MOTORIST'S LAST DRIVE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21332, 5 November 1932, Page 2 (Supplement)

MOTORIST'S LAST DRIVE

TERRIFIC RACING CRASH TRAGEDY AT BROOKLANDS MR. CLIVE DUNFEE KILLED ONLY JUST QNE MORE GO " When Mr. /Give Dunfee married Miss Dane Baxter, an actress, in 1930, he. promised to give up motor racing. He had fulfilled this promise until September 24, when he was/ offered the chance to drive, with his brother, the car in which he had finished second in this same race in 1929, at Brooklands. He received his wife's permission for " just one more go." Shortly after taking over from his brother, Mr. Dunfee had met disaster, and lay dead on the track. It was tho British Racing Drivers' Club's 500-nnlo race in which Mr. Dunfee Was competing, lie had taken, over control at 2.30,, and the giant eight-litre Bentley, belonging to Captain Barnato, was lapping consistently at an average speed of about 126 miles an hour. Shortly before three o'clock Mr. DunFee went \evf high in the first section of the members' banking in order, apparently, to pass another competitor who was taking a, very good course with adequate space above him for faster cars. The tail of the Bentley swung upwards and the offside rear wheel went over the top of the banking. The tyre of that wheel left the car and shot to the far side of tho track, coming to rest finally on the grass bank within the railings. Car out ol Control Instantly the huge car was out of control. It spun round, mowing down a row of 12in. trees as if they were straw, and throwing up a fountain of brown earth, mistaken by those at a distance for a cloud of smoke. For 250 yds. the car crashed along the rim of the banking, and as it was doing so Mr. Dunfee was flung out on the track. Then the car shot into v. the air, dropped about 20ft. and fell on she road leading to one of the entrances the track. %Mr. Dunfee lay huddled on the track while other cars rushed past him, the drivers swerving to avoid liim, but only one of them looking round and seeming to recognise what had happened. For an appreciable time Mr. Dunfee lay on the track, and then the official car arrived, ''and Mr. Jack Dunfee, with tho track doctor, went out to him, but he was dead. The car, in shattering the trees bordering the banking, had cut off one tree short, and the trunk had fallen across the track, constituting a serious danger to the other drivers. Mr. Jack Dunfee clashed across the track and, with the aid of other people who made a hand-to-hand chain down the steep side from the top of the banking, succeeded in removing the obstruction. ' A Dangerous Corner Mr. George Eyston, a well-known driver, speaking on the accident, said :—The particular spot where the Bentley came to grief is the most dangerous of the whole track. One comes on to the members' banking in a straight line, climbing up the slope preparatory to taking the turn. Tho turn, when it conies, is sudden. A strong ''effort is needed to swing the car round, atid as it happens just where one makes the turn, there is one of the Worst bumps in the whole of the circuit. Most drivers of fast cars have to lift their foot, i.e.. decelerate, when taking the bend, and agree that it is a very dangerous place at which to attempt to pass - another car." The accident happened in full view of a large crowd of spectators. Mrs. Dunfee, who was 21 at the time of her marriage, often rodd with her husband in practice. Mr. Dunfee declared at the time that Bobody else dared go with him. His wife and he first met at Brooklands. Mr. Dunfee, driving with Sammy Davies, was involved in an accident at Brooklands on Easter Monday last year, when his car, after crashing over the embankment, burst into flames. At Le Mans in 1930 the car he was then driving ran into a ditch, but he was uninjured. Film Shown at Inquest An unusual feature of the inquest on the body ; of Mr. Dunfee was the showing of a film illustrating the accident. Tho coroner and jury were able to see the accident re-enacted in slow motion. Mr. Paul Wyand, a photographer, said that he was in the members' enclosure opposite the section of the members' banking on which the accident happened. He saw two cars approaching together high on the bank, and thinking it would make a good picture, he focused his viewfinder on them. He had only just focused when be saw the Bentley car coining over. The Talbot was leading, and the Bentley, which was a little higher up the banking, appeared to bo overtaking it. Major Basil Hnggins said that he saw the Talbot and the Bentley approaching quite normally. The Tnlbot was '* pretty high on the banking," but he had the impression. that there was sufficient room for the Bentley to pass. When the Bentley was about to pass, or maybe just as it Was beginning to overtake the Talbot, the off fore-wheel of the Bentley gradually crept over the banking. This caused the Bentley to go broadside on, and it crashed into a tree. There was no obvious swerve. / '1 he foreman: Are you satisfied there ,was no sudden diversion of the car? Witness: Absolutely certain. Evidence of Brother Mr. Jack Dunfee, the brother of the dead innn, said that he took the wheel of the car in the fast part of the race. " My opinion is,' he said. " that in a long race like that one would not attempt to pass a car going at the speed of the Talbot on the embankment. My theory is that my brother made tip his mind to cut out and follow the' Talbot round to pass him on the railway bridge. Probably Mr. Cobb, who was driving the Talbot, hearing a car behind him, lifted his foot for one second, and that would slow down the Talbot for one second. It would come backon the Bentley and in order to avoid the tail of the Talbot, he pulled out. I say this without any reflection whatever oil Mr. Cobb's driving. It would be the natural thing to do." "I aril perfectly satisfied." the witness said m answer to the foreman, that there was a terrific swerve before my brother went over the bank. In my opinion 5t is unsafe for the average car lapping at 127 miles an hour to pass anybody oil that particular piece of track unless the other car is below the black line." He was satisfied that the track was safe and in .good condition.

Mr. Frank Alan Smith, another eye-wit-ness, said that he was particularly struck by the consistent position of tho faster cars as they lapped. The Talbot seemed to run on practically tho same line each lap. The Bentlcy was travelling faster than the Talbot and manoeuvred to overtake it. The off front wheel of the Bent ley left the track just as it was about to pass the Talbot. It was not until tho off-side wheel left the track that the car appeared to go right up into the air and went over tho embankment. At first he thought the Bentley was going to hit the Talbot broadside on. The wheel marks showed definitely that the car left the track gradually. Mr. John Cobb, who was at the wheel of the Talbot which was in front of the Bentlev, said that he tried to keep as low 011 tho embankment as he could. He did not know anything as to what happened to the Bentlev, and so far as he could remember he did not take his foot off the accelerator, lie did not know the car was so close to him. He had been driving a high-powered car at Brooklands for about eight years. lie ought to know the track as well as any man driving there to-day. He fully appreciated the necessity of leaving room for cars to pass. He never actually saw the. front wheels of the Bentley. The fastest lap < ver done at Brooklands was 137 miles an hour. Mr. Percy Bradley, the permanent clerk of the course at Brooklands, said that theoretically . tho track was designed so that a driver could go round at a maximum speed of 120 miles an hour with his hands off the steering wheel, but by taking "hold of the wheel he could lap at a verv much higher speed. The coroner: But if speed increases, as 1 expect it will, will the time arrive when the question of the outlay of the track will have to be reviewed ? Witness: I think it is a question that will have to be looked into. The jury returned a verdict of death by misadventure. It added a rider that in its opinion the regulations concerning the passing of slow by faster cars should bo tightened, and a definite ruling given to all competitors in racing events.