Tuck’s trophy — but where is his Humber?

• 
• 
• 

This large silver cup, won at the BARC’s Easter Sprint Race at Brooklands on Easter Monday 109 years ago today, has now been gracing our living room for some 20 years now.

BARC’s Easter Sprint Race at Brooklands

Apart from loving its sheer splendour, we didn’t know very much about it though. Yes, it had been won by Humber driver W.G. Tuck in his streamlined 14hp racer, but that was about it. It was time to see if anyone knew just a bit more. First stop: the Humber Register. Secretary Peter Wilcox was kind enough to put us in touch with the club’s historian Anthony Saunders and, yes, Saunders turned out to have extensively researched Tuck’s career driving Humber cars.

He replied with the following: “W.G. Tuck won many races at Brooklands driving different Humber works cars, including the 14hp and 11hp versions of his ‘Golden Bug’ Humber. In 1914, he was one of the three Humber drivers in the Isle of Man race for which Humber had built cars specially — the TT cars. Humber were not successful in the TT race but W.G. Tuck was successful later in the year with his TT car at Brooklands.

“Bill Tuck went off to become a military driver in WW1 and then went to live in France, not returning to England. We know what happened to some of his trophies but he may have taken others with him to France.

“As far as we know, all of Tuck's cars, including his TT Humber, no longer exist. He was not married when he went off to war but we do not know what he did after 1918, so may not have any descendants.”

Now, chances aren’t very good that there are people who know more about these racers than Anthony Saunders, but we thought we’d try nevertheless. So if you know more about what happened to W.G. Tuck and his special 14hp TT racer, do not hesitate to get in touch.

Words Jeroen Booij. Pictures Jeroen Booij / autopuzzles.com.

Kommentar abgeben...