20 replies to this topic

[RS2000]

Quite by chance saw BBC2 "Nation on Film" 7pm UK time yesterday. Included a sequence of what we would now call a sprint, described as "the Cardiff Airport Speed Trials" (immediately post WW2?). Sad to say, couldn't recognise a single car type. Most appeared to be pre or post WW2 specials. Format seemed to be a familiar "period" one of an "interesting" course (not the wide open runways so often in favour today for airfield sprints) between buildings, round a pylon and back the same way.

[CoulthardD]

Musical Chairs with cars was interesting!

Ditto on the car spotting...

David

[Stephen W]

Airfields, Aerodromes & Airports

Post Second World war there were a plethora of RAF stations that were either becoming civilian airfileds or industrial estates. Some RAF bases even welcomed motor sport with open arms. The following were used for sprints/speed trials:

Wymeswold Aerodrome; Tarrant Rushton Airfield; Thorney Island (RAF); Tempsford Aerodrome; Wormingford Airfield; Gransden Lodge; Long Marston Aerodrome; Wellesbourne; North Weald etc.

Many army camps like Catterick also played host to motor sport - pity the MSA can't unlock some more venues for us!

[RAP]

Steve

With regards to the venues you mention, you say "were used for sprints/speed trials". Gransden is of course well know for the two post-war race meetings but I was not aware of any use for sprints. Can you provide details?

Catterick is a potentially confusing one as I think both the RAF airfield and the near by army camp were used at times.

RAP

[RS2000]

I would guess just about everywhere like that was used at some time for sprints or something like it - which is why a book like Chris Mason's on hill climbing could never be written for sprints as the venues must be too extensive and many records and club details may simply no longer exist.
Equally, some of the places mentioned above were later used as rally special stages too.
I can recall at a very early age seeing what must have been classed as a sprint (in the same format as the Cardiff one) on the section of perimeter track of Heston Airfield that had survived gravel extraction (the site of Neville Chamberlain's paper waving and now an M4 service area). I found no record of this but another tread on here covered some clear evidence of sprints at the AEC bus factory not a million miles away and which I knew nothing at all about.
Documenting it all is a nice thought...but...

[Sharman]

RAP
You are right about Catterick, the airfield was used as a circuit and there was a hill climb in which I competed in 1956 or 57 held on the tank training area.
JF

[Stephen W]

Originally posted by RAP
Steve

With regards to the venues you mention, you say "were used for sprints/speed trials". Gransden is of course well know for the two post-war race meetings but I was not aware of any use for sprints. Can you provide details? RAP

From Autosport, March 22nd 1957 (Vol 14 No 12) in the Club News section:

"The West Essex CC National speed trial this year is to be held on 28th April at Gransden Airfield, near Royston, Herts. The event is over a straight standing kilometre and there will be classes for racing, sports and saloon cars."

I don't have any issues of Autosport around the 28th April '57 to confirm that the event took place.

[johnwilliamdavies]

Unfortunately I also missed this program. Was it definitely a "speed trial", not a trial or a gymkhana? I've been going through the early issues of Autosport, I'm up to '57, and haven't seen any mentions of speed trials in the local air bases.

Cardiff Airport is a recent re-branding, previously it was Rhoose Airport. Llandow and St. Athan are very close to Rhoose, and held speed trials in the early '60s, but I've seen no mentions of anything in the early 1950s. Maybe it occurred before Autosport started.

Fairwood (Swansea Airport), held a couple of races plus gymkhanas and trials in the early '50s. I hope somebody puts it up onto Youtube.


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Welsh Motor Sport History

[Sharman]

From what I saw it looked more of a gymkana whose mother had been frightened by a driving test

[Pete Stowe]

I caught this program also, but, regardless of what the Cardiff event was called, thought it was a gymkhana/driving test rather than a sprint. I also had the impression that it was pre-war.

[RS2000]

Immediately pre or post WW2 was unclear, as I mentioned. Regulations were different then. What is now so clearly defined as a sprint, autosolo or autotest surely did not apply. The film jumped around a bit so it was not easy to sort out what was Ford publicity film of V8 Pilots jumping off ramps and what was something else. This particular brief sequence was clearly described as the Cardiff Airport Speed Trials and seemed consistent in format to the sort of events run elsewhere then and later. No idea what required the equivalent of a "speed event permit" then (or even now, since some liberties still seem to be taken with car "gymkhanas" under an MSA waiver...) but using the title at all suggests it was not something added on to an "egg and spoon race in cars" event?

[RAP]

Steve
Thanks for that lead - here is the "solution"
AUTOSPORT 10 May 57
" Faced by the calamity when permission to use Gransden airfield was withdrawn four days before their National Speed Trials on the 28th April, the West Essex CC were not dismayed and with their usual resourcefulness, diverted all the competitors successfully to Snetterton instead. Unfortunatly it was not possible to find a complete kilometer on the circuit allowing sufficient distance for braking, but by starting the cars at the hairpin and sending them back along the Norwich Straight it was possible for a good safe course of 800 yards to be used"

BTD was Archie Scott Brown's Lister Jag in 19.64" from John Ogier's Tojeiro Jag (20.05")

RAP

[Stephen W]

Originally posted by johnwilliamdavies
Unfortunately I also missed this program. Was it definitely a "speed trial", not a trial or a gymkhana? I've been going through the early issues of Autosport, I'm up to '57, and haven't seen any mentions of speed trials in the local air bases.

Cardiff Airport is a recent re-branding, previously it was Rhoose Airport. Llandow and St. Athan are very close to Rhoose, and held speed trials in the early '60s, but I've seen no mentions of anything in the early 1950s. Maybe it occurred before Autosport started.

Fairwood (Swansea Airport), held a couple of races plus gymkhanas and trials in the early '50s. I hope somebody puts it up onto Youtube.


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Welsh Motor Sport History

11/10/59 - Llandow sprint run by Swansea Motor Club

16/09/62 - Pembrey sprint also run by Swansea Motor Club

Where these the first sprints at these venues?

What about the RHYDYMWYN sprint course? Was this an old Welsh aerodrome?

[johnwilliamdavies]

Originally posted by Stephen W


11/10/59 - Llandow sprint run by Swansea Motor Club

16/09/62 - Pembrey sprint also run by Swansea Motor Club

Where these the first sprints at these venues?

What about the RHYDYMWYN sprint course? Was this an old Welsh aerodrome?

I honestly don't know if these were the first sprints at said venues, my research hasn't got that far yet.
I don't know if Rhydymwyn was an aerodrome, it was used for car sprints from at least 1951, was also a 0.5 mile motor cycle racing venue. For the sprints they went around twice.



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Welsh Motor Sport History

[Pete Stowe]

Originally posted by johnwilliamdavies

I honestly don't know if these were the first sprints at said venues, my research hasn't got that far yet.

John,
Have you spoken to Howard Strawford at Castle Combe yet? He used to be Chairman of Swansea MC before moving to England, was responsible for opening Llandow, and ran the first event there in 1959. He was also involved with Castel Farm. His introduction to motor sport had been helping to lay out the Fairwood circuit earlier in the 1950's. There's a couple of pages on all this in "Castle Combe Circuit - the first 50 years" (ISBN 1 903378 00 1).

[johnwilliamdavies]

Originally posted by Pete Stowe

John,
Have you spoken to Howard Strawford at Castle Combe yet? He used to be Chairman of Swansea MC before moving to England, was responsible for opening Llandow, and ran the first event there in 1959. He was also involved with Castel Farm. His introduction to motor sport had been helping to lay out the Fairwood circuit earlier in the 1950's. There's a couple of pages on all this in "Castle Combe Circuit - the first 50 years" (ISBN 1 903378 00 1).

No, I'm afraid I haven't. Should make the effort to try and get in touch. A lot of people remember the "old times", but getting them to respond to emails is the hard part.




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Welsh Motor Sport History

[bradbury west]

Cardiff Airport is a recent re-branding, previously it was Rhoose Airport. Llandow and St. Athan are very close to Rhoose, and held speed trials in the early '60s, but I've seen no mentions of anything in the early 1950s. Maybe it occurred before Autosport started.
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Welsh Motor Sport History

I came across this old thread again linking from Simon Lewis' thread on Staverton. In terms of Cardiff Airport years ago, bear in mind that prior to Rhoose airfield becoming Cardiff Airport Cardiff had had a Cardiff Munical Airport based at the old Pengam Moors site on the south side of Cardiff city, in city location terms very akin to Heston and Croydon, one might suppose. This operated as a civil airport up to 1939 at which point the RAF took over until 1948 , and until 1954, whereupon Rhoose took over. Pengam became the site of a steel works and later an industrial estate, and more recently developed for houses as a part of the Cardiff Bay regeneration plan, IIRC.

I have no idea whether it happened, but if we are talking about a "Cardiff Airport" venue in those days, it may be that some form of motorsport activity took place in the early post WW2 years at Pengam. In those days, as now?, Rhoose would have been next to the back of beyond, with poor transport and access links, and purely an RAF base, so an urban airfield might have had greater potential, especially as flights would not have been too numerous, especially at weekends.
Roger Lund

Edited by bradbury west, 24 May 2011 - 18:19.

[PAUL S]

I came across this old thread again linking from Simon Lewis' thread on Staverton. In terms of Cardiff Airport years ago, bear in mind that prior to Rhoose airfield becoming Cardiff Airport Cardiff had had a Cardiff Munical Airport based at the old Pengam Moors site on the south side of Cardiff city, in city location terms very akin to Heston and Croydon, one might suppose. This operated as a civil airport up to 1939 at which point the RAF took over until 1948 , and until 1954, whereupon Rhoose took over. Pengam became the site of a steel works and later an industrial estate, and more recently developed for houses as a part of the Cardiff Bay regeneration plan, IIRC.

I have no idea whether it happened, but if we are talking about a "Cardiff Airport" venue in those days, it may be that some form of motorsport activity took place in the early post WW2 years at Pengam. In those days, as now?, Rhoose would have been next to the back of beyond, with poor transport and access links, and purely an RAF base, so an urban airfield might have had greater potential, especially as flights would not have been too numerous, especially at weekends.
Roger Lund

The hangers of the old Cardiff airport down in Pengam are still there, its quite unusual as you drive through an old industrial type estate close to the steel works and are then confronted with actual aircraft hangers which seem to be completely at odds with all the other surrounding buildings, the whole area is now built up so its hard to work out exactly where the runway used to be.

[PAUL S]

The main hangers are the ones with the yellow roofs and there are a lot of smaller buildings of similar age surrounding them.



and this is the same area in context with the rest of eastern Cardiff, with the old Cardiff airport tagged as number 7

Edited by PAUL S, 25 May 2011 - 08:50.

[fuzzi]

I couldn't find anything beyond a gymkhana for Cardiff Airport in November 1949. Mind you some of those could get a little brisk at times.

The airfields I have for racing and speed events in Wales are:

Borras (near Wrexham) used once in June 1969

Brawdy Used July 2000 and 2001

Carew Cheriton In use as a sprint course from July 1970 and now a rally stage

Fairwood active July 1952 - July 1954

Llandow first used for a sprint in September 1959

Mona (Anglesea) Sprint course from May 63 - May 64 (and used afterwards for driving tests)

Pembrey used for speed trials and sprints from April 1961

St Athan Sprint course from September 1962 - June 1982

Sealand Speed Trial course (used as a substitute for Summers Drive, Queensferry) March 1962 and March 1963

Talbenny in use from May 1967

Rhdymwyn (Goverment Chemical Weopons Store) Used as a sprint course (and motocycle race course) July 1949 - October 1962

There may well be others used for motorcycle racing and sprints..

[La Sarthe]

The main hangers are the ones with the yellow roofs and there are a lot of smaller buildings of similar age surrounding them.



and this is the same area in context with the rest of eastern Cardiff, with the old Cardiff airport tagged as number 7

This was actually a detached site used by No.52 Maintenance Unit. Originally there were five Bellman hangars here although only three now survive. Its role was the crating and packing of smaller aircraft (such as Hurricanes, Spitfires and Tiger Moths) for despatch overseas via Cardiff docks. Some would arrive at Pengam Moor by road, others would fly into the airfield and taxi down a linking track (roughly where Seawall Road is now) to 52MU's site.

The actual airfield was to the upper right in the top photo and had a single hard runway, aligned roughly NE/SW. The main RAF site with further hangars, control tower etc was where there is now a housing estate next to the Tesco superstore. It's likely that any sprint would have been here, using the runway and bits of perimeter track.

Peter