INTERNATIONAL RACING CAR SHOW, LONDON

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29723, 17 January 1962, Page 17

INTERNATIONAL RACING CAR SHOW, LONDON

PRESCRIBED as the last motor show of 1961 and the first of 1962, the International Racing Car Exhibition closed recently in London. Enthusiasts ranging from schoolboys to pensioners arrived to inspect the cars of their dreams, and to look at some of the interesting veterans, and the equally interesting new and championship models.

Championship machinery on view ranged from a Testa Rossa Ferrari, representing the machines which brought the world sports car championship to the Italian firm last year, to a British Motor Corporation Mini.

■ For the ordinary motorist t who wanted to make his car . go faster, there was a wide • selection of extras on show. ■ Tuning equipment, designed . to make a car go and look i faster than its makers intend- ■ ed, was on view on many of the stands.

Several manufacturers took the opportunity to introduce new models, one of which was a Swiss machine called the M.B.M. One organisation offered the Austin Healy Sprite owner a glassfibre hardtop, a special lightweight bonnet of the same material, sliding door handles

a luggage grid, a walnut dashboard, and an external carrier for the spare wheel.

There was also an alloy cylinder head claimed to give 20 per cent, extra power, and designed to fit all B.M.C. “A” series engines.

The veteran shown at the top right is Mr J. Bolster’s 1929 special “Bloody Mary,” said to still be capable of a

“terrifying speed.” Mr Bolster is seen in the cockpit about to replace the steering wheel, which must be removed before the driver can get in*

The photograph at the top left shows one of the younger enthusiasts, a seven-year-old schoolboy, trying the wheel of a 130 mile-an-hour 1962 Cooper. This car has the same engine as the Morris Mini-Minor and the Austin Seven.