A posed shot of Kay Petre, but it also shows how close she believed lady drivers had to be to the steering wheel to get more power from their arms to be in control of the car.
Kay’s driving won her many races and accolades and also the respect of the greatest drivers who competed at Brooklands such as Prince Bira, pictured here sharing a joke.
speed driving. Kay came to the car later and it was in this car that she became the fastest lady at Brooklands. The 1934 Wakefield Cup was run in some appalling conditions and Kay was one of three drivers for the Works Singer team led by Sammy Davis. Eileen Ellison and Mr Tolhurst were her teammates. Unluckily for the MG team, their team orders blew away on a gust of wind by the pits and were spotted by Kay who retrieved them, thus giving the Singer team an insight into MG’s
tactics. George Eyston could not understand why the Singers were always one step ahead of them. The race was eventful and the cup went to the Singer team despite MG finishing third and Singer fifth. The rules stated that the cup could not be won by a team in the top three places and luckily Sammy Davis had actually read the rules whilst George hadn’t. While Brooklands was Kay’s mecca, she did not always race here and in 1934 she was part of the works Riley team at Le Mans partnering Dorothy Champney,
who later married Victor Riley. Le Mans is a race of attrition and despite the large Alfas and Bugattis roaring away, their drop-out rate accelerated over the 24-hour period. Kay and the rest of the team put in some great times to average more than 60mph for the entire race and all six cars made it over the finish line to win them the coveted Rudge-Whitworth Cup. Kay and Dorothy themselves finished a very creditable eleventh place overall. Part two of Kay Petre’s story will appear in the next issue of The Bulletin.
The fearsome Delage had been driven by René Thomas and John Cobb before Kay used it regularly at Brooklands. She’s seen here in the car with the Jackson staff standing behind.
MAY - JUNE 2020 | BROOKLANDS BULLETIN 35
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