There were even Blériot motorcycles (Gareth Tarr).
Ballot is not a name many would associate with Grand Prix racing or indeed Brooklands but the marque did have a brief period after World War One when it was involved in the top level of motor racing. Four five-litre cars were prepared for the 1919 Indianapolis 500, having been designed by Ernest Henry who had been responsible for the successful pre-war Peugeot GP cars. The regulations changed to three-litres the following year and the factory created four new cars with eight-cylinder engines of the requisite capacity. These were raced in the 1920, 1921 and 1922 Indianapolis 500s, and the 1921 French and Italian GPs, at Le Mans and Brescia respectively, winning the latter race, the first Italian GP. In 1922 the regulations were changed to two-litres and the cars were sold off. One was bought by Malcolm Campbell who raced it at Brooklands, calling it ‘Blue Bird’ of course, and he had several successes in handicap races. In 1927 Jack Dunfee bought the car, racing it at the Surrey track 38 times up to 1933, recording four wins. The Campbell/Dunfee Ballot was one of two cars displayed in Paris.
The National Motor Museum had a stand at
Retromobile where they showed three GN cyclecars – Richard Scaldwell’s JAP GN, Duncan Pittaway’s V8 aero-engined Curtiss GN and Mark Walker’s Salmson/Riley V-twin-engined GN 'Thunderbug'. Regular attendees at VSCC events will be familiar with all of these cars which are 'Specials' made up of a mix of components. Harold R Godfrey and Archie Frazer-Nash made their first cyclecar in 1910 and were soon racing at Brooklands. The pair split in the 1920s, Godfrey eventually becoming the ‘G’ in HRG, and Frazer-Nash started his self-titled sports car company, both makes appearing regularly at Brooklands in the inter-war years.
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Top Swiss classics dealer Lukas Huni themed his stand ‘Bugatti meets Bentley’ with a wonderful selection of both marques on show. Amongst the British representatives was GK 150, a ‘Blower’ Bentley and one of three built to Le Mans specification. It is known to have lapped Brooklands at 121.4mph. The other Brooklands Bentley on the stand was the 1930 6½-litre ‘Old Number 2’ which was displayed at last September’s Windsor Concours, reported in the November/December Bulletin. Amongst the Bugattis was Type 59 chassis 59124 which, after being used in Grands Prix by René Dreyfus (winning at Spa in1934), was sold to Brian Lewis who campaigned it at Brooklands. Other notables amongst the French were Maurice Trintignant’s Type 35 which was stored in a barn in World War Two and one of the three Type 57 Atlantics.
London-based dealer Fiskens showed 1934
Talbot 105 ‘AYL 2’. This was built for Harley Street specialist Dr E J H Roth to race at Brooklands and its first competition appearance there was on 13th October 1934. More recently it has competed in the Le Mans Classic as a mem- ber of the Brooklands Museum Racing Team, where it has won two races.
Other highlights of Retromobile 2017 included a commemoration of 70 years of Ferrari and a celebration of the years David Brown owned Aston Martin (1947-72). The latter stand included a tractor – yes David Brown made those and we used to drive past the Meltham factory when I was a child. Retromobile is full of such surprises and oddities (did you know Blériot also made motorcycles?) which is one of its charms. Next year’s event will be on 7th-11th February.
Gareth Tarr
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