Harry's car after its second rebuild to single seater form-
The car made its first public appearance in its streamlined
form at the Easter Meeting of the B.A.R.C., where it caused a great
deal of enthusiasm, it being the first really streamlined racing
car ever seen at Brooklands. But it was not the first time it
had actually been on the track, so although " terrificly fast for a
I -5litre car," as one current motor paper had it, it was handicapped
out of any hope of winning either of the races entered, but suc-
ceeded in taking second place in both. In the second race he
made a very spectacular run through the whole field, with the
exception of the limit man who won the race.
After winning the 1,500 cc. Scratch Race at the Junior Car
Club Meeting and also the very interesting short sprint of 250
yards against Captain Fraser Nash's famous G.N. named Mowgli he began to really " tune up " for records. He was very anxious his A.C. to be the first 1,500 cc. car to attain 100 miles an hour,
and on June 3rd he gained the coveted distinction on his A.C.
under official observation. He attacked the flying and standing
half-mile records, which stood to the credit of the G.N., and
established world's light car records by achieving the speed of
105.15 miles per hour for the flying and 61.43 miles per hour for
the standing starts. Those records caused a great sensation in
the motor world, and even the lay Press showed some sort of
enthusiasm for the latest achievement of the world whose efforts
are generally ignored. Harry received many letters of congratulation from the people interested in the first " 100 miles an hour light car," and I think the real sporting atmosphere of Brooklands was conveyed in a genial letter of congratulation from Mr. Lionel Martin, who was not too proud to say he had coveted the distinction for the
Aston-Martin car, which I know Harry appreciated very much, as
also the hearty grip of Captain Nash who, till then, had swept the
board at Brooklands with his G.N., but who now realised he had
met his match in the A.C.
In practising for the Midsummer Meeting of the B.A.R.C.
on June 25th, he had a very narrow escape from disaster. I was
timing his lap speed from the stand, when, as he was about to
enter the railway straight at about 100 miles per hour, he sud-
denly appeared to slide down the banking, and a huge cloud of dust
concealed him from view. A man immediately behind me, who
had been watching the A.C., exclaimed : " Hawker's off the track !
He'll need his luck now ! " Running down the steps of the stand,
the first person I saw in the paddock was Mr. Coatalen just getting
into his car. He took me round to the spot, where, as one would
quite expect, Harry was standing up by the side of the track,
waving his hands to denote his complete fitness. His appearance, however, was terrible, as his whole face was covered with blood,
but, rubbing it with his handkerchief, asked for volunteers to help
him out with the car, which could not at first be seen. It had completely hopped the three-feet concrete parapet that surrounds
the track, and was reposing, right way up, in the long grass. Remonstrances to him to leave the getting up of the machine
to the many willing volunteers who had arrived on the scene were
of no avail ; he hated any sort of fuss, and only left for the paddock when the car was on the track again. It appeared the cause of
the accident was the side of the bonnet, over which there was no
strap, coming loose and hitting Harry on his forehead, dazing
him for the minute. Later, holding out his goggles, complete,
but splintered in a thousand pieces and covered with blood, Harry
said : " Hang it all, these are my favourite goggles ! Just fitted
me before ; only fit for Triplex display window now ! " We towed the A.C. home, very little damaged considering the jar it must have received in negotiating the parapet, and the whole of that night was spent in taking the body off and looking for any possible trouble. New wheels were substituted for the two completely buckled ones, and Harry raced the car the next day at the B.A.R.C. Meeting, where, unfortunately, engine trouble prevented him winning any races. After the sprint records he had put up, Harry's intention was to go for sustained and still greater speeds with the object of
attacking world's records irrespective of size before the end of
the year, but he was only destined to live three more weeks,
leaving the car, his loved car on which he had spent so much of
his interest and time during the last six months, at the height of
its fame, for others to carry on to the 120 miles per hour goal.
Harry was test flying the Nieuport Goshawk biplane that he was to fly in an air race when something went wrong , he crashed attempting to land and was thrown out and died. After his death the car went back to AC's.