12 replies to this topic

[berkeleybill]

All, I'm asking If anybody on this forum has any Info' on the autosport activities carried out on the hardstandings of this airfield circa 1957 / 58 ? Theses activities were confined,we think more to 'auto tests' and 'sprints' rather than full blown racing ! Any assistance would be appreciated. Bill.

[RS2000]

All, I'm asking If anybody on this forum has any Info' on the autosport activities carried out on the hardstandings of this airfield circa 1957 / 58 ? Theses activities were confined,we think more to 'auto tests' and 'sprints' rather than full blown racing ! Any assistance would be appreciated. Bill.

Berkeley as in the school? - I was a pupil there then.
I recall watching what would now be under an MSA sprint permit (not even an autosolo) but may have been run as a "driving test" or slalom then. The course for this came from the direction of the airfield buildings on the peri track and did a U turn roughly next to the north west corner of the Berkeley School playing field, at an earth bank that was effectively protection from going any further and into the water of the gravel pits/landfill. I remember an MG Magnette saloon, TR etc.

I think I can safely say there was no racing there ever.

Edited by RS2000, 16 September 2010 - 21:40.

[berkeleybill]

Thanks for the Info' RS2000 ! Its actually the car not the school too which I know nothing of ! We have In the BEC a colour photograph of two known competion Berkeley's that we have only just located as being taken outside the 'Jackamann Hanger' Heston Field, possibly In 1958 ? The hangar still surrvives,although much altered with a modern Industrial unit built right In front of where the photo was taken ! It would seem that Its highly likely that It was an event you so describe and not an actual 'race',many thanks. Bill.

[RS2000]

Thanks for the Info' RS2000 ! Its actually the car not the school too which I know nothing of ! We have In the BEC a colour photograph of two known competion Berkeley's that we have only just located as being taken outside the 'Jackamann Hanger' Heston Field, possibly In 1958 ? The hangar still surrvives,although much altered with a modern Industrial unit built right In front of where the photo was taken ! It would seem that Its highly likely that It was an event you so describe and not an actual 'race',many thanks. Bill.

58 would fit. It may be "autosuggestion" from your mentioning it but I do have a picture in my mind now of having seen a Berkeley competing there.
Motorsport at Heston has been touched on on the PPrune aviation forum (history thread) and I think "VSCC type" events have been mentioned but I think the sum total of knowledge there was exhausted by more or less what I've posted here.
The bit of the course I recall would have been built over by the service road to the M4 Service Area (ie. the private, non-public road that gave access to and from the M4 westbound via the Service Area car park for those brought up locally...until officialdom took measures to control access...).

Edited by RS2000, 16 September 2010 - 22:53.

[berkeleybill]

This Is great stuff RS200 ! Are you saying that the event could have been a 'one off' or were there regular meetings through 1958 ? The photo we have has actually three Berkeley's In It, but one Is almost 'out of frame'! Now we know this Info' It would almost certainly have Involved Ian Mantle as he was Berkeley's chief exponent of this type of autosport ! I presume that you original school has been knocked down and re-build as the satalite picture shows what looks like a recent building ? Bill.

[RS2000]

The original school building was an inverted "Y", closer to the road (Cranford Lane). Bizarrely, the crescent next to the road with trees on it looks exactly as it was in 1958. So does the playing field to the north, although the southern part seems to have been lost to the new building. It is described on modern maps as a "Primary School". Then it was a "Junior School" (ages 8 to 11). Entering the gravel pits/landfill, then to the north, during school hours was a capital offence. Being identified there outside school hours and being reported was almost as bad. To be fair, deep, steep sided gravel pits in the process of becoming land fill was a pretty dangerous place. Some years later, I helped remove the remaining fish before final filling - they went to another pit in Colnbrook, not far from where the MSA now lurks.

I'm sure there were several "sprints" (or whatever the RAC permit then called such events) there, not a one-off, and I've recently heard reference to "vintage" vehicle events (which may or may not have been competitive). I'm sure the one I saw has to have been 1958. The bit we watched was a long, long left hander on the original perimeter track. No cones, so not a "slalom", and a U turn roughly at a point level with the top (north) of the playing field but about 25 yards to the west of it. Cars then went back the same way towards the airfield buildings.

I can't think why I never found out about other events there. 58 was the first year I followed F1. That October I collided with new World Champion JMH, towering above me, in an aisle at the Earls Court Motor Show. Early in 59 I came home from Berkeley School one day to be told the news from Guildford...

[berkeleybill]

Many thanks yet again RS2000 for sharing those schooldays memories with us ! Our club registrar Is going to do some further research to see If he can 'nail down' the exact event and date ! If he's successfull I'll be sure to let you know ! Bill.

[longshot]

Hallo...I picked this thread up from google....it may have been my note that Heston was used for motorsport in the 50s on a forum or in the Collectair Woodason page that started this....the event I remember was on a Sunday I think and involved Triumph TR2s/TR3s manoeuvring on the tarmac by the hangars through obstacles (oil drums or piles of tyres, I can't remember)....date about 1957/1958...I have no memories of the cars using the U-shaped piece of perimeter track which still remained but it's certainly possible. There was apparently a very nice licensed bar on the airfield near the hangars which would have been put to good use! Would it be possible to post the photo on this forum or for me to get a scan...I am the moderator of the Heston Airport Yahoo Group...longshot

[Sharman]

Hallo...I picked this thread up from google....it may have been my note that Heston was used for motorsport in the 50s on a forum or in the Collectair Woodason page that started this....the event I remember was on a Sunday I think and involved Triumph TR2s/TR3s manoeuvring on the tarmac by the hangars through obstacles (oil drums or piles of tyres, I can't remember)....date about 1957/1958...I have no memories of the cars using the U-shaped piece of perimeter track which still remained but it's certainly possible. There was apparently a very nice licensed bar on the airfield near the hangars which would have been put to good use! Would it be possible to post the photo on this forum or for me to get a scan...I am the moderator of the Heston Airport Yahoo Group...longshot

Sounds more driving test than sprint

[Stephen W]

I recall watching what would now be under an MSA sprint permit (not even an autosolo) but may have been run as a "driving test" or slalom then.

I have copies of the 1956 & 1962 Blue Books and the venue isn't listed in either. I suspect it may have been a "slalom sprint" which tended to be run on old disused airfields. Cones were put out and drivers had to pass round them in a specific sequence. This was usually at a lot faster pace than the current Autosolo format. The organisers used to make use of the hardstandings next to the runsways that were used as aircraft distribution points.

Edited by Stephen W, 28 April 2011 - 07:23.

[fuzzi]

Hello

Heston Airfield was used by the VSCC for Driving Tests shortly before the site was closed down.

The speed of some driving tests have to be seen to be believed (it can leave you quite breathless in the car), and it is possible that what the participants thought was a driving test, onlookers could have mistaken for a slalom event. There are examples on You Tube of tests in Northern Ireland which are undertaken by fast road cars driven by pepole in ordinary clothes with no driving suits or helmets.

But for the powers that be they are still not speed events. Long may they continue to enjoy them.

[RS2000]

I have copies of the 1956 & 1962 Blue Books and the venue isn't listed in either. I suspect it may have been a "slalom sprint" which tended to be run on old disused airfields. Cones were put out and drivers had to pass round them in a specific sequence. This was usually at a lot faster pace than the current Autosolo format. The organisers used to make use of the hardstandings next to the runsways that were used as aircraft distribution points.

That was the point I was making with "now". Eventually at least one club (one still active in the speed event world) faced an (then RAC)MSA tribunal for the speed and distances in their (then drivingtests) autotests.
Aircraft Dispersals is the word you were looking for. (Curborough is made up of a standard "spectacle" dispersal and two "frying pan" dispersals).

[berkeleybill]

Thank you all for you comments and suggestions ! The event date and the club organising It Is an Important Issue within the BEC as one of the Berkeley's In the photo Is a one off works prototype 'Coupe' that appeared at the Oct 1957 Motor Show and was never put Into production ! The remnants of this car were discovered In 2009 and It Is now the subject of a valiant restoration attempt by one of our members ! It Is possible that the Heston event was a 'Driving Test' stage In conjunction with a larger rally,something like the London 'Little' Rally,or similar ? We know from the Individual detail on the other Berkeley In the photo that the date period Is between January and July 1958 ! Bill.

Edited by berkeleybill, 02 May 2011 - 15:21.