Throwback Thursday: 10,000 Spectators at Castle Combe Circuit
On this day in 1954, we ran a race meeting at Castle Combe Circuit. It was our fifth year running the circuit that we built in 1950. The excitement generated by F W Brown in the Evening Post on a Friday in February no doubt contributed to the success of the event.
Here’s how we reported it in the April edition of our Journal that year:
This meeting produced some entertaining racing and enticed an unexpectedly large crowd of spectators. So much so that the police became anxious about the queue of cars on the road and herded vehicles into an adjacent field as if they were stray cattle. Practice in the morning went off without incident and we had a chance to see some of the new season’s sportswear for the first time. The 1.5 litre Connaught looked very good and bore a marked similarity in body-line to Sopwith’s Sphinx. This latter has an Allard chassis and Armstrong Sapphire engine, and, rapid though it was, the suspension did not appear to match the performance, but as this was only its second outing it will no doubt be improved. The new Mk. VI Il Cooper 500 are slimmer than ever and a delight to the eye; and Bicknell’s Revis is decently clothed with all enveloping body at the front which accentuates the nakedness of the rear portion. Nevertheless it proved virtually unbeatable. Body in the famous Tiger Kitten had a very busy but enjoyable time keeping, not only the car on the road, but himself in the car. Tiger Kitten regularly refused to turn right at Quarry, continuing on towards Yatton Keynal.
The first race was heat one of the 500 c.c Class., and a fine scrap there was between Bicknell and Parker (Kieft), the lead being swapped in each lap, and Bicknell winning by a very short head, with Fenning (Staride) third.
In the Sports Cars up to 1,200. c.c. class, a mixed bag of cars were easily led home by Tapp (Buckler) and it was good to see Dobbs (J.N.D Special) racing again after his crash here last year.
In thc second heat for 500 c.c. cars, it was Leston and Bueb in the one getting the lead for a while only to lose it to the other. Meanwhile Taylor, in a Staride, had maintained a steady third place. Loens (Staride) had held fourth place for three laps, but then dropped out and finished last.
It looked as if the final of the 500 c.c. class would be pretty fierce but rather surprisingly Bicknell lead with ease after an extremely good start. Parker was pulling up well and might have given the Revis a run for its money except that corning out of Camp Corner on thc second lap something untoward occurred to the steering mechanism and Parker seemed unable to guide the car at all. Thus it bore down upon the control bus causing one or two club officials to accelerate from the
vicinity at a speed quite inappropriate ‘to their power/weight ratios! The Kieft ended up inside the boarded enclosure in front of the bus, damaged, but with no injury to Parker. During this diversion, Bueb had taken second place and the works Coopers of Lewis-Evans and Leston fought closely for third place—Lewis-Evans being successful.
The race for Sports Cars up to 2,500 c.c. showed the incredible speed of Ganunon’s Lotus-M.G., for it streaked away from the start and lead the field for most of the first lap until Salvadori, driving Greene’s Maserati, put a stop to such impudence; even so, Gammon took second place. It is said that his car weighs some 9.5 cwt. and the engine develops about 85 b.h.p. It is obvious that Colin Chapman’s Lotus chassis and suspension must be first class to deal with such a light yet powerful vehicle, and Gammon shows great skill in handling it. The 1.5 litre Connaught, in comparison, did not seem quite on form and although weighing probably nearer 11.5 cwt. its power/ weight ratio should be about the same as that of the Lotus as there is no doubt over 100 b.h.p. available.
It was most regrettable that the new 2.5 litre Formula 1 Maserati was not present for the very good reason that it had not arrived in this country, but in spite of this and a number of other non-starters, there were all kinds of machinery in the Formula Libre race. Leston (Cooper J.A.P.) held the lead throughout. Lewis, in the ex Shawe-Taylor E.R.A. (one of the few cars which really sounded like a traditional “real racer”), held second place until James Stewart, in the Ecurie Ecossa Connaught 2 litre, had worked his way through the field. Lewis drove very well, holding third position, but on his last lap he overdid it at Quarry Corner, slid off the course on the outside, returned in a series of gyrations across the course to the -grass on the inside where the tail of the car contacted a piece of farm machinery and punctured the fuel tank. This let Abecassis into third place with the H.W.M.
The Unlimited Sports Car event was probably the most exciting race of the day. Of eleven starters, only two vehicles were not equipped with Jaguar engines, these being Salvadori in the 2 litre Maserati and Scott-Russell in the ex Tony Crook Cooper-Bristol. James Stewart, in the disc-braked Jaguar 120C, was hotly pursued by Salvadori for the whole race, and the Maserati, though giving away 1.5 litres, was never more than a length or so away from the Jaguar and certainly could corner faster. Salvadori did all he could to get by and on the very last lap the harrying tactics paid off, for he had just about drawn level at Old Paddock when Stewart spun off the course at a frightening speed but held it brilliantly and regained the road. This, however, had allowed the Maserati to slip through, but Stewart was still able to get second place such was the lead these two had built up. It is intervsting to note that the two non-Jaguar-engined machines filled two of the first four places.
Finally, ahead of schedule, came the last race for sports cars up to 1,500 c.c and Gammon had no trouble in winning this race from Coombs (Connaught). Although no records, were broken, the standard of racing was high, and the whole business was run with notable smoothness for which all Club members and their friends who assisted deserve the highest praise, and much greater thanks than they ever get.
Meanwhile the Evening Post took a different tact on their reporting, choosing to focus on the clickbait title of 10,000 spectators much like we have with this post!
