Post by Bill Tinsley on Dec 16, 2009 17:02:05 GMT
Car Racing on the Curragh
The article about car and motorcycle racing brought back some old memories to me of those days. My late father Bill Tinsley who worked in the Cavalry Corps workshops enjoyed a reputation as a great mechanic. He always picked up a job as a pit mechanic with a racing team when car racing took place on the Curragh. Usually with rich English people who could afford to bring a car or two over to compete in the Wakefield Trophy race. Even as a small boy he usually brought me to work with him and I remember the frantic work being done on the cars in Hare Park during the practice days. I am told but cannot recall, that all the famous drivers such as Moss and Kelly drove me around the circuit at some time or other.
I do recall the day when Edward Powyss Lybbe won that race in which Salvadori crashed at the Kildare hairpin. I was with my father in his race team’s pit. As I recall it there were two races held that day with the six fastest cars in one race. Three cars were knocked out on the first lap at the Kildare hairpin bend. I recall the restless crowd when the first cars went through the pits and everyone then knew that something had happened. I have a vivid memory of the finish, as Poys Lybbe’s pit was two or three pit’s down from ours. I climbed up onto the pit counter when he pulled in so I could see over the cheering crowd that surrounded him. I remember he stood up in the car and unscrewed the lid of the fuel cap and someone handed him a shooting stick to dip the tank with. No trace of fuel could be found on the end of the stick. That’s how he won the race by skipping a fuel stop and of course the crash.
Where did he live? I remember him passing past our house in Kildare town in the Alfa and he waved to some friends and me as he went by.
After the race I recall going with my father to see Salvadori’s burnt out car that was behind the stand at the Kildare hairpin bend. There was little left of it only the portions made of steel survived burnt right through the grass into the ground.
Until recently I did not realize how historic a car Anthony Powys Lybbe’s Alfa was. The information below was gleaned from the web.
The Alfa Romeo Tipo B (P3) Monoposto was the first genuine single-seat racing car in Grand Prix racing. It was powered by an eight-cylinder engine built around two four-cylinder blocks, each fed by its own Roots supercharger. One of the engines major strengths was its low-speed torque. Power to the rear wheels was transmitted through twin driveshafts that allowed for the drivers seat to be placed lower in the chassis. The original leaf spring suspension was replaced in 1935 by an independent Dubonnet front suspension. The complete car weighed in at only 1,545 lbs. and were it not for its cast-iron block engine, it would have weighed considerably less. A 265hp 2,992cc dual overhead camshaft inline eight-cylinder engine, twin Roots superchargers; live axle front suspension with semi-elliptical leaf springs, live axle rear suspension, twin torque tube drive to bevel gears with semi-elliptical leaf springs and four-wheel mechanical drum brakes. Wheelbase: 2,650mm. Winning its first race out of the box, the P3 went on to win 5 more major races in 1932. With the two best drivers of the day, Tazio Nuvolari and Rudolf Caracciola racing them 1932 was a successful year. The P3’s most famous victory came very late in its career when Tazio Nuvolari beat the combined German might of five Mercedes and four Auto Unions. That race, the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, in front of dozens of Nazi officials is considered one of Nuvolari’s greatest victories of all time while the car that took him to victory, the P3 is enshrined in the pantheon of great Grand Prix cars.
History of Alfa Romeo Tipo B (P3) No 5006 the actual car driven on the Curragh by Anthony Powys Lybbe
1932 built by Alfa. Car No 5006
1932 Raced by the Scuderia Ferrari who came 1st 2nd and third in the French GP. One of which was No 5006.
1934 Winner of Monaco GP with Guy Moll.
1935 Raced by Georges Raph in France.
1949 Raced by Anthony Powys Lybbe who wins the Wakefield Trophy on the Curragh.
1950 Powys Lybbe wins the Frank O’Boyle Trophy at Dundrod.
1953 Powys Lybbe wins the Wakefield Trophy for the second time on the Curragh.
1953 –2005 Owned by various owners in the UK, Japan and USA.
2005 Sold at the Monterey Sports and Classic Car auction in California USA for 2.1 million American dollars.
2006 Owned by Peter Giddings of California USA.
The article about car and motorcycle racing brought back some old memories to me of those days. My late father Bill Tinsley who worked in the Cavalry Corps workshops enjoyed a reputation as a great mechanic. He always picked up a job as a pit mechanic with a racing team when car racing took place on the Curragh. Usually with rich English people who could afford to bring a car or two over to compete in the Wakefield Trophy race. Even as a small boy he usually brought me to work with him and I remember the frantic work being done on the cars in Hare Park during the practice days. I am told but cannot recall, that all the famous drivers such as Moss and Kelly drove me around the circuit at some time or other.
I do recall the day when Edward Powyss Lybbe won that race in which Salvadori crashed at the Kildare hairpin. I was with my father in his race team’s pit. As I recall it there were two races held that day with the six fastest cars in one race. Three cars were knocked out on the first lap at the Kildare hairpin bend. I recall the restless crowd when the first cars went through the pits and everyone then knew that something had happened. I have a vivid memory of the finish, as Poys Lybbe’s pit was two or three pit’s down from ours. I climbed up onto the pit counter when he pulled in so I could see over the cheering crowd that surrounded him. I remember he stood up in the car and unscrewed the lid of the fuel cap and someone handed him a shooting stick to dip the tank with. No trace of fuel could be found on the end of the stick. That’s how he won the race by skipping a fuel stop and of course the crash.
Where did he live? I remember him passing past our house in Kildare town in the Alfa and he waved to some friends and me as he went by.
After the race I recall going with my father to see Salvadori’s burnt out car that was behind the stand at the Kildare hairpin bend. There was little left of it only the portions made of steel survived burnt right through the grass into the ground.
Until recently I did not realize how historic a car Anthony Powys Lybbe’s Alfa was. The information below was gleaned from the web.
The Alfa Romeo Tipo B (P3) Monoposto was the first genuine single-seat racing car in Grand Prix racing. It was powered by an eight-cylinder engine built around two four-cylinder blocks, each fed by its own Roots supercharger. One of the engines major strengths was its low-speed torque. Power to the rear wheels was transmitted through twin driveshafts that allowed for the drivers seat to be placed lower in the chassis. The original leaf spring suspension was replaced in 1935 by an independent Dubonnet front suspension. The complete car weighed in at only 1,545 lbs. and were it not for its cast-iron block engine, it would have weighed considerably less. A 265hp 2,992cc dual overhead camshaft inline eight-cylinder engine, twin Roots superchargers; live axle front suspension with semi-elliptical leaf springs, live axle rear suspension, twin torque tube drive to bevel gears with semi-elliptical leaf springs and four-wheel mechanical drum brakes. Wheelbase: 2,650mm. Winning its first race out of the box, the P3 went on to win 5 more major races in 1932. With the two best drivers of the day, Tazio Nuvolari and Rudolf Caracciola racing them 1932 was a successful year. The P3’s most famous victory came very late in its career when Tazio Nuvolari beat the combined German might of five Mercedes and four Auto Unions. That race, the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, in front of dozens of Nazi officials is considered one of Nuvolari’s greatest victories of all time while the car that took him to victory, the P3 is enshrined in the pantheon of great Grand Prix cars.
History of Alfa Romeo Tipo B (P3) No 5006 the actual car driven on the Curragh by Anthony Powys Lybbe
1932 built by Alfa. Car No 5006
1932 Raced by the Scuderia Ferrari who came 1st 2nd and third in the French GP. One of which was No 5006.
1934 Winner of Monaco GP with Guy Moll.
1935 Raced by Georges Raph in France.
1949 Raced by Anthony Powys Lybbe who wins the Wakefield Trophy on the Curragh.
1950 Powys Lybbe wins the Frank O’Boyle Trophy at Dundrod.
1953 Powys Lybbe wins the Wakefield Trophy for the second time on the Curragh.
1953 –2005 Owned by various owners in the UK, Japan and USA.
2005 Sold at the Monterey Sports and Classic Car auction in California USA for 2.1 million American dollars.
2006 Owned by Peter Giddings of California USA.