1929 Riley 9HP ‘The Cuthbert Special’

For sale by auction on Saturday 29 November 2014 with Historics at Brooklands. Brooklands Motor Racing Circuit. Weybridge. Surrey. Call 01753 639170
Alex Cuthbert was a successful works driver for the Riley team
during the late 1920's and 1930's and was friends with Raymond
Mays. the founder of ERA. Cuthbert ran a garage and tuning
business in Guildford which is honoured at the Brooklands Museum by
having one of the garage doors painted in his racing colours.
Cuthbert acquired the Brooklands Riley VC8306 which had won the
1100cc class at the 1931 German Grand Prix; he drove this car in
the 1931 BRDC 500 mile race at Brooklands as a member of the Riley
works team. He didn't like the way that the car handled the
Brooklands bumps so decided to transfer the works engine and
gearbox to a standard nine chassis and because he preferred the way
the longer chassis rode. this was the basis of the Cuthbert
Special. The car was fitted with a body with a full length
under tray and a pointed tail. The body was split at the
scuttle to allow it to flex on the notoriously bumpy Brooklands
track.

The car's best result was in the 1932 BRDC 500 when Cuthbert and
Capt. C. W. Fiennes finished fourth overall at an average speed of
97. 41mph. despite losing 14 minutes in the pits with fuel feed
problems. The car won the Yorkshire Junior Short handicap at the
1932 Autumn BARC meeting with an average speed of 93. 32mph and a
fastest lap at 100. 61mph.

In 1933. the car was extensively modified and a Powerplus
supercharger was fitted. Cuthbert designed a new timing case
cover and modified the water cooling. R. J. Appleton used
these modified castings as patterns for the Appleton Riley.
After a spectacular blow-up in the 1933 BRDC 500 mile race. br/>Cuthbert converted the car to a dry-sump oil system and fitted an
Aston Martin oil and scavenge pump which fed from a large tank
under the driver's seat. This is no longer on the car but is
included in the sale. The engine ran with 17psi of boost at
5. 00rpm and reached speeds of 130mph. The car also had the
prototype Girling rod brake system.

In its present form. the car first raced in the Light Car Club
Relay Race (number 1A) on 22nd July 1933. but did not finish. The
July edition of Autocar reported that "…. the car. although very
fast and shaping well. was too new for a serious test. " The car
competed in several Brooklands races in 1934 and 1935.
Post-war. it was campaigned at Goodwood during the 1950's. driven
by Ian Strickland and later by Roy Whitehouse at Silverstone.
Eventually the car joined the Majzub collection and was raced at
Donington Park in 1991. The present owner bought the car in
2005 and has entered it in various VSCC events and Brooklands
celebrations. This Riley 9HP is registered for the road and is
supplied with a V5C registration document. old log books and old
MoT test certificates. An extensive history file accompanies
the car which includes letters from W. A. Cuthbert and Arthur
Kingston (who helped build the car) as well as several previous
owners and many photographs showing the car during its long racing
life. This represents a piece of living Brooklands history which
would be welcomed at any historic racing event.



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