RAC Rally 1952 Appeal for Information

[Jack]

At Goodwood this weekend Trevor Spero had a good chat with Chris Hodgson, whose father Tony Hodgson was apparently the principal driver for the 1952 RAC Rally in a Jowett Javelin.

Chris is interested in finding out more about who the other people are in these photos, and other information about the 1952 Rally. Does anyone have more details on this, or is there a book I should be looking in to find out more?







It seems from Wikipedia that a Javelin won its class and won Best Closed Car in 1952, do we know whether it was this car, and whether other Javelins entered the RAC rally in 1952?

Finally does anyone have a copy of Autosport from April 11th 1952 or even April 4th, as these have coverage of the RAC Rally and might have more details on the drivers, navigators, car or support crew? Probably worth us getting this into the archive.

Jack.

[Jack]

I have found this photo online, which shows a Javelin apparently competing in the same rally, it doesn't look like the same reg no and car no. I also can't confirm whether it is even from the 52 RAC Rally, could be a different year or even a different event, but is a possible clue.



Do we have details of which car won class and best closed car, or how many Javelins may have been entered? I have contacted Eden and Noel, but this seems to be an event we don't have huge amounts of info about.

Jack.

[Moises Jr.]

I would like to make a contribution, select one of the photos and I decided to give it color. I hope you like it, for me it is a matter of minutes and a fun work.

Saludos!

[Keith Clements]

Amazing

[Moises Jr.]

Is there any way to know the color of the javelin FFN 516 or FNJ 957?

[robert lintott]

The 1952 RAC was the second of its kind as an international Rally and was run in early April so reports would be in May magazines . I do not have Motor Sports before 1953 but with a password or by calling them it should be possible to get a copy of their report on disc .

FNJ was registered in East Sussex probably in mid 1950 , the series started in April 1950 . FFN was registered in Canterbury in late 1950/early 1951 , the series started in Oct 1950. In those days it was normal for 2 or 3 year old cars to compete. Both of these are likely to be EO PB models but neither are in the 2008 register . Eden Lindsay may have some records .

I recall a written report by a doctor in the Jowett archive of a rally reort around this time , is there any connection ? The pictures are excellent and the people must be recognisable by old Jowett hands ? Where did they come from ? Bob

[Jack]

Hi Bob,

Pictures have been sent to us by Chris Hodgson from the originals his father kept, he came to find us at Goodwood and was interested in finding out more info around this.

I have sent queries to Noel, Eden and Alan Brierley in the hope that they might have some information on the event from their records, if they come back to me with anything I will share it here.

I have found a copy of Autosport from April 1952 with an 8 page feature on the event, for £6 decided it was worth a punt even just for general interest, and hopefully it will contain some information on the Javelin entry that will help us to fill in a few gaps. Of course it does mean I have to wait for 2nd class snail mail to get my hands on it!

Jack.

[robert lintott]

Jack,, well done, await your Autosport which in those days would have more detail on the event than would be in Motor Sport . Do you recall the written report which is somewhere on the Gallery but I cant find it ?. I think it was a Javelin in the Monte Carlo, but the characters in the pictures may well have done that as well. They look distinctive to me , someone may put names to them .

My rallying days were in the late 1950s and 1960s when Javelins were out of fashion . We had a Triumph Herald and then two Cooper Minis, rushing around the South and South west of England on Saturday nights . We did National rallies but never International, but did a lot of marshalling on the RAC. It all got too expensive ! Bob

[Jack]

Okey dokey. Information now becoming clearer, having written a big piece on Marcel Becquart I can't believe I didn't realise it was the same event.

The Javelin which was driven by Becquart won the Best Closed Car award and presumably his class as well, article here:



I have appealed to the knowledgeable folks at Autosport forums to help, and indeed they have with the above. http://forums.autosport.com/topic/18996 ... d-results/

However, if the Javelin of Becquart was classified as closed car under 2.5 litres, the other Javelin above should be as well. At the bottom of the article we have a list of entrants, which means that either the Javelin did not finish, was not included in the results, or perhaps we have got the wrong year for the event?

Jack.

[Jack]

Interesting comment from Autosport forum, in 1953 there were 16 Jowetts entered, class winner was E.Elliott.

Is this known to the club? Class winner in 52 and 53, what other motorsport achievements have we got for Javelins that are not well known and documented? I've seen a lot on the Jupiter achievements at Le Mans and a few other events, but other than the Monte Carlo and Tulip rallies hadn't seen much for the Javelin. Indeed, on Wikipedia (the default starter for ten when trying to find out basic info about just about anything) details these and the Spa 24hrs race class win, but nothing about RAC rallies.

Jack.

[Jack]

Further photos received from Chris, may shed some more light on things. Some appear to be taken in Hastings, which seems to be where Tony left from.

I don't know quite how RAC rallies worked in those days, but perhaps leaving from different locations explains the discrepancy between the scores and subsequent rankings, one would expect the Javelins to be fairly similar in performance on an event like this, but there do seem to have been a lot more cars entered than I had expected.









A bit more info on Mr Hodgson and his involvement with Jowetts:





Jack.

[robert lintott]

More interesting pics. Snow in April somewhere. The last picture is different , who is the man on the right, he looks familiar , maybe the picture is in the Gallery? The car is a very early Javelin . KKP is a Kent registration which began in May i948. Bob

[Jack]

More interesting pics. Snow in April somewhere. The last picture is different , who is the man on the right, he looks familiar , maybe the picture is in the Gallery? The car is a very early Javelin . KKP is a Kent registration which began in May i948. Bob

Hi Bob,

I believe the man on the right is Tony Hodgson. He was Sales Manager for Jowetts for South of England for a short while before founding White Rose Engineering at Liss who were also dealers for Jowett. Not sure, but Chris suggested that this car might be a demonstrator.

I think he is the same person as in the earlier photos - he is wearing a flying-type jacket with fur collar on far right of photo with three men in front of car, and middle of photo of three next to the car.

Jack.

[robert lintott]

Jack , presumably Chris would recognise his father ? As Sale Manager Tony would have had a Javelin on the firm , all three cars are registered in the same area , Kent/East Sussex but the 1948 one does not look like a rally competitor ! The Auto Sport post refers to DC Hodgson which is unlikely to be "Tony" ? Brothers maybe ? Bob

[Jack]

Is there any way to know the color of the javelin FFN 516 or FNJ 957?

Hi Moises,

Hopefully we can get this from the factory records. Not sure if Eden will have these, I have e-mailed him for more information if he has it on FNJ 957 and will let you know what colour it should be - from the photos it looks like either grey, dark blue/green or even maroon. It is certainly fairly shiny for a rally car!

Jack.