30th Jul 1966; A Day that will live
in memory, especially if you are English. Actually I'm
a Kiwi but I was in the UK on that day and it has more
memories than a mere sporting event.
Starting from the beginning; in 1966 I was part owner
of a Fireball Dinghy and the Fireball Class World Championships
were due to take place off the south coast of England
in August. I was determined to represent New Zealand
and 'borrowed' a Christchurch helmsman, Brian Trelevan,
who was touring Europe sailing his Finn Dinghy.
A few weeks before the Championships I discovered that
our boat did not measure according to the class rules.
Luckily a guy named Roger Fauchon, who later moved to
New Zealand, was able to fix it. While we were waiting
for the resin to cure we watched the World Cup Final
which is of course why some people still remember that
date. I have other reasons.
The resin still wasn't cured so, for something to do,
I was introduced to Roger's neighbour Bill Mason, the
same Bill Mason who had put together all those marvellous
Shell history of motor racing films. Sitting outside
the front door was a 1930 something Aston Martin belonging
to his son, Nick. Who? No not The Who; actually the
Nick Mason who would later be the drummer for Pink Floyd
and an avid car collector.
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This
Birkin Blower Bentley, chassis HB3402, was photographed
by the editor at the Vintage Sports Car Club's race
meeting at Thuxton, Hampshire in September 1969.
"Rusty" Russ-Turner drove the car. He
later had a coronary attack while driving it, finishing
in a very gentle Denny Hulme-like accident as he
died.
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Bill then opened the garage doors and
there was a 1929 or 1930 (wish I could remember which)
Blower Bentley, British Racing Green and enormous. 'Would
I like a ride?' There was only one possible answer to
that question.
The monster was pushed out of the garage and started.
I climbed on and sat on the passenger seat. I mean ON.
The seat was about 4 or 5 inches thick and was on the
floor. I don't think that it was fixed to the floor,
it was just there. My legs were straight out in front
of me and the side door came up to somewhere about hip
level. Way off in the middle distance was a very small
aero screen. I wondered what I'd let myself in for.
Once the engine was warmed up and the throttle used
in anger the noise was something else. The exhaust roar
mixed with the scream of the supercharger made me wish
that I'd at least got some cotton wool in my pocket.
Bill drove her out onto the road, luckily a dead end
road with almost zero traffic. We bowled along this
road until we arrived at the main road from Chichester
to Itchenor and turned right towards Itchenor. He then
wound her up. Somewhere in the far distance were a couple
of giant wheels which seemed to have minds of their
own. Their movements both up and down and from side
to side seemed to have very little effect on either
smoothing out the bumps or our general direction of
travel. How fast we went I've no idea. It felt fantastic,
apart that is from the fact that the seat was wandering
about and there was nothing to hold on to. No hat, no
goggles so with hair blowing every which way and tears
streaming back from my eyes, it was hard to concentrate
on what was happening and where we were. I knew the
road tolerably well but, given that we owned a Hillman
Imp at the time, not at that speed or with any of those
sensations.
Suddenly we were back at the house and it was all over
with me desperately trying to remember all that happened
and all the feelings.
Ettore Bugatti may have described Mr Bentley's creations
as the world's fastest lorries but after that ride I
had even greater respect for the likes of Tim Birkin
and Wolf Barnato for having wrestled those monsters
around Le Mans.
Referring to Bill's films, if you've ever seen the sequences
taken at Le Mans in the late '20s of the Bentleys coming
on to the Mulsanne Straight at Tertre Rouge, an unsealed
road of course, and blasting off into the distance with
the back end snaking from side to side, then those drivers
were not only heroes, but bloody strong heroes at that.
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