Brooklands

[Vitesse]

Originally Posted by TimD

Welcome to the forum Helen. I know a little about John Houldsworth's unfortunate accident. As far as I am aware, his entry in the 1934 British Empire Trophy race was his only experience as a competitor at the track. He shared a Bugatti T35 with RL Duller, a seasoned racer at Brooklands. On this occasion, there was a new track layout incorporated for the race. This was marked out by straw bales, and it was against one of these bales that the Bugatti turned over on the 31st lap. Although he was taken to hospital, unfortunately John Houldsworth did not survive the night.

Boddy's description of Houldsworth's accident says that his car hit the straw bales and cartwheeled up the banking. That presumably means he hit the first bale of the deviation with the offside front wheel as he was leaving the banking?

Like Tim, I'm not aware of him having any previous 'form': there's no apparent trace of him at Donington in 1933-4 either.