BOOK REVIEW  By Peter Baker

ERA - The autobiography of R4D

As with all previous books in this series published by Porter Press, the 320 pages are devoted to the history of one car, in this case the ERA that started life in 1935 as R4B. That said, nobody could possibly write about English Racing Automobiles and pre-war motorsport, not even author James 'Mac' Hulbert, without including an informative side-story, relating to the direct contribution provided by Raymond Mays, Peter Berthon and Humphrey Cook, along with Amherst Villiers and Reid Railton.

After hasty preparation R4B debuted at the Nurburgring on 28 July 1935 in the hands of Mays. It was an inauspicious start and, after an all-night session resolving engine issues, the car was retired mid-race. At Brighton in September the ERA set a new record before once more being side-lined, this time with a broken gearbox. Just two weeks later Raymond Mays appeared at his beloved Shelsley Walsh and with supercharger wailing, blasted the hill. He set FTD and equalled the hill record. At last R4B, later to become R4C and finally R4D, was on its way. In this form Mays returned to Shelsley Walsh on 3 June 1939 and set a new record of 37.37 seconds, followed by victory a week later in the Grand Prix de Picardie. Then 1939 arrived with R4D now in the private ownership of Raymond Mays. He continued to campaign the car with huge enthusiasm, winning races at Crystal Palace and Brooklands (twice), at the same time taking FTD at Prescott before war intervened. Raymond Mays returned to Prescott in May 1946 and Shelsley Walsh in June, once again setting FTD at both, but with BRM now taking up more of his time, in 1952 he sold the car to Ron Flockhart.

Flockhart kept R4D only a short time, but excelled with the car in Formula Libre, winning five races, he was signed up to drive for BRM in 1954. R4D then passed to Ken Wharton who concentrated on hill-climbing, setting some fourteen FTDs between June 1954 and September 1956. Now, decidedly uncompetitive in modern motorsport, the car passed through several more ownerships before establishing itself in the newly developing world of 'historic' motorsport. Between 1957-83 in the hands of Neil Corner and Willie Green it was back as a race track front runner. And success continued until 1993 with next owner/driver Anthony Mayman, a regular VSCC entrant, took over. In August 1987 R4D returned to Germany for the FIA Historic Meeting, finishing 2nd (Race 1) and 1st (Race 2). Mayman was incredibly popular and a very good driver, he drove in 65 competitive events finishing ahead of the pack on 45 occasions. Sadly, and unexpectedly, Anthony died after a short illness and R4D was auctioned, sold to Vijay Mallya.

Vijay sold the car after five years to Michael Steele, having only driven it once himself, although it was raced with some success by John Harper. Steele found R4D uncomfortable and too small for his height, but spent a considerable amount of money on restoration work and raced it in the pre-61 HGPCA series. Then, in 2001 'Mac' Hulbert, born in Somerset, became the owner of this now very famous ERA for the next 14 years. He won at Silverstone and campaigned the car all over the world, in another 110 events, before retiring.

It was left to James Baxter to pay tribute to the remarkable longevity of R4D by winning the inaugural, new generation Chateau Impney Hil Climb in July 2015.

ERA R4D is now owned by Brian Fidler and driven with great verve by Nick Topliss. Just one week ago it appeared at the annual VSCC Meeting at Prescott (5-7 August 2016) and guess what? Yep, it set FTD. Again.

This is a terrific book nicely split into ownership chapters, with suitable reminiscences and illustrated with a whole host of black and white and colour pictures. Raymond Mays would be proud.

Great Cars 6: ERA – The autobiography of R4D
Written by James 'Mac' Hulbert
ISBN 978-1-907085-40-6
Available from Porter Press International in two editions, de Luxe and Standard
Price £60.00 (Standard edition)