Tag Archives: Brackenbury

As Seen On TV – ERA R7B

Austin and Arthur Dobson were to wealthy brothers who raced between the great wars of the twentieth century.

Arthur the younger, considered the more talented and more successful made his racing debut at the wheel of a FIAT 508S in the 1935 RAC Tourist Trophy from which he retired out of petrol.

ERA R7B, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone,

By 1936 when he bought today’s featured ERA R7B Arthur was a busy racing driver also running a Riley TT Sprite.

Arthur was so busy he let Cyril Paul drive R7B in it’s first three events before taking the wheel himself.

ERA R7B, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone,

In August 1937 Arthur won the Junior Car Club 200 at Donington running a works entered ERA C with a 1.1 / 67 cui motor while Charles Brackenbury raced the 1.5 litre / 91.5 cui R7B and Carlo Pintacuda finished the same race in 7th place.

Later in October Arthur drove ERA R7B to a second place finish half a car length behind B.Bira driving another ERA known as R2B or Romulus at Crystal Palace, the event was notable for being the first to be screened on British Television by the steam powered British Broadcasting Corporation.

ERA R7B, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone,

Arthur continued racing R7B through 1938 scoring a third place behind the Maserati 6CM of Franco Cortese and 4CM of Armand Hug at Modena.

Arthur followed this with a 6th place in the 1938 Donington Grand Prix, R7B was the first non Auto Union and non Mercedes Benz to cross the finish line only 6 laps down on Tazio Nuvolari who drove the winning D-Type Auto Union.

ERA R7B, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone,

1939 would prove to be Arthur’s final season as a racing driver in which he continued to race R7B and at the 1939 Albi Grand Prix in France he crashed the first ERA E-type.

During the 1939/45 war Arthur was briefly a Pilot officer, the termination of his commission might have been related to the brothers love of the occasional tipple of the falling down waters though the reason has not been identified.

ERA R7B, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone,

After 1945 Arthur Dobson found himself in “straitened circumstances” having spent his fortune and only attended three more race meetings before his death in Battersea aged just 65.

His great ERA rival B.Bira died similarly anonymously after suffering a heart attack at Barons Court tube station five years later.

ERA R7B, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone,

While in the care of H L Brooke between 1945 and 1948 R7B lost it’s unique chrome radiator, an item that was not restored until after P Mullins bought her in 2002.

Ken Hutchison had the 2 litre / 122 cui motor fitted in 1948/49 by Robin Jackson who was also responsible for upgrading the brakes to hydraulic operation.

ERA R7B, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone,

R7B was bought by current owners Ms S & Ms F Wilton in 2014 and is seen in these photographs at the start of ERA’s 80th Anniversary Celebrations at the VSCC’s Spring Start meeting the same year.

Thanks for joining me on this “As Seen On TV” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres I hope you will join me again for Mercedes Monday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Old Number 5 – Lagonda V12 #14089

Despite winning Le Mans in 1935 Lagonda looked to be going the same way as Bentley financially until it was rescued with an injection of cash by it’s new chairman 30 year old Alan Good.

Good hired two former Rolls Royce employees to design today’s featured car, none other than W.O. Bentley himself was responsible for the chassis while his colleague Stuart Tresilian was responsible for the 4.5 litre / 274 cui single overhead cam V12 motor.

Lagonda V12, Goodwood Festival of Speed

In late 1938 early 1939 Good announced that he would like to enter a Lagonda V12 into the 1939 Le Mans 24 Hours race.

W.O. Bentley who was to be prepare the car, originally designed as a production vehicle and never intended for racing, was adamant that this should only be done to see if the cars would last the distance in anticipation of a full onslaught in 1940 to which Good agreed.

Lagonda V12, Goodwood Festival of Speed

A short V12 chassis was lightened by drilling out as much dead weight as possible from the chassis members and independent front suspension arms. The V12 aluminium block motor was fitted with four carburetors and produced over 200 hp.

Good had hoped that Mercedes Benz star Richard “Dick” Seaman would drive chassis #14089 but Mercedes objected and so leading ERA runner Arthur Dobson was joined by Brooklands regular Charles Brackenbury at the wheel of the car which would become known as Old Number 5.

Lagonda V12, Goodwood Festival of Speed

During the preparations Lord Selsdon came into a substantial inheritance and persuaded Alan Good to enter a second car which he was to share with Lord William Waleran.

Observing strict instructions from W.O. the drivers of the two Lagonda’s lapped at a pre arranged speed and they completed 239 laps and 238 laps respectively, four more than the 235 laps completed by the winning Delahaye in 1938, but short of the 248 laps recorded Jean-Pierre Wimille and Pierre Veyron in their winning supercharged Bugatti type 57C.

Lagonda V12, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The Lagondas finished third and forth behind the Ecurie Walter Watney Delage with Old Number 5 ahead of it’s sister to secure first and second in the over 5 litre / 302 cui class.

Dick Seaman tragically was killed at Spa after an accident in his Mercedes Benz the following week.

The beginning of hostilities in 1939 meant the 1940 Le Mans 24 hours would not take place and so the Lagonda V12’s never got the chance to prove their true potential although they did finish first and second in one of the last races run at Brooklands before war broke out.

Lord Selsdon would, briefly, share the winning 1949 Le Mans winning Ferrari 166MM with Luigi Chinetti.

While Old Number 5 seen here at last years Goodwood Festival of Speed would briefly end up in the hands of Fighter Pilot and Racing Driver Robert, later Roberta, Cowell.

After war Lagonda became part of David Brown’s portfolio which included Aston Martin and was merged to become Aston Martin Lagonda.

Thanks for joining me on this “Old Number 5” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for Maserati Monday when I’ll be looking at the prototype Maserati Tipo 60. Don’t forget to come back now !

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High Class Motor Business – Aston Martin DB2

David Brown Engineering Limited was founded in 1860 to manufacture gears and gearboxes in Huddersfield, by 1898 the company was specialising in machine cut gears. Percy and Frank Brown took over the business when their father died in 1903 and expanded production to include bearings, and worm gears. During the 1914-’18 war they also built propulsion units for warships.

Aston Martin DB2, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Square, Bristol

In 1931 (later Sir) David Brown became managing director after his father died and in 1936 the company entered into a partnership with Harry Ferguson to build agricultural tractors. By the end of the thirties Brown and Ferguson parted ways and Brown launched a new tractor design in 1939 of which over 7,000 would be built.

Aston Martin DB2, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Square, Bristol

In 1947 after seeing an advertisement in The Times offering a “High Class Motor Business” David Brown bought Aston Martin, then Lagonda the following year and the Tickford coachbuilder, in to whose premises Aston Martin production would be moved, in 1955.

Aston Martin DB2, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Square, Bristol

David Browns ownership of Aston Martin led to the DB prefix for models, a 2 litre sports car manufactured from 1948 to 1950 was retrospectively known as the DB1. The Aston Martin DB2 replaced the 2 litre using a upgraded DB 1 chassis to take a 2.6 litre / 158 cui development of the twin overhead cam straight six engine which W O Bentley and William (Willie) Watson had originally designed for Lagonda.

Aston Martin DB2, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Square, Bristol

Three Aston Martin DB2’s were sent to Le Mans in 1950, George Abecassis and Lance Macklin finished fifth overall ahead of Charles Brackenbury and Reg Parnell to score a one – two class victory.

Aston Martin DB2, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Square, Bristol

A car tested with the Frank Feeley designed coupé body was tested in 1950 and shown to be capable of reaching 60 mph from rest in 11.2 seconds with a top speed of 116 mph. In all 411 DB2’s were built between 1950 and 1953.

Today’s featured 1952 DB2 is seen at an Avenue Drivers Club meeting earlier this year.

Thanks for joining me on this “High Class Motor Business” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now.

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