Wheel to Wheel at 90 m.p.h. In Thrilling Tourist Trophy Race

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18545, 3 November 1934, Page 9

Wheel to Wheel at 90 m.p.h. In Thrilling Tourist Trophy Race

BELFAST, Sept. 3. A QUARTER of a million people yelled themselves hoarse while, for an hour yesterday afternoon, a 1 the R.A.U. Tourist Trophy Race, Hie lion. Brian Lewis and E. R. Hall waged a duel that will live long in the history of motor-racing. This fierce struggle, wheel to wheel, was the prelude to the closest finish ever known in a tourist trophy race. The result was: C. .T. I’. Dodson (M.U. Magnetic;, fihr. l.'lin.in. 24soe, average speed 74.(15 m.p.h., 1; E. R. Hall (Bentley), Ohr. 13min. 41sec., speed 78.4 m.p.h., 2; T. Fothringham (AstonMartin), Ohr. lfintin. 15sec., speed 74.53 m.p.h., 3. Brian Lewis (Lagonda) was fourth, and another Lagonda, driven by J. S. Hindmarsli, was fifth. Seventeen of the 40 starters finished'.

Young Dodson, the winner, was, until recently, a professional driver of racing motor-cycles. He has driven in three car races, finishing second in each of the first two and winning the third. Hall ancl his new model Bentley was by some margin the best of the field and should have won the race, in spite of having to stop twice for tyres and fuel, against a single stop for Lewis and Dodson. It was the second of these stops that started the great duel. Caution Thrown to Winds.

As Hall drew away from the pits, Lewis, who had been three minutes behind, came up, and the sight of his rival electrified him.

Grouching over the wheel, caution thrown to the winds, Lewis set out in chase, and, right in front of the grand- , stand, while the crowd leapt, yelling, to its feet, the red Lagonda passed the green Bentley. Then ensued such a battle of skill and daring as not even the Italian masters have shown Ulster. Down the winding descent of Bradshaw’s Brae the two great cars thundered, bonnet to tail, and then along the straight to Xewtownards lho Bentley for once held for sheer speed. Within Inches. Through the Square, and on through the streets of Comber the Lagonda still led. Then on the winding and dangerous stretch by Ballvstockart, the mold difficult part of the whole course, Hall thrust the Bentley past into the lead, while those who watched gasped see the cars within inches of each other travelling at nearly 90 miles an hour. Round' the Dundonald hairpin Hall still led, but the Lagonda’s extra power told on the up slope, and once more Lewis passed in front of the stand. For 75 miles that terrific struggle went on, the two fighting for the load and with never more than 50yds. between them. Then at last it was the green car that came first into sight of the grandstand and Lewis was pointing as he passed to his tyres. • They were worn right down to the white band, known as the breaker strip. Like Hound After Hare. Now Hall set off in pursuit of Dodson like a hound after the hare. Faster and faster lie drove until he was lapping at over 8L miles nn hour and had reduced his lap time to lOmin. (isoe. —27see. faster than his best lap in practice. Lap by lap he got closer, but he could not catch Dodson. Actually lho race was lost for Hall in his pit. jlis two stops for tyres and fuel cost him s|min. Reasonably smart pit work would have saved more than a minute. He lost the race by 17scc. 1 Races confined to standard cars are not bound to be dull. In the very first lap Hall had a hair-raising skid that very nearly ended the Bentley’s career. No Super-Charged Cars. ' For a long time before the race there was much heart-burning among interested parties, who had taken exception to the new regulations framed by the Royal Automobile Club, the most revolutionary of which was the decree that no supercharged machine would be eligible to enter. But the club stuck to its guns/ presumably influenced by the fact that the T.T. was never intended to be a competition 1 for special racing models, but rather a contest for fast stock productions .which would enable the public to gauge the relative merits of the different makes available. The wisdom of that attitude was fully justified, for the speeds •achieved by “unknown” cars confounded the critics, and seldom if ever has there been a more exciting and sportsmanlike T.T. race. The T.T. is a handicap contest in which various time and lap allowances are made in accordance with engine classifications, with a result that only | the scratch cars have to cover the I full distance of 478 miles. The course is one which calls for a high degree of driving skill, for it consists of a circuit of ordinary roads having many corners in its length of 13 2-3rd miles. Drivers must therefore seize every opportunity of racing at full throttle for short distances, and then decelerate, slam on the brakes, and skid round the turns.