THE DARLING OF BROOKLANDS


Kay Petre was known as the Darling of Brooklands, but she was a determined and able racer as we find out in this first part of her life story. Words: Tim Morris Photos: Brooklands Museum Collection


H


enry Petre was a keen aviator and a relative of Mildred Petre who is better known to Brooklands afcionados as


the Hon Mrs Victor Bruce. Henry became the first military pilot in the Australian Flying Corps, despite being born in Essex.. He returned to England after the First World War and came back to Brooklands, where pre-WW1 he had been the head of the Deperdussin Flying School, to take up recreational aviation. ‘Peter the Monk’ was a shy man who generally steered clear of female company, so it was a great surprise when, in 1930, he turned up at the Brooklands Aero Club with a diminutive and attractive dark-haired young lady from Canada on his arm.


Kathleen Coad Defries was born in


Toronto on 10 May, 1903 and her father was a wealthy barrister in the city. Her schooling took her to Europe where she studied art in Paris and then returned to Canada in 1924, where she married 31 -year old advertising salesman Langlois Dundas Lefroy in Toronto on 9 June when Kay was 21 years of age. Lefroy was a legal student prior to WW1 and then served in the Royal Grenadiers Canadian Expeditionary Force during the war. The marriage, however, was tragically short-lived as Langlois committed suicide by Paris Green poisoning in August that year. Paris Green is a highly toxic substance which was used in green paint and dyes. Shortly afterwards, Kay set sail for London on a restorative holiday, returning to Canada in November.


Kay was a competitive ice skater and Henry a keen winter sportsman who travelled to Canada for the Winter season each year. They are believed to have met while taking part in these wintry pursuits and there was an instant attraction. Perhaps as an antidote to her two boisterous brothers, Kay saw something in


the quiet, reserved Henry. They married in Marylebone, London in 1929 and set up home there.


Not in the family car


Although a keen sportswoman, Kay was not interested in flying. She was, however, attracted to the cars racing around the Brooklands track while Henry was taking his Deperdussin aeroplane up for a spin. This appealed to her competitive nature and by 1932 she had tried to persuade Henry to let her race his 4.5-litre Invicta. Understandably, he did not want her to race the family car so bought her a red Wolseley Hornet Daytona Special to take out on the Brooklands track. Handily, Henry was also a friend of the


great racing driver and World Land Speed record holder LG ‘Cupid’ Hornstead. It was to him that Henry turned to teach his wife how to drive a racing car. The tuition took place on the Brooklands circuit and it wasn’t long before Kay entered her first races, coming third and second in the very first two at the wheel of her Wolseley. Kay was keen to gain more experience and persuaded several of the other drivers to let her test out their cars in practice sessions. This presented a problem for Kay who, standing at just 4’10”, was rather small for many of the larger cars. The solution was to have a special collapsible seat made that would fit in to the driver’s seats of the cars enabling her to see over the scuttle and be nearer the pedals. Most pictures of her in a car show her to be very close to the steering wheel, probably as a result of this seat and that she also believed a woman had to be closer to get more power from her arms on the wheel. In some cases, wooden blocks would be placed on the pedals to enable her to reach them. The Wolseley proved fine for her as she was learning to drive, but it soon


Kay Petre might have been only 4’ 10” in height but she was a glamorous addition to the paddock. More importantly, her driving talent made her stand out among Brooklands drivers.


MAY - JUNE 2020 | BROOKLANDS BULLETIN 31


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52