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Sporting events of the month: The Essex Club's Six
Hour Race
Published in "Motor
Sport", June 1927
The Essex Club are to be congratulated on their
enterprise in organising the first British race on the
lines of the famous Grand Prix D'Endurance. The exigencies
of Brooklands prevent the holding of 24 hour races,
but as a trial venture, the 6 hour race proved extremely
illuminating. A few minutes before 11 o'clock on May
7th the competing cars were lined up along one side
of the finishing straight, while drivers and mechanics
fidgetted nervously on the other side of the concrete.
At the fall of the flag the crews rushed to their cars
and (in the case of the open models) erected the hoods
and started their engines by means of the electric starters.
Not unnaturally the three closed cars, Meeson (Vauxhall),
Bruce (A.C.), and King (Lagonda), got away first, in
the order named, but the Bentley team were not far behind.
Vernon Balls 'Amilcar sulked and remained stationery
during lap I. ! For ten laps the cars thundered round
with scarcely an incident, the order in the various
classes being, 3,000 c.c. Clement (Bentley), Benjafield
(Bentley), Duller (Sunbeam), 2,000 c.c. King (Lagonda
Saloon), Durlacher (Diatto), Bruce (A.C. Saloon) ; 1,500
c.c. : Harvey (Alvis), Dykes (Alvis), Davis (Alvis)
; while in the 1,100 c.c. J. Dunfee (Salmson) held the
lead. On completing its tenth lap each car came into
the pits and had its hood lowered, while one or two
of the less fortunate drivers were compelled to effect
adjustments thus early. The first thrill occurred hereabouts,
when Meeson's Vauxhall Coupe burst into flames, thanks
to a broken petrol pipe. The conflagration was extinguished
before any extensive damage was done, but Meeson retired.
Incidentally, his mechanic misjudged the speed of the
car, and "stepped out" at some 30 m.p.h.,.
and was slightly injured as a result.
At the end of the first hour the position was substantially
unchanged, the leading Bentley having averaged over
66 m.p.h., Vernon Balls and G. Hendy (Lea-Francis) changed
plugs, and several cars needed 'cater.
During the second hour, the huge Excelsior retired with
a" run" big end, Sutton's Lea-Francis packed
up with transmission trouble, and Clement's Bentley
was passed by Benjafield, Duller, Segrave and H. R.
S. Birkin (Bentley) after misfiring badly. Dyke's Alvis
was now leading the 1,500 c.c. class, and as yet Ball's
Amilcar had not had time to wipe out the disadvantage
of his early troubles.
During the third hour trouble became more frequent and
more serious ; the experimental duralumin rockers on
the Bentleys began to break, leaving Birkin as the only
" likely " member of the team (his car had
steel rockers). After a two hour demonstration of how
not to change gear (which may or may not have been due
to a faulty clutch), Dreyfus' Salmson was withdrawn
with gearbox trouble. Other unfortunates were the Lagonda
Saloon (piston), which had been running well, and Martineau's
Salmson, which killed two magnetos in quick succession.
At half time the positions were :—
Sunbeam (G. Duller) ... ... 64.7 Bentley (H. R. S. Birkin,
C. A. C. Birkin) 64.0 Alvis (C. M. Harvey) Alvis (S.
C. H. Davis)
Alvis (W. U. Dykes, B. F. Russell)... ... 59.2 Diatto
(C. Durlacher)
Sunbeam (J. W. Jackson, N. Turner) ... 57.7
O.M. (R. F. Oats) ... ... 57.6
Just after half time C. A. C. Birkin relieved his brother
at the wheel of Bentley No. II. and proceeded to"
treat it rough" ; as it was the chief Bentley hope,
the team manager (Kensington Moir) ordered the elder
brother to resume the driver's seat after three laps,
and the unhappy C. A. C. was ejected ! Several other
Bentleys appeared at intervals, though it was difficult
to discover who was driving them. Each car seemed at
some time or other to be driven by every member of the
team. Eventually, however, all except Birkins were eliminated
by various troubles. The three Alvises continued to
run with great regularity, their speed increasing as
the race went on, while some fine speed enabled Vernon
Balls to force his Amilcar in front of the leading Salmson
(George Newman).
Of the two 750 c.c. Austins, that driven by Dingle and
Bassett was in front of its rival.
The 2-litre Diatto and Bruce's A.C. were leading their
class in no uncertain manner, the latter perhaps being
one of the most impressive performances in the race
in view of the saloon body and the previous history
of the car.
During the fifth hour the only notable change was that
S. C. H. Davies overtook Harvey owing to the latter
changing plugs.
During the last hour excitement became intense. George
Duller seemed to be travelling as well as ever, but
so were the 3 Alvises, while the Birkin Bentley, now
driven by P. C. Clement, was having spare wheel trouble,
and eventually had only third gear, which was engaged
(permanently) with the aid of a hammer. Alter his plucky
performance, V. Balls was unfortunate enough to suffer
from a run big end, thus leaving the Salmsons in undisputed
sway in the 1,100 c.c. class. It was noticed during
the last hour that the slowest Alvis (Dykes) was gaining
on the slower Sunbeam (Turner), Segrave's Sunbeam having
retired with an empty petrol tank, t3o far to be pushed
to the pits ! The final distances, times and results
on formula were as follows:—
Position.
Formula.
Car and and Drivers.
aMile-ge.
age.
m.p.h. 1 4 Sunbeam (G. Duller) 386.0 64.3 9 1 Alvis
(S. C. H. Davis) 371.93 62.0 3 8 Bentley (H. R. S. Birkin
and C. A. C. Birkin) 358.88 59.8 4 5 Alvis (C. M. Harvey)
358.49 59.7 5 6 Alvis (W. U. Dykes and B. F Russell)
357.77 59.6 (i 12 Sunbeam ( J. W. Jackson and Turner)
357.46 59.6 7 9 Diatto (C. Durlacher) 355.39 59.2 8
11 A.C. (V. A. Bruce) 344.12 57.3 9 2 Salmson (G. Newman)
336.74 50.1 10 3 Salmson (J. Dutifee) 334.54 56.7 11
14 O.M. (R. F. Oats) 332.84 55.5 12 7 Salmson (H. E.
Hazlehurst and F. Walter) 326.27 54.4 13 13 Aston-Martin
(C. J. Randall and E. Hayter) 318.17 53.2 14 10 Austin
(J. P. Dingle and S. J Bassett 250.57 41.7 The awards
were as follows :—
BARNATO CUP (for greatest distance covered). G. Duller
(Sunbeam).
PASS AND JOYCE CUP (for greatest distance in 3,000 c.c.
class). G. Duller (Sunbeam).
" THE AUTOCAR " EFFICIENCY CUP (for greatest
distance above minimum). S. C. H. Davis (Alvis).
HENLYS CUP (for greatest distance in 1,500 c.c. class).
S. C. H. Davis (Alvis).
ESSEX CUP (for greatest distance in 1,100 c.c. class).
G. Newman (Salnison).
ESSEX CUP (for greatest distance in 2,000 c.c. class).
C. Durlacher (Diatto).
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