1 reply to this topic

[karlcars]

A major effort is under way to raise funding that will allow the Shelsley Trust to obtain a long lease on this famous hillclimb site, which has been in use since 1905 and is one of the important homes of motor sports. Part of this campaign is an effort to convince the UK Charity Commission that Shelsley deserves designation as a Heritage Site. To convince them, the Trust is looking for information about the use that's been made of the hill by people in industry, information and anecdotes that will highlight its importance and its contributions to automotive history and development.

So far they've done quite a good job of getting such information; I'm attaching the documentation that's been obtained so far, which in itself is quite interesting and, I think, a good addition to the Forum. If any TNFers have more to add, however, it would be gratefully received both by this thread and by David Grace of the Trust at gracee@btopenworld.com.

MOTOR MANUFACTURERS AT SHELSLEY WALSH

AUSTIN
Herbert Austin was General Manager of the Wolseley company, and designed his first car for them in 1895. He left to start his own company in 1905, and made his first entry at Shelsley Walsh in 1907, the car being driven by S. Hands. Although Austin had competed in some of the early races, he did not drive himself at Shelsley, but his cars continued to be entered there up to the first world war. Entries of 20hp Austins were made in 1920 and 1921, and in 1922 the new Austin Seven made its first public appearance at Shelsley, driven by L. Kings and entered by the now Sir Herbert Austin, KBE. This car went on to become the most successful British vehicle during the inter-war period, and continued in production until the end of 1938. The engine continued in production by Reliant until 1962. The Austin Seven was manufactured under licence by Dixi and BMW in Germany, Rosengart in France, Datsun in Japan and the American Austin Co. in the U.S.A. Lord Austin continued to enter his cars under his own name at Shelsley until 1939.

ALLDAY
Allday were successful in the Formula events at early hill climbs, and many were entered at Shelsley from 1905 to 1909, driven by Mr. W. Allday of Alldays & Onions Ltd., the manufacturers.

ALVIS
Capt. G.P.H. de Freville, one of the founders of the Alvis Company, drove a 10/30 model at the first post-war event on 3rd July 1920, and Alvis cars continued to compete at Shelsley until 1939 driven by, among others Maurice Harvey, a Works driver, and Charles Follett , the London distributor.

ASTON MARTIN
Lionel Martin first entered his cars at Shelsley Walsh from 1921, his drivers including H. Kensington-Moir and Count Zborowski.

BEARDMORE
The Beardmore Company from Scotland, best known as taxi manufacturers, entered one of their 13.5hp models specially prepared for competition, and driven by Cyril Paul to achieve a new Hill Record in 1924.

BENTLEY
W.O. Bentley drove a D.F.P. at Shelsley in 1912 and 1913, and his cars subsequently appeared regularly at Shelsley from 1922, though not entered by the works, as he felt that the hill did not suit his cars.

CROSSLEY
Crossley cars first appeared at Shelsley in 1910 with the 12-14hp model, but in 1912 a 15hp car, driven by Cecil Bianchi, won the President’s Cup for the best handicap result in a time of 88.4 seconds. Following this success, Crossley produced the “Shelsley” model , having the stroke increased by 10mm and rated at 15.9hp. Later, in 1929, the Shelsley name was re-introduced for a sporting version of the current 2-litre car. Only three other cars are known to have used the Shelsley name.

CLEMENT-TALBOT (later Talbot)
Clement-Talbot Ltd. was backed by the Earl of Shrewsbury and Talbot, and started by importing French Clément cars before commencing production. Several 10/12hp and 12/16hp cars ran at Shelsley from 1906, and for 1907 a 15/20hp car was introduced, driven by the Earl’s son, Viscount Ingestre, a 10/12hp car driven by T.W. Bowen won the President’s Cup (with two others in 2nd and 3rd places), and a 20/24hp car driven by W. Stokes won the Closed Event.. A 10/12hp car was second in the Closed Event in 1908. By 1912 the cars were entered as Talbots, and in 1913 Leslie Hands, driving a 25hp car, won the President’s Cup in a time of 57.2 seconds.

DAIMLER
Daimler were great supporters of early speed events, often entering teams of up to five cars. Ernest Instone, General Manager of the Company, made Best Time of Day at the first Shelsley event in 1905 in a time of 77.6 seconds, and other Daimler drivers included Percy Martin, H.C. Holder, F.A. Bolton and J.A. Holder, Holder setting three consecutive best times in 1909, 1910 and 1911, finishing with a record of 63.4 seconds in 1911.

FRAZER NASH & G.N.
Capt. Archie Frazer-Nash drove his own cars at Shelsley from the first post-war event in 1920 up to 1929 when he lost control of the company. H.J. Aldington of the successor company, A.F.N. Ltd., then entered both chain-driven cars, one of which set a new hill record in 1937 driven by A.F.P. Fane in a time of 38.77 seconds, and the advanced Frazer Nash-B.M.W. cars driven by Aldington himself and others including Fane and Amy Johnson the aviatrix. Frazer Nash was also one of the companies to introduce a “Shelsley” model – a high-performance supercharged sports car.

JAGUAR
The first S.S. (forerunner of the Jaguar) was entered by Swallow Coachbuilding Company (William Lyons’ original company) and driven by Maurice Harvey, formerly of Alvis, in a time of 61.4 seconds. By 1933 the company had been re-named as S.S. Cars Ltd., and in May 1935 this company entered two cars to be driven by S.H. Newsome (later President of Midland Automobile Club) and the Hon. Brian Lewis. By 1936 the cars had become known as S.S. Jaguar, and Newsome was entering the 2.5-litre and later 3.5-litre S.S. 100 up to the outbreak of war.

In September 1949, the hill climb was opened by the Jaguar XK120 which had achieved the record speed of 132.6 mph on the Jabbeke straight in Belgium. In September 1950 the Appleyards opened the hill with the XK120 which had won the Alpine Rally, and in September 1951 Peter Walker opened the hill with the XK120C which had won the Le Mans 24-hour race. The following August, Peter Walker competed with the XK120C, entered by William Lyons, Jaguar Cars Ltd., and broke the sports car record in a time of 41.14 seconds. Sir William Lyons was a member of Midland Automobile Club for many years.

LANCHESTER
The Lanchester brothers were deeply involved with Shelsley and Midland Automobile Club from its inception. Frank Lanchester was the first Secretary of the Club, and George drove a 20hp Lanchester in the first and subsequent Shelsley events, later joined by the Managing Director of the Company, T. Hamilton Barnsley, driving a 28hp car in 1908.

NAPIER
Selwyn Edge, Managing Director of S.F. Edge Ltd., was the leading British racing driver of the early years, and was the sole agent for Napier cars. A Napier first appeared at Shelsley in 1906 driven by Edge’s cousin, Cecil Edge, finishing 2nd in the Closed event. The following year Cecil drove a 60hp car to finish 2nd on time in the Open event and 1st in the Closed event in 69.4 seconds; and in 1908 Henry Tryon set a new hill record in 65.4 seconds in the 60hp car.

RILEY
Victor Riley first drove one of his 9hp cars in 1907, finishing 2nd in the Closed event., and in 1909 he won the Closed event with a 12hp car from Arthur Cox in a 9hp car. Cox himself won the Closed event in 1911, driving a 12-18hp car. In the late 1920s, Riley Nine cars were very successful in the Formula event, driven by a local agent for the marque, Derek Burcher.

ROLLS-ROYCE
Though this make is not often associated with competition, the Hon. C.S. Rolls did enter a 20hp car in 1906, driven by F.C. Faulkner with a time of 149 seconds. The following year the company decided to produce just one model, the 40/50hp car later known as the Silver Ghost, and one of these cars ran in 1922, driven by Geoffrey Summers in a time of 68.0 seconds.

S.U.
When the “Hundred Pound” side-valve Morris Minor was introduced, a special supercharged single-seater version was produced as a publicity stunt, which achieved 100mph in supercharged form, and 100 miles per gallon (unsupercharged). The car was driven by Bill van der Becke, who worked for the S.U. Carburettor Company Ltd. Subsequently, Carl Skinner, Managing Director of S.U., rebuilt the car with a light two-seater body for his son Peter to drive, and it created a sensation by winning the 850cc class at Shelsley against the M.G. and Austin Seven teams. A similar car was built for Peter’s sister Barbara. Both cars were fitted with Zoller superchargers blowing at 24psi, but when all the special cylinder blocks had been used up, Peter’s car was fitted with a straight eight Hudson engine of 4168cc fitted with four S.U. carburettors, which succeeded in winning the 5000cc class at Shelsley in September 1937 and at both events in 1938.

Bill Becke also built a special known as the Becke Powerplus, also supercharged, and using a large S.U. carburettor.

SUNBEAM
Louis Coatalen joined the Sunbeam Motor Car Co. Ltd. of Wolverhampton as Chief Engineer in 1909, and lost no time in entering two cars for the Shelsley event of that year. F. Eastmead driving a 14/18hp car finishing 3rd on Formula and 6th on Time, with Coatalen himself near the bottom of the field in a 14/20hp car. Coatalen drove again in 1910 with a 12hp car without much success, but in 1911 Edward Genna with a 16/20hp car managed 5th place on Formula and 8th on Time. 1912 saw a further improvement with W. Stokes (16/20hp) finishing 3rd on Formula and 5th on Time in the Open event, and winning the Closed event. For 1913, Coatalen prepared a special car comprising a 24hp chassis fitted with a V-8 aero engine for himself and Christopher Bird, entered for the fastest time award only. The car had been hastily prepared, and just failed to reach the target, with Bird finishing 2nd in 58.4 seconds and Coatalen 6th. Bird also finished 4th in the 12/16hp Coupe de l’Auto car. At the first post-war event in 1920 Bird set best time of day driving one of the 1919 6-cylinder Indianopolis cars in 58.6 seconds, and the following year he drove a single-seater version of the car to set a new hill record in 52.2 seconds.

VAUXHALL
Laurence Pomeroy joined the Vauxhall company in 1905 as a junior draughtsman, and in 1908 he had the opportunity to improve an existing model for the RAC 2000 Miles Trial. This successful 4-cylinder 20hp car later went into production as the A-type. Percy Kidner, the proprietor of the company, entered one of these 20hp cars for the 1908 Shelsley event, winning on Formula in 91.4 seconds. The following year saw even greater success, with Jock Hancock driving a 20hp car winning the Formula and coming 2nd on Time in 81 seconds, while Kidner in a 24hp car followed closely behind in 2nd and 3rd places respectively with 83 seconds. Kidner again finished 2nd on Formula in 1910 in 83.2 seconds, with Hancock driving a 12hp car in 3rd place. Hancock again won the Formula event in 1911 driving a 15-9hp car in 72 seconds which also gave him 4th place on Time. A single 20hp car was driven by R. Wilkie in 1912, but 1913 saw the first appearance at Shelsley of the new 30/98hp 4.5-litre Vauxhalls in the hands of Joseph Higginson and Hancock, entered for fastest time only. In the Open event Hancock finished 3rd in 59 seconds, with Higginson in 7th place. However, in the Closed event Higginson achieved a new hill record time of 55.2 seconds which was to stand until 1921. The 30/98 continued to compete successfully at Shelsley during the inter-war period.

WOLSELEY
Wolseley were one of the largest motor manufacturers in the easrly years, and numerically dominated the first Shelsley event in 1905 with single- and two-cylinder cars of 6 to 12hp, together with a single works-entered 28hp 4-cylinder model. These cars were designed by Herbert Austin whose horizontal engine design was not liked by the directors, and as a result he resigned in 1905 to form his own company. Wolseley were already producing a vertical-engined car to the design of J.D. Siddeley (first Chairman of Midland Automobile Club, and later created Lord Kenilworth) and these were variously known as Wolseley-Siddeley or Siddeley, and a 15/18hp Siddeley was entered in 1906 finishing 6th on Time. Siddeley left Wolseley in 1909 to join Deasy who had competed at Shelsley in 1907 and 1908 with 24 and 35hp cars. The company later became known as Siddeley-Deasy and after the first war amalgamated with Armstrong-Whitworth to produce the Armstrong-Siddeley car.

Note
The other cars to use the name “Shelsley” were Austro-Daimler, following Hans Stuck’s success in breaking the hill record with a 3.5-litre car in 1930; and a small production roadgoing sports car built locally to Shelsley Walsh.

ALEC ISSIGONIS

Alec Issigonis competed at Shelsley Walsh from 1930 to 1935 with a blown Austin Seven. This was originally conceived as a sports car, with an ordinary Seven engine for going to work and an “Ulster” unit for competition. It eventually grew into a full racing car, with a front axle of his own design, an extended wheelbase, and lightweight stressed body panels. At this stage, his friend George Dowson was pressed into service to tow the car to events behind his 3-litre Bentley.

The Ulster engine eventually blew up, and Issigonis decided to build a special using Austin bits to incorporate his own ideas on chassis and suspension design. The first drawings were made in 1933, and the car was not finished until 1939. The construction was based on two deep 5-ply wooden side members faced with 28-gauge aluminium sheet united by the bulkhead, engine, seat pan and diff. casing plus tubular cross-members. Front suspension is independent by two short fabricated wishbones, the upper one compressing rubber blocks mounted in a tubular cross-member. Rear suspension is by swinging half-axles with long torque arms, sprung by rubber in tension.

The car was first entered at Shelsley Walsh for Dowson in June 1939, but non-started. After the war, it was extremely successful at sprints and hill climbs all over the country, recording a best Shelsley time of 42.14 seconds in 1946.

Alec Issigonis later became Chief Engineer of Morris Motors Ltd. (Cars Branch) and, of course, was responsible for the design of the rubber-suspended Mini.

[Alan Lewis]

As nothing more than a mere spectator who frequented his local hillclimb in his youth, can I urge everyone to think hard about supporting this cause. This is not just another old track, this is, as Karl has shown, a site of global significance.

I'm sure a great many TNFers, like myself, will have already given to the Trust.

At a time when we worry over the fate of Spa as a Grand Prix venue, wonder of the Monza banking has many more years left to it and on this very forum have seen an excellent campaign to remember Riverside, I know I'm not the only one who would consider a world without Shelsley in it to be a much greyer, sadder place.

APL