Report of the 1950 road race from ''Motor Sport''
Jersey's final Grand Prix race
The starting grid
This is an abridged report from the August 1950 edition of Motor Sport on the fourth Jersey International Road Race, the last of four events for Grand Prix cars in the post-war years.
Ferrari beats Maserati
Peter Whitehead's VI2 I½ -litre Ferrari runs away from the 4-cylinder 16-valve Maseratis of Parnell and de Graffenried to win at record speed of 90.94 m.p.h. David Hampshire in the headlines with fastest practice and race laps, Bob Gerard an excellent fourth.
Jersey is a quite exceptional place. Its bicycles carry numbers and pay an annual tax. Apart front that, you see plenty of new cars about, exempt from purchase tax, the scenery draws particularly carefree crowds of holidaymakers, the girls sport the most wonderful beach and sun-wearfashions: If it rains, at times, it soon clears up and once a year the road race is staged in the perfect setting of St Helier Bay. This year's race was run in thundery sunshine punctuated by occasional raindrops and showed the superiority of the V12 Ferrari over the four-cylinder Maseratis and the polish of Peter Whitehead's driving.
The 3.2-mile Jersey lap calls for speed and long-wearing brakes, because it is mostly straight. The race distance of 176 miles took quite a toll of the 19 starters. David Hampshire, driving a Seuderia Ambrosia Maserati, hit the headlines with a fastest practice lap of 94.12 mph.
The Jersey Morning News and other local papers gave him particularly generous mentions. Whitehead clocked 93.51 mph, Gerard, the irrepressible, 92.6 mph and Harrison 92.31 mph, so Maserati, Ferrari, and two elderly ERAs shared the front row of the grid. Some interest was taken from the race when Chiron and Rol announced that their works Maseratis wouldn't be ready to come over, but those of Baron de Graffenried (whose charming small daughter had the time of her life beguiling Chief Marshal Perrin with sweets into allowing her to collect dirvers’ autographs) and Bira were flown to Jersey.
Charles Mortimer also flew in to replace Baring as driver of the lone HWM, While T Branca's 1,490cc Simca replaced H L Brooke's Maserati. Peter Logan flew out of Jersey to collect spares for his Cooper 1,100, but had to non-start nevertheless. The only other nonstarter was Archie Butterworth, whose four-wheel-drive AJB is in danger of becoming associated with the Sefac in this respect. It was too slow to qualify - and this must have been slow, for Merriek's Cooper 1,100 got in on a lapspeed of only 72.45 mph.
And so, morning rain giving place to a sultry afternoon, they lined up on the grid and Earl Howe introduced the Lieut-Governor to the drivers. The grid order was as follows, figures denoting the qualifying lap speed in mph: D Hampshire (Maserati), 94.12; P N Whitehead (Ferrari) 93.51; F R Gerard (ERA) 92.6; T C Harrison (ERA) 92.31; de Graffenried (Maserati), 91.87; B N Shawe-Taylor (ERA), 91.58; R Parnell (Maserati) 90.14.
Zero hour
As zero hour drew near 'Dunlop Mac' inflated the Pirelli tyres of Bira's rather scruffy Maserati, Norman Freeman viewed dubiously the somewhat worn Dunlops on Shawe-Taylor's ERA, Parnell had wheel-wobble at low speed in his Maserati on the parade lap and just before John Morgan dropped the Jersey flag to start the race Harrison's mechanic shouted advice into his ear.
They mostly got away in a magnificent bunch but Crossley and Murray were hesitant and Tony Rolt stalled the engine of Walker's famous old Delage and had to be pushed.
In quite a brief space of time, it seemed, the leaders were roaring down to, and breaking hard for, West Park hairpin corner. Whitehead led by 2.4 seconds from Parnell, who cornered very wide, Bira, de Graffenried, Hampshire, peering down into his cockpit, Gerard, Harrison, Aston, well up for an unblown Cooper, Ashmore,Kelly, his Alta very noisy, Shawe-Taylor, A G Whitehead, who had passed Duncan-Hamilton at Parkfield, Mortimer, Crossley, Branca, Rolt, Murray and Merrick. Whitehead completed this standing lap at 87.94 mph.
Next time round Whitehead had a bigger lead and glanced at his rear tyres and looked round generally as he took West Park Corner. He was worried because one cylinder head had cracked and couldn’t be replaced before the start.
Parnell was untidy here, hesitating, glancing back at the puff of blue smoke his car emitted, and the clutch seeming to slip. Dirt showed where fuel had slopped front the filler in the tail. Shawe-Taylor passed Ashmore on this corner, avoiding tail-sliding Aston. Hampshire’s Masedrati was misfiring – could he have over-revved it during his fast practice lap? By four laps A G Whitehead had caught Ashmore and Crossley passed hgim before lap five, at the end of which Peter Whitehead led the race by 13.6 seconds at 92.75 mph. De Graffenried had passed Bira to take third place, 7.6 seconds behind Parnell. Incidentally, the Baron was wearing a motor-cycle sort of crash-hat and goggles and the latter he continually wiped with his hands. In view of the overcast sky and his experience at Goodwood we should have expected him to wear a visor. He went up to third place when Bira experienced supercharger trouble and limped in to retire.
The first retirement had been Rolt’s Delage, with a split inlet manifold, Tony walking back to watch the race from Swest Park. Merrick’s Cooper 1,000 had pulled into its pit for plugs and tappet adjustment a few minutes earlier.
Beautiful sound
Peter Whitehead’s Ferrari sounded beautiful and he began to glance over his shoulder for Parnell, for after ten laps he led him by 27.6 seconds at 93.11 mph. De Graffenried was driving well, if a bit ‘showy’ at times, 19 seconds behind Reg, and in fourth place, controlled by his wife from his pit, came Bob Gerard, driving with absolute precision and watching for a falter from the foreign cars. He was, after ten laps, 35 seconds behind de Graffenried.
It seemed as if Whitehead was continuing to lap at speed in order to gain time for a refuel and, sure enough, he came in and was off again in 20 seconds, which drew loud claps from the crowded stands and enclosures.
After 25 laps, or nearly half way, Whitehead’s Ferrari led the Baron by 18.8 seconds at 92.94 mph and sounded as healthy as ever. He increased the gap to 33.4 seconds five laps later and his average up to 92.12 mph. It was an astonishing demonstration.
De Graffenried and Parnell both refuelled at about the same distance and both lost 30 seconds, so that at 30 laps they still lay second and third. The Ferrari was away out ahead of everyone and two laps ahead of many.
And so the race looked to have run its course – Whitehead, de Graffenried, Parnell, Gerard. But the Swiss driver, who had outdriven Parnell, was now worried by oil on his goggles. He had to call at his pit for more oil, which cost him two valuable minutes, and Parnell went past into second place, after which the Baron lost another six minutes putting in more oil.
Result
- 1 P N Whitehead (Ferrari) 55 laps in 1 hr 56 min 2.6 sec (90.94 mph)
- 2 R Parnell (Maserati) 54 laps (89.30 mph)
- 3 Baron E de Graffenried (Maserati) 54 laps (88.55 mph)
- 4 F R Gerard (ERA) 54 laps (88.22 mph)
- 5 B Shawe-Taylor (ERA) 54 laps (87.89 mph)
- Fastest lap, D Hampshire (Maserati) 2 min 2 sec (94.94 mph)
