Recently I was fortunate to be invited on the 85th Anniversary of the First Ards TT and traveled the route of the original race in a 1934 Lagonda along with other vintage cars from the Ulster Vintage Car Club. A particular attraction was the presence of a group from The Benjafield Racing Club, The Bentley Boys.
The Ards TT was organised by the RAC and ran from 1928 to 1936. It was very popular sometimes drawing huge crowds in what were exciting days in motor sport. The race originally started and finished just outside Dundonald, not far from where the Charles Hurst Car Showroom now sits but the volume of traffic in 2013 prevented us setting off from there. Participants assembled at the Ulster Flying Club in Newtownards where after refreshments and a sprint along the runway they travelled the race circuit to Comber, Dundonald and back to Newtownards.
As I was travelling in a car I wasn’t able to photograph the convoy driving the route but I managed some images of the cars at the start in Newtownards and some from the back seat of the Lagonda as we drove.
Click on an image to enlarge.
