Peter Buckley

[Geoff Kingston]

Viewing a dvd about 1950's motor racing the other day there were some nice shots of Bristol 400's and 401's competing in various saloon car races driven by Tony Crook and others, one driver being referred to by his surname, Buckley.
He seemed to be a frequent competitor in both Bristol 400's and 401's yet I don't recall seeing his name mentioned in any of the Bristol books, all I have been able to find out from entry lists on some of the races is that his initials were P B and his first name was Peter.
So does anyone know anything more about Peter Buckley and what his connection was with Bristol Cars, was an owner/private entrant or a dealer, he must have been a good driver as he scored higher places than Tony Crook on a few occasions often competing at the same events.

[Geoff Dowdle]

Geoff K,
My understanding of P Buckley and his Bristol is as follows

Name Paul B Buckley of Mirfield near Huddersfield/Yorkshire

Car 400 Chassis 200 JAH594
sold new June 1948 to C.E.Porter through Peter Guest Ltd, Wooton Rd,
Kings Lynn/Norfolk
With AFN 1/6/49 for GBP1500

Known Competition Results with P Buckley and 400 chassis 200 "JAH594"

1951 May 5th Silverstone International Meeting .
Production Car Race ,race number #30 13th OA , 9th in Class
1st Coupe to finish

1951 June 4th - 9th RAC Rally (Harrogate start)
#87 33rd OA 3rd Large Saloon Class

1952 May 10th BRDC International Trophy at Silverstone
Production Car race #17 10th OA 3rd Class
(Bristol won team prize, A Crook/401 5th OA and 1st Class
R Salvadori/400 or 401 15th OA , 4th Class)

1953 May 9th BRDC International Trophy/Silverstone
Production Car race #22 6th OA 1st Class
(Bristol won team award A Crook/400 chassis 501 7th OA 2nd Class
M Porter/401 11th OA )

I have no details of P Buckley competing in a 401 .

This does not answer your query about the connection of P Buckley and BAC/Bristol Cars . My GUESS is that he was an owner/private entrant as his 400 chassis 200 was 3 years old when he first raced it in 1951 and 401s had been available before that .

If you look closely at the attached photos 400/200 has what looks like 401 fog lights fitted in the front wings . Wings like these are on a 400 chassis that was recently sold by J Harris that was reputed to be 400 chassis 138 .
So there is a chance 400/200 JAH594 has been parted out or wrecked.

If you have any more details of P Buckley's competition results or photos could you please post them

Geoff D

[Geoff Kingston]

Geoff D,
I had a look at what I saved yesterday, the two full results lists for the later Silverstone meetings simply have him listed as P B Buckley, I got the name Peter from a photograph posted on another website racingsportscars.com which was supposed to be of the 1951 event at Silverstone, it give the same result you have 13th place but although it says the car is a Bristol it obviously was not, it is an open car the make of which I can't identify and which has the registration number 307PD, there is clearly therefore a mix up of the cars and a mistake in the drivers name, unless of course there was a Peter Buckley racing in that event in open car 307PD, it looks more like a racing car than a production car though so the photograph might not even be from that event.
The DVD I have covers a lot of the early 50's racing events and Buckley and his 400 feature in several events, there is at least one event however where a 401 is shown on several laps and which the commentator refers to as being driven by Buckley, as it is about six months since I watched it I will have to look at it again as I sure the events are all identified.
If I am able to add anything to what you have already posted or come across any photographs I will definitely post them.
Geoff K .

[Geoff Kingston]

Geoff D,
Found another result for him for the 1955 International Trophy at Silverstone, he finished 8th overall, second in class driving a Bristol 403, this is probably the race I saw on the DVD and my memory was playing up it was a 403 not 401.
When I watch it again I will pause it and see if I can get the registration number.
Geoff K.

[Geoff Dowdle]

CB Sports car 307PD.jpg
Geoff K,
307PD is probably a Cooper Bristol Sports car as per attached photo
Geoff D

[Troedyrhiw]

Hello,

I have been following your interesting thread as I am the new owner of LAE 245 bought just before Christmas from James Harris' father. The front lighting seems to be identical to that shown on JAH 594. The few 'photos that I have of LAE 245 show it at the 1948 Eastbourne Rally where it was entered by Tony Crook. It had a standard lighting setup then. It seems to have been involved in a serious accident in 1949/1950 and I was hoping to get details of the repairs carried out then by Bristol Cars but unfortunately the records seem to have been lost during the period that Bristol Cars was in administration.

Does JAH 594 still exist? Perhaps one of the owners of LAE 245 saw JAH 594 competing and decided to duplicate the lighting modification? I can find no indication that LAE 245 has any competition history beyond the 1948 Eastbourne Rally.

Geoff K, I also live in West Wales though LAE 245 is still with James Harris.

Troedyrhiw

[Geoff Kingston]

Troedyrhiw,

JAH594 is listed on the Bristol Owners Club data base as nothing known, its possible it may still be around but if so was unknown to the club registrars when the data was compiled. It probably has never been owned by a member of the club either or there would more information against the entry.
Pity the records relating to LAE245 got lost after Bristol went into administration, I thought all that sort have thing had been saved, the company or the Club might then have been able to offer an early history service similar to that offered by the RREC for Rolls Royce and Bentley Cars.
If you attend any of the West Wales vintage shows you may see my 603 or another BOC members 410, though this year I am also hoping to display a Cadillac or a diesel converted Rolls Royce Shadow LWB at some of the events.

Geoff.

[peterg]

There is a photo of the car's front here:
https://revslib.stanford.edu/item/ys645qp8904
which may aid with the car's identification. The registration is from Surrey.
Is that a Frazer Nash in front?

[peterg]

Should have read the caption:

Track action scene, left to right: Car Number 30, Cooper T25 (John Coombs and Tommy Sopwith, drivers), 307 PD (registration); Car Number 24, Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica (John Melvin and Peter Kenneth, drivers).

Goodwood 9 hour race 22nd August 1953

Photo by George Phillips

[Troedyrhiw]

Re-reading Setright's 'A Private Car' he refers to Tony Crook being 'sometimes attended by an old friend from the RAF, Air Commodore (as I remember his rank) Buckley, a former Tempest pilot who would bring along his own car (often an earlier model) to make up a team of three'. A quick Google search as not brought any additional information to light.