Talbot ‘JJ 93’ exits the chicane (Gareth Tarr).
the rolling start the Talbot 105s, registrations GO 52 and JJ 93, led the field from the start of race one. GO 52 was to have problems however and it was ‘JJ’ that took the chequered flag 45 minutes later. The Classic is divided into six Plateaus (grids)
representing the different periods of Le Mans history to 1981 and each Plateau runs three times in the 24 hours, including one night race. The cooler night air clearly helped the repaired ‘52’ which won the second Plateau One race, held after midnight, with ‘JJ’ finishing fourth, and it was a breakfast time one-two in the final race, ‘52’ again finishing ahead of the pack. The other members of the Brooklands Talbot team – BGH 21, GO 53, GO 54 and AYL 2 – weren’t quite as successful, although with finishes of sixth, sixth and eighth BGH 21 showed a consistent pace. The Dutch entry 'PL 2' finished 46th and 41st in the first two races but didn’t run in the third. The drivers for the Brooklands Talbot team were Gareth Burnett, John Ruston, William Medcalf, Nicholas Pellett, Patrick Blakeney-Edwards, Michael Birch, Christopher Lunn and Graham Goodwin. The ‘best of the rest’ in Plateau One, represent-
ing the period 1923-39, illustrated the variety of machinery at the event. Several BMW 328s featured in the top 10 of all three races and although these only have two-litre engines they are nearly a decade younger than the Talbots. Briton Robert Spencer ran well in his 1928 Bugatti Type 35B with finishes of fourth, second and fifth, and the lovely Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Zagato of Austrian Martin Hulsa upheld Italian honour with fifth, fourth and seventh. Race one
35
Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Zagato (Gareth Tarr).
also featured top 10 finishes for Brooklands ‘local’ manufacturers, with the Cobham-made 1931 Invicta S of Trevor Swete finishing eighth, a place ahead of Colin and Martin Bugler’s Staines- manufactured 1937 Lagonda LG 45. The Talbot car company originated as far back
as 1903 when the Earl of Shrewsbury and Talbot backed a venture to import the French Clement car. Shortly after, the company began the manufacture of vehicles to its own design from a factory in Barlby Road, North Kensington. In the early 1920s Talbot was taken over by Darracq, which also acquired Sunbeam to form the STD group. In 1925 Talbot hired talented Swiss engineer George Roesch to design a whole new range of cars which were successful. This prompted calls to go racing and in 1930 the agents Fox and Nichols of Tolworth were engaged to run a team of Talbot 90s which were bodied by Hoyals of Weybridge. Tragedy occurred at the Brooklands Double 12 when two of the cars collided, killing two and injuring several others in what Bill Boddy described as ‘one of the worst accidents which ever happened at Brooklands’. The team did have success at Le Mans however, with the 90 of Brian Lewis and Hugh Eaton finishing third and the sister car of Tim Rose- Richards and Johnny Hindmarsh fourth behind the Bentley one-two of Barnato/Kidson and Clement/ Watney. During the winter of 1931 Roesch significantly
improved the car, which became the 105, now with a three-litre engine giving about 140bhp. The cars were painted a distinctive colour of green inspired by a dress purchased by Roesch’s fiancé! Over the next two seasons the team had
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