Vol 3, issue 2, spring 2016 Lloyd’s MotorANNUAL Club MAGAZINE LMC victory at Lloyd’s Motor Club Nürburgring Founded 1951 • Consult directly with senior directors Dennis Wilkins or Jonathan Suckling • Over 50 years first-hand knowledge of 07766 252868 07966 625338 Lloyd’s and London market insurance issues [email protected] • Sensible, transparent fee structure [email protected] www.wilkinsbeaumontsuckling.co.uk Gallery 4, 12 Leadenhall Street, London EC3V 1LP After March 29th 2016 1 Royal Exchange Avenue, London EC3V 3LT Wilkins Beaumont Suckling is a trading name of Wilkins Beaumont Suckling Limited. Company Registered in England & Wales. Company Reg. No. 6460559. Registered office: Tower 42, 25 Old Broad Street, London EC2N 1HN. The Company is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. SRA No. 484829. The Solicitors Code of Conduct governs this practice and it can be found at www.sra.org.uk. WBS is a Registered Trade Mark. Lloyd’s Motor Club One Lime Street London EC3M 7HA www.LloydsMotorClub.com Honorary VIP Members Sir Stirling Moss OBE Wing Commander Andrew Green OBE Squadron Leader Nigel Rose Captain Eric Brown RN CBE DFC AFC Air Commodore Charles Clarke OBE Patron John Nelson, Chairman of Lloyd’s Adametz ©Jeremiah Chairman Roger Earl [email protected] Editor Jonathan Suckling [email protected] A word from Membership Secretary Clive Willis [email protected] Honorary Secretary Brian Hunt [email protected] the road . Honorary Treasurer For 2016 we have had to change the Derrick Rowe [email protected] distribution of this magazine. Unfortunately, postage costs have become prohibitively high and without current Webmasters addresses, many magazines do not reach their destinations; please ensure that Bob Bradbury & Graham Faggetter the Membership Secretary has your latest contact details. [email protected] As usual, this issue will be distributed throughout Lloyd’s, with three copies LMC Committee delivered to every box. An electronic copy is on the club’s website. Additional Ian Burford printed copies can be collected from Room 805 in Lloyd’s by prior appointment. Charlie Miller Martin Robinson If you wish to submit an article for the next Annual Magazine the deadline Tim Snowball remains the end of November. Submissions received after that date will be Max Taylor deferred to the following year. Text should be no more than 1,000 words and Austin Wren must be accompanied by high resolution, high quality photographs (preferably professional) with written permission from the copyright owner for their use (See LMC website for contact details) (without charge) in this magazine. JONATHAN SUCKLING (JAS) Cover image ©ROAL Motorsport All material published remains the copyright of the person credited, (where that has been possible). No part of this magazine may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission of the copyright owner. 4 Eric Thompson 1919-2015 Eric Thompson who died on 22 August last year, a couple of months short of his 96th birthday, enjoyed a colourful career as a racing driver and Lloyd’s insurance broker, and later became a successful rare book dealer. Whilst continuing his ‘day job’ as a Lloyd’s broker, Eric raced sports cars between 1949 and 1955, with his most important results being the 3 litre class win and 3rd overall in 1951 in the greatest endurance race in the world, the 24 Hours of Le Mans driving an Aston Martin, and coming 5th as a privateer against the great European works teams of the time (Ferrari, Maserati and Gordini) in the 1952 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Eric was born on 4 November 1919 in Ditton Hill in Surrey and in late childhood had developed an interest in motorsport, becoming a fan of Richard Seaman. As was common in those days, Eric went straight from school into a job, in his case in the Lloyd’s insurance market where his hard work and commitment meant he flourished until his career was temporarily interrupted by an unpleasant disagreement with Germany between 1939 and 1945. Among the wide variety of cars Eric raced were Coopers, ERA/ Delage, Delahaye, various types of Aston Martin, Bugatti 51, Lagonda, HRG and Connaught. Eric’s racing career kicked off in 1948 racing cars for HRG. He won the 1.5 litre class at Le Mans in 1949 sharing an HRG with Jack Fairman (they were a remarkable 8th overall) and the pair went on to also win the 1.5 litre class in the Spa 24 Hours the same year. Additionally, Eric won twice at Goodwood and again at part in his only race in Formula 1 in the concentrate on his career at Lloyd’s. He Snetterton that year and the 1.5 litre class 1952 British Grand Prix, finishing 5th retired in the 1980s to become a dealer in the Silverstone International Trophy. in a Connaught behind Alberto Ascari in rare books on motorsport in Guildford. With these successes behind him, in 1950 but ahead of 1950 World Champion Eric’s career at Lloyd’s was largely with he was asked to race for Aston Martin, Guiseppe Farina. Morice, Tozer & Beck until its acquisition joining team drivers Peter Collins, Roy In 1953, sharing with Reg Parnell, Eric by Alexander Howden in the late 1970s. Salvadori and Reg Parnell and raced a won the Goodwood 9 Hours in an Aston He subsequently was the first Chairman DB2 to 3rd place overall in the 1951 Le Martin DB3S and the pair came 2nd in of Lloyd Thompson Ltd and served in Mans 24 Hours race. During this time, a similar car in the Tourist Trophy the that role between 1981 and 1986. He was he also drove in Formula Libre, Tourist same year. In 1955 Eric announced his the first driver to be inducted into the Le Trophy, Formula 2 and Formula 3, retirement from motor racing due to Mans Drivers Hall of Fame in 2013. achieving regular successes and took the pressure of his ‘day job’ so he could JOHN LLOYD 5 A Bittersweet YEAR Last year saw a number of milestones in the history of the Lloyd’s Motor Club. Sadly, our founder Eric Thompson – a Le Mans class winner in ‘49 and British Grand Prix points scorer in ’52 - passed away in August at the grand old age of 95; John Lloyd pays tribute opposite. 6 On a happier note, there was a truly the opportunity to blow the Christmas Monday 27 April saw the first of the Club’s memorable Club Dinner and an eclectic cobwebs away with a bracing day out renowned Track Days at Goodwood, range of other events, both established among a huge selection of classic, always a very popular event, with 29 favourites and new ventures, for members vintage, veteran and super cars and drivers enjoying their vehicles to the full and their guests to enjoy while enabling motorcycles. on a glorious spring day. the Club to generate substantial sums for Next up was the BMW Park Lane Motor Brooklands was back on the agenda a number of charitable causes. Forum, starring BMW’s latest electric for our second Forum of the year; this The Club’s year kicked off at Brooklands cars; this took place in Lloyd’s Old Library featured Allan Winn, Director and CEO of Museum, with the Club taking a stand on Friday 6 February. All our Motor Brooklands Museum, which took place in at the New Year’s Day Gathering for Forums feature an impressive car display the Old Library on Monday 11 May. This the second consecutive year. This is the and a business card raffle, with very was followed up with a visit to Brooklands largest event of its type in the South East special prizes for those in attendance at Museum and Mercedes-Benz World on and a dozen Club members enjoyed these free events. Saturday 30 May, with guests enjoying 7 A lot of work for charity… The LMC prides itself on its support for a wide range of charities, and the members can be very proud of the Club’s charitable donations in the course of 2015: A cheque for £2,000 was presented to the Demelza Children’s Hospice in Kent in January. The Club also donated £1,500 to the “Monte Carlo or Bust” 2CV charity event. A donation of £10,000 was made to the Down’s Syndrome Association following the Club Dinner. A further £2,000 has been earmarked for the Henry Surtees Foundation, together with £150 for Help for Heroes, after the Karting Day. Club members contributed £500 to the Felix Fund during the Aston Martin visit. A further £2,500 was donated to this worthy cause after the Military Lunch. the museum’s remarkable collection of the event went to the Down’s Syndrome The next Motor Forum was hosted by historic cars and aircraft, plus an exclusive Association, of which Damon is Patron; Jeep on Monday 13 July; this event chance to drive their own cars at speed you can read a full report on the Dinner almost certainly took the prize for the on the Mercedes-Benz test track. elsewhere in the magazine. best ‘goodie bag’ of the year. Hot on its heels came a 2CV Forum on One of the undoubted highlights of the The Club also took two tables for year was the return of the biennial Club Tuesday 8 September presented by members at the second “Le Mans Dinner, which took place at the Merchant 2CV Adventures, with the raffle prize, Celebration” Charity Dinner, held on Taylors’ Hall on Thursday 14 May. Our provided by Driven Imagery, being a free guest of honour was none other than Thursday 4 June at the Clothworkers’ Hall photo-shoot for the winner’s car.