An English Racing GN

The 1922 Brooklands

   200 Mile Race Car

       

History

From 1910 to 1922 Captain Archibald Frazer-Nash and Ron Godfrey manu-

factured light cars for the public selling touring GNs with full road equipment

along with race cars. Records from the period show that Godfrey and Frazer-Nash often finished first or second in sprints, hill climbs and speed trials resulting in podium finishes at Shelsley Walsh and numerous other venues. In 1921 alone the marque garnered 112 Firsts at speed trials and 28 Golds in reliability trials. Sir Stirling Moss’s father, Alfred, early in his racing career campaigned a GN. In 1921 they entered

and won the 200 Mile Race at Brooklands.

  After this success they built a fleet of three team cars for the 1922 event. The

race was won by the French Salmson but the three team cars finished the race and Number 2 driven by Godfrey finished third. The team also won the manu-

facturer’s prize.

  After 1922 Frazer-Nash kept on racing and since the Cyclecar was waning

in popularity he quietly shifted the GN badged cars to the Frazer-Nash marque.

With it’s low unsprung weight and four speed chain drive technology developed

in the GN along with larger four inline engines they were a great success.

   Number 2 or Akela as it is known, which is a name that Frazer-Nash borrowed

from Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. Akela was a senior wolf who fought

his way to the top. An appropriate name for a racing car.

   In 1926 N.G. Asprey bought and raced the car for a short time before selling it to Hugh Showell. In September of that year he entered it in the Shelsey Walsh

Hill climb. This resulted in a very dramatic photo which was widely publicized at the time of Showell on the very ragged edge of a slide. An instant after this photo was taken Akela shot off of the course, hit another photographer and broke his leg before ending up in the brush.

   Showell had larger cylinder barrels fitted taking it out to 1500cc and had

Birkin at the same time fit it with a blower. Showell owned and raced it for

quite a while it having various different bodies fitted the last of which was

a light weight sprint body.

   After the war famous GN racer Basil Davenport bought it and restored it

back to it’s 200 Mile Race form. Davenport raced it in many hill climbs and

other events until he sold it to Ron Sant in 1969. Basil helped him with

Akela at vintage events and the old master shared his knowledge with him

of the marque.

  Well known vintage Engineer Charlie Smith bought Akela in 1980 and further

refined it and raced it in many events during his 27 years of ownership.

  Akela’s chassis was never modified during all of it’s racing career and

Davenport did a marvelous job of restoring it and making 200 Mile Race

coach work for it. He taught Ron Sant everything he knew and Sant further

perfected the car. Under Charlie Smiths ownership it was treated to a chassis

and engine rebuild and was fitted with a new crankshaft.