71 replies to this topic

[BRG]

John then followed the Panamerican Highway with 40 rivers to cross at a time when only 10 of them had bridges.

 

11 months after setting out on his 11,000 mile journey John arrived in New York City 

 

Out of interest, how did he negotiated the road and trackless Darien Gap in Panama?  It took a team of Landrovers weeks to manage to fight their way through.  They would have been gutted if they knew someone had sailed through in a Chummy!

 

As for horsey deeds, Genghis Khan went from Mongolia to Central Europe on horseback, and managed to ravage and despoil several ancient civilisations on the way as well!

[Alan Lewis]

...Genghis Khan went from Mongolia to Central Europe on horseback...

To be fair, he had a pretty large support crew...

[Vitesse2]

Out of interest, how did he negotiated the road and trackless Darien Gap in Panama?  It took a team of Landrovers weeks to manage to fight their way through.  They would have been gutted if they knew someone had sailed through in a Chummy!

Contrary to what I had previously believed, I recently learned that the first crossing of Darien was actually made by three Brazilians in two Ford Model Ts, some time in the 1930s. They left Rio de Janeiro in 1928 and spent ten years looking for possible routes for the Trans-American Highway.

 

http://overlanderbra...-tres-americas/

 

There is also a book, produced in conjunction with a TV documentary, so that may be more precise on the dates:

 

http://www.canal6.co...es_americas.pdf

 

https://www.amazon.c...s/dp/8579171695
 

[arttidesco]

Out of interest, how did he negotiated the road and trackless Darien Gap in Panama?  It took a team of Landrovers weeks to manage to fight their way through.  They would have been gutted if they knew someone had sailed through in a Chummy!

 

As for horsey deeds, Genghis Khan went from Mongolia to Central Europe on horseback, and managed to ravage and despoil several ancient civilisations on the way as well!

 

I've not managed to get hold of a copy of Colemans Drive but in the absence of any evidence to the contrary I imagine he caught a boat from Colombia to Panama, but as they say every day is a school day and the idea of the Chummy finding a way through is certainly an entertaining one. 

[Rupertlt1]

I've not managed to get hold of a copy of Colemans Drive but in the absence of any evidence to the contrary I imagine he caught a boat from Colombia to Panama, but as they say every day is a school day and the idea of the Chummy finding a way through is certainly an entertaining one. 

 

Ref John Coleman and his Austin Chummy, registration MO 6320:

 

"With all roads ahead closed, he hitched a ride on

a German freighter to the Panama Zone. Here he was

warned that two serious gaps in the Pan American

Highway lay ahead. One was just north, from David

in Panama to San Isidro in Cost Rica. There were 40

rivers to cross and only ten bridges on this

stretch, but he made it through in five days, most of

which were spent persuading skeptical road crews to

let him try. In the same section he had to cross 10,-

000-foot mountains at climbs so steep that he had to

go up in reverse gear."

The Laredo Times (Laredo, Texas) Friday 6 May 1960, Page 15

 

RGDS RLT

Edited by Rupertlt1, 22 June 2021 - 06:02.

[arttidesco]

Ref John Coleman and his Austin Chummy, registration MO 6320:

 

"With all roads ahead closed, he hitched a ride on

a German freighter to the Panama Zone. Here he was

warned that two serious gaps in the Pan American

Highway lay ahead. One was just north, from David

in Panama to San Isidro in Cost Rica. There were 40

rivers to cross and only ten bridges on this

stretch, but he made it through in five days, most of

which were spent persuading skeptical road crews to

let him try. In the same section he had to cross 10,-

000-foot mountains at climbs so steep that he had to

go up in reverse gear."

The Laredo Times (Laredo, Texas) Friday 6 May 1960, Page 15

 

RGDS RLT

 

Thanks for confirmation Rupert, I had no idea John had to rely so heavily on the Chummy's reverse gear !    

[arttidesco]

American Automobile Racing, An Illustrated History by Albert R. Bochroch, 1974,

Page 36:

 

"In his bibliography Transcontinental Automobile

Travel, 1903-1940, Carey S. Bliss tells of a Mr.

and Mrs. John D. Davis, who left New York for San Fran-

cisco, on July 13, 1899, ...."

 

 

 

I guess this might count as the anticedent of later Cannonball Runs which unofficially run from the Redball Garage, NYC to the Portofino Hotel, Los Angeles.

 

I suppose it is not surprising that several attempts to bring this record down were made with the onset of the pandemic.

 

One three driver team Arne Toman, Doug Tabbutt, & Dunadel Daryoush brought the record down to 25h 39 mins driving an Audi S6 in April last year.

 

A couple of months later Fred Ashmore went and rented a Ford Mustang took out much of the interior and fitted it with additional fuel tanks, instock items from some of his other cars, to bring the capacity up to 130 US gallons and did a solo one stop run in 25 hours and 55 mins for a solo record. By his account he set the cruise control at a max 120mph incase his foot got light and the car dropped from it's maximum 159mph.  Fred reckons fuel consumption was around 12mpg and the whole enterprise cost him $1200.

Edited by arttidesco, 01 July 2021 - 11:34.

[BRG]

Purely by chance, I stumbled across a film from 1959 on an obscure TV channel about a 25 thousand kilometre non-stop run for a Hillman Minx. 

 

This is from Motor Sport.

 

 

A fine British achievement

There have been many high-speed runs and endurance demonstrations but few as convincing as the long-distance test of a Hillman Minx saloon which the Rootes Group staged in Belgium, and which concluded  last month. This inexpensive 1-1/2 -litre British saloon was set to cover 25,000 kilometres, or 15,534 miles, over a 110-mile circuit of rough pavé, at an average speed of 41 m.p.h. The car was driven by an all-women team, consisting of Nancy Mitchell, Sheila Van Damm, Mary Handley Page, Pat Ozanne, and Francoise Clarke. The Hillman ran continuously apart from driver changes and replenishment stops, and thus motored after dark as well as in daylight. It covered a distance which normal drivers would not do in a year’s motoring, at about twice the average speed they would be likely to do over roads of the sort which Rootes chose deliberately as a test for the Minx. Under these conditions it is truly creditable that the only replacements required were a set or shock-absorbers, two speedometer cables, two screen-wiper blades, a spring rebound leaf, a rubber bush and a headlamp bulb. The run was properly observed by the R.A.C. of Belgium and the car will be stripped for detailed examination at the Coventry factory.

Given our jaded memories of British cars of that period, it is refreshing to hear that they didn't always break down!

 

Would Mary Handley Page have been from the aircraft manufacturing family of the same name, I wonder?

[Vitesse2]

Purely by chance, I stumbled across a film from 1959 on an obscure TV channel about a 25 thousand kilometre non-stop run for a Hillman Minx. 

 

This is from Motor Sport.

 

Given our jaded memories of British cars of that period, it is refreshing to hear that they didn't always break down!

 

Would Mary Handley Page have been from the aircraft manufacturing family of the same name, I wonder?

She would. She has quite an extensive entry on Speedqueens: http://speedqueens.b...ndley-page.html

[BRG]

I am embarrassed to say that I don't think I had ever heard of her before.  Which is reprehensible! 

[arttidesco]

 

While looking for something else I stumbled across this advertisement, does anyone have any further details or is it just an advertisers puff, seems unlikely to have travelled that distance without at least a battery recharge or two ?  

[Rupertlt1]

JAGUAR RECORDS

10,000 Miles at 106.58 m.p.h. with

Standard 3.8 Mark 2 Saloon

Despite heavy rain, fog, and a banked

Monza circuit which was in an appal-

ling state, the five-man Jaguar team of

Geoff Duke, Peter Sargent, Peter Lumsden,

John Bekaert and Andrew Hedges broke

four International Class C records, with a

standard 3.8-litre saloon. After early set-

backs, the team finally set off to attempt to

capture records before the opening of the

Geneva Motor Show, where the car was

exhibited still with the dirt and grime of

Monza.

Subject to official confirmation, the

records are:

3 days at 107.2 m.p.h.

4       .. 106.62

15,000 kilometres .. 106.61

10,000 miles .. 106.58

Slick pit work brought fuel-stops down

to around 50 secs., with the running time

calculated for an average speed of

114 m.p.h.

It will be recalled that in August, 1952,

an XK120 coupe, driven by the late Leslie

Johnson, Stirling Moss, Jack Fairman and

Bert Hadley, established several Class C

records, including four world records, and

also averaged 100.31 m.p.h. for seven days.

In the records now broken by the 3.8 team,

the equivalent figures were:

3 days at . . 105.55 m.p.h

4          .. 101.17

15,000 kilometres .. 101.95

10,000 miles .. 101.95

The four distance records achieved by

Duke's men are, subject to ratification,

world records, probably the first ever to be

smashed with a car having more than

two seats. Fuel consumption averaged

14 m.p.g.

During the older attempts, a spring had

to be replaced, and the F.I.A. could not

ratify the figures obtained after four days,

as Article 4, Rule 231 (Appendix D) did

not permit replacement of components,

other than tyres, plugs, etc.

Autosport, 22 March 1963, Page 379

 

RGDS RLT

[D-Type]

 

While looking for something else I stumbled across this advertisement, does anyone have any further details or is it just an advertisers puff, seems unlikely to have travelled that distance without at least a battery recharge or two ?  

I missed this so apologies for being out of sequence.  Possibly recharging the batteries didn't count, being considered the equivalent of refuelling.

[D-Type]

JAGUAR RECORDS

10,000 Miles at 106.58 m.p.h. with

Standard 3.8 Mark 2 Saloon

Despite heavy rain, fog, and a banked

Monza circuit which was in an appal-

ling state, the five-man Jaguar team of

Geoff Duke, Peter Sargent, Peter Lumsden,

John Bekaert and Andrew Hedges broke

four International Class C records, with a

standard 3.8-litre saloon. After early set-

backs, the team finally set off to attempt to

capture records before the opening of the

Geneva Motor Show, where the car was

exhibited still with the dirt and grime of

Monza.

Subject to official confirmation, the

records are:

3 days at 107.2 m.p.h.

4       .. 106.62

15,000 kilometres .. 106.61

10,000 miles .. 106.58

Slick pit work brought fuel-stops down

to around 50 secs., with the running time

calculated for an average speed of

114 m.p.h.

It will be recalled that in August, 1952,

an XK120 coupe, driven by the late Leslie

Johnson, Stirling Moss, Jack Fairman and

Bert Hadley, established several Class C

records, including four world records, and

also averaged 100.31 m.p.h. for seven days.

In the records now broken by the 3.8 team,

the equivalent figures were:

3 days at . . 105.55 m.p.h

4          .. 101.17

15,000 kilometres .. 101.95

10,000 miles .. 101.95

The four distance records achieved by

Duke's men are, subject to ratification,

world records, probably the first ever to be

smashed with a car having more than

two seats. Fuel consumption averaged

14 m.p.g.

During the older attempts, a spring had

to be replaced, and the F.I.A. could not

ratify the figures obtained after four days,

as Article 4, Rule 231 (Appendix D) did

not permit replacement of components,

other than tyres, plugs, etc.

Autosport, 22 March 1963, Page 379

 

RGDS RLT

That's late for Geoff Duke to be still actively driving (OK, it wasn't racing).  At 40 he would have been a bit older than his co-drivers.

[BRG]

Why?  Fangio was 46 when he won his final WC in 1957, so Duke was still a lad.  There were plenty of drivers in their forties - if they had managed to survive that long!

[Tim Murray]

Duke had driven in a non-championship F1 race (Kannonloppet at Karlskoga) in August 1961, some eighteen months before the Jaguar record runs.

[Rupertlt1]

Local Drivers Break Record at Snetterton

A TEAM of Norfolk drivers from the Snetterton Motor Racing Club, headed by Jack Sears the well-known racing driver, driving a Morgan Plus Four sports car, supplied by the Morgan Motor Company, broke the British Class E 24 hours endurance record at Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit, on Saturday. Starting at 12.30 p.m., and driving in two hour spells until 12.30 p.m. on Sunday morning, the four drivers succeeded in covering a distance of 1588 miles in the hours at an average speed of 66.25 miles per hour. The run took place without incident, but the drivers were hampered by ground mist in the early hours Sunday morning.

A previous attempt made on 4th-5th June nearly ended in disaster when a track rod bolt fractured late the Saturday night while rounding Coram Curve. The driver, Denis Allen, of Norwich, managed to keep the car on the track, and to pull up without sustaining further damage.

The four drivers were J. G. S. Sears of Ashall, Denis Allen and A. E. Cleghorn, both of Norwich, and Oliver Sears, managing director of the Snetterton Motor Racing Company. Peter Morgan, son of the designer, was in charge of the pits and maintenance. The car was running on ordinary pump fuel supplied by National Benzole Limited.

Diss Express, Friday 29 July 1955, Page 6

 

Who keeps these records nowadays?

 

RGDS RLT

Edited by Rupertlt1, 27 July 2021 - 15:23.

[Odseybod]

Wot, no Sunday church curfew? Then again, Norfolk, so perhaps the first missionaries hadn't yet arrived.

[Vitesse2]

Who keeps these records nowadays?

 

RGDS RLT

Ultimately the FIA, although they need to be submitted via Motorsport UK’s Speed Executive in its role as the UK's ASN. So I would assume that someone at Motorsport UK is responsible for keeping an up-to-date list of UK records, although that's not immediately obvious.

 

See the section 'Records' in the 'blue book', downloadable here - https://www.motorspo...entre/#yearbook

 

The Seherr-Thoss report, available on the FIA website, lists all World speed and endurance records which had been homologated up to its compilation in 1987.
 

https://www.fia.com/...record-archives

[BRG]

Wot, no Sunday church curfew? Then again, Norfolk, so perhaps the first missionaries hadn't yet arrived.

Presumably a single silenced road car wasn't a problem for the God-fearing folk thereabouts.

[Vitesse2]

A memoir of Humfrey Symons, by his co-driver Bertie Browning, published in The Autocar soon after his tragic death.

 

[tlc356]

If you enjoy reading about such ventures let me suggest "London to Sydney 1968 Race" by Innes Ireland. Not only did I enjoy it very much, but I have remembered it all these years.  

Edited by tlc356, 28 August 2022 - 01:32.