Alfa Romeo 8C 2600 Monza.
This un-credited snapshot, measuring 5.25" x 3.25", was taken during the B.A.R.C. Easter Monday meeting at the Goodwood racing circuit, on April 18th 1949. The car is an Alfa Romeo Monza 2.6 litre sports/racing car, in the ownership of Nigel Mann. Pencil-written notes to the rear of the photo confirm the date, while the car's entry number (44) tells that it was entered into the Chichester Cup, race 3 for that Bank Holiday Monday meeting.
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The Alfa's headlamps have been removed for the race. Various spectators are milling around the paddock, admiring the racing machinery. In the background, the rear end of an old racing car transporter can be seen, not unlike my own (but not it I think). The former owner of my old hauler, Dennis Poore, was also entered into the Chichester Cup with a historic Alfa, although his was an 8C-35 (3.8 litre, straight 8), rather than a 2.6 8C Monza.
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A check of the programme for that meeting advises that the competition in that race would have been strong. In addition to Poore and Mann in their Italian machines, rivals on track would include Reg Parnell (Maserati - the race winner), Peter Whitehead (ERA), George Abecassis (Alta), Ken McAlpine (Maserati), Brian Shawe-Taylor (ERA) and Ken Hutchison (Alfa Romeo). It would be a five-lap race for supercharged cars only, over 1,450cc, due to start at 2.30pm. The notes in the programme here record Parnell as winning, with Poore and L.G. Johnson (ERA) rounding out the top three finishers.
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Perusing the general information within the programme highlights one or two interesting features of the meeting. Entrants were permitted to use any fuel that they wished (at a time when fuel was still rationed for road cars), including racing fuel (which contained methanol). It was also standard practice, the reader is told, not to issue the entry number 13 to any racing car. One driver in the 500cc race, P.W.K. Page (Cooper), had specifically asked for entry number 13, and was granted it. Spectators were also forbidden to clamber onto the roof of the circuit buildings. Stirling Moss was entered for two races with his Cooper - the first of these was race 2, for 500cc cars. He'd then swap engines and take part in race 6, using a 1,000cc motor.
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Return to Page 15 in the gallery of vintage cars and vehicles.
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