RACING CAR ABLAZE.
DRIVERS DRAMATIC ESCAPE
While practising for the 500-mile race to take place at Brooklands, Sir Henry Birkin, the well-known racing motorist, had a narrow escape. He was driving at a speed of nearly 130 miles an hour when an auxiliary petrol tank in the cockpit of his car caught fire. Flames shot up around him and in a few minutes the terrific wind set up by the car’s speed turned the cockpit into a blazing furnace.
Sir Henry strove desperately to stop the car. He was able tp switch off his engine, but during the last 100 yards, before lie could stop, he had to stand on the driving seat to keep clear of the flames. Eventually he was able tp pull his car into the side, controlling it as he stood high up above the steering wheel. “I do not know,” Sir Henry afterwards stated, ‘‘what caused the fire, but it was fierce enough while it lasted. I was coming off the Byfleet banking when flames shot out from the auxiliary tank. In a second or two they were around me. I switched off, and applied the brakes, but before the car came to a standstill I had to leave my seat and perch high up half on the back of the car and half on the seat, itself to keep clear of the flames.”
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Bibliographic details
Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 2, 2 December 1931, Page 2
Word Count
229RACING CAR ABLAZE. Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 2, 2 December 1931, Page 2
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