On the market: Eyston's record-breaking Alfa Romeo

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Hundreds of men and women flocked to Brooklands in the 1930s to try to their hand at motor-racing, but only very few made it to the top. Characters such as Malcolm Campbell, John Cobb and George Eyston raced so fast and with so much success that their names spring to mind the very instant the word 'Brooklands' is uttered. Of those three, it's Eyston we're concerned with today.

Besides his Brooklands legacy, Eyston is best-known for his speed-record attempts with MGs and his 358mph Thunderbolt Land Speed Record car, but there was a time in the early 1930s when he was quite heavily involved with racing Alfa Romeos like the 6C 1750 seen here, chassis 8513025.

Built for speed and endurance

The work of celebrated designer Vittorio Jano, the 1750 appeared in 1929 with a highly advanced twin overhead-cam engine, but this car contains something even more special, a Testa Fissa (fixed head) engine, where the block and head were cast as one unit. Only 12 such engines were made, all for racing use, as they were significantly stronger as a single casting.

This car was originally built not for Eyston but for Brooklands racer Ronald Stewart, though Eyston was chiefly responsible for its design. He also did Stewart the favour of travelling to Milan and test-driving the 1750 before agreeing to its purchase, just to be sure that it really was all it seemed.

Eyston and Stewart sent the chassis to the London coachworks of A. E. Leadbetter to be bodied as a racing duoposto in lightweight aluminium, complete with distinctive aerodynamic cowl and silver paint. The car was registered for the road as GF 5733 on 12th April 1930 and thereafter Eyston and Stewart really set to work attacking the Brooklands concrete.

A record-breaker of distinction

Its chief purpose was long-distance records, and the Alfa Romeo made its first attempt on 1st May. Eyston and Stewart had several records in their sights, and were successful in clinching the British three-hour endurance record at 96.30mph and five international Class E records after averaging 95.05mph over 12 hours. On 4th October 1930, Stewart had entered the Alfa in the Brooklands 500-Mile Race and finished a respectable eighth, averaging 98.81mph with co-driver C. R. Grant.

Throughout the first year of its life, 8513025 went from success to success, breaking record after record at Brooklands, of which perhaps the most memorable was a fastest lap at 114.49mph. Once the 1930 season was older, Eyston sold the 1750 via Fred Stiles to another member of the Stewart family. Come 1949, it had fallen into the hands of renowned tuner and Salmson racer Vic Derrington, who is thought to have been responsible for rebodying it as a red four-seater before selling it in 1951 to Geoffrey Wilson, Chairman of the British Alfa Romeo Club.

Back to Brooklands: a long-awaited comeback

Wilson sold the car in 1953 to John Gunn of Malvern Link, who kept it for a full 55 years before it was taken over by one of Gunn's friends, also a keen early Alfa Romeo enthusiast. Following its purchase in 2008, the Alfa Romeo has been beautifully and meticulously restored to its Brooklands guise (including cowl), although with removable cycle wings, lights and Gran Sport windscreen for general road use.

Apart from two high-profile appearances at Amelia Island and the Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court just after its completion in 2017, this superb historic car has not been widely seen in its original configuration since the 1930s, though it has just enjoyed a short stint on display at the Brooklands Museum among such hallowed company as the Napier-Railton, Leyland-Thomas Special and Barnato-Hassan Bentley. That may change, though, because it is now being offered for sale through Phœnix Green Garage. It seems to us like an ideal car for all manner of VSCC competitions, but it would equally be welcome at any major concours.

Now, it just needs to be used. It's a unique car and a piece of history, so after being rebuilt so well it would be a pity for it not to be seen and appreciated.

Words and photographs: Zack Stiling
With thanks to Brooklands Museum
 

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