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Post by administrator on Dec 6, 2012 11:23:15 GMT 1
![]() Lea Bridge.1937[/img] ::::::: With acknowledgements to original source. Any clues as to who the drivers are? Attachments:
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Post by kiwikid34 on Dec 6, 2012 23:39:58 GMT 1
I am unsure about the photo. Are these 1937 midget cars - they look more like Gnats to me which would make them earlier and therefore not as at Lea Bridge for that year.
The numbers too were not as used for 1937. Three cars are clearly marked as 4, 6 and 7.
From 1937, all midgets were numbered from 50 upwards.
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Post by tsrwright on Dec 7, 2012 11:02:28 GMT 1
As far as I know numbers starting at 50 were not introduced until the 1938 UK season.
I have previously thought that this photo maybe showed the cars of which 3 went with Jean Reville to Australia late 1935 but have recently had access to photos of Bud Stanley who along with Ralph Secretan made up the trio that came out here.
There are quite a number of differences, for example the Lea Bridge cars are quite 'clean' but the Australia cars have more roll hoops and tanks sitting on top of the scuttle - presumably more height had been found necessary - and other clutter. They look well used to say the least. The Lea Bridge cars have flat fronted front-drive cowls whereas the Australia ones are fully curved. The Secretan car has a No1 and title on the front cowl reading '500cc Palmer Special'; the Reville car has a No2 and nothing else; the Stanley car also has No2 and '1000cc Palmer Special'. The Reville car also has a No8 on the side. I'll try and share these pics in due course but they are not mine to publish.
There are some features in the Lea Bridge photo which may identify cars by reference to a photo of the three cars in Australia. The No7 car has a cowl maybe for a rev counter on the scuttle and other details that are comparable with the Reville car in Sydney but other things are different. The car with No1 at Lea Bridge looks a bit like the car Secretan drove in Australia; certainly the Bugatti-like dummy radiator cowl looks the same. However the funny helmet - a bit like a pith helmet - on the driver of car No4 looks like the one Secretan is wearing in Sydney.
Seeing how the Australia cars were in late 1935, I would suggest the Lea Bridge photo must be quite early, whenever it was that Reville had made a few and before tanks and other gear got added to deal with whatever problems were found in practice.
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Post by haflinger121 on Dec 8, 2012 12:58:52 GMT 1
I have seen this photo quite a few times down the years. It is always described as being Lea Bridge but I have no way of knowing if this is true. Without offering this as any proof of anything, I do have a '35 Lea Bridge programme. Sadly it does not tell you who was driving what, but Reville was racing as number 2. Other car numbers possibly relating to your post Terry, include number 1 Victor Gillow, 8 Adolf Pabst, 4 Jimmy Raynes. Number 7 in this prog is Tommy Sulman, who probably wouldn't have been driving a Gnat anyway. The photo is certainly the most Gnats/Palmer Specials I've ever seen in one place at any time! I'm wondering if Reville loaned or hired out cars to others?
Secretan was also in action as number 9, although his Christian name is given throughout as Raoul rather than Ralph.
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Post by haflinger121 on Dec 8, 2012 13:06:52 GMT 1
Incidentally, these guys didn't race under the same numbers even during the same day! Earlier on the day of the Lea Bridge prog mentioned above, they'd been racing at Crystal Palace. Here Pabst was 2, Reville 5, Sulman 6, Raynes 10 etc, although Gillow was still #1. So I'm not sure we can ever infer much from their race numbers, unfortunately.
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Post by tsrwright on Dec 9, 2012 8:18:25 GMT 1
Incidentally, these guys didn't race under the same numbers even during the same day! Earlier on the day of the Lea Bridge prog mentioned above, they'd been racing at Crystal Palace. Here Pabst was 2, Reville 5, Sulman 6, Raynes 10 etc, although Gillow was still #1. So I'm not sure we can ever infer much from their race numbers, unfortunately. In the Lea Bridge photo the #1 car appears as if it might be single cylinder which fits with Secretan's car in Sydney. #6 I am not sure about but I think it is transverse V twin. Car #7, which might be Reville, seems to have a transverse V twin while #4 looks like it is a longitudinal V twin which is what I thought the Gnat originally was. Has anybody got a good print that could be scanned at high resolution so it could be examined in more detail? I wonder if Reville ever made more than the 4 cars in this photo? I had a look through my small number of copies of programs. I have Easter Monday 22 April 1935 Crystal Palace with 6 Palmer Specials all 850cc (what would that be?) but no Lea Bridge for that date. Assuming drivers were sharing cars there would have had to be at least 4 Palmer Specials for the semi-finals to work. For 1 and 10 June I have Lea Bridge but not the Palace; as you say no cars listed against drivers. For 22 June at the Palace there are again 6 Gnat/Palmer Specials listed and 4 needed for a semi final. For Bank Holiday Monday 5 August, I have Lea Bridge but no Crystal Palace and cars are not listed but there is no sign of Reville, Secretan or Stanley. Were they already en route to Australia? Seems unlikely so maybe they were just staying out of danger! |
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Post by haflinger121 on Dec 9, 2012 12:52:22 GMT 1
Yes, sorry Terry, I probably should have said to avoid any confusion, the Lea Bridge and Palace progs are both from June 10th, Whit Monday in 1935. Based on nothing more than 'gut feel', I'm beginning to think that our 'four Gnats' photo is Lea Bridge, the cars are new and experimental (thus no two having the same powerplant) and being tested. They were found wanting in several departments (cooling being one maybe), modified (perhaps in-season) and then shipped off down under. All highly speculative but logical to me.
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Post by tsrwright on Dec 10, 2012 4:48:53 GMT 1
Yes, sorry Terry, I probably should have said to avoid any confusion, the Lea Bridge and Palace progs are both from June 10th, Whit Monday in 1935. Based on nothing more than 'gut feel', I'm beginning to think that our 'four Gnats' photo is Lea Bridge, the cars are new and experimental (thus no two having the same powerplant) and being tested. They were found wanting in several departments (cooling being one maybe), modified (perhaps in-season) and then shipped off down under. All highly speculative but logical to me. That equally makes sense to me and so we have one Palmer Special that didn't go to Australia. |
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Post by haflinger121 on Dec 10, 2012 11:42:25 GMT 1
Yes...well, maybe. If there were only ever four and, frankly, that seems probable. And if one was left behind, what happened to it? Or did 'something else' happen? Written off in a crash? Broken up for parts? Broken up for parts and shipped to Oz as such?
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