Motorsnippets

A Cooper was the next car in Barrie's sights and he duly went to see John Cooper at his Surbiton factory. Cash changed hands and he was then the owner of a T83b Cooper a Formula 3 car. This was of course in running chassis form as all F3 cars were then and a Holbay engine was one of the hot engines at the time. One was purchased and fitted and so the Formula 3 phase began.

On the car's first outing our driver made an early exit, going straight on at Copse. As he was finding out, single seaters are somewhat different to drive than saloon cars. The learning curve was steep but not discouraged, he entered the Will's International Trophy Meeting at Silverstone and won the F3 race.

It was during his travels following the F3 circus that he met his Swedish wife-to-be while competing over there. The married after a fairly short courtship but it was unfortunately rather short lived. As Barrie freely admitted, his priorities were at that time most definitely on his motor racing and the marriage suffered and foundered as a result of this.

After his adventures in F3 Barrie was offered a works Mazda drive and drove for them for a short period.

This in turn led to an offer from Mitsubishi to join their circuit racing team driving the new Colt. The cars were run from the Vegantune factory in Spalding Lincs., and were competitive and did very well in the Saloon Car Championship.

These days Barrie passes on his experience and know-how to others by instructing at Silverstone. He recalled how this can have it's more exciting moments. One of his "Celebrity" pupils who he was instructing to take part in a charity race was T.V., Commentator Stuart Hall. He was taking him around the Oulton Park circuit and after a few laps handed him the wheel. According to Barrie there is a recognisable state that inexperienced drivers can and do get into and the most visible sign is a look of a rabbit hypnotised by a snake, whereapon a glazed expression creeps onto the face and the foot remains hard down irrespective of what hazzards are coming up. This is precisely what happened to Stuart Hall and despite urgent instructions to ease up and frantic attempts to grab the wheel, the car went off and rolled. The car was a complete mess, no windows left and all panels battered. Not an auspicious entry into motor racing.

Another amusing episode involved another T.V. personality Dickie Davies, the well known sports presenter. He had been flown into Silverstone by a farmer friend to take instructions for a similar event and the farmer friend, being interested climbed in the back. The hypnotised rabbit syndrome struck again, this time there were two unwilling passengers bellowing for the driver to ease up and again the blank uncomprehending stare of the driver.

After a most exciting exit off the track the car came to a halt (Another wreck) According to Barrie, the farmer climbed out of the car a trembling wreck himself and headed back to his plane leaving his passenger to find his own way home.

When not instructing Barrie has a business transporting racing cars for owners. One of these a Linconshire farmer, Mike Burt has allowed him to drive his Porsche at times. Barrie won with this a short while ago at Snetterton.

On the driving side, Barrie regularly drives in historic events these days some of his drives include various Minis for collector, Norman Grimshaw who he has known for many years. He still loves driving them but can and does drive other cars regularly including Dick Skipworth's R1A E.R.A. which he really enjoys too and a Connaught "B" type.

With a great life of motor sport behind him and still going on Barrie's enthusiasm for the sport shines out like a beacon and rubs off on other aspiring hopefuls. I was recently at a meeting of the Bourne Motor Racing Club where he gave a talk to members. It was highly entertaining and more importantly it fed the flames of their passion for the sport too.

One great wish that Barrie has is to locate two of the cars that shaped his early ambitions. The first was the Austin Ulster that his Father had before the war and competed in (See photos) he would dearly like to find this car even if it is not for sale and any information regarding the car would be most welcome. The second car was the Singer Le Mans special that he learned to drive in. This was at the time fitted with an Austin A40 (Devon) engine & gearbox and had a Ford Popular grille. Barrie did see the car in Birmingham around 15 years ago being driven by a Medical Student who was at one of the hospitals at that time. Again, he would dearly love to locate the car (See Photos) The Singer may well have been returned to its original format as most enthusiasts would do on acquiring the car but nevertheless he is most keen to find both cars.

Barrie has no plans to stop racing in the near future and is very keen anytime to drive for owners of fast machinery in historic events especially those capable of getting him onto the podium!