Topic: Solved - MJW #1170 - Goodwood 24 March 1955 Event 4 Scratch Race

[woodinsight]

A new batch for the Easter weekend -

Name the cars, drivers, circuit and year for one point.........perhaps an extra point if you can also name their finishing position.

[woodinsight]

Moving up......

[D-type]

#10 is an Elva
#12 ?
the other two - Lotus Mk VI

year 1954
Circuit - Snetterton

[nicanary]

I agree with the Elva Mk 2, and the two Lotus Mk 6 cars, the rear one probably powered by a sidevalve Ford by the looks of the smokescreen. The other car is a Lester -MG. I would put the date at 1955, as the first Elva of this type did not appear until 1954.

I don't recall Snetterton having stands by the startline - is it Crystal Palace ?

[woodinsight]

Well you are both partly correct but some of the details are not.......

So far we have the following -

Circuit - not Snetterton or Crystal Palace
Year - 1955 is correct

Car No. 10 is an Elva but not a Mk 2
Car No. 12 is not a Lester-MG or any type of Lester
The other two cars are both Lotus Mk VIs - correct

[nicanary]

Goodwood ? (I didn't think the stands were so close to the track)

The Elva is a Mk 1 and therefore the driver is probably Peter Gammon.

Is the Lotus with the number 2 Colin Chapman ? The other Lotus (at the front) John Coombs ?

I've tracked the race down to Goodwood 26.3.55. I think car #12 may be the original Leonard-MG, although by this date LL had progressed to the Tojeiro car, so the driver must be someone else. And I've got doubts about the drivers I nominated, since by now the Lotus Mk 8 was around. I'd better wait for your next post....

[woodinsight]

Goodwood ? (I didn't think the stands were so close to the track)

The Elva is a Mk 1 and therefore the driver is probably Peter Gammon.

Is the Lotus with the number 2 Colin Chapman ? The other Lotus (at the front) John Coombs ?

I've tracked the race down to Goodwood 26.3.55. I think car #12 may be the original Leonard-MG, although by this date LL had progressed to the Tojeiro car, so the driver must be someone else. And I've got doubts about the drivers I nominated, since by now the Lotus Mk 8 was around. I'd better wait for your next post....

Yes, very good - it is Goodwood 26 Mar 1955 and the first car is Peter Gammon's Elva Mk 1 prototype.
Car no. 12 is not a Leonard-MG and the drivers of the two Loti are not Colin Chapman or John Coombs...

So far, so good.....I'll LOCK it for you for another try and give you the following clue as it's not easy (I don't know if the info is available on-line as I haven't checked) -

The No. 12 car is named after the initials of the constructor and the driver's surname is 4 letters in length.
The drivers of the following two Loti have 8 letters and 10 letters in their surnames....

[nicanary]

For such a minor race I was very surprised to find another photo of this actual race on the web - however it was specific about two other cars which are not the subjects of this puzzle. The event is the first meeting of 1955, the 18th members' meeting, and was basically a "clubbie". The puzzle concerns event 4, a 5-lap scratch race for sports cars up to 1250cc non-supercharged.

Car no. 12 is the RWG of Mark Lund, who won the race at an average of 69.68 mph. I actually had changed my mind about the driver of the Elva, since that year Peter Gammon drove the works Lotus Mk.8 alongside Colin Chapman. However this was early in the year, and of course drivers in those days drove on a race-by-race basis.

The Lotus drivers are almost certainly unknown names - is one of them Mike MacDowel ?

(You're right about the unavailibilty of info on the web, you'ld need a programme for this puzzle and I don't have it. It's put me in my place.)

The 10-letter driver wouldn't be R.L.Manwaring with one letter short, would it ?

[woodinsight]

For such a minor race I was very surprised to find another photo of this actual race on the web - however it was specific about two other cars which are not the subjects of this puzzle. The event is the first meeting of 1955, the 18th members' meeting, and was basically a "clubbie". The puzzle concerns event 4, a 5-lap scratch race for sports cars up to 1250cc non-supercharged.

Car no. 12 is the RWG of Mark Lund, who won the race at an average of 69.68 mph. I actually had changed my mind about the driver of the Elva, since that year Peter Gammon drove the works Lotus Mk.8 alongside Colin Chapman. However this was early in the year, and of course drivers in those days drove on a race-by-race basis.

The Lotus drivers are almost certainly unknown names - is one of them Mike MacDowel ?

(You're right about the unavailibilty of info on the web, you'ld need a programme for this puzzle and I don't have it. It's put me in my place.)

The 10-letter driver wouldn't be R.L.Manwaring with one letter short, would it ?

Well done, you've virtually clinched it!
I have two sources that contain conflicting information, one more reliable I think...... I'll post them when we put this one to bed.

The source of the photo (the least reliable one) states in the caption that Frank Nicholls was driving the Elva, Mark Lund the RWG, Fred Ma------ the first Lotus and Richard Mainwaring the smoky Lotus. The source was an article on Ford 1172cc engines in an issue of Thoroughbred & Classic Cars.

My more reliable source, Robert Barker's "A Record of Motor Racing at Goodwood" states that Peter Gammon was driving the Elva entered by Frank Nichols. As you have said, Mark Lund won the race in the RWG. It also says that Richard Manwaring was driving the smoky Lotus.

In order to tie this one up, would you like to have a guess at the driver of the first Lotus and also guess the finishing order of these four cars.....
Still locked for you.
The

[nicanary]

I've looked through every race programme I own for that period and can find no name that fits. Fred Marriott sticks in my head but he was the American who drove the Stanley steamer to records (!). I know that the RWG of Mark Lund won the race, which suggests that the Elva retired - the Gammon/Elva combo were difficult to beat.

Let's have a go at 1. RWG, 2. Gammon, 3. Manwaring, 4. mystery man.

[woodinsight]

I've looked through every race programme I own for that period and can find no name that fits. Fred Marriott sticks in my head but he was the American who drove the Stanley steamer to records (!). I know that the RWG of Mark Lund won the race, which suggests that the Elva retired - the Gammon/Elva combo were difficult to beat.

Let's have a go at 1. RWG, 2. Gammon, 3. Manwaring, 4. mystery man.

Well done, that's good enough for the two points!

The missing driver is indeed Fred Marriott.
Finish order was 1. Lund (RWG)  2. Gammon (Elva)  3. Marriott (Lotus)
Manwaring's Lotus retired with a loose oil pipe.
Gammon's Elva blew a head gasket managed to hold on for 2nd.

I'll post my sources shortly.....

[woodinsight]

Here's the two sources I used for the puzzle -
(the first has an inaccurate caption)

[nicanary]

Thanks. As I said earlier, I managed to find two websites with a photo of this actual race, although both images were identical. The photo showed quite a large number of the field negotiating a corner, and the sites in question were registers for two other cars in the field. They were interesting entries, and I may keep them back for future puzzle use.

It's quite astonishing what you can find on the web - such an obscure race really.