Royal Air Force centenary celebrations must include Bentley. Better remembered now for cars than aero engines, at its creation on 1 April 1918 Lieutenant Walter Owen Bentley Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) became Captain WO Bentley RAF among all 50,000 Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) personnel transferred into the new service. A lot of its 2,500 aircraft were equipped with engines for which in 1919 the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors granted WO £8,000 [£156,000].
Read MoreThe Vauxhall Motorcycle
BMW’s R32 motorcycle was a star at the 1923 Paris Salon. Max Friz’s Bayern Kleinmotor became a classic, yet another exhibit just as advanced is almost forgotten. Vauxhall had one also with shaft drive and an in-line 4-cylinder engine, against BMW’s side-valve flat-twin. Friz had already a horizontal 2-cylinder but for 1923 placed it sideways, its cooling fins out in the airstream, creating a motorcycling hallmark.
Read MoreSCOTY Scottish Car of the Year
McConomy, Palmer, Thomsett, Thorpe, Jay, Griffin, Hicks, Acaster, Hancock, Herlihy, Bruce and Clark, perhaps not in that order, are among Jaguar Land Rover people sharing Discovery’s Scottish Car of the Year (SCOTY) title. Sixth from left is Stephen Park of the Association of Scottish Motoring Writers (ASMW) that made the award. It was a good celebration at Dalmahoy, Edinburgh with everybody “cutting a rug” as trendies said fifty years ago, into the wee sma’ oors.
Read MoreElectric revolution
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria engaged a young national serviceman, Ferdinand Porsche, as his driver. Jacob Lohner was coachbuilder to the monarchy in Vienna-Florisdorf and wanted to make battery-electric cars. So, in 1896 he hired assistant manager of the Vereinigte Elektrizitäts-AG to design one. It was the same Ferdinand Porsche, and his master stroke was to make the wheels electric motors.
Read MoreCrossroads for Vauxhall
Britain’s oldest make of car faces crisis. Its Ellesmere Port factory is moving to single shift working and you don’t feel Peugeot-Citroën (PSA) has its heart in it. GM Europe sustained 16 consecutive years of losses before the French takeover and while PSA is unlikely to abandon Vauxhall short term it could unravel in the long. Peugeot is well established in the UK. Vauxhall could atrophy without a French tear being shed.
Read MoreForce majeure: Cold night in a D-type
Jim Clark’s first race with the Jaguar TKF9 was on an airfield circuit at Full Sutton in Yorkshire earning him an early place in the record books. He was the first sports car driver to lap a British circuit at over 100mph. The contrast with bumpy Charterhall was profound. Full Sutton had a long 3.2 mile lap and was in perfect condition. The American Air Force had just spent a quarter of a million pounds - a lot of money in 1958 - resurfacing it.
Read More