13 replies to this topic

[ry6]

In the mid 1920's a car called the Beardmore, apparently driven by Cyril Paul, was one of the fastest hillclimb "specials" in the UK.

Can anybody supply any info on this car please?

What engine, what capacity, who designed it etc

Thanks

Rob

[Vitesse2]

Beardmore was a small Scottish manufacturer founded in 1920. They built sports cars from 1923, starting with an 11hp 1656cc model. The 12.8hp Super Sports had 1960cc and Beardmores were successful in hillclimbs and sand racing. Paul's car was a works entry, with a 1988cc engine and lightweight body and he broke the Shelsley record in 1925, beating Mays' Brescia Bugatti and Cook's TT Vauxhall, with a time of 50.5 seconds. The picture shows Paul on the hill at Shelsley.

[David Beard]

Originally posted by ry6
In the mid 1920's a car called the Beardmore, apparently driven by Cyril Paul, was one of the fastest hillclimb "specials" in the UK.

Can anybody supply any info on this car please?

What engine, what capacity, who designed it etc

Thanks

Rob

Somehow I feel I should know more about this car....
Wasn't there a Beardmore taxi.....?

[Vitesse2]

Yep - same company!

[Ian McKean]

I gather that Beardmore was better known in the South for its taxis than its sports cars.

In the 1914-18 war they made "battleships, cruisers, destroyers, submarines, tanks, guns, shells, aero engines, aeroplanes and airships", according to my Vintage Motor Car Pocketbook.

Wow! They were hardly a tinpot company, let alone a special.

It says there was also a little known 4 litre model.

[Eric McLoughlin]

Beardmore did not build many aircraft under their own name. I would assume they were one of the many engineering concerns who were drafted into aircraft production as sub-contractors during World War 1. The one idigenous 'plane they did build was a contraption called the Beardmore Inflexible. It was given that name because it was one of the first all metal British aircraft. By the standards of the day (early 1920's) it was a big machine with three (presumably Beardmore) engines, a high mounted plank-like wing with pronounced dihedral and fixed undercarriage. By all accounts it was too heavy and underpowered and I think only one was built.

[Doug Nye]

Wasn't the ill-fated R101 airship (under) powered by Beardmore too????

DCN

[Eric McLoughlin]

I can't recall off hand if the R101's engines were Beardmores. I do know they were diesels. Ironically, in the light of what happened, diesels were considered safer than petrol engines.

[ry6]

Thanks gentlemen for all the info.

The photo is wonderful. Opposite lock, Loose surface and "track" demarcated by gaps in the spectators!

I wonder what Jackie Stewart would have thought about this?

[Ian McKean]

The car in the photo is essentially a standard Supersports with the wings removed as opposed to being an out-and-out racer.

I read that Beardmore were also UK agents for the Austro-Daimler, another car that set the record for Shelsley, in the hands of Hans Stuck. Stuck's record stood for three years.

Incidentally, my info on the production Supersports model is slightly different from Vitesse's. 1970 c.c., RAC HP 13.5, 70 b.h.p. was claimed (but may have been exaggerated).

PS
Cyril Paul also used to drive a slightly larger car - the 200 H.P. Benz at Brooklands.

[dolomite]

Originally posted by Eric McLoughlin
Beardmore did not build many aircraft under their own name. I would assume they were one of the many engineering concerns who were drafted into aircraft production as sub-contractors during World War 1. The one idigenous 'plane they did build was a contraption called the Beardmore Inflexible. It was given that name because it was one of the first all metal British aircraft. By the standards of the day (early 1920's) it was a big machine with three (presumably Beardmore) engines, a high mounted plank-like wing with pronounced dihedral and fixed undercarriage. By all accounts it was too heavy and underpowered and I think only one was built.

Beardmore Inflexible

Evidently Beardmore reckoned aerodynamics was for wimps.....

[Eric McLoughlin]

Thanks for that Dolomite. More or less as I described. Judging from the ripples on the fuselage, "Inflexible" seems rather inappropriate.

[Doug Nye]

When one remembers that Cooper chassis with all-curved tubes led to stories that designer Owen Maddock didn't have a straight-edge in his drawing box, only French curves, the look of the Beardmore suggests its Presbyterian designer really did stick absolutely to the straight, but sometimes not so narrow...

DCN

[Innovator]

Beardmore`s Are Still At It.

I read with interest about the Beardmore special, which I was unaware of. I knew about the Taxis and engineering co. in Scotland.

Unfortunately I am not related in any way to the company but I build specials. At present I am building a Morris Minor for hill climbing, with a space frame chassis, wishbone suspension, 16V mid mounted (front) Fiat engine.

I have also built a Reliant Kitten that will do 0-100mph in under 10 secs.

These and many more can be viewed at www.beardmorebros.co.uk

John Beardmore