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Le battant de la Bugatti des Antipodes: une Riley Brooklands dans les rues d'Auckland
Depuis des lustres, les Riley sont peut-être le choix le plus populaire (ou la victime, il faut parfois le dire) pour la construction d'une spéciale sportive. Ce choix est d'autant plus judicieux que les voitures de compétition de l'usine différaient relativement peu de ses voitures de route, qui étaient d'ailleurs assez nombreuses. Les modèles Lynx, Kestrel, Monaco et Falcon à deux portes et berlines ont été transformés par centaines en répliques ou approximations des Imps, MPHs et Ulster racers. Coupez quelques centimètres du châssis, abaissez-le, construisez l'une des carrosseries en pointe ou en queue de pie caractéristiques et vous n'êtes pas très loin de ce qui aurait pu être une voiture de course d'usine avec son superbe moteur à double arbre à cames. Cette pratique se poursuivait même dans les années 1930.
Cette superbe photo montre une authentique Brooklands, du moins c'est ce que l'on nous dit. Elle date de 1930 ou 1931 et a été prise à Auckland, en Nouvelle-Zélande. Qui est l'homme en costume de tweed qui se tient à côté de la voiture? La voiture a-t-elle fait l'objet d'une course et s'agit-il d'un survivant? Toute information complémentaire serait très appréciée.
Il y a une Riley Brooklands à vendre sur ce même site web. Elle se trouve en Angleterre mais a une histoire intéressante en Australie, où "Bill Thompson avait conduit un modèle Brooklands à la victoire lors du Grand Prix d'Australie 1933 à Phillip Island, battant la Bugatti Type 37 de Harold Drake-Richmond". La voiture est arrivée aux Antipodes en 1936. Avant cette date, son histoire est en grande partie inconnue. Qui sait, il se peut même que ce soit cette voiture...
Paroles: Jeroen Booij; photo: Classic Auto News
Publié:
mercredi mai 29th, 2024
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Commentaires
Ian Penrose
13 Janvier, 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 Août 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 Septembre 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 Juin 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 Juin 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 Juin 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 Juin 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 Juin 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 Mai 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 Juin 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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