The First two tethered car meetings in the UK

The first organised event for tethered cars in the UK was a postal competition promoted by Douglas Russell, owner of Aeromodeller magazine. The first ever track meeting was in 1943 with a rally on the roof of the factory in London where Jim Cruickshank worked. Attendees were Gerry Buck from Stoke on Trent with car 2, which did not become the more famous 2A until a catastrophic line failure, Jim Cruickshank with his MG Midget, Bob Curwen with the Curwen Special, Jack Morgan with his home built car and Douglas Russell with his Bunch Demon bought from Hamley's toy shop. A second meeting was organised in 1945 with significantly more runners and cars that in turn led to the formation of the Pioneer Club.

1943 line up	1945 Line up

Most of the early cars had centrifugal clutches so that the motor could be started before allowing the car to accelerate away. The leather thong, colloquially known as a 'bootlace' was the normal method, either long handed standing up as seen here with Gerry Buck, short sharp bending down as with Jack Gascoigne, the underhand with the car balancing on a box, chair and one knee or by more mechanical methods as the sport developed.

Gerry Buck starting 2 1943	Jack Gascoigne starting his MG 1945

Still in use is the 'velo' better known as an upturned bicycle, or the high tech hand cranked version seen here. Later, hand cranked tool grinders with large rubber drums were used before the delights of the electric starter now in common use.

Co author of Model Race Cars D B M Wright & Auto Union	Jim Cruickshank with the underhand method

Shell and Pathe were amongst those trying to film the new sport, with varying degrees of success. One film of the filming shows the cameraman trying to follow the car close up looking like a demented nodding donkey. Pathe filmed from the top of a car showing a more general view of the scene, whilst here we see the camera being attached to the pylon which gives the appearance of the car standing still against a very blurred background. Now of course, it is almost impossible to see a car running unless super slo-mo is used?

Adjusting the film camera on pylon	Jack Gascoigne making adjustment

Within seven years of the very first 'rally' all of those involved had moved on to other forms of modelling as tethered cars changed beyond what they were comfortable with. Here we see Arthur Weaver with one of his beautiful, semi-scale ERAs and Vic Middleton with his more functional model.

Arthur Weaver with his ERA	Vic Middleton

Dress for the Pioneers was always suits and ties, often with an accompanying pipe or cigarette, not withstanding the use of petrol and diesel fuel? With Jack Morgan are fellow 'pioneers' Jack Gascoigne, Bob Curwen and Jim Cruickshank who were collectively responsible for many of the early car designs published.

Jack Morgan	The 'pioneers'

Arthur Weaver's cars were renowned for the quality of the building and their almost scale appearance. On the right is George King's little twin shaft diesel that became the norm in 2.5cc racing with the advent of the Oliver range of engines. The number 3 ERA shown here was stolen, along with three other of Arthur's cars from the Stratford Motor Museum in 1990 and has never been seen since.
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Arthur Weaver's ERAs 1945	George King's 2.5cc diesel twinshaft

Douglas Russell with Speed Demon	Side winder starting

If the first ever events were in London on the roof top, were the next track events either in Stoke or the Pioneers at the Royal Horticultural Halls? What is ironic is that less than twenty years after the first tethered car rally, formation of dozens of clubs, building of tracks and the winning of eight European Championships, the sport was almost moribund in the UK.

Bob Curwen with Curwen Special and ciggie	The slowest lap ever, Official Opening with clockwork roller