Frank raced all over UK and in Europe. I remember racing at Brighton speed trials, on Saturday and Lewes Hill Climb, on the Sunday. We would leave work at around 4pm on Friday, the Bentley fully loaded with spare fuel cans and our overnight things. In the late 60s Frank bought a C type Jaguar, OVC915. This was Duncan Hamilton’s team car, for Le Mans.

Anyway we drove down to Brighton, with the Bentley, the C type and a couple of other Bentleys. We arrived in Brighton, in the early hours of Saturday morning. Having driven through the centre of London, much to the amusement of some people going home for the night. We pulled up on the front at Brighton, got out of the cars and slept by the cars. I managed sometimes to get the exhaust side, so was nice and warm for a few hours.

On the Saturday Frank raced both the C type and the 8 litre. It was a standing ¼ mile from memory. On the Saturday, late afternoon we would drive to Lewes, a village about 2 hours away from Brighton. This night we would stay in a hotel, so a real bed and decent meal, with breakfast in the morning. Luxury!

Early on the Sunday morning we drove to Lewes Hill Climb. Frank would again be driving the C type and the Bentley. His first run up the hill would be in the C type. Once on his last run up the hill in the Bentley having just driven up in the C type, he got it wrong on the last corner, and clipped the timing concrete box with the rear driver’s side wheel. The concrete box ripped the wheel off, very smartly. Frank finished the race on 3 wheels, BUT still managed to get fastest time on the day, on three wheels. The rear wheel of the Bentley got fastest time of the day, finishing a few seconds ahead of Frank! If you look at the old BDC reviews of that time, there is a great photo of Frank holding the centre hub of the 8 litre wheel, and looking slightly dazed. Frank was loaned a spare wheel and drove down the hill to the pits, where we loaded the car and started our drive back up north to Yorkshire. We would arrive home in the early hours of Monday morning, but still be at work for 7am, and in the Bentley!

Frank raced all over Britain. There was a hill climb in Scotland, The Rest and Be Thankful. This literally went up a Scottish Valley. The track was very narrow with some very sharp bends and a very tight hair pin at the top, where there was a camera positioned on a raised platform, filming the cars as they climbed the hill. On this particular run up Frank was heading to the hair pin at a great speed. The camera man was in full view of this and decided that Frank wasn’t going to make the corner, in this huge Bentley. So he turned and ran off the end of the platform, before being hit by what he thought was a monster of a car. Frank did make the corner, and finished his run. The camera man missed what would have been some good footage. Frank on a couple of occasions travelled to Ghent, in Belgium, to do a flying kilometre run, along with people like Jumbo Goddard, in his turbo charged 8 litre, and Rusty Turner in the Tim Birkin blower. We made friends with some remarkable people through our association with the Bentley Drivers Club. There were times when members would have problems with their Bentleys, so Frank would invite them to his garage, and overnight they would fix the problem, so that they could continue to the Bentley weekend the following day.