Shelsley Walsh is on a mission to track down and reunite 72 of its Specials – can you help?
The Shelsley Specials were cars built with the sole aim of achieving the best time of the day (BTD) at the world’s oldest motorsport venue.
While there was a register of all Shelsley Specials, this now needs updating because although it is known where 45 such cars are, the whereabouts of 72 others remain unknown.
The planned reunion is at The Reg Phillips meeting at the historic hillclimb venue on 4 July 2020.
Jan Breyer in the JAP-engined Salome, the Joystick Special
Arguably the most famous special is Spider 1, in which, in 1926, its creator Basil Davenport became the first driver to break the 50-second mark at Shelsley. In all, Spider 1 broke the hillclimb’s record four times between 1926 and 1928.
The striking GN Wasp, pictured at the top of this page, is another example of these motorsport heroes born of ingenuity – and of the evocative names these creations often bear, another being the Joystick Special.
