10 replies to this topic

[Steve L]

Could anyone point me towards a list of runners and riders for this race, please?

Thanks!

[Vitesse2]

It will be in the F1 Register's Formule Libre book, which has been on my 'must buy' list for ages, but here's the preview from The Autocar. No numbers given, but probably in entry list order (omitting 13, obviously).

[Steve L]

Thanks, that is very helpful. I have bought a photo of a Bugatti attributed to this race. From your scan, there seem to have only been two entered, but I am struggling to read the detail. Could you confirm the drivers, please. I think one appears to be Eccles who I think would be Lindsay Eccles.

[Vitesse2]

AHL Eccles, which is Lindsay of that ilk. The other is WE Whatcoat.

 

To enlarge the scan, click on it and then click on save - that should open it in a new tab or window (depending on your browser settings).

[68targa]

The Libre Black Book  lists all of the entries for the Nuffield Trophy but only the first five for the Junior and Senior Handicaps and does not show Eccles or Whatcoat.

The numbers for the Nuffield Trophy run consectutively 1 to 28 in the order shown by The Autocar. Several of the runners in the Senior Handicap also raced in the Nuffield Trophy and appear to use the same number in both. 

 

Those that ran in both events using what appears to be the same car are numbered  

Rayson was # 20

Richards  # 17

Duke of Grafton  # 19

 

Therefore following the sequence from The Autocar list the numbers used for the Senior h/c should be:

 

Eccles # 29

Martin # 30

Cholmondeley-Tapper  # 31

Staniland  # 32

Connell  # 33

Whatcoat  # 34

Richards  # 35

Petre  # 36

etc

[Steve L]

The Libre Black Book  lists all of the entries for the Nuffield Trophy but only the first five for the Junior and Senior Handicaps and does not show Eccles or Whatcoat.

The numbers for the Nuffield Trophy run consectutively 1 to 28 in the order shown by The Autocar. Several of the runners in the Senior Handicap also raced in the Nuffield Trophy and appear to use the same number in both. 

 

Those that ran in both events using what appears to be the same car are numbered  

Rayson was # 20

Richards  # 17

Duke of Grafton  # 19

 

Therefore following the sequence from The Autocar list the numbers used for the Senior h/c should be:

 

Eccles # 29

Martin # 30

Cholmondeley-Tapper  # 31

Staniland  # 32

Connell  # 33

Whatcoat  # 34

Richards  # 35

Petre  # 36

etc

 

Thanks for all of the input. The car in my photo shows #29 on the side, so it looks like it is Lindsay Eccles.  I have a vague memory of WB writing an article about him in Motor Sport many moons ago which I will have to try and track down!

 

And as an aside, is/was Whatcoat a real name?!

Edited by Steve L, 18 June 2024 - 21:29.

[cooper997]

Borrowed from July and August 1936 Speed magazines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stephen

[Vitesse2]

 

And as an aside, is/was Whatcoat a real name?!

Unusual, but real. Like you, I was intrigued, so had a quick hunt on Findmypast, which turned up a few local press references to him participating in hillclimbs at Shelsley.in 1932, 1934 and 1936. Other than that, absolutely nothing. No WE Whatcoat on any early 1900s census (although of course 1931 is missing) or on the 1939 Register. Nothing at all for that surname on the Scotland's People database.

 

There is an Ernest W Whatcoat on the 1901 census, age 4, but I found nothing more on him. And there's a Walter George Whatcoat, who died in 1952, aged 55 or 56. Both records are from Camberwell. Same chap but didn't like his first name, so changed it?

 

Most early references seem to show it's a surname which originates from Warwickshire. But it's a very uncommon one!

[Roger Clark]

Thanks for all of the input. The car in my photo shows #29 on the side, so it looks like it is Lindsay Eccles.  I have a vague memory of WB writing an article about him in Motor Sport many moons ago which I will have to try and track down!

 

And as an aside, is/was Whatcoat a real name?!

July 1972, obituary in February 1992.

[Vitesse2]

Ah, just noticed that Speed has his name as Whadcoat - even more unusual! - so it looks like he was William Edward Whadcoat, who is on the 1939 Register as 'of private means' and living at The Mount, Yardley Hastings in Northamptonshire with his widowed mother, another widow ('incapacitated', age 87, perhaps his grandmother?) and their chauffeur.

 

Birth registered in Solihull, October 11th 1909. Died March 21st 1969, leaving a fairly substantial estate of over £44000. Probate record gives the address as The Mount, Daventry Road, Towcester.

 

ETA: The Yardley Hastings reference is wrong - the database seems to think everywhere in the Towcester Rural District area is in Yardley Hastings! He's only in the phone book from 1964 onwards, but the address is just 'The Mount, Towcester'! Probably somewhere on the northern outskirts on the A5?

[Vitesse2]

Assuming he started, Mr Whadcoat's competition career seems to have ended in that race. Otherwise, it appears his last outing was when he won the 2001-3000cc s/c class at Shelsley Walsh, June 4th 1936. Lindsay Eccles won the 3001-5000cc s/c class at the same meeting, in a time slower than Whadcoat's, but it was of course a very wet day.

 

Amusingly - and I've never seen this variation before! - the Midland Daily Telegraph's report says John Bolster was driving 'Sanglant Marie'. The writer must have forgotten his schoolboy French though - the correct translation would be 'Sanglante Marie'.