Holly Birkett and EOT 252

[JonE]

[font=Helvetica]Holly Birkett in Austin 7 Special EOT252 that was acquired by Bill Durling shortly after these pictures were taken in 1950 at the Tyrwhitt Drake trial.[/font]
[font=Helvetica]Other pictures show Dennis Jenkinson as passenger for Holly.[/font]
[font=Helvetica]Durling sold it after buying a Ford engined Spence Special.[/font]

[font=Helvetica]These were sent to me by David Baldock who remembers the car... and wonders whether it survives in any way?      [/font]

[Peter Arnold]

Has it got front wheel independent suspension or did something get bent?

[Henry Harris]

LMB front axle.

[Chris Garner]

LMB - Leslie Mark Ballamy opened a garage in Streatham in the late '20s, moving to various sites over the next few years. In 1932 he devised a swing-axle IFS and which he applied initially to the Austin Seven. In 1934, based on a '28 Chummy, he built a Special -" Ellembee " which proved a very potent machine often being taken to 7000 rpm in second gear... and on a standard crank. In a JCC High-Speed Trial at Brooklands he averaged over 72 mph. coming off the Railway Banking on two wheels. Detecting that the steering felt soggy, on returning to the paddock and jacking up the front, both wheels fell off, the kingpins having snapped. The car was later written off whilst being driven by a friend who sadly died in the accident.