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De Antipodeaanse Bugatti-beater: een Riley Brooklands in de straten van Auckland
Al eeuwenlang zijn Rileys misschien wel de meest populaire keuze (of slachtoffer, moet soms gezegd worden) voor het bouwen van een sportieve special. Het is ook een verstandige keuze, want de competitieauto's van de fabriek verschilden relatief weinig van de wegauto's, die er ook redelijk veel waren. Lynx, Kestrel, Monaco en Falcon tweedeurs en sedan modellen zijn met honderden tegelijk omgebouwd tot replica's of benaderingen van Imps, MPH's en Ulster racers. Snijd een paar centimeter van het chassis af, verlaag de auto, bouw een van de kenmerkende puntige of bob-tailed carrosserieën en je bent niet ver verwijderd van wat een fabrieksracer had kunnen zijn met zijn geweldige twin-cam motor. Dit was een praktijk die zelfs in de jaren 1930 nog werd toegepast.
Deze geweldige foto toont een echte Brooklands, zo is ons verteld. Hij dateert uit 1930 of 1931 en is genomen in Auckland, Nieuw-Zeeland. Wie is de heer in het tweed pak die erbij staat? Is er met de auto geracet en is het een overlevende? Meer informatie wordt zeer op prijs gesteld.
Er stond een Riley Brooklands te koop op deze website. In Engeland, maar heeft een interessante geschiedenis in Australië, waar "Bill Thompson een Brooklands model naar de overwinning had gereden in de Grand Prix van Australië op Phillip Island in 1933, door de Bugatti Type 37 van Harold Drake-Richmond te verslaan". De auto kwam in 1936 naar de Antipoden. Voor die tijd is zijn geschiedenis grotendeels onbekend. Wie weet was het wel deze auto...
Woorden: Jeroen Booij; foto: Classic Auto News
Gepubliceerd:
woensdag mei 29th, 2024
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Reacties
Ian Penrose
13 Januari, 21:14
As I kid I grew up on Hawker St (steep) in Wgtn. Our neighbour over the road was Morrie Proctor. This was in the 50s. I can still remember the thrill when he took me for a ride in his Brooklands Riley. It had what seemed a huge exhaust pipe/muffler running high on the passenger side, and I can still smell that car. Noisy and I was hooked. Later I learned that it was a tiny 1100cc! All DIY in those days.
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June Hearne
04 Augustus 2025, 16:00
The Dexter Riley, as it was called, was owned for many year by John (Will) Hearne who lived in Auckland. He purchased it from Dale Court. Before Dale, it languished in Northland in a garage on the way to Dargaville. Will sold it to Australia and it subsequently ended up in the U.K.
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Adrian Smith
10 September 2024, 15:12
Check out the Riley Club of New Zealand Newsletter from August, 1963, regarding Butcher, Grierson, Smith and Dexter for 8075.
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Peter Croft
03 Juni 2024, 09:55
It is a moot point that Dexter's Brooklands Riley Nine is New Zealand's most famous Riley. I believe that honour and acclaim should go to VC8302, Chassis 8087. It served as part of the Riley works team from 1930 to 1932, competing in the 1931 Irish Grand Prix, two B.R.D.C. 500-Mile Brooklands races, and the 1932 Ards T.T., before it was shipped to Australia where it won the 1933 Australian Grand Prix and also gained an Australian Class speed record, before once again being shipped South, to Auckland.
In New Zealand it competed, in the hands of Galpin, against the local cars, beating Dexter several times despite the rumour that Dexter had swapped 8087's head and carburetters with the ones fitted to his car. Morrie Proctor obtained 8087 in 1940, with the former motorcycle scrambles rider being very active in the New Zealnd motor racing scene throughout the peacetime years of the 1940s, hill-climbing, sprinting and beach-racing. The peak of New Zealand fame came in 1949 when Proctor won the 105-mile, 50-lap road race held on the famous Wigram Air Force Base circuit.
The car survives in New Zealand where it has been since the 1933 Australian Grand Prix.
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In New Zealand it competed, in the hands of Galpin, against the local cars, beating Dexter several times despite the rumour that Dexter had swapped 8087's head and carburetters with the ones fitted to his car. Morrie Proctor obtained 8087 in 1940, with the former motorcycle scrambles rider being very active in the New Zealnd motor racing scene throughout the peacetime years of the 1940s, hill-climbing, sprinting and beach-racing. The peak of New Zealand fame came in 1949 when Proctor won the 105-mile, 50-lap road race held on the famous Wigram Air Force Base circuit.
The car survives in New Zealand where it has been since the 1933 Australian Grand Prix.
Tom King
04 Juni 2024, 00:53
The cylinder head swap isn’t a rumour, Peter. Arthur Dexter told me about it himself. It was on display in a show on the Auckland waterfront and Arthur didn’t like the ex-Riley sales bloke who accompanied the car, D. Stewart Fraser, and was happy to do the swap; he knew the security bloke on duty. Morrie told me that he bought Arthur’s midget racer to get the works head back.
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Tom King
04 Juni 2024, 00:43
I have some knowledge of the three Brooklands (one is a team racing car and not strictly the “cooking” Brooklands) Rileys which came to New Zealand.
Chassis 8075 came here new or nearly new and was raced successfully by Arthur Dexter (he won the Prosperity Grand Prix in 1933 with it). It is he with the car in your 1930-31 image. I used to visit Mr. Dexter in the early 1980s, and his memories of those days was spot-on. He dismantled the car when it was no longer competitive and the engine, gearbox and radiator became a midget racer on a Brescia Bugatti chassis, with an ex-Riley Biarritz engine/gearbox back into 8087's chassis. Sadly, 8075 is no longer here.
Chassis 8087, the works car, came here after its Australian Grand Prix win, and into the Galpin family, then the ownership of Morrie Proctor, Bruce and Lois Winder and now Peter Croft. Morrie bought the ex-Dexter midget racer to get the works cylinder head back, Arthur having swapped the two over when 8087 was at a car show on arrival here.
Chassis 8022 was campaigned by Ron Roycroft, and was heavily modified in the late '30s. It may still be here.
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Chassis 8075 came here new or nearly new and was raced successfully by Arthur Dexter (he won the Prosperity Grand Prix in 1933 with it). It is he with the car in your 1930-31 image. I used to visit Mr. Dexter in the early 1980s, and his memories of those days was spot-on. He dismantled the car when it was no longer competitive and the engine, gearbox and radiator became a midget racer on a Brescia Bugatti chassis, with an ex-Riley Biarritz engine/gearbox back into 8087's chassis. Sadly, 8075 is no longer here.
Chassis 8087, the works car, came here after its Australian Grand Prix win, and into the Galpin family, then the ownership of Morrie Proctor, Bruce and Lois Winder and now Peter Croft. Morrie bought the ex-Dexter midget racer to get the works cylinder head back, Arthur having swapped the two over when 8087 was at a car show on arrival here.
Chassis 8022 was campaigned by Ron Roycroft, and was heavily modified in the late '30s. It may still be here.
J. C. Stokes
02 Juni 2024, 11:20
The registration plate is 1930-31; plates were changed annually between 1925 and 1941. The car looks brand new and Dexter Motors were importers.
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Ron Bunting
02 Juni 2024, 10:39
Although the number plates may be different, in New Zealand from 1925 to 1964 plates were changed every year, which to me, says it's the same car. I've attached a small sample showing how plates were reissued every year.
Cheers!
Ron B.
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Cheers!
Ron B.
Mike Thorpe
29 Mei 2024, 09:10
Looking at the licence plate, it's not New Zealand's most famous Riley, which won the 1933 Prosperity Grand Prix when owned by Arthur Dexter.
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Tom King
04 Juni 2024, 00:47
That photo was taken of Arthur Dexter and 8075 on the Prosperity Grand Prix circuit after the race, by his friend Selwyn Hamlin, who owned the Riley Plus Ultra Tourer, chassis 6017228, which appears in another photo parked beside it.
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