FRW ‘LOFTY’ ENGLAND

THE ERIC DYMOCK

WORDS & IMAGES: ERIC DYMOCK ARCHIVE

Eric refl ects on RFW ‘Lofty’ England’s early career – Part 1

In its classic years Jaguar was run by gentlemen. Frank Raymond Wilton England (1911-1995) signed my treasured print of Terence Cuneo’s Pit Stop Le Mans 1953 neatly to “Eric – a memento of our good relations. Lofty”. Understated, genial, approachable and correct, we met quite often. You could scarcely say we were close. You had to be a good listener. Jimmy Stewart’s admiration was boundless although it nearly got off on the wrong foot. “I first met Lofty England was in 1953 through David Murray and thought him pompous. He did talk down to people. He was so tall. He was a big guy in every way, a commanding man, and I thought, ‘I wouldn’t like to work for you’. When I did start driving for Jaguar and got to know him better, I realised there was a thoroughly gentle side to Lofty England. If he took a dislike to you, he could make life difficult. If he took a liking to you, and maybe I was one of the fortunate ones, he could be a tremendous character, a lovely man, a strong guiding light in my life. We became great personal friends, and I spent many weekends with him and his family at his home. Away from the factory, away from the pressures, a different person.”

Service manager was something of a cover story. Educated at Christ's College, Finchley, England’s family moved to Edgware when he was 14, close to Bentley at Cricklewood. He was fascinated by Bentley chassis being tested along the straight A5 Watling Street but was turned down for an apprenticeship.

He had more luck with Daimler's London depot at Hendon and in 1927 began five years training that somehow stretched to driving a customer's V12 Double Six into second place in the first RAC Rally. He went to racing teams as a mechanic, working with Sir Tim Birkin at his Welwyn Garden City workshop under Charles Newcombe developing supercharged Bentleys. Birkin set a Brooklands record at 137mph but following his death in 1933 the Blower Bentley project collapsed.

Lofty England’s handwritten dedication

Newcombe joined Whitney Straight’s team in 1934, wellfunded by the aeronautic Straight Corporation, it could afford England taking its Maserati 8C for servicing in Italy. Straight set a Brooklands record for 5 litre cars at 138mph and won the inaugural South African Grand Prix. In 1935 after Straight (later Air Commodore CBE, MC, DFC) married Lady Daphne Margarita Finch-Hatton it broke up and England was out of a job, so tried ERA at Bourne, Lincolnshire.

Frustrated at Raymond Mays’ customer relations he was dismissed and went to Richard Seaman, Britain’s most promising driver to work on his 1.5 litre double-overhead cam supercharged straight-8 Delage. One of the most successful racing cars ever, Giulio Ramponi converted it to hydraulic brakes for Seaman’s wins at Pescara, Berne, and Donington on successive weekends, which brought Alfred Neubauer’s offer to drive for Mercedes-Benz.

When Seaman sold the Delage to Siamese princes Chula and Bira, England went with it. Prince Chula ran the cousins' White Mouse Stable and during nearly two years ERAs R2B Romulus and R5B Remus were always immaculately prepared and successful along with a newer Maserati. The intention had been to rebuild Seaman's Delage, but England was fully occupied and impressed

“Le Mans with the XK120s was very much a test to establish if the cars could stand up to 24 hours at racing speeds.”

with Chula’s style and efficiency.

He still maintained an active motorsport career of his own. A Douglas motorcycle from his father started him racing and he was second in the 1936 Manx Grand Prix, only turning his back on motor sport in March 1938 with a job at Alvis in Coventry. Promoted from service engineer to superintendent of the service department, by the outbreak of War England gained his first experience of management. Alvis was a military contractor so for the first two years of the conflict found himself in a reserved occupation, prohibited from joining the forces. In 1941 however he volunteered for pilot training and excluded from fighters due to being 6ft 5in, qualified as a bomber pilot. He became a training instructor to the USAAF in Texas until 1943, before returning to fly Lancasters bombing Germany.

Alvis suffered badly from Luftwaffe destruction of its factories and uncertain of its future after the war, Lofty got in touch with Walter Hassan, a friend from Brooklands and ERA days. Hassan worked at Jaguar, now the name of the cars as well as the company. SS Cars had been the registered company 333482 until Jaguar Cars took over number 280990 on 9 April 1945. Lofty joined the Swallow Road service department in 1946 aged 35, just as William Heynes, and Thomas Wells Daffern of the Coventry Permanent Building Society joined Lyons on the board.

The quiet firm service manager was deeply trusted by Lyons. Lofty was cautious, convinced there were better ways to identify Jaguar with motor sport than spending time and treasure on a team of its own. He believed cars with works backing were always expected to do well and instead the service department set up sub rosa affiliations with private teams and drivers.

Responsibility for a motor racing programme was deliberately obscure. Goldie Gardner’s 1948 record car with its experimental 4-cylinder engine, Tommy Wisdom’s XK120 and William Lyons’s son-in-law Ian Appleyard’s XK 120 (above) were prepared either by the factory or a trusted surrogate. The practice was not wholly secret. »

XK120 pays picturesque tribute in 21st century re-run of the 1950 Mille Miglia It was just not made too obvious.

Recipients of advice gained quiet words with technicians or development engineers, access to experimental designs, and could acknowledge Jaguar’s polite interest but they had better not brag about it. This was a subtle arrangement that could be quickly and quietly withdrawn. England provided covert support to ostensibly private XK120s at Le Mans in 1950 (above right); aluminiumbodied cars sold in the ordinary way and expected to give a good account of themselves. William Lyons ostentatiously maintained his custom of attending the TT motorcycle races in the Isle of Man, lest the firm’s real interest in Le Mans was betrayed.

Six of the first batch of aluminium cars were sold to Ian Appleyard (NUB120), Leslie Johnson (JWK651), LH “Nick” Haines (MGJ79), Peter Walker (JWK977) and Tommy Wisdom (JWK988). The sixth (JWK650) was loaned to Clemente Biondetti. In 1949 three XKs were entered for a Production Car Race at Silverstone, Leslie Johnson winning at the wheel of HKV 500 (above left) – RMV Sutton’s Jabbeke record car converted to right hand steering -. Lofty England ran a tight ship.

He said: “Le Mans with the XK120s was very much a test to establish if the cars could stand up to 24 hours at racing speeds. The factory didn’t want to be directly involved in case they failed.” It was an approach that included the Targa Florio. Three of the four raced in the Mille Miglia and only went on to Le Mans after Leslie Johnson finished a creditable 5th.

Modifications were minor, befitting ‘private’ entries. Bill Heynes thought

them probably the most standard cars ever to run there. Only catalogued options were employed, such as aero screens, a cowl for the rearview mirror, lightweight seats and an additional fuel tank in the boot. Tools and spares were in a box on the passenger’s side, which had a metal cowl, contributing to an increase in weight of some 200kg (441lb). Paul Skilleter drove the Haines car in 1990: “The original engine incorporates the early ‘soft’ 7.9mm (5/16in) lift camshafts, small inlet valves and ‘tall dashpot’ carburettors – silky smooth almost from zero revs then gathering momentum from 3,000rpm, it provided a performance belying its modest spec.”

There was obviously concern about brakes. Changes included Ferodo and Mintex linings that did not wear out quickly, tougher Lockheed clutches, bigger dampers,and stronger halfshafts, ‘catalogued equipment’ such as special wheel nuts, extra lights included Lucas ‘flamethrowers’, and wiring connections were carefully soldered. “Faulty electrical connections lost us two or three places in the Mille Miglia,” but Le Mans was convincing. By early Sunday Leslie Johnson/Bert Hadley lay 2nd when the Rosiers’ winning Talbot lost 40min replacing a rocker shaft, only dropping out when the clutch failed, a legacy apparently of Johnson’s standingstart practice during a warm-up. The Nick Haines/Peter Clark car was 12th and Peter Whitehead/John Marshall 15th, a clever rehearsal for participation with a works team.

In 1952 England and factory mechanics supported a high-speed endurance run at Montlhéry. Stirling Moss, Leslie Johnson, Bertie Hadley and Jack Fairman drove an XK120 coupé, William Heynes’ personal car, at just over 100 mph for seven days and nights to break nine speed and endurance records. The XK120 was still too heavy and aerodynamically compromised to have a chance of winning Le Mans, so a drivetrain in a lightweight chassis with a new frame and new bodywork developed by aerodynamist Malcolm Sayer created the XK120C (for competition), of 1951.

Lofty England's experience and strategic thinking required Moss and Jack Fairman act to as hare and draw others out. Moss posted a lap record of 105.232 mph before the car failed at 92 laps. The Ferrari and Talbot-Lago competition failed too, giving Peter Whitehead and Peter Walker the lead, which they extended to nine laps.

In 1952 modifications caused overheating and all three works cars famously failed within an hour. In 1953 with improved engines and innovative disc brakes, the team won again. Improved reliability provided second and fourth places as well, confirming FRWE’s skill and organisation.

The Le Mans of Cuneo’s masterpiece entered motor racing folklore but the tall team manager on the pit counter then had to spend time denying Jaguar had won with inebriated drivers. Lyons preferred higher moral ground than that. Duncan Hamilton’s autobiography Touch Wood came out in 1960, his late son Adrian cheerfully acknowledging, “… it just didn’t matter if in places it might be less than nitpickingly accurate — it captured the flavour of a bygone age in which sporting achievement alone was never enough without fun along the way”.

The other driver in the picture »

The winning Walker-Whitehead C-type leads the C2R Cunningham Coupes and an Aston Martin DB2 at the start of Le Mans.

Cuneo captures the pit-stop routine in 1953. FRWE oversees from behind the refuelling hose. Hamilton and Rolt confer on the pit counter

Anthony Peter Roylance Rolt, MC and Bar (1918-2008), won a Military Cross in defence of Calais as a Rifle Corps Lieutenant. Taken prisoner, and following escape attempts sent to Colditz, Rolt planned to fly out by glider. Heroic status was attained by his Le Mans co-driver, former Fleet Air Arm Lysander pilot James Duncan Hamilton (1920-1994). Hamilton felt driving in the 24 Hours Grand Prix d’Endurance far safer than what he had been engaged in between 1939 and 1945. Hamilton was, as it turned out however, not so much economical with the truth as reckless.

Duncan Hamilton’s idea of fun was not everybody’s. Boisterous to the point of delinquency in wartime, his high-spirited perilous career continued in motor racing. He drove Talbots, ERAs and HWMs

Le Mans pits 1953. Picture-perfect inspiration for Cuneo

Rolt in the winning No18 and the Le Mans victory became the stuff of legend after their car was disqualified following a technical breach during practice. There had been, apparently, two Number 18 Jaguars on the track at the same time. A brief slip-up, no advantage gained, but the car was disqualified. Following final Friday practice team manager England lodged a protest and the Jaguar was duly reinstated.

It was, alas, too late to get in touch with the dejected drivers. They had “gone on a bender”, as Hamilton put it, and were nowhere to be found.

Incapable of sobering up in the cold light of next morning, their only cure for a substantial hangover was a “hair of the dog”. They not only survived one of the world’s most arduous motor races, but won at record speed, nearly 10mph faster than MercedesBenz the year before, and for the first time averaging more than 100mph. Hamilton claimed the only way they got through all 2540.3 miles was by refuelling with double brandies.

It was a story recounted so many times with gusto by Hamilton that Lofty England and Tony Rolt tried to refute it. Jaguar’s public relations department did its best and while it lost nothing in the telling at the Steering Wheel Club in Brick Street and crept easily into motor racing mythology in the press it was only hinted at. ■

NEXT TIME: The conclusion of ‘Lofty’ England’s story