1935 Austin 7 Twin Cam

This is a photograph that I took at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1984.

It's the 1935 Austin 7 Twin Cam of S.A.Wood that took part in a handicap race at the meeting. There was at one time a similar car in the Donington Park Museum which displayed the following description:

‘These lovely little single seaters were Sir Herbert Austin’s reply to the successful M.G. Midgets fielded by Sir William Morris in the 1930s. Designed by T. Murray-Jamieson, well known for his work on super chargers, and assisted by W.V. Appleby & T. Brown, the cars had a troubled debut in 1936, with most of the testing and development carried out here at Donington Park. With teething troubles rectified, these cars went from strength to strength during the 1937/38/39 seasons. Usually driven by L.P. Driscoll, C.L. Goodacre & “Bert” Hadley they competed in everything from speed trials and hill climbs through to 500 mile races at Brooklands. The two “twin cams” made many appearances at Donington Park winning, along with numerous sprints and handicap races, the Coronation Trophy here in 1937, the British Empire Trophy race here in 1938 and the Imperial Trophy at Crystal Palace in 1939. Not only were these cars pretty to look at, the 747cc engine was an engineering masterpiece, very highly stressed And reputedly capable of revving to 12,000 R.P.M.'