One of the great things about my job is the sheer number of fabulous cars one gets to test drive. This morning’s lark was the awesome 1924 Delage Land Speed record car, followed by a staggeringly beautiful Ferrari 410 (5.3 litres), a supercharged 4 ½ Litre Bentley, then finally the Richard Bolster Special. This car, owned by Paul Smeeth, was built and raced successfully in the 30’s by John Bolsters brother. It has a Frazer Nash chassis and running gear, a fabricated front axle with Lea Francis brakes and is powered by a 1200cc 6 Cylinder MG engine which is fed by two superchargers and running on methanol. The whole deal is set off perfectly by a Darracq radiator which sits well behind the front axle.
Paul has kindly asked me to drive the car at Prescott this year which will be interesting as, apart from the social aspect, hill climbing is probably my least enjoyable form of motor sport! I think that one has to have a particular mindset to be a good hill climber and frankly I have too much self-preservation to be as brave as you need to be to get top results. James Baxter’s numerous FTD’s is brilliant but the most staggering hill climb result recently must be Dick Smith in UTW breaking the 1500 racing car record again at Shelsley with a 37.44. Dick is well in to his 70’s and this result makes him an all-time hero in the world of Frazer Nash. The Bolster Special was recently requisitioned to sit in the foyer of the RAC Club on Pall Mall which was one of the places where Archie regularly carried out his famous arm chair trick. He would have been amused to have seen this amazing derivative of his product gently oozing Castrol R oil on the resplendent carpet! I will nail the RBS as best I can at Prescott and I’m excited to be racing this very historic and beautifully presented racing car.
Richard Procters Supercharged Nurburg is very nearly finished and is one of the cars I covet. The car is largely original and boosts its very original & beautiful Corsica body. Its consummately powerful blown Meadows engine makes it an extremely impressive car to drive and once it has been shaken down fully would easily sit at the sharp end of the Nash race. Whilst the pre-war scene at BMS is as frantic as ever, the post war cars continue arriving for prep and racing at an alarming rate. New member Anthony Galliers-Pratt has bought the proto-type Austin engined Targa Florio and sent it to us to prepare for racing at the Silverstone Classic. The current engine is producing circa 150bhp with, I think, a potential of 180bhp from its 2600cc straight 4. I‘ve always had a penchant for ‘wolves in sheeps clothing’ and this car when developed will be exactly that. Martin Hunt was leading the class in his Le Mans Rep KCD459 at the support race to the 24hr but was unfortunately clouted by an AC Ace after an innocuous spin in the Dunlop chicane. Phil Champion and Chris Chilcott won the class after a brilliant drive in Phils Mille Miglia. The damage sustained to KCD has been enough to go through the car fully and get it finely prepared for Spa and a challenge for the win at Monaco next year. Finally the ex Fane BMW328 GMC1 has been rejuvenated with a sympathetic engine rebuild and a light mechanical fettle. Testing the car was a delight – it is exactly as a works 328 would have been in 1937. It is pleasing that the end result has been deserving of an invite to be displayed in the original / unrestored class at Pebble Beach this year. Even driving the exotica mentioned earlier it is not often that the hairs rise on the back of my neck when driving a car. They did when I drove GMC1.
Patrick Blakeney-Edwards
