racingfromcambridgeplace

�� Racing FromCambridge Place����

Sir John Whitmore having� won� the touring car chamionship in 1961 in an ex Abingdon Cooper rally car.� With our� Don Moore engine Sir John comisioned� Don to�� build� an ?A series engine for his newly aquired Lotus Junior to race in the Formula Junior support race at the � MonteCarlo GP meeting.

Following� a major incident I� think the fire extinguisher came into play on its first outing the car was huriedly rebuilt I recall� Don being� quite concerned� at�� the small amount of running that the car� had done� to be towed such a long way� behind a Mini Traveller.�

Particular� recolection of John trying to remove� a tyre from a mini� wheel� (For the trailer spare) after much wailing and gnashing of teeth the whole lot was hurled to the rear of Dons shop , this� was the

cue the info to� be �divulged that to remove the tyre from a mini wheel you� operate from the rear of the wheel where the recessed, well in the wheel� allowed� much moore� space to work after which,� John soon had the job sorted.

Roger Bailey was to accompany John on this trip and as such was� most capable and certainly had a way with.the ladies. Some time later he worked� for J Coombs of� Jaguar� fame being involved in a major road accident whilst asleep in the pass seat of one of their race cars, they� use to be driven on the road in those days, returning from a race meeting , he� suffered major� facial� injuries , which� nessistated having his face re- built after the� structure had been repaired

.Roger�� hailing� from� crowland� near Peterborough� went to work at Ferrari� afterwhich he went accros the pond working for Andy Granatelli in� the US, he appeared in New Zealand

Looking� after� one of the Granatelli� cars as reported by Frank Hamlin then subsequently got involved in the Indy racing scene� with� sole� responsibility� for the hugely� successfull Indy Nights� racing� series. �

� At� Monaco the Lotus performed quite� well� in fact in practice� due to the settling of the susp� the front toe was incorrect but it seemed�give the car handling a characteristic that suited Johns style of driving on that twisty circuit,with� Johns� total� car� control�it� was� some� time before he� fell� from pole in practice. The ?A ?series could not match the horsepower available� from the Ford� but it� had such a wide torque band on a twisty circuit� like Monaco� he was up� with the leaders.

.� The Doc� having� been 4th in 1958, in� the A35�� 2nd to Jeff Uren in 1959 in the A40which� after a period of continuous davelopment on both engine and chassis� bore fruit in the winning of the 1960� championship. The chassis think tank included Mr J Huntridge� who was one of the enthusiastic upper mangement of the local BMC dealer Marshalls of Cambridge he appeared one day with a pair of very lightweight GRP doors , fpr the A40, Great but At 5500 in top they billowed out by three inches or more . they were too flimsy to be practical . they wre returned to Marshalls who sitffened them up with some alloy angles , his sorted the problem in short order. �� wwas�oneofuppe

This� car was� seriously� quick� hence the memorable start line drag� up� to Copse from the� front row of the grid at� the GP meeting at� Siverstone with a gagle of� 3.8� Jaguars.messersSopwith,Sears,GwainBailie,McLaren� etc,� the deminutiveA40 coming out on� top at the end of the first lapmagnificent stuff. All be it� still on big� SUcarbs .Split webers� were still� in the development stageat this time. This� was bound to change with the interest in the? A? series� unit as active as it was.and the advent of the Mighty Mini Power production would be the name of the game..

� The Doc� had an extreemly� tenacious� driving style� giving no quarter without a fight,on road or track, his ability level must have been considerable� for the performances he put up and the laptimes he� attained ,� Offs were relatively rare,one of my less favoured memories of being towed on a solid tow bar� from Cambridge to London� behind the Doc, (no motorways) in� winter in� bad weather so that the car could be put on display at the racing car show following his 1960 championship win.��

ANDREW AND HIS SEBRING SPRITE at THE 1000KS

ScuderiaSquadra Bleu,� another team from the university using� the bank of� knowledge existing at� Cambridge place, consisting of Andrew� Hedges ,( Sebring Sprite) Bill Mcgowan (AC Bristol) and a Canadian John Todd With� a� Peerless� Later to be renamed the Warwick� this car used the TR 4/5 engine box and odrive but with a De-Dion rear end with a GRP body

THE DOC IN AMONGST THE JAGS

One� day we had a visitation from an enthusiast� from� New Zealand , with his father, they had made the trip to visit� relatives

All 3 cars� were painted in the same two� tone blue , light met blue� for the . bulk , with a stripe� nearer to indigo blue,� they all perfomed well� and� added to the� activity level at Cambridge Place.

, In his� early thireties� Frank Hamlin was an avid mini� fan said� he� had come for six weeks with his� father�� to� visit� relatives and� friends� in the UK saw what was going on and stayed� for �� 2� 1/2 years ��He bought a mini� which we did all the usual� GP2 mini� tweeks on and off he went racing.� Being� no� slouch on the circuit and� like� most� New Zealanders� and very capable both in the field of� hands on doing the� mechanical� bit ,� and technically� sound� with a� basic logicality of his actions.

After� his stay he returned to NewZealand and with his time over here well spent., became� one of the leading mini exponents down under.. Hesstill� racing and wining today� at the age of� 75� yrs� of� course in a mini. ��Leaving� us� with , vivid memories of a cold night spent beside� the road� returning to Cambridge from the motor sport midnight matinee in Leicester Square awaiting assistance� having sustained three� punctures on the mini in the space of 40� miles , he� did not believe that this could happen in his new Mini.

After his� return to NZ we� lost contact for� 20� or� more� years� we� having got involved with the Alfa World� we were developing our sales of alfa parts globally , , One� day we had an� enquiry from down� under in reply I enquired as to the posibility of the contact having any knowledge of Frank Hamlin the reply email came back as yes hes was a relative of the person in the office. Contact was restablished, and before long Frank had organised himself a trip to the UK an we met up again he stayed with us a while giving us the oportunity to catch up with the news from his part of the world

Roy Salvadori in the Aston leading Tony Crook at Aintree Oct 1954 with Archie in the Lister chasing them both down he eventually finished Second after a superb effort.

Christabel on the grid with Don Moore in the background

Frank Hamlin here about the turn of the century in his advanced years but still competing and winning , in fact locally in NZ he was a bit like the God father of Mini racing admired and revered by all .

Me with Andrew Hedges EAO engine just changed

Early Peerless as raced by John Todd from theUSA under Scuderia Squadra Bleu whilst studying at Cambridge I think he was responsible for the inception of the Peerless/Warwick 350/GT using the all alloy Buick V8 3.5 which gave much more torque and inproved the car all round, when sorted.The other member of the team was Andrew Hedges running the now famous EAO sebring sprite brainchild of Mr J Sprinzell as well as
Bill Mccowan who regularly did battle with the formidable Peter Bolton they were both using the Cobra forerunner The AC Ace with the legendary Bristol straight six unit, knowlege gained from the Lister Bristol being most handy, The cambridge place facility was used as a diy base, We had the job of clearing up any jobs that were too dificult for the team or needing special tools.

This remarkable man a legend in his own lifetime overcoming huge handicaps not just to take part but to win. In a sport to which he gave so much. The wet has always been a great leveller realy talented
drivers like Archie always shine in the wet. .

The works Lister at NZ GP 5th overall

Archie in the F1 Connaught

After a discussion of aims for my future with Don ,the longer term was not easy to quantify , Frank Hamlin offered to take us to New Zealand and set up a tuning shop together , John Clarke however made a similar aproach to for us to move north with him and start a new business, using his contacts in the north of England. along with Jeremy Bates a garage would be purchased which I would run and build a business in the north Manchester area, I had
returned from the Goodwood meeting supporting Christabel teh day that Sir Stirling had his terrible accident and Chritabel had one of her many wins.
Plans made and the date for me to serve my notice at Cambridge Place decided on , John Clarke came down to Cambridge to collect us from my parents house in Cherry Hinton , our furniture etc was to follow later once accomodation had been arranged.. The die was cast and the adventure had begun we were moving >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>North to Alaska

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