HEARTBREAKING COURSE

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 30 September 1933, Page 12

HEARTBREAKING COURSE

CYCLIST BEATS CAE. KINGS * ‘ROUND-THE-HOUSES ’ • EVENT. Freddy Dixon, against almost incredible odds, won the first of the great “Bound the Houses” races in the Isle of Man. He was the hero of one of the most amazing motor-car contests in history, though the dice were loaded against him. The crowd hoped he would win, because he is a democrat among the autocracy of racing drivers. They love him. He had no valet to look after his car, writes Harold Pemberton in the “Daily Express.” He tuned it himself, and because he worked on it with his own hands until the very last minute he was rather a figure at the start Americans would call him a tough guy. Arrayed against him at the start were the pick of British drivers. Freddy was driving a Riley _ The only other car of the same make was driven by Victor Gilloiv. This erstwhile motor cyclist, who more or less gate-crashed into the august ranks of the car racing community last year, had against him experienced drivers like Kaye Don, George Evston, H. C. Hamilton and E. 8.. Hall. The odds almost amounted to one against a football team. The race itself was rather like the story of the little nigger boy. One by one the drivers faded away until Freddy Dixon and D. K. Mansell, another noted motor-cyclist, were left to finish. IMMENSE! CROWDS. Immense crowds thronged the course. There has never before been a scene like it in the British Isles. The race started with Freddy Dixon hedged in among his rivals. For many laps H. C. Hamilton was in the lead. Then came Kaye Don, then F A. C abtree, then lonely Freddy, and then Eyston. A terrific pace was set. Hamilton did one lap of the course, with its numerous hairpin bends, its one-in-seven hill, its miles of tramway lines, at a flat speed of 58.51 m.p.h UNIVERSAL SEIZED.

His universal joint seized. He ran up a side road, and when he discovered

■iiiiiifiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiaimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiM! what had happened lie emptied a tin of oil over the joint. But the delay 7 had lost him two laps, and Hamilton, Kaye Don and Yallop were nearly two miles ahead. Then Kuy 7 e Don cracked, and hardly had the crowd recovered before Yallop cracked also. Then there was only Hamilton left between Freddy and victory, with Mansell plodding along steadily in third place. For lap after lap Freddy 7 chased Hamilton, but could only 7 pick up a few hundred yards. His pit manager kept telling him so, but he continued to drive with reckless abandon, taking more and more risks and cutting out later at every acute coiner . . . and then came tragedy for Hamilton. With victory almost in sight, his car developed mechanical trouble Dixon now led. The crowd could scarcely believe their eyes. HE JUST WENT FASTER.. His pit manage: was now getting 1 anxious. There was no need for hisj man to hurry. He could crawl home' in comfort. Instead of the “flag-out” signal, the pit manager now hung out the “Go' slow” sign. ’ ; The driver laughed and went faster I still.

I have never seen in any race such fervent signals given to a driver to go slow. But there has never been a race in which only 7 two out of 15 cars finished.

Freddy’s car stood up to him well, and when "past the winning post lie received tumultuous cheers. Although lie did not finish in the scheduled time the stewards, at a meet ing after the race, decided to award third place to J. L. Ford, driving an M.G., who was the only other driver to complete the course.