Need your help - Joe Fry and the Freikaiserwagen

Hello everybody!
Uh!!! I never saw in the internet so huge company of the historical profies!!!

May be somebody can help me?
I am currently interested in 1950 Formula One season in everything from drivers who was driving only one GP till champion and winners. So, I was found almost images of the 47 drivers, but I don’t have pictures of the face such drivers:
Cuth Harrison (only in car with helmet), Joe Kelly (only in car with helmet), Franco Rol (only car without him). I have faces of all others, but if you can help me more I will do everything what I can. Thank you!

Maybe somebody know something about “Freikaiserwagen special” which was build by Joe Fry?

I want to say biggest thanks to Richard Jenkins who is helping to create historical project! ~/ ~/ ~/!!!

Best Regards,
Maxim

Well, it's still early in Los Angeles, but the Fry car you mention was strictly a hillclimb special, I think...sorry, my brain isn't working quite yet..

Stu

to dretceterini
Yes, Fry was driving on this car on hillclimb, and in this car he got fatal crash...

Regards

The original Freikaiserwagen was built in the 1930s, based on a GN chassis, but with a rear-mounted 1097cc Blackburne V-twin engine. This car was scrapped, but rebuilt on another GN frame. In 1948 an Iota 500 chassis was substituted and the engine was supercharged, giving 110bhp. The car made many ftds in sprints and hillclimbs. This and other Fry cars are mentioned in this thread:

http://www.atlasf1.c...&threadid=21359

to Vitesse2
Thank you! It's very interesting. How you think it's possible to find any images of this Fry?

Regards!

P.S. Sorry, I don't undestant what you are mean on "GN chassis"?

This is the Freikaiserwagen at Shelsley Walsh in September 1949, from the Directory of Historic Racing Cars, by Denis Jenkinson.

I may be wrong, but didn't Joe die in an event at Blandford Camp in Dorset, England ?

Just a bit primitive!!

Cryo: GN was a small British sports car builder founded in 1910. British "special" builders making cars for hillclimbs and sprints often stripped off the bodywork and/or fitted a different engine on existing chassis frames. Most specials were built on things like Austin 7 chassis, but Fry chose to use a GN.

Originally posted by LittleChris
I may be wrong, but didn't Joe die in an event at Blandford Camp in Dorset, England ?

Blandford, yes, but not a race meeting. It was a West Hants and Dorset CC hillclimb on July 29th 1950.

Many, many specials used the GN chassis, according to the Bolster book. The GN was built by HR Godfrey and Archie Frazer-Nash. After the two split up, Godfrey went on to make the HRG and Nash the Frazer-Nash. Incidentally, people seem to have stopped hyphenating the name Frazer-Nash. It was always hyphenated in contemporary accounts, and company advertisements and nobody has ever removed the hyphen when referring to the man. So why do they remove the hyphen from the name of the car?

The Freikaiserwagen was built by the Fry cousins and famed special builder Dick Caesar, rather than Joe Fry on his own. But Joe usually drove it because he was lighter than David. It went through many changes in its life, the Iota version was quite different to the original. This was the third chassis it had. A Frazer-Nash chassis from the Watkins-Nash (another special) was used between the GN and Iota chassis. The Frazer-Nash chassis was very similar to the GN but beefed up a bit.

I shall try to remember to scan and post the Bolster description for you at the weekend and another couple of photos, unless somebody beats me to it. He has a wonderful turn of phrase and some of the things in Bolster's book really make me laugh.

Originally posted by Ian McKean
Incidentally, people seem to have stopped hyphenating the name Frazer-Nash. It was always hyphenated in contemporary accounts, and company advertisements and nobody has ever removed the hyphen when referring to the man. So why do they remove the hyphen from the name of the car?

It shouldn't have a hiphen. The founder's name was Frazer Nash, changed legally in the 1930s to Frazer-Nash, but the name of the cars was - and is - Frazer Nash. In his book on the marque Denis Jenkinson concedes that, in spite of this, advertisements frequently inserted a hiphen

Great!!!
So many answers!
Thak you for all! Now I am translate everything and will ask more questions!

May be you are need help from me?

Regards,
Maxim

Originally posted by Roger Clark
This is the Freikaiserwagen at Shelsley Walsh in September 1949, from the Directory of Historic Racing Cars, by Denis Jenkinson.

That driving style is rather amazing. Could it be from last century?

Originally posted by LittleChris

I may be wrong, but didn't Joe die in an event at Blandford Camp in Dorset, England ?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reply posted by Vitesse2

Blandford, yes, but not a race meeting. It was a West Hants and Dorset CC hillclimb on July 29th 1950.

Can anyone provide me with any report of this event please, or any obituary for Joe Fry, that might have appeared in Autocar or the Motor (there’s nothing in Motor Sport & it’s too early for Autosport).

From the Motor yearbook 1951 (bought 1949 to 1956 last month for $50)

J . G . Fry

Practicing for the Blandford Hill-climb of the West Hants and Dorset Car Club on July 29th, J.G.Fry was killed at the wheel of his 1,100-c.c. rear-engined Freikaiserwagon when the machine became out of control on a fast curve.
"Joe" Fry, as he was known among motoring enthusiasts in this country, had developed his pre-war sprint and hill-climb lightweight until he broke the Raymond Mays record (37.37 sec.) for Shelsley Walsh Hill-climb with a time of 37.35 sec. in 1949 at the July meeting and made fastest climb of the day again at the September meeting with 37.76 sec.
His car was one of the fastest sprint machines in the country, regardless of engine size, and in its 1950 guise had a twin-cylinder Blackburn air-cooled engine with two-stage supercharging. His handling of the car showed a skill and courage belied by his quiet and retiring disposition.

Pete - From 'The Autocar' - August 19, 1950:

It is difficult to express in cold print the loss which the motor racing world in general, and his personal friends in particular, have suffered in the death of Joe Fry, who was so unfortunately killed while practising for the Blandford hill-climb recently. Joe, together wih his cousin David, came into prominence well before the war when they first constructed and ran that extraordinary sprint machine, the Freikaiserwagen; since then they have become an essential part of every hill-climb and sprint event of note, going from strength to strength; Joe's crowning achievement of course, was the capture of the Shelsley Walsh hill-climb record last year, which for so long had been the prerogative of Raymond Mays. He was also no mean road-racing driver, having graduated via his sports Bugatti to the wheel of the 4CL MAserati with which he competed in several of the big races in the last two seasons.

Joe (who was J.G.Fry, not to be confused with Jeremy, David's younger brother, of Parsenn fame) will be missed by us all far more than I can say, and it is difficult to realise that we shall never again se him making his typically meteoric passage through the Shelsley S-bend in one of the most famous of all Shelsley specials.

(There is also copious mention of Joe Fry and the 'Freik' in Rex Hays' book 'Tribute by Trophy' - as Hays the model maker made the Joe Fry Trophy which is a fine - by contemporarty standards - miniature of the Freikaiserwagen itself).

DCN

Thanks chaps

Pete: there is an obituary in Motor Sport - September 1950, but it's on page 442, tucked away at the end of Vintage Veerings, and fairly brief. If you don't have that issue, let me know, and I'll post it for you. There is a very brief report of the hillclimb too, on page 428 - it was won by Archie Butterworth in the AJB after Dennis Poore had also broken the hill record. Other class winners included Sidney Allard and Ken Wharton.

Cryo, here's what Bolster had to say about the Freikaiserwagen in his excellent book "Specials".

"WHEN Auto Unions produced their fabulous rear-engined, independently sprung cars, David Fry and Dick Caesar were very impressed, and decided to build a similar machine themselves. They had one advantage over Dr. Porsche, however, for whereas the august Teutonic designer had probably never even heard of a G.N. chassis, Fry and Caesar actually had one. The car, therefore, had a G.N. frame, with the usual four-chain transmission and solid axle, but independent suspension, in the form of the front end of an old Morgan 3-wheeler, took the place of the quarter-elliptic springs and tubular front axle.

In the Auto Union tradition, the engine was mounted behind the driver, and drove the G.N. bevel gears through a Morgan cone clutch. The first engine was also from a Morgan, and was a water-cooled Vee-twin Anzani, with a Scott motor-cycle radiator above it. This, then, was Herr Fry und Herr Caesar's wagen, and when I saw it steaming up Backwell Hill in 1936, I had no idea that I was watching what would one day be the most successful of all sprint specials.

By the time the 1937 season came round, David Fry and his cousin Joe had completely rebuilt the machine. The general arrangements were similar, but the car was really new from stem to stern.

The most exciting thing was the engine, which was a 1100-c.c.60 deg. Vee-twin air-cooled Blackburne that Robin Jackson and Eric Fernihough produced for Morgan records in 1932.It had never been used, but was potentially capable of producing at least 70 b.h.p., on a 10.5 to 1 compression ratio with two Bowden carburettors.

The driver sat in front of the engine, as before, but the Morgan independent front suspension now had springs of only one-third the strength of those used for a three-wheeler, and Rudge motor-cycle wheels and brakes were adapted to the Morgan stub axles. The cone clutch was retained, driving the G.N. bevel gears, and a new bevel shaft and solid rear axle shaft were made up from 100 ton steel, M.G. hubs and knock on wheels now being used. A special rack and pinion steering gear was employed, and the petrol and oil tanks lived high upabove the engine in a streamlined casing that was shaped to encourage the passage of air over the cylinders.

The car was immediately phenomenally successful, having the 1100-c.c. class in its pocket wherever it went, and it finished the season by climbing Shelsley in 42.58 seconds, which was a class record.

During the winter, it was fitted with a Marshall supercharger and a big S.U. carburettor. To apply forced induction to a Vee-twin is never a simple procedure, but the development work was in the capable hands of Robin Jackson, and he presented the engine for 1938 with 12 lb. of boost and a geometrical compression ratio of 6.5 to 1. The supercharger, which was driven by chain from a sprocket on the crankcase side of the flywheel, really pulled its weight, and one had the interesting spectacle of something in the region of 100 b.h.p. in a motor-car weighing 6.75 cwt.

If the performance had been tremendous before, it was now staggering, and in addition to winning its own class as a matter of course, the car could now take on practically anything in the sprint game, and give it a good run for its money. From a most inspiring list of successes in 1938, let us pick out a climb of Shelsley in 41.52 seconds.

Unfortunately, the car was crashed at Prescott, and when war was declared it was still in pieces, some of which were destroyed in the following years. However, in 1947 it was rebuilt, using the chassis frame and front end of the Watkins-Nash, and the incredible Robin Jackson produced even more power from the engine. This extra torque was disastrous to the reliability of the transmission, and even of the engine crankshaft, but when it was going the machine was faster than ever before, and climbed Shelsley in 40.61 seconds.

During the winter of 1947 and the spring of 1948, the Freikaiserwagen underwent a complete metamorphosis. The engine was rebuilt in a most revolutionary manner, using unlinered aluminium cylinder barrels. The pistons had special rings (under a Cross patent) which, by bottoming in their grooves, held the pistons from actual contact with the bores, and the strengthened crankshaft now boasted a torsional vibration damper. The compression ratio was 7 to 1 for one cylinder and 7.5 to 1 for the other.

Dick Caesar had designed a chassis for 500-c.c. unsupercharged engines, known as the Iota, and David Fry decided to construct an extra light version of this layout for his super-charged twin, giving, shall we say, some 125 b.h.p.

The chassis members are 2.5-in. 14 s.w.g. steel tubes, and the suspension is still of the Morgan "pillar" type in front, and of the swinging half axle variety behind. Rear springing is by rubber in tension, and in front, light coil springs with hydraulic rebound dampers are used. Incidentally, the tubular chassis is sealed up and acts as an air reservoir for the pressure fuel feed. The steering is of the simplest, a pair of spur gears operating without benefit of enclosure upon the split track rod.

The engine is now mounted in the motor-cycle direction, that is to say with its crank axis across the frame, and drives a Norton motor-cycle gearbox by chain. In order to reduce the loading on this box, it is run at engine speed, and this necessitates a double reduction in the final drive, by incorporating a pair of sprockets on a countershaft.

When first tested, the car was extremely difficult to drive, due to violent tail sliding on acceleration out of corners. This was deemed to be partly due to the solid, differential-less, drive to the rear wheels, and a Z.F. self-locking differential was incorporated, the single rear brake now acting on this component. The rear suspension was also rearranged to have no roll stiffness, in other words the leverages are planned so that the rubber strands only support to car but do not resist its tipping to either side, the front springs performing the whole of that duty. It will be realized that the back wheels are thus freed from all lateral weight transference, which helps them to stick to the road on corners and overcomes one of the normal disadvantages of the "swing axle" system. Naturally, the expedient here employed would only be applicable to a vehicle with a very low centre of gravity.

With a very light car it is always difficult to obtain a reasonable ratio of sprung to unsprung weight. In this case, the rear wheels are not detachable, their hubs being mere flanges on the axle shafts to take the wire spokes, and the tyres are of 5.00-in. - 15-in. size, with no brakes to add to the unsprung mass. In front, 4.00-in.-15-in. tyres are mounted on non-detachable wheels incorporating Rudge motor-cycle brakes.

When completed the car weighed 570 lb., which must give it a better power to weight ratio than anything else now competing. The performance is, of course, quite fantastic, and now that the road-holding bothers have been overcome, the machine is tremendously effective. Suffice it to say that it is equal holder of the Bouley Bay Hill-climb record with an Alfa Romeo of some 350 b.h.p., and has unofficially broken the Prescott record in a practice climb. Its Shelsley time of 38.43 seconds is, of course, easily the fastest ascent ever achieved by a special.

Both the Fry cousins are splendid drivers, but Joe is physically much smaller than David, and so he usually gets the job because of his lighter weight."

Huge!!!

Big Thanks to Ian McKean! It’s very interesting and big story!
Also thanks to Catalina Park, Doug Nye and of course Vitesse2!
Your help is very powerful!

Is anybody seen Joe Fry pictures or portraits? I was find one, but it’s very small and hard to see his face well. Also maybe you know something about Joe Fry’s private life and biography?

As I am understand hill climbing competitions was very popular in the past?

Small question more. How you get those old magazines and books? Are they somewhere in libraries or in private collections?

As you help me, maybe you need some help from me? Maybe photos from the 1950 year in F1 or signs of the current F1 drivers?;)

Best Regards,
Maxim

Welcome to the wonderful world of motor racing research, Maxim

Originally posted by cryo
How you get those old magazines and books? Are they somewhere in libraries or in private collections?

Old books and magazines are widely available from a variety of sources. There are many websites that can help, and it's also worth keeping an eye on auction sites such as ebay.
It would probably work out cheaper for you to take your holidays near the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, and spend your days in their library, which has the most popular books and magazines on file. Several other UK libraries also have good archives - the British Newspaper Library for one, even the National Science Museum has old sets of Autocar. You could also try libraries in your own area - you might be surprised at what they have available

Originally posted by cryo


Small question more. How you get those old magazines and books? Are they somewhere in libraries or in private collections?

Best Regards,
Maxim

I find a lot of books in second hand bookstores in country towns and usualy at cheap prices, last month I was given the "Castrol Racing Drivers Manual" by Frank Gardner (with Doug Nye) The book was damaged and I bought another book so they gave me this for free!
I am thinking of getting into the used book selling game after seeing Eoin Young's prices.

And I found a novel by Mike Hawthorn in a second hand shop in Bellingen!

Keep an eye open for Design and Behaviour for me, Catalina...

A bit more on the Freikaiserwagen. 1949 results culled from the 1950 Motor Year Book.

At the June 11th 1949 Shelsley meeting, Joe Fry broke the outright record for cars with a climb of 37.35 seconds, beating the redoubtable Mays into second place. Fry's other results in 1949 hillclimbs and sprints included;

· Bouley Bay, July 21st - 2nd
· Shelsley Walsh, September 24th - 1st
· Prescott, June 12th - 3rd
· Bo'ness, June 25th - 3rd
· Brighton Speed Trials, September 4th - 4th
· Weston-Super-Mare Speed Trials, October 8th - 1st.

Originally posted by David McKinney

It shouldn't have a hiphen. The founder's name was Frazer Nash, changed legally in the 1930s to Frazer-Nash, but the name of the cars was - and is - Frazer Nash. In his book on the marque Denis Jenkinson concedes that, in spite of this, advertisements frequently inserted a hiphen

Interesting...but it seems very odd that every mention of Frazer-Nash in my copy of the 1950 Motor Year Book is hyphenated, including an advert. Even the advert published on the www.frazernash-usa.com website has a hyphen. Have you seen an advert without a hyphen?

Originally posted by Doug Nye
...Joe (who was J.G.Fry, not to be confused with Jeremy, David's younger brother, of Parsenn fame)

DCN

Doug, who or what was Parsenn? Was Jeremy Fry the J.S. Fry who came 6th at Rest and be Thankful on July 9th 1949 in a 2.3 Bugatti?

Vitesse2
I don’t have that copy of Motor Sport (someone else had supposedly checked them : ) - if the obituary adds any new information that’s not been posted here it would be useful to see it.
You may be interested that the Frenchay History Society have been contacted by a TV company who are considering a film on the Fry dynasty, and might therefore include the motorsporting activities of Joe and David.

Cryo
Some Joe Fry details.
He was educated at Uppingham and Cambridge, was married to Hilary. During World War 2 he served in the Royal Engineers. Although his cousin David was son of the chairman of the Fry chocolates company Joe was from a more distant branch of the family. Joe was no engineering genius, the technical side of the Freikaiserwagen was Davids responsibility, David having originally constructed the car and cut Joe in for a half share after they met at Backwell hillclimb in 1936. Joe did most of the driving, weighing around 9 stone compared to Davids 16. He apparently smoked 40 cigarettes a day and "is not without temperament, and David has a technique of his own for getting his postillion in the mood … for David asserts that his cousin never gives of his best until he has him rattled to a state of nerves."

The above comes from an article by Dennis May in Autocar (January 1949) which I’ll scan and e-mail to you in a couple of days. I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the content - an item in Iota magazine by Joe himself refers to his wife’s name as Pat!

Some further information.
Joe’s estate was to the south of Bristol at North Hill, near Lulsgate - now the site of Bristol International Airport (apparently the airport is on land that used to belong to Fry before it was requisitioned by the MoD in WW2). Joe was also very involved with the CAPA club which in the 1930s and post-war to his death was a private low-cost club for racing stripped-down Austin 7’s and the like on a couple of grass track circuits in the grounds of his estate, Joe running the Caesar Special, of which he was part owner, in these events pre-war.

He doesn’t appear to have had an occupation, other than motor sport, post war he was chairman of the Gordano Motor Company (see the Gordano thread http://www.atlasf1.c...&threadid=21359) and apparently the main financial backer, and was also one of the principles of Iota Racing Cars.

Ian.
The Parsenn was a 500cc Iota based F3 built by Jeremy Fry. It had all independent rubber suspension and the engine used JAP cylinder head and valve gear, mated to Norton and Blackburne parts. (I can provide more technical details if required)

Nothing really extra, but an obviously heart-felt piece from Bill Boddy:

No words of ours can express the deep sorrow we feel in reporting the fatal accident at Blandford to Joe Fry, that very brave young man and skilful sprint driver. Dick Caesar and Joe's cousin, David Fry, conceived the Freikaiserwagen and left lighter-in-stature Joe Fry to do the driving. In an age when floating-foot assails many would-be aspirants to racing honours, it was always an experience to watch Joe in that car, for he never gave away a fraction of a second anywhere and his technique was of the most fearless. He did not scorn mechanical instruction from his cousin, but as a driver he was his own master and master of his car. His crowning achievement was, of course, the Shelsley-Walsh record. The Freikaiserwagen and a road-racing Maserati were effectively tamed by Joe, but the former was at its wickedest during take-off. That he let it stray from the straight path momentarily at Blandford is the saddest happening in English motor-racing for many years. Our deepest sympathy is extended to Fry's relatives. - WB

To David McKinney
Very interesting. Can you write to me full addresses of the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu and other very good libraries? Maybe I will go for in on summer holidays.
I am move to Denmark only for 1 year, and there in Jutland, I don’t know really good libraries about Motorsport, especially F1. And of course there are not any materials about yearly years F1 in Belarus or even in Russia.

To Catalina Park
You are so lucky to have this kind of shops…

To Ian McKean
Thank you! This results was made by car which Roger Clark was posted to this topic?

To Pete Stowe
Great! Really huge!
What the full name of Joe Fry. Did he have a child? Maybe you know some comments or interview from him?
As I understand correctly, Joe was taking sponsoring from his cousin to drive and construct car?
Hm…link http://www.atlasf1.c...&threadid=21359 doesn’t open on my PC. Can you see it?


To Vitesse2
Good extra!

How I can input small face of the Joe Fry to this topic?

Best Regards,
Maxim

Ups!!!
I forgot. Were I can buy film about Joe Fry?

Regards,
Maxim

Now that I know where you are, you might find it worth investigating libraries in Copenhagen or perhaps Hamburg which would be closer (and cheaper) for you. Unless of course it is British racing which is of specific interest. Have you tried searching the internet for addresses of the libraries in question? If you have, and haven't had any luck, get back to me and I'll see if I can dig out the information you want

I can add a little bit more on Joe Fry.

His full name was Joseph Gibson Fry and his address was 9 North Gate, Lulsgate Bottom, Bristol.
I imagine this must have been lost in the development of Bristol Airport.

A couple of years ago I was in the area and, after a beer and my usual cheese and pickle sandwich in the nearby pub, decided to walk over to the church on the south side of the A38. Imagine my surprise to discover his grave in the churchyard, a simple stone cross with the epitaph "died motor racing". A very sobering and humbling experience.

I think the church is called St Katharine and is easy to spot from the main road - his grave is towards the back of the church.

Cryo: here is a link to the home page of the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, leading to the Library of Motoring, which I can thoroughly recommend! They have everything worth having in English on motoring and motor sport, plus lots of foreign language books. They have very extensive magazine holdings as well, mostly in English, but some French, German and Italian too.

http://www.beaulieu....ntroduction.cfm

As you're in Denmark, perhaps you could also try the Villa Trips, near Cologne in Germany. Forum member fines provided us with this excellent introduction:

http://www.atlasf1.c...&threadid=24946

And the thread you can't open should read:

http://www.atlasf1.c...&threadid=21359

To David McKinney
Yeah, I will go to Copenhagen soon, and later to interesting libraries in Germany or France. But of course, I will plan trip to Britain. Maybe I come in August for 1 month to go for old book shops and libraries. I was in Britain only 3 times, but I hope that if I have all addresses I will find them.
It’s great that you can help me too! Thank you!

To David Holland
Thanks! Very interesting!
And as I understand A38 it’s a number of the road?

To Vitesse2
The link to the home page of the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu doesn’t open…maybe they are not open so early ;)
Can I make scanning and copying in this Museum?

Ok, I will go and see Villa Trips

I find tread! Thanks!



Fantastic! With help of all people there, soon I will collect all information about Joe Fry and prepare one big material.

Originally posted by Pete Stowe
The above comes from an article by Dennis May in Autocar (January 1949) which I’ll scan and e-mail to you in a couple of days. I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the content - an item in Iota magazine by Joe himself refers to his wife’s name as Pat!

Some further information.
Joe’s estate was to the south of Bristol at North Hill, near Lulsgate - now the site of Bristol International Airport (apparently the airport is on land that used to belong to Fry before it was requisitioned by the MoD in WW2). Joe was also very involved with the CAPA club which in the 1930s and post-war to his death was a private low-cost club for racing stripped-down Austin 7’s and the like on a couple of grass track circuits in the grounds of his estate, Joe running the Caesar Special, of which he was part owner, in these events pre-war.

Thanks for this extra info, Pete. I think this article would be of general interest, so perhaps you could post it here.

Although Bolster describes Caesar as an inveterate specials builder, the only car so-called that I remember seeing was the one campaigned for many years by Doc Taylor. IIRC it had a 6 cylinder A.C. engine. Does anyone have any more information about Caesar's own specials? Or was he a peripatetic special builder providing his services and expertise, in the main, to others?

Lastly does anyone know more about the final evolution of the Freikaiserwagen Blackburne engine. Catalina Park mentions twin stage supercharging, which presumably must have happened very late in the car's life, perhaps in the winter of 1948/49 or else 49/50, since it is not mentioned by Bolster.

I have found three more pictures of the car, which I plan to put on the net shortly.

Hello everybody!

It's small picture of the face of Joe Fry




Regards, Maxim

Originally posted by cryo
To Vitesse2
The link to the home page of the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu doesn’t open…maybe they are not open so early ;)
Can I make scanning and copying in this Museum?

It works OK for me, but try this one instead:

http://www.beaulieu....brary/intro.cfm

I'm not sure of their policy on scanning - photocopies are done by the library staff, at a reasonable cost. I do know that they do not allow photography (or didn't when I was last there last year). I hope to get there myself next week, so I will try to check this.

And yes - A38 is a road number. It is the old main road from the Midlands to South West England.

To Vitesse2

Link is working now!

Can you escribe how I can move to this library from Hitrow 3?
Thank you!


Regards,
Maxim

By public transport I assume ...

Bus from Heathrow to Woking. Train from Woking to Brockenhurst (usually direct, but you may have to change at Southampton). Taxi (or there may be a bus - not sure) from Brockenhurst to Beaulieu.

You could also go via London, but I wouldn't recommend it!

Train to Paddington, Underground to Waterloo, then train from Waterloo to Brockenhurst.

DO NOT go to Beaulieu Road station - it's just a platform in the middle of nowhere and takes longer than going to Brockenhurst!

Having made a few enquiries, it appears that David & Joe Frys common ancestor was their Great-Great-Grandfather Joseph Storrs Fry, who founded the JS Fry chocolate business. While Davids ancestors were involved in the chocolate business, in 1851 Joe’s grandfather Albert went into business with John Fowler (who later moved on, to become well known for steam traction engines). By the late 19th century Albert’s company had evolved into the Bristol Wagon & Carriage Works Co making railway rolling stock (anyone interested in this aspect will find more on www.bath.ac.uk/~ensegb/wag.htm ) In 1905 the firm was also producing petrol stationary engines for agricultural use and Joe’s father George Falconar Fry had taken over as Managing Director. In the 1920s the firm was taken over/sold off and in 1924, when Joe would have been about 9, the large factory site in Bristol was sold. Presumably with no family business to get involved in this later left Joe with sufficient funds and time to indulge in motor sport.
Joe had two elder brothers (not sure if he had any sisters) and became married to Hillary Patricia (Pat), but had no children.
Meanwhile, descended from Joseph Storrs Fry’s father (another Joseph, & the one who began chocolate making in the mid-18th century) we have Tim Fry, co-designer/engineer with Mike Parkes of the Hillman Imp, and also married to David’s step-daughter.

So that’s all perfectly clear then

Originally posted by Ian McKean.
Although Bolster describes Caesar as an inveterate specials builder, the only car so-called that I remember seeing was the one campaigned for many years by Doc Taylor. IIRC it had a 6 cylinder A.C. engine. Does anyone have any more information about Caesar's own specials? Or was he a peripatetic special builder providing his services and expertise, in the main, to others?

The answer is probably both. Bolsters reference probably reflects the several CAPA specials that Caesar built, raced, then passed on to others in the 1930s, the best being Alfi-Capa aka the Caesar Special which went on to Doc Taylor. Post-war, apart from the Gordano and Iota F3 and sports car projects, he also apparently created a Bentley special from a Big 6 saloon, stripping it to a bare chassis, then adding a light wood-framed open 4-seater body, and modifying the 6.5 litre engine.

To Pete Stowe
Really great! So, now I think it's everything which everybody can collected about Joe Fry there!

Also there is some photos of the grand grand fathers on officail Cadbary website history

Only one question still have. What's the famouse tobacco brand of Joe Fry ?;)

Thanks Peter for good photos!

Best Regards,
Maxim

I have found two pictures of the Freikaiserwagen in the "Motor year book 1950"

Record for Shelsley Walsh hill-climb was broken by J.G. Fry (1100 c.c. supercharged twin cylinder Blackburn-engined "Freikaiserwagen") at the June event, when he rocketed up the 1,000-yard hill in 37.35 secs. breaking Raymond Mays's ERA 2-litre record of 37.52 secs.



The two-cylinder air-cooled rear-engined Freikaiserwagen which is the present holder of the Shelsley Walsh record.

Originally posted by Pete Stowe
...Bolsters reference probably reflects the several CAPA specials that Caesar built, raced, then passed on to others in the 1930s, the best being Alfi-Capa aka the Caesar Special which went on to Doc Taylor. Post-war, apart from the Gordano and Iota F3 and sports car projects, he also apparently created a Bentley special from a Big 6 saloon, stripping it to a bare chassis, then adding a light wood-framed open 4-seater body, and modifying the 6.5 litre engine.

What does 'CAPA' stand for?

CAPA comes from the initials of the founders of the Club - (Dick) Caesar, Aldridge, (Bobby) Price, Adrian (Butler). Most cars appeared to have been given individual names, Jan Breyer’s ‘Salome’ was another well-known car.

My "Backfire - History of the Bristol Aeroplane Company Motor Club" contains more about CAPA Racing, if anyone’s interested in that. It includes a photo of George Bowen’s Riley-engined CAPA special, quite possibly one originally built by Caesar using Triumph Scorpion chassis with an Austin 7 engine; also the Watkins-Nash, which was also used in CAPA racing post-war, before the chassis was used for constructing the 1947 Freikaiserwagen (book details at www.bristolpegasus.co.uk Club History page; also available from www.millhousebooks.com . End of advert - well, if Karl can give his books a plug ………… .)

Where I can buy film about Joe Fry?

originally posted by Cryo

The Freikaiserwagen (& the Fry cousins) appear in a video on the history of hillclimbing in the UK, I think it’s called 'HILLCLIMBING SPECTACULAR - 80 Years of Speed Hillclimbing' a 70 minute video which is available from Millhouse Books. (They also list a 35 minute one called ‘Hillclimbing in Britain - an Historical Review)

To Catalina Park and Pete Stowe
Big thanks!!!

Regards,
Maxim

I was read in scanned pages from Autocar (28.01.1948) which was send to me by Pete Stowe that wife of the Joe Fry was driving Bugatti Type 55 in 1947 and Type 51 before.

Maybe somebody know did she drive any races?

Regards,
Maxim