Tag Archives: Berliet

Silver Jubilee – Silverstone Classic

A couple of weeks ago I popped along to the Silverstone Classic Press Day to find out what will be happening at this years event that will be held on the 24th, 25th and 26th of July.

Benetton, Bentley, Silverstone Classic, Press Day,

This years event will see Silverstone Classic celebrating it’s own Silver Jubilee and a programme of races and demonstrations which will include prewar sports cars like the 1928 4 1/2 Litre Bentley driven by Clive Morley and Duncan Wiltshire and demonstrations by early 1990’s Formula One cars like Lorina McLaughlin’s ex Micheal Schumacher championship winning Benetton B192.

Silver Sunday, Silverstone Classic, Press Day,

One of the highlights of this years Silverstone Classic will be a parade for silver coloured cars of any age on “Silver Sunday“, might be tempted to enter my Golf IV for that one.

Maserati Quattroporte V, Silverstone Classic, Press Day,

Porsche, Maserati and Caterham Cars are official partners of this years event with Maserati having the honour of supplying the official pace car a Maserati Quattroporte V.

Lister Jaguar Continuation, Silverstone Classic, Press Day,

Above the first of the ten 2015 Continuation Knobbly Lister Jaguars is seen testing, this 1958 designed car is fully FIA compliant and should be taking part in the Stirling Moss Trophy for pre 1961 Sports Cars, I believe Stephen Bond may be the lucky owner of this one.

Alexis HF1, Silverstone Classic, Press Day,

Duncan Ragabliati holds the distinction of being the only driver to have competed in every Silverstone Classic since 1990 driving his 1959 #7 Alexis HL1 Formula Junior car seen above.

John Denis, Berliet Curtiss, Silverstone Classic, Press Day,

During the course of the day I took the opportunity of going on a couple of rides around the track, firstly aboard John Denis’s Curtiss OX5 V8 powered 1907 Berliet which was seriously sensational while sitting over three feet up with no windscreen when pulling all of 1,400 revs, fourteen hundred, hanginig onto a grab handle behind the drivers seat, on the Hangar Straight.

Talbot 105, Silverstone Classic, Press Day,

Equally sensational was Nicholas Pellet’s 1931 Talbot 105 team car which finished 3rd in the 1932 Le Mans 24 Hour Race, the cornering abilities of this car on the smooth Silverstone circuit have to be experienced to be believed.

VW Type 2, Silverstone Classic, Press Day,

Along with three days of on track entertainment Silverstone Classic will be hosting live performances from Paul Young, Status Quo with tribute perfomances by Fleetwood Bacs and The ZZ Tops, in what promises to be the most full on advance ticket only Silverstone Classic yet.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Silver Jubilee’ edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psychoontyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for Geoffrey Horton’s first concours d’elegance of the year. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Feisty Under The Bonnet – Berliet Curtiss

Berliet was founded by self taught mechanic Marius Berliet in 1894.

Berliet Curtiss, John Dennis, WB Memorial, Brooklands,

By 1907 when the chassis of today’s featured car was built Berliet had become France’s seventh largest vehicle manufacturer producing vehicles from 8 to 60hp that included a petrol/electric hybrid.

Berliet Curtiss, Silverstone Classic,

Jean Porporato competed with a Berliet on the 1907 and 1908 Targa Florio races finishing a best 4th in 1908.

Berliet Curtiss, Silverstone Classic,

Denis Brothers Limited was formed in 1901 when brothers John and Raymond Denis went into the vehicle manufacture business having started with bicycles manufacture in 1895.

Berliet Curtiss, Silverstone Classic,

By 1985 the company was best known for it’s commercial products particularly buses and motorised Fire Appliances when Bill Gunner, Bert Forrest and John Dennis (grandson of one of the original Dennis brothers) headed a group of a dozen ex-employees who pooled their redundancy money to set up a new company, John Dennis Coachbuilders to salvage part of the business that was being cut by the company which had evolved to become Helstair Dennis.

Berliet Curtiss, Silverstone Classic,

John Dennis is credited with having taken part in over 50 London to Brighton runs and when retirement beckond decided to build a Veteran vehicle with something “feisty under the bonnet.”

Berliet Curtiss, Silverstone Classic,

The fusion of 1907 Berliet chassis and 1916 8.3litre / 506 cui Curtiss V8 aero engine was completed just in time for the 2007 centenary of the opening of the Brooklands track.

Berliet Curtiss, Silverstone Classic,

Like Dennis Brothers Limited, now known as Alexander Dennis, Berliet became better known for it’s commercial and in particular military vehicles, in the late 1950’s it’s 600 and 700hp 6×6 T100 trucks built for the oil industry were the largest trucks in the world.

Berliet was first swallowed up by Citroën in 1967 and in 1974 it the company was sold on again to Renault under who’s ownership the marque and brand disappeared under the Renault Véhicules Industriels banner in 1978.

John Dennis is seen arriving at the summit of the Brooklands Test Hill at the wheel of the Berliet Curtiss in the top photo.

Thanks for joining me on this “Feisty Under The Bonnet” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be visiting Race Retro. Don’t forget to come back now !

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William Boddy – Brooklands Tribute

On Saturday events conspired to allow me to visit for the first time the worlds first purpose built motor sport venue, Brooklands.

Brooklands

Brooklands was built in 1907, it was simultaneously also one of Britains first airfields. Brooklands became a centre of engineering excellence and racing continued their interrupted only by the Great War of 1914 – 1918. By 1939 what would become the all time lap record was set at 143.44 mph by John Cobb. A well known photo of John’s record breaking run show’s his 24 litre / 1461 cui Napier Railton, weighing several tons, flying along with all four wheels off the ground ! Such was the unevenness of the track. After the second world war racing failed to resume as industrial and residential pressures on the previously rural circuit took it’s toll on the circuits fabric.

Sunbeam, WB Sat Here, Brooklands

Enthusiasts gathered on Saturday to pay tribute to William ‘Bill’ Boddy MBE who in a career spanning 81 years served as editor of the publication Motor Sport from 1936 – to 1991. He famously kept the magazine going through out WW2 during his spare time while working for the Ministry of Aircraft Production.

Sunbeam Super Sports, Brooklands

Bill passed away in July and this Saturdays gathering included many of the actual cars, like this 1926 Sunbeam 3 Litre Super Sports, with which Bill had been associated during a career that played a significant part in firing this writers imagination during his miss spent youth. Owner of the Sunbeam Oliver Heal tells me WB was a passenger in this car one cold wet November day while being chaufferred by John Wyer, future team manager at Aston Martin, Ford and of his own Gulf Sponsored JWA teams that successfully ran Ford, Porsche and Mirage chassis in sports car races.

Berliet V8, Brooklands

In 1930 Bills first article published in Motor Sport was on the history Brooklands, the above 1907 Berliet V8 seen on The Hill is contemporaneous with the year the track opened 20 years before Bill made his first visit to Brooklands.

Gwynne 8, Brooklands

One of my favourite irregular features in Motor Sport is Bills ‘Forgotten Makes’ series into which category I would have to include this 1926 Gwynne 8 of which WB, as Bill was known to his readers, owned 3 using one as his transport through out WW2.

Tony Brooks, Brooklands

The ‘racing dentist’ Tony Brooks is seen above on the left retelling his memories of WB when his career was in the ascendant scoring the first Grand Prix win, since 1923, by an Englishman driving a British built car, the Connaught, at Syracuse in 1955.

E-Type Jaguar, Brooklands

While working at the Ministry of Aircraft Production WB met conscientious objector Denis ‘DSJ’ Jenkinson who was building a motorcycle by torch light in a shed during WW2. WB would eventually employ DSJ, who was so obsessed with racing that when he settled down he eschewed both mains electricity and mains water, to become Continental Correspondent at Motor Sport. Among many cars that DSJ enjoyed was the red E-Type Jaguar above in which he drove 110,000 miles between 1965 and 1970 visiting all the top races and the best circuits in Europe during that time.

Volkswagen Beetle, Brooklands

This 1947 Volkswagen was road tested by WB in 1952, he was so impressed VW’s that he used them for editorial transportation. This particular vehicle is possibly also responsible for coining the ‘Beetle’ name for the model, VW importer and owner of this car John Colborne-Barber founded the VW Owners Club of Great Britain and published a magazine called ‘Beetling’ because contemporaries of his sons at school referred to this very car as a ‘Beetle’.

Napier Railton, Brooklands

Finally perhaps the greatest thrill of the WB tribute day was to see a few of the cars, including Cobb’s Napier-Railton, that made history at Brooklands being demonstrated out on part of what the remains of the famous 100 ft wide Brooklands banking. Sure they were only tootling about having fun, but the noise was absolutely unforgettable and sure to have been heard by the spirit of WB where ever it resides. A fitting tribute to the man who was involved in saving much of what remains at Brooklands for us to enjoy well into the future.

Thanks for joining me on this Bill Boddy edition of ‘Gettin’ a little psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Monterey Classic Meets Woodstock – Silverstone Classic 2011

Berliet, Silverstone Classic PD

A couple of weeks ago I was looking around Silverstone regarding a film project while several teams representing over 100 years of the automobile history were fettling their vehicles for the forth comingSilverstone Classic 2011 meeting which runs from July 22nd to 24th.

Chevrolet AK Pick Up, Silverstone Classic PD

If your into powered transport be it steam, diesel, petrol, 2 wheeled, 3 wheeled, 4 wheeled or more you will probably find something of interest during the day and if your camping there will be 2 nights of music headlined by the likes of tribute bands Legend, Queen On Fire and The Rolling Stoned on the first night, followed by Suzy Quattro, 10cc, Wishbone Ash on the second night topped off with an afternoon of classical music from Tetra Electra, Tenors Unlimited and the 40 strong Amadeus Orchestra.

Ferrari 512M, Silverstone Classic PD

What has really helped this event grow in stature is the participation of numerous owners clubs, the Jaguar Owners clubs have chosen this event to officially celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the E-Type and hope to gather over 1,000 of the 70,000 plus E -types built together at the same time, a race for E-types will be held with 58 entries.

Ford Galaxie 500XL, Silverstone Classic PD

Other marques including Porsche who also intend to gather in similar numbers, with smaller marques like Bristol being represented by the Bristol Owners Club.

Hesketh 308B, Silverstone Classic PD

Silverstone Auctions the event sponsors will be holding an auction at the Silverstone Classic on July 23rd that will include the sale of the last truely privately built and entered Formula One Car to win a Grand Prix.
HWM Jaguar, Silverstone Classic PD

For those less inclined to the racing which will include classic saloons, sports cars and Grand Prix cars there will be a fun fair, arial displays and gathering of steam powered traction engines to keep you entertained during the daylight hours while you wait for the music to start.

My thanks to Jonathon Gill who facilitated this fascinating day at Silverstone, I look forward to visiting the event in July and sharing more details of some of the vehicles I saw during preparations for it in the weeks ahead.

Thanks for joining me on this Silverstone Classic edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be sharing some photos of a fascinating workshop in Warrington. Don’t forget to come back now !

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