Following the recent run to deepest Wales organised by one Alan Hawkins, the following message was from Kathy Atherton.......

I would like to thank Alan for arranging an enjoyable weekend in Wales.

The intinery was varied and interesting. The sun shone when we reached our destinations (as I am sure Alan ordered specially).

I bought an apple, bandage, crazy fruit gums, dates, eggs, figs, grapes, hat, ink, jade, kitkat, lifeboat and a a Motor Club Weekend.

The song is "Ziggy Stardust"

Make sense? You had to be there!

 

 Report on the 'Evening ith Richard Noble OBE' by Chris Heard

 

 

Wednesday 16th March was a red letter day for Bude Motor Club. Richard Noble OBE, one time holder of the World Land Speed Record, came to give an evening talk to us at the Bullers Arms, Marhamchurch. There was a magnificent turn out with an audience of over two hundred eager listeners.

 

Using his own computer, the admirable sound system of the Bullers Arms, and a digital projector kindly loaned by a club member, Richard embarked on an illustrated talk, using contemporary video footage, much of which most of the audience had not seen before.  Not only did he tell us of his own record breaking attempts in his first car, Thrust, but then went on to talk about his success breaking the World Land Speed Record in his car, Thrust 2.

 

There was great interest as he explained how, as the driving force for the Thrust SSC project team, he headed the attempt at breaking the sound barrier in Thrust SSC. Despite a lack of sponsors, their attempt was successful, when in October 1997, with Andy Green driving, the car achieved an average two way speed of 763 m.p.h. at Blackrock, Nevada. There were some cheers from the audience at that point!

 

The second half of the evening was taken up with an in depth explanation of the Bloodhound project. The Bloodhound team is creating a car that will be capable of exceeding 1000 m.p.h., to be driven again by Andy Green, and he gave us quite a detailed description of the problems involved and how they were being solved.  The use of computer graphics gave a realistic impression of what it is hoped the final result will be. He also explained that as part of the project they are promoting an education program to encourage new engineers, by giving them a project to study and to which they can relate.  This involves a large number of FE college and schools, and apparently the take up has been very gratifying.

 

The evening ended with Richard and one of the project engineers answering questions from the audience. Finally Richard signed Bloodhound posters for members of the audience for a nominal fee.

 

Richard had kept the audience totally enthralled, and the evening was judged as a phenomenal success. Thanks must be given to Richard Noble for coming, to all those who gave their time to ensure that the evening was a success, and to the Bullers Arms for their help with the sound system.

 

Bude Motor Club is proud to sponsor the Bloodhound 1000 m.p.h. Land Speed Record Attempt.

 

 

 

 Richard Noble OBE

(photos by Bim Bennett)

 

 

 

 

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 An evening with Norman Dewis

 

Many thanks for organising such an interesting evening with Norman. A fantastic turnout too.

 

I was at Jaguar in the 60's and 70's when the company was small and tightly run even autocratically by the Chairman, Sir William Lyons.

 

At Norman's talk I met up with a fellow ex Jaguar Apprentice, Clive Redfern, who I had not seen for many years and the three of us shared a few memories in the time available after Norman's fascinating talk.

 

As apprentices we were 'used' by the company for many events, motor shows, press events, dealer conferences, both work and social and we knew all the main characters in the company. Norman was one as you can imagine and our first introduction to him after joining the company was to pass the company driving test with Norman as the examiner. My test was in a Mark X in the snow, and the first time I had driven an automatic! I passed and then began the delights of Jaguar motoring, an E type at 18!

Norman headed the Experimental Test Department and he had one or two drivers working for him plus one or two apprentices who would be assigned to him for a few months. I well remember mileage testing sitting on the floor of an XJ6 (no seats again!) taking readings, around the Cotswold B and worse roads before the car was announced. It was a revelation only comparable to Mini handling for a saloon car of the day and set the standard for other manufacturers.

 

He mentioned the four cam V12 MarkX. This was ,as he said, a most unassuming car. It was dark green or blue I think but in a very tatty condition. I had a ride in it with one of Norman's apprentice testers, Peter Taylor, it had unbelievable performance for such a big car we called the Shed.

 

Norman did not like to talk about the XJ13 incident at MIRA as you know! But I asked him about the crash and a little known fact outside of the factory. The car rolled/cartwheeled several times onto the infield and there was a perfect impression of the upside down car in the soft mud which included Norman's helmet! He said it is just as well it was soft mud and not the track, he would not be here to tell the tales.

 

He is the last of the old Jaguar engineers who had involvement in the C, D and E Type development and racing and we were very privileged to have heard first hand stories of the events. He was also responsible for the highest levels of Jaguar refinement which he constantly expected of the development team for all Jaguar models after the XK120 up until his retirement.

 

A great evening, thank you all.

 

David Thorn

Bude.

Please send any event reports you wish to be added by E-Mail to: reports@budemotorclub.co.uk