In an article elsewhere by Fred Harris, he makes mention of the LSR taken by Henry Segrave on Southport beach in the 4 litre V12 Sunbeam Tiger. Unlike many other LSR cars, this lightweight but powerful special was designed to be multi-purpose and had many successes in track racing following its LSR runs. Apart from Segrave, other LSR notables such as Kay Don, Malcolm Campbell and John Cobb all raced the Tiger at Brooklands to good effect. In fact, a twin to the car called the Tigress was also built, as was a slightly smaller engined variant named the Cub. After WW2 the car passed through a succession of hands before coming to rest in the Midland Motor Museum alongside John Cobb’s Napier Railton Brooklands lap record holder. Owned and regularly raced by Bob Roberts, it came up for sale when Roberts died. Roberts long term partner Michael Barker, decided to do this in style, and so was launched the idea of beating Segrave’s original record in the car prior to it being auctioned. Like any good LSR enthusiast, I had to be there
By its very nature, record breaking on land or water is not the world’s most popular sport for spectating on site. It lends itself much more easily to being televised, although once witnessed, the sight and sound of a big jet car streaking across a desert with a huge rooster tail of salt or dust behind it is an experience never to be forgotten. But no actual side by side racing takes place, much time is spent waiting for conditions to be right and because of the surfaces used, much of it takes place well away from the usual ‘spectator catchment areas’ so important to other forms of motor sport. But as an experience it is unbeatable once hooked
Chances to see authentic record breakers in action in the UK are few and far between since nothing now exists in terms of a track capable of handling really high speeds. So, the opportunity to see a real record attempt by a real record car (albeit one built 55 years previously) was too good to miss. True, some vehicles such as the Delage V12 LSR car and the Parry Thomas liberty engined Babs sometimes turn up at historic circuit races, but its not quite the same somehow.
The Sunbeam Tiger’s owner Bob Roberts, died in 1989 without ever realising one of his personal ambitions for the car that he had looked after so well - was it capable of beating the record it set in the hands of Sir Henry Segrave on Southport beach in 1926? The 152.33mph mark was set despite the reluctance of the supercharger to stay intact for more than one run at a time. Since then the car has been rechassied, rebuilt and had its engine modified by a number of owners, but nevertheless, its claim to be the original Sunbeam Tiger wouldn’t be challenged by many people.
Michael Barker, John Baker-Courtenay and the Midland Motor Museum look up the challenge as a tribute to Bob Roberts and I daresay that auctioneers Christies were not too displeased with the idea given all the publicity that the event attracted prior to their auction of historic cars that included the bright red Sunbeam. A quick phone call to the museum elicited the date and time of the record attempt as well as the location, Elvington in Yorkshire, a former bomber base whose runway was still used each year to set class records for smaller engined cars and in particular, bikes. Elvington also houses an aircraft museum depicting its role as an RAF base over the years and while open to the public, the actual record run itself would have to take place in private, for invited guests only, since insurance costs for a public event would be prohibitive.
The weeks leading up to the appointed date, May 8 1990, had provided perfect weather. The by now almost customary early UK Spring gave every indication of turning into a fine Summer for the second year in succession, but mother nature had other ideas and on the morning of the attempt it quickly became clear that the forecast was correct and we were in for a sudden change for the worse. Travelling up the A1 from Great Dunmow, bright sunlight and clear skies slowly gave way to overcast and rain showers. There was a distinct possibility of seeing the car, but not in action.
Although not old enough to have experienced it, when I arrived, the atmosphere at Elvington kept bringing to mind all I had ever read about Brooklands with its slogan of ‘the right crowd and no crowding’. The old car must have felt at home, especially since the VSCC who were acting as timekeepers were there in abundance with a mouth watering selection of Bentleys, Lagondas, MGs and Rileys. The uniform of wax jacket, cord trousers and check cap was much in evidence and the relaxed atmosphere was enhanced by the museum itself whose catering facilities were taken care of by a recreation of the NAFFI in authentic wartime fashion. Sitting there sipping tea from a thick china cup and eating cake surrounded by people who seemed to be from another era, it was fascinating to see how far removed modern motor sport is from those far off days.
The car itself was housed in a rather small corrugated metal hanger, most of whose space was taken up by the fuselage of one of the very few remaining Halifax bombers undergoing a rebuild for display at the museum. Sitting nose first, half in and half out of the hangar, the Sunbeam was being attended by its driver for the day, John Baker-Courtenay. It looked magnificent in its gleaming red coat of paint and straight away a number of modifications were obvious from the last time I’d seen it in the museum. The radiator cowling used on Segrave’s run, but discarded for track racing where more air was needed for cooling, had been recreated, the only apparent difference from the original being the two fairings to cover the front suspension modified from Segraves time. The small aero screen used for track racing had been removed and its mountings taped over, while the mechanics seat was covered with a lightweight aluminium tonneau cover painted to match the bodywork. Although not used on the run itself, exhaust silencers were still fitted at this point, along with a reverse teardrop shaped cover for the tail mounted filler cap, carved crudely from polystyrene and taped on.
The car had been a bit temperamental during the previous day’s test runs and indeed, they were having trouble even starting the beast right now. Members of the popular press who attempted to elicit information from Baker-Courtenay were treated to a passable impression of the crusty old retired army officer type that appears in novels now and again. Exit the press none the wiser, and although I allowed myself a quiet chuckle, I also wanted to know what was going on since getting to see the car run was going to involve a bit of bluff on my part because I didn’t have an invitation.
When the Tiger did finally burst into noisy life, it was quickly backed some way along the service road that leads to the hangar and then blasted straight back down again after an impromptu racing start complete with clouds of smoke wreathing the spinning back wheels. Obviously the engine was in rude health and giving plenty of power. Back in the hangar, the rear of the car was jacked up and there it sat, wheels spinning, to get it nicely warmed over prior to the main event. It might not be to everyone’s taste, but hot oil and methanol, smelt pretty good to me! A final dab on the throttle before cutting the ignition resulted in a sizeable backfire that sent the press diving for cover.
All was ready, but then of course it started to rain. With the first run planned for 5:30pm and the sun still vying for supremacy with the rain, prospects still looked favourable although everybody had their fingers firmly crossed. I still had the problem of how to get through the gates to the runway itself, so my fingers were crossed more than everybody else’s as I began chatting with people and trying to look as though I really should have been there.
By 5:30 the rain had stopped and the by now quite sizeable crowd started making its way through the gates. I’d struck up a conversation with the St John’s Ambulance people and wandered through the gates still chatting to them and without casting so much as a glance at the people checking passes. So far, so good. With the surface drying quickly as the sun came out again, the howl of the supercharger from the race tuned V12 heralded the arrival of the Sunbeam as Baker-Courtney eased through the spectators before blasting up one of the former taxi ways towards the far end of the runway. The timing traps were in place in the middle section of the runway to give maximum run up from both directions, while the crowd were positioned well back on one side of the runway which was overlooked by a camera mounted high on a snorkel type gantry looking down on the track.
Ten or fifteen minutes later, the car cruised gently back down the runway towards its start point and then circled a few times before rolling to a halt on the start line. A few more quick checks, while the spectators fell silent waiting for the runs to begin. Suddenly the engine note rose in the distance and a puff of smoke surrounded the red speck that was the Tiger. Quickly the speck grew bigger as it emerged from the tyre smoke accelerating hard towards us. That lovely V12 howl accompanied by the whine from the supercharger got ever closer as the car, obviously moving very fast for something of its age, slammed into and through the timing lights at the start of measured distance. Then, almost as soon as it appeared, the car vanished from sight with just the receding engine note keeping everyone’s attention. Appropriately enough, the sun chose this moment to break through the clouds again in a quite spectacular display of sunbeams that seemed to be saying ‘well done and sorry for delaying events throughout the day’.
Half an hour later the magical sound of that engine again in the distance meant that the return run was underway. Looking every bit a fast as the first run, Baker-Courtenay looking calm and relaxed in the cockpit came storming along the runway and through the timing lights marking the end of the measured distance. Because of the short stopping distance, he was quickly off the power and on the brakes, his white crash helmet bobbing forwards as the brakes did their stuff and brought the Tiger safely to a stop.
By the time we had walked back down to the start point, the Sunbeam was sitting alongside a row of Bentleys and still looking in pristine condition as the crowd waited for news from the timekeepers. At last, Bob Roberts had had his dream fulfilled. Thanks to Michael Barker and John Baker-Courtenay, Segrave’s original record had been bettered by just over 5mph at 157.44mph. So that was it, not a genuine record to be sure, but a fascinating chapter in the story of the LSR and one that I was thrilled to witness.
Some weeks later the car was sold as planned and after disappearing for a while, many feared that it had suffered the same fate as its erstwhile partner in the Midlands Motor Museum, the Napier Railton, that had been sold to a German owner and never seen in public again. But they need not gave worried. The new owner, Vijay Mallaya, owns a string of highly desirable car including a Vanwall, and when in 1995 Brooklands finally opened their LSR exhibit in the converted Campbell’s sheds at the famous old racetrack, the Sunbeam came home to form the centrepiece of the display. Both Segrave and Roberts would have been very proud indeed.
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