33 replies to this topic

[nudgernog]

hello, does anyone remember george humble who maybe lived in the lake district.
he raced a red lotus elan in the mid to late 1960's from a garage in bowness on windermere.
the owner of the garage was robert smith. robert smith may have also raced at this time.
any info on his career including starts, results etc would be most grateful.
many thanks for your help

[Alan Cox]

I remember George Malcolm Fleming Humble (to give him his full moniker) racing the purple ex-Terry Drury Ford GT40 (1005) in 1967/68. He bought the car from Drury in the Oulton Park paddock but failed to have any success with it. He took in the Spa 100kms in 1968, sharing with Robert Smith, where they retired after 6 laps with windscreen wiper failure, but sold the car to Robin Darlington less than a year after he bought it.

In the 1968 RAC Sports Car Championship, he retired at Oulton Park 12th April, Silverstone 27th April and by the fourth round at Mallory Park on the 27th June he had sold the car to Darlington.

[Graham Gauld]

When I lived in Hong Kong I often had lunch the the ebullient George Humble. He was in the insurance business and still interested in motor racing but obviously not as a driver. As we are talking fourteen years ago don't know if he is still around or even still with us.

[Sharman]

He also raced an E type coupe, in his early days he was involved with Ecurie Cod Fillet "Chippy" Fidler and Don Barrow et al

[Alan Cox]

More info, for what it's worth. Lived at Halton, near Lancaster and, as Graham says, was an insurance broker. Took part in the RAC Rally 1961, '62 and '63, the Monte'61-'64 and the Alpine and Tulip rallies '62-'64. First race Silverstone 1951 with a Riley 2 1/2 litre. Had an ex-works Healey 3000, 3.8 Jaguar, and Jaguar 'E' before his Elan. Son Peter Humble also competed.

[nudgernog]

many thanks gents for all your replies. its just the information i was after to start some research.
i have just aquired his red elan from the current owner who had it for 19 yrs. i would like to trace as
much of the history as i can proir to 1970. from this date on its continuous to the present
day.

[Carlos Guerra]

Is that 26-S2-30 that you acquired?

[nudgernog]

hello carlos. no its not that chassis number for the elan. thanks

[nudgernog]

i met up with robert smith today after finding him.
he said that george humble had passed away a couple of years ago.

[Graham Clayton]

Alan Cox, on Jul 24 2007, 12:07, said:

I remember George Malcolm Fleming Humble (to give him his full moniker) racing the purple ex-Terry Drury Ford GT40 (1005) in 1967/68. He bought the car from Drury in the Oulton Park paddock but failed to have any success with it.

Alan,
Humble bought the GT40 from Terry Drury at the Oulton Park meeting on the 16th of September 1967, after the Elan expired. Humble replaced the original prototype nose with a production nose and added two grey stripes. The GT40 was sold to Darlington in May 1968.

[hipperson]

I owned Humble's GT40/1005 from 1971-75.
Drury I believe paid £1800 for it.
I bought the car from London society photographer ,Julian Seddon, for £4750
I sold the car to yankee Indy driver Salt Walther for £17000 ( I think)
Not long after landing in the US it was destroyed in a fire and the remains were buried to re-surface many years later as values rose.
The 'chassis number' is now owned by Leo Voyazides who races it successfully in Historics

It ran at Le Mans in 1965 and I suppose as such it would be valued at £2 million.

Used as daily transport on our farm in Essex for many year. Brown with gold stripes.
Polaroid photo taken from the top of a grain Silo Summer 1971.



Hot day........Dad and I would stop from harvesting and eat our sandwiches in the car.
Happy days ?

Edited by hipperson, 13 May 2011 - 10:02.

[Paul Parker]

hipperson, on May 13 2011, 10:56, said:

I owned Humble's GT40/1005 from 1971-75.
Drury I believe paid £1800 for it.
I bought the car from London society photographer ,Julian Seddon, for £4750
I sold the car to yankee Indy driver Salt Walther for £17000 ( I think)
Not long after landing in the US it was destroyed in a fire and the remains were buried to re-surface many years later as values rose.
The 'chassis number' is now owned by Leo Voyazides who races it successfully in Historics

It ran at Le Mans in 1965 and I suppose as such it would be valued at £2 million.

Used as daily transport on our farm in Essex for many year. Brown with gold stripes.
Polaroid photo taken from the top of a grain Silo Summer 1971.



Hot day........Dad and I would stop from harvesting and eat our sandwiches in the car.
Happy days ?

Happy days indeed, you couldn't do that with a modern prototype.

[hipperson]

The sandwich bar........



The Sunday morning task....Dad + Duraglit + Webers

[joannelbull]

nudgernog, on 24 Jul 2007 - 18:04, said:

hello, does anyone remember george humble who maybe lived in the lake district.
he raced a red lotus elan in the mid to late 1960's from a garage in bowness on windermere.
the owner of the garage was robert smith. robert smith may have also raced at this time.
any info on his career including starts, results etc would be most grateful.
many thanks for your help

[joannelbull]

I realize your post was many years ago but you may still be searching for information. The wife of George Humble lives in Victoria Australia and would be interested in answering any question that she can about George. Feel free to message me and I will pass on any information to her.

[Dick Dastardly]

Seeing this thread for the 1st time....George used to race / rally a TVR as well.  Dad knew him, living in the same part of the world....1 RAC [maybe 62 or 63] Dad was with Fred Crossley [from Bentham] in a Mini....pulled into the arrival control for 1 stage, George was there with his bonnet up pretending to fiddle with his motor, indicating that Dad should start the stage ahead of him.....Dad pulled up and lifted his bonnet, whereupon George dropped his and went to stage start, asking the marshal to make Dad start at least 2 mins behind....but Dad dropped his bonnet, straight to the start and asked the marshal if they could go 30 secs after George, which they did    They passed George very quickly, to his dying day George never found out they'd started only 30 secs behind.....

 

I was a primary school kid at the time....I remember Robert Smith from Bowness, he raced a Mini....I remember going with Dad to his garage in Bowness and seeing Rob's mini in the workshop. His brother David was boss of Rayrigg Motors at the time, he also raced, his car an Anglia.  Around '68 I remember hearing that David had got GT40, maybe that was George Humble's.....

 

Somehow, I had the impression until recently that Rob also had a red Elan.......I remember the 64 Leighton Hall Hill Climb...won by Lord Cross's Cobra with a red Elan 2nd, I'd assumed that was Rob Smith's until recently when I saw an old Autosport with the report, apparently the Elan was John Dearing's [IIRC, I don't have the Autosport to hand].

 

Maybe the Elan & GT40 being George Humble's....and being connected with the Smith's in Bowness, that's why I assumed they belonged to the Smith's and were raced by them.

 

Heard very recently that both Rob & David are still around, and that David's sons now run Rayrigg Motors in Bowness 

Edited by Dick Dastardly, 18 June 2015 - 13:01.

[bradbury west]

Talking of Leighton Hall, do you know of a source of photographs from there for 1966/69? Also for Barbon same years?

Roger Lund

[Mallory Dan]

Slightly O/T, but does anyone recall Bob (Robert) Eaves? Lived in Garstang, not far from Halton, I'm in touch with his brother & sister. They tell me he was a well known and quite successful rallyman in the 60s.  

[Dick Dastardly]

Mallory Dan, on 18 Jun 2015 - 13:26, said:

Slightly O/T, but does anyone recall Bob (Robert) Eaves? Lived in Garstang, not far from Halton, I'm in touch with his brother & sister. They tell me he was a well known and quite successful rallyman in the 60s.  

I've heard a bit about him, I know one of his former navigators, John Vipond.  They did the 68 London - Sydney Marathon amongst other events. Unfortunately, Bob's rallying cost too much financially and time-wise, he had a garage business which suffered consequentally, don't know whether he went bankrupt or not but sadly he took his own life I believe...

Edited by Dick Dastardly, 18 June 2015 - 16:42.

[Dick Dastardly]

bradbury west, on 18 Jun 2015 - 13:24, said:

Talking of Leighton Hall, do you know of a source of photographs from there for 1966/69? Also for Barbon same years?

Roger Lund

....maybe worth trying Tony North, a well-known photographer in that area. I don't have his contact details, sorry

[Mallory Dan]

Dick Dastardly, on 18 Jun 2015 - 14:29, said:

I've heard a bit about him, I know one of his former navigators, John Vipond.  They did the 68 London - Sydney Marathon amongst other events. Unfortunately, Bob's rallying cost too much financially and time-wise, he had a garage business which suffered consequentally, don't know whether he went bankrupt or not but sadly he took his own life I believe...

Thanks for that, and my mistake, its his son & daughter I'm in touch with. I'll be diplomatic on his demise, so thanks again. His son, also Bob, has mentioned John V to me.

[RobMk2a]

George Humble and J Grimshaw - entered the 1962 RAC in a TVR - I think this was a Mk3 - on the Revs Library site the photo shows the car painted in a similar way to the Le Mans cars (white with stripes).

There is also a photo of George Humble / Bobby Parkes on the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally reg YFR 752 which is the same reg as the Le Mans car but the reg was transferred to another later Mk3. 1964 Monte entry list Ive seen does not seem to include them.

Anyone know more detail on his TVR's - particularly the possible Le Mans car.

Rob

[Dick Dastardly]

RobMk2a, on 21 Jun 2015 - 07:31, said:

There is also a photo of George Humble / Bobby Parkes on the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally reg YFR 752 which is the same reg as the Le Mans car but the reg was transferred to another later Mk3. 1964 Monte entry list Ive seen does not seem to include them.

Rob

I presume you mean the 1963 Monte George  / Bobby were in the TVR, as Bobby Parkes was with Dad [Arthur Senior] in a works Reliant Sabre, no 263, in 64... their rally ended when a blowout sent them off the edge on the Turini, landing back on the road below that they'd been on just a few seconds earlier, destroying the fibreglass car, fortunately without serious injury to either Bobby or Dad......Don't know if George did the rally with another co-dvr that year...  

Edited by Dick Dastardly, 21 June 2015 - 18:21.

[Tim Murray]

It was indeed 1963 when Parkes and Humble drove TVR #143, starting from Glasgow:

http://rallyemontecarlo1963.unblog.fr/

In 1964 Humble was with Arnold Burton in a TVR Grantura #267 which started from Glasgow, as did Parkes and Senior in their Reliant:

http://rallyemontecarlo1964.unblog.fr/

If you scroll down the 1964 page there are several photos of the Parkes/Senior Reliant, including after the accident.

[RobMk2a]

Tim,

Thank you for your help identifying the correct dates for the Monte Carlo - I hadn't found the comprehensive entry lists. If you have any more details on TVR's in the Tulip Rally's or RAC I would be grateful.

Rob

[Tim Murray]

Rob, if you haven't found it already, the official Tulip Rally site has a comprehensive archive featuring the entry lists and finishing positions for all their events:

http://www.tulpenrallye.nl/archief/

(click on the arrow in the 'Kies een jaartal' box and select a year)

I've spotted these TVR results (but I've only checked between 1957 and 1969):

1960

60. J.C. Gunn/A.G. Hughes (TVR Grantura) dns

1961

42. A.J.Beurton/P.Rutland-Barsby (TVR Grantura) 113rd o/a

1962

30. A.J. Burton/S.H. Burton (TVR Grantura) 20th o/a
31. Anne Hall/Valerie Domleo (TVR IIA) retired
38. S.T. Pateman/J.Broom (TVR IIA) 32nd o/a

1964

13. G. Humble/A. Keith (TVR Mk III) retired

Presumably 'A.J. Beurton' in 1961 is Arnold Burton.

[RobMk2a]

Tim

Thank you very much - the 1960 entry is new to me. Beurton must be the Dutch pronunciation of Arnold's name. I wonder if A Keith - is Keith Aitchison in 1964. Also In 1962 I think the c/o driver for 38 Stan Pateman - J Broom is actually John Brown.

I think the cars are Mk2's as follows:

1961

No 42 reg AJB 66

1962

No 38 reg XFV 865
No 31 reg 880 ABM
No 30 reg AJB 66

1964

No 13 reg YFR 752 but a Mk3 1800 (Mk3 Road Test car) the reg number has been transferred from the earlier Le Mans car.


Regards

Rob

Edited by RobMk2a, 23 June 2015 - 11:14.

[Dick Dastardly]

This Arnold Burton....is he the guy who founded Harewood HillClimb?

[RobMk2a]

Yes - of Burton's suits he was a director / chairman of TVR and also held a BARC (Yorkshire) sprint at the Burton factory in May 1962 before the first Harewood climb. I think he owned the farm at Harewood.

Burton Factory Sprint - BTD Tony Lanfranchi Elva Mk6 32.27 sec. Tommy Entwistle TVR was fastest in Sports cars up to 1,900 cc. 34.86 secs.

George Humble must have been close to Arnold Burton as he appeared to have competed in one of the Ex Le Mans cars and the Mk3 1,800cc factory press car.

Edited by RobMk2a, 23 June 2015 - 11:56.

[Tim Murray]

Here's Burton's obituary. He was also involved with John Woolfe Racing, and I have read that it was his money that enabled Woolfe to purchase the Porsche 917 in which he lost his life at Le Mans.

http://www.yorkshire...urton-1-5807691

[RobMk2a]

John Woolfe raced one or two lightweight TVR's 1226 RO and possibly AUD100 (as raced by Ivan Dutton as the 73rd Goodwood Members Meeting). AUD100 may well have been owned by Arnold Burton. I think John Woolfe may have been married to Arnold's niece?

[bradbury west]

I recall somewhere that there is a photograph of Arnold  ear'oling a Facel Vega  leaning very hard a'port around a building at one of the Burton Factory sprints. For the activities at Stockton Farm  made possible by him,  enthusiasts should be forever in his debt

Roger Lund

[ronsimmonds70]

I was talking to a chap at the VHRR the other day and he was asking about George Humble. George was living here in Australia having retired from his banking position in Hong Kong. He got involved with the commentary team, of which I head up for the VHRR as chief commentator.He would arrive at the track always looking splendid driving the latest Jaguar and always sporting a reefer jacket and tie. His wife Prudence (she being much younger than George) was always by his side helping with the lap charts,George always had a good story to tell about his time of racing in the UK and in Europe. In later years Georges health got the better of him and he stopped coming to the events. He died some years back, unfortunately I have lost contact with Prudence. Cheers Simmo.

[Rupertlt1]

Presumably this is your man on the 1960 R.A.C. Rally, #99 Simca:

 

http://forums.autosp...-2#entry7431386

 

https://revslib.stan...log/yf558vt7772

 

https://revslib.stan...log/nq844fw3984

 

RGDS RLT

Edited by Rupertlt1, 11 February 2016 - 18:36.