Book review: The County Down Trophy Races, 1934 to 1936

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In August, we reviewed two books by Belfast-based hill-climber turned motor sport historian, Paul Robinson. In those works, which dealt primarily with the subject of hill-climbs in Northern Ireland, Robinson provided detailed accounts of events about which information was not readily accessible, and now he's done it again. The County Down Trophy Races were organised by the Ulster Automobile Club in response to declining interest in the Ballybannon Hill-Climb, and existed for three years alongside the better-established, R.A.C.-organised Ards T.T.

As a replacement for Ballybannon, it made sense to stage the new event in County Down as well, not least because the U.A.C. had a good relationship with Down County Council. In order for the new race to be viable, it had to be able to attract thousands of paying spectators, so it was decided to run it in Donaghadee, on account of its convenient rail access. After the inaugural race, run over 100 miles on a 3¾-mile circuit, on June 30th, 1934, proved a great success, it moved to Bangor for 1935 and '36 to facilitate a longer and faster course.

Managing to be both thorough and concise, Robinson tells the full story of each race. The organisation and promotion is discussed, drawing heavily from period news reports, until we come to practice day, 1934. Now the interest really builds, as we get the specifics and photographs of some of the 19 cars which took part. On paper, the most exciting were W. T. McCalla's ex-Segrave supercharged two-litre Grand Prix Sunbeam and H. C. McFerran's Bugatti (which we see airborne on the front cover), but Belfast man W. Sullivan's Sullivan Special (a supercharged Morris) must have been something fascinating, while J. R. Hodge's innocuous-sounding Singer Nine Le Mans was, in fact, a dramatic streamliner—"A couple of humps added to its tail and it would have looked like one of the famous denizens of Lough Ness," quipped The Spectator. Hodge, from London, was the only non-Irish racer in 1934—half the grid was made up of local talent from Belfast and Bangor, and the rest came from Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State. After David Yule was flung out of his somersaulting Austin and J. W. Patterson overturned his Wolseley Hornet in practice, the race was run between 17 cars, and with handicaps the stage looked set for an interesting duel between the sturdy Sunbeam and the highly-tuned Singer, which had almost matched its times in practice.

After a full account of the proceedings on practice day, Robinson provides a brief introduction to each of the cars and drivers, and the race report duly follows. The histories of the 1935 and '36 races are told in a similar manner, but the interest is even greater as they started to attract more exotic cars and bigger names, including a pair of supercharged Alfa Romeo Monzas driven by Luis Fontés and Austin Dobson, an Austin works team and, all the way from New York, Sam Collier with his supercharged MG Magnette. Entrants for 1936 were of an even greater calibre, thanks to the "golden" Bugatti entered by an exiled Georgian princess... The County Down Trophy continued to be very popular, and only ended after such a short time because of an accident in the R.A.C. T.T. which resulted in the death of eight spectators. Down County Council refused to grant any further road-racing permits involving built-up areas, forcing a move to County Antrim and the introduction of the International Ulster Trophy Race.

Robinson has made excellent work of distilling three very eventful races into 240 pages, and in addition to reprinting news reports, period material was also sourced from U.A.C. and local council records. The photographs are something of a mixture—some are lovely and sharp, others are not—but the best, of course, are those which have been sourced from personal collections and therefore almost certainly have never been published before.

Anyone who has enjoyed Robinson's previous books will be delighted with his new title. While his research has so far concentrated exclusively on the pre-war motor sport of County Down, it makes for fascinating reading for all enthusiasts, Irish or not.

Words: Zack Stiling

The County Down Trophy Races 1934 to 1936
Softback, 240 pages
£20.00
Available from www.robinsonbooks.co.uk

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