZING SKID The Riley Team was also breaking records. Dixon, thrilling the crowds by his daring driving, raised the 1½-litre class record to 78.55 m.p.h. only to be beaten soon afterwards by E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} McClure on a similar car at 79.18 m.p.h. As Dixon turned the Newtownards corner on his sixth lap the car got into a tremendous skid and slithered right across the Square, turning completely round. Dixon, however, regained control and proceeded. All the time the four big cars were thundering round the course, barely a length apart, with Hall's green Bentley prominent further and further behind. The Bentley, however, was running with beautiful regularity, and when the Bugattis and Lagondas stopped to change wheels and refuel, Hall gained a lot of ground, until from being sixth on handicap at 12.30 p.m. he became third at 1 p.m., and was running second on handicap by 1.30 p.m. A "COMIC TURN" EARLIER By 1 o'clock, after two hours racing, the positions had changed completely owing to the Bugatti's pit stop. Now Hindmarsh led at 81.31 m.p.h.; Dixon lying second at 77.28, and Hall third. Then came Dodson's Lagonda, Cyril Paul's Riley, and Charles Brackenbury's Aston Martin. H.{Arthur M. Hanbury - Head Complaints} C. McFerran, the spare driver of Dwyer's Bugatti, hit the Town Hall at Newtownards a resounding bang, so that the car bounced off the building into the Square and was wrecked. The driver escaped with a grazed arm. LEAP OVER HEDGE The green Singer driven by A.{Mr Adams} H.{Arthur M. Hanbury - Head Complaints} Langley, took a flying leap over a hedge at Bradshaw's Brae. The car shot across the road on a nasty bend and overturned in a field behind after going over the hedge. Langley was unhurt, but he had to retire owing to the damage to the car. Norman Black was also put out of the race when his Singer hit the bank at the side of the road at Bradshaw's Brae, and almost overturned. At the half distance, Dixon led, with Hall second, at 81.03 miles per hour, Cyril Paul third, Hindmarsh fourth, and Brackenbury and Penn Hughes, on their Aston Martins, fifth and sixth. Black, a previous winner of the T.T. and the Irish Grand Prix, hit the bank hard with his Singer, and almost overturned. His car was wrecked, but he himself escaped unhurt. | ||