This picture comes to us courtesy of the Brooklands Society. It was found in an 'automobilia' shop in Chichester by their chairman, Nigel Brooke. It depicts the Earl of March in a Works car at Brooklands in the Double Twelve, on the 9th & 10th May1930. The number 9 on the other Austin in the background is only part of the number, team No. 9, cars 91, 92 etc. The car the Earl is seated in is actually Arthur Waite's. My reasoning behind this piece of detective work, is that I am reliably informed, by none other than Martin Eyre, that Waite's car had a larger tachometer than the others (so did Charles Goodacre's later) and this is car No. 1. This large tacho. is clearly visible, especially in the larger picture below. It is interesting also, to contrast these pictures with the surviving T.T. car, GW82. It might be a good idea to explain the meaning of the "Double Twelve" at this juncture: The Brooklands authorities were becoming sensitive to noise complaints at this time and it was not possible to run a 24 hour race and hence run at night. Therefore the race was run over two twelve hour periods, on consecutive days. The 1930 race was marred by tragedy on the first day, unusual for Brooklands, but carried on over the second. Out of 57 starters there were 30 finishers, the race was won by Barnato and Clement, in a "Le-Mans" Bentley, at an average speed of 86.68 mph and this car covered 2,080.34 miles over the 24 hours. The Waite/March car came 6th by my reckoning, with the Barnes brother's one coming 8th. "Archie" Frazer-Nash (who earlier changed a supercharger) and Burt's Austins were still running when it was time to close the track! Austin won a team prize and Waite's Austin won the Chassis-price handicap - the Austin costing only £190 a chassis.

The original sepia 'photo is now with the current Earl, at Goodwood.

Martin has the same picture too.

click here for a large 'photo and instant nostalgia!

 

For a link to the official Brooklands Society website click here: http://www.brooklands.org.uk

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