Post by administrator on Mar 27, 2009 21:04:44 GMT 1
WITHOUT doubt the most consistent performer in midget car racing in the years spanning World War Two was Walter Mackereth. While other, more colourful drivers like Jean Reville in the very early days, and then Spike Rhiando tended to capture the pre-war limelight because of their flamboyant approach to racing, the record books show that Mackereth was a star in the National League and also won most of the formula's big events.
In an era when there was little international contact, Mackereth went to Holland in 1937 where he won the European Championship. It was the first time his name appeared in a significant way on the sport's list of champions. Besides doing his own driving reputation a power of good, it was also a good advert for the track prowess of the then new Skirrow midget car which was destined to be the leading race model for the next 20 years.
Mackereth initially wanted to be a speedway rider, racing in open meetings at Barrow and also having novice second-half races at Belle Vue. It was in this period at the start of the 1930s that Mackereth established a working relationship with Harry Skirrow, whose car design was to prove such a success in British racing. There are some who claim that the Skirrow was, in fact, a development of the "Gnat' which in 1935 was raced with such distinction by Reville. And there is little doubt that Reville's creation was an influencing factor in the Skirrow.
Skirrow's decision to concentrate on building midget cars was taken after he lost his left arm in a shooting accident. He took Mackereth on to his workshop staff to help in designing and building the midget car that bore his name. Skirrow - using a special hook appliance fitted to the steerig wheel - and Mackereth started to compete with their car in mid-summer 1936. Its advent coincided with Eric Spence, the Belle Vue manager, setting in motion the building of replica American-type Elto midget cars. In the final analysis the percentage of successes on the track by Eltos were weighted towards the Skirrow.
And it was Mackereth whose name became synonymous with its growth in popularity. While the drivers linked to Belle Vue raced Eltos, those not associated with the Manchester track favoured the Skirrow. The only exceptions were Spike Rhiando and Billy Murden who raced self-built cars. But even Rhiando, at times, would pin his faith in the undoubted reliability of a Skirrow.
In midget car racing, Mackereth is firmly linked to Coventry. He was a member of their league teams in the 1937 and 1938 seasons, and raced in oen meetings there during 1939. When a Winter Midget Car League was formed in 1951-52, track promoter Charles Ochiltree persuaded Mackereth, then 48-years-old, to emerge from retirement to lead the team. This, he did, with some success until an increasingly bad winter forced the league to be abandoned because the tracks were continually waterlogged.
But two years later, on August 15 1953, Mackereth staged a one-off come-back at Stepps to lead Scotland in a 47-41 defeat against England. Mackereth proved in this last-ever race appearance that although he had now reached his half-century in age, the old racing skills were still there by scoring a 15 points, a total matched by England’s top scorer Wilf Davis.
Mackereth's only other post-war activity had been in a handful of meetings promoted by pre-war Stoke rider Gene Crowley at The Hague in Holland, in 1946, then at the Buffalo Stadium in Paris, France in 1947. And it was Mackereth who did most of the winning, although his rivals included drivers like Frank Chiswell, Billy Murden, Johnny Young and Val Atkinson. And for novelty at the Paris meetings, Mackereth also raced against bikes ridden by the French speedway stars Charles Bellisent and Fernand Meynier. Results, sadly, have not been recorded.
These factors though are only additions to a career that was at its peak in the three years before the start of World War Two.
Roy Chiswell, the son of driver Frank Chiswell, has some recollections of Mackereth. And he contests the theory that Mackereth was ever a speedway rider. Chiswell said: “I am not sure that Walter ever rode a speedway bike, but Harry Skirrow did. Walter and his wife had three daughters, but they always wanted a son. I think that is why they looked on midget driver Johnny Young as the son they never had. Whether the Mackereths were actually Johnny’s foster parents, as was claimed, but in match programmes he was often referred to as Walter’s adopted son. I know Young was very close to the family.”
Chiswell added, “After the war ended in 1945, my dad took us on holiday to the Lake District, chiefly to see Walter. At the time, Walter and his wife had a taxi business, each diving their own car. Later on, he had a garage in Kendal and a dealership for the French Simca cars. He had this until he retired.”
Chiswell also remembers when Mackereth came to live with the Chiswell’s in Cambridge in the late 1940s. “Walter stayed at our farm for some time after he and Mrs Mac had a small falling out. It was while he was with us that he had an unusal accident.
“At the time we had an elevator, a wooden structure on wheels which kept a chain belt moving. At intervals, the chain had two prongs which helped to carry bales of straw or wheat. Our elevator was driven by a tractor and as the chain started to rotate, one of the prongs cut into the top of Walter’s head. It meant a quick dash to the local hospital for some stitches to be put in the wound. Walter soon revovered but never stood underneath the elevator again.”
The motorsport historian Derek Bridgett also mentions that at one time Skirrow employed Mackereth in his gragae at Ambleside before they moved south in the mid-1930s to build the Skirrow midget car.
Bridgett said, “The Skirrow brothers and Mackereth were one-time members of the Westmoreland Motor Club and were regular starters in motorcycle grass track and scrambles events.”
In an era when there was little international contact, Mackereth went to Holland in 1937 where he won the European Championship. It was the first time his name appeared in a significant way on the sport's list of champions. Besides doing his own driving reputation a power of good, it was also a good advert for the track prowess of the then new Skirrow midget car which was destined to be the leading race model for the next 20 years.
Mackereth initially wanted to be a speedway rider, racing in open meetings at Barrow and also having novice second-half races at Belle Vue. It was in this period at the start of the 1930s that Mackereth established a working relationship with Harry Skirrow, whose car design was to prove such a success in British racing. There are some who claim that the Skirrow was, in fact, a development of the "Gnat' which in 1935 was raced with such distinction by Reville. And there is little doubt that Reville's creation was an influencing factor in the Skirrow.
Skirrow's decision to concentrate on building midget cars was taken after he lost his left arm in a shooting accident. He took Mackereth on to his workshop staff to help in designing and building the midget car that bore his name. Skirrow - using a special hook appliance fitted to the steerig wheel - and Mackereth started to compete with their car in mid-summer 1936. Its advent coincided with Eric Spence, the Belle Vue manager, setting in motion the building of replica American-type Elto midget cars. In the final analysis the percentage of successes on the track by Eltos were weighted towards the Skirrow.
And it was Mackereth whose name became synonymous with its growth in popularity. While the drivers linked to Belle Vue raced Eltos, those not associated with the Manchester track favoured the Skirrow. The only exceptions were Spike Rhiando and Billy Murden who raced self-built cars. But even Rhiando, at times, would pin his faith in the undoubted reliability of a Skirrow.
In midget car racing, Mackereth is firmly linked to Coventry. He was a member of their league teams in the 1937 and 1938 seasons, and raced in oen meetings there during 1939. When a Winter Midget Car League was formed in 1951-52, track promoter Charles Ochiltree persuaded Mackereth, then 48-years-old, to emerge from retirement to lead the team. This, he did, with some success until an increasingly bad winter forced the league to be abandoned because the tracks were continually waterlogged.
But two years later, on August 15 1953, Mackereth staged a one-off come-back at Stepps to lead Scotland in a 47-41 defeat against England. Mackereth proved in this last-ever race appearance that although he had now reached his half-century in age, the old racing skills were still there by scoring a 15 points, a total matched by England’s top scorer Wilf Davis.
Mackereth's only other post-war activity had been in a handful of meetings promoted by pre-war Stoke rider Gene Crowley at The Hague in Holland, in 1946, then at the Buffalo Stadium in Paris, France in 1947. And it was Mackereth who did most of the winning, although his rivals included drivers like Frank Chiswell, Billy Murden, Johnny Young and Val Atkinson. And for novelty at the Paris meetings, Mackereth also raced against bikes ridden by the French speedway stars Charles Bellisent and Fernand Meynier. Results, sadly, have not been recorded.
These factors though are only additions to a career that was at its peak in the three years before the start of World War Two.
Roy Chiswell, the son of driver Frank Chiswell, has some recollections of Mackereth. And he contests the theory that Mackereth was ever a speedway rider. Chiswell said: “I am not sure that Walter ever rode a speedway bike, but Harry Skirrow did. Walter and his wife had three daughters, but they always wanted a son. I think that is why they looked on midget driver Johnny Young as the son they never had. Whether the Mackereths were actually Johnny’s foster parents, as was claimed, but in match programmes he was often referred to as Walter’s adopted son. I know Young was very close to the family.”
Chiswell added, “After the war ended in 1945, my dad took us on holiday to the Lake District, chiefly to see Walter. At the time, Walter and his wife had a taxi business, each diving their own car. Later on, he had a garage in Kendal and a dealership for the French Simca cars. He had this until he retired.”
Chiswell also remembers when Mackereth came to live with the Chiswell’s in Cambridge in the late 1940s. “Walter stayed at our farm for some time after he and Mrs Mac had a small falling out. It was while he was with us that he had an unusal accident.
“At the time we had an elevator, a wooden structure on wheels which kept a chain belt moving. At intervals, the chain had two prongs which helped to carry bales of straw or wheat. Our elevator was driven by a tractor and as the chain started to rotate, one of the prongs cut into the top of Walter’s head. It meant a quick dash to the local hospital for some stitches to be put in the wound. Walter soon revovered but never stood underneath the elevator again.”
The motorsport historian Derek Bridgett also mentions that at one time Skirrow employed Mackereth in his gragae at Ambleside before they moved south in the mid-1930s to build the Skirrow midget car.
Bridgett said, “The Skirrow brothers and Mackereth were one-time members of the Westmoreland Motor Club and were regular starters in motorcycle grass track and scrambles events.”
(c) John Hyam 2009