From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
TIGER TIM: If ever a driver epitomised the English racing driver, it was Tiger Tim, otherwise Sir Henry "Tim" Birken. What other driver of that era would have dedicated his autobiography, Full Throttle, published in 1932 , "to all schoolboys"?
Born in 1896, Birkin took part in his first race at Brooklands in 1921, finishing second in a handicap event. In 1928 he was fifth with Chassangne at Le Mans as well as fifth in the Tourist Trophy Race at Ards.
In 1929 he scored his first win at Le Mans sharing a Bentley with Barnato and also paid his first visit to the Irish Grand Prix where he came third driving a Bentley.
He returned in 1930 when he drove a magnificent race in the wet before problems with his Bentley's lubrication system forced him to drop back to fifth place.
At the end of 1930, Bentley Motors withdrew from racing and Dorethy Paget sold her team of supercharged Bentleys with which Birkin had been involved. As a result he was forced to look elsewhere, eventually buying a Maserati and an Alfa Romeo.
The Alfa was used to good effect in the 1931 Irish Grand Prix when Birken won the Eireann Cup Race and then, sharing the same car with Earl Howe, Birkin won Le Mans once more. Meanwhile the Maserati was used to win the Brooklands Mountain Championship.
After a disappointing 1932, Birkin bought a new Maserati for the 1933 season. The new car was raced for the first time at the Tripoli Grand Prix where Birkin finished third after fighting for the lead with Nuvolari and Varzi.
However, during the race, Birkin burnt his arm on the exhaust pipe. The burn turned septic and within three weeks this most English of racing drivers who so enjoyed racing in Ireland had died in a London hospital.
HUTTONS OF SUMMERHILL: The coachbuilding firm of John Hutton and Sons was established at Summerhill, Dublin, in 1779. Its fame spread and in 1853 it built the Irish State coach for Queen Victoria.
By the mid-1890s Huttons, having declined to become involved in building railway carriages, began to show an interest in the new automobiles that were appearing in Germany and France.
In 1898 they invited Dr John F Colohan to become a director and acquired the Daimler agency for Ireland. They also developed several agencies as well as building special bodies for cars as required by their clientele.
They opened a showroom in Dawson Street, and the Summerhill premises became their motor repair depot, where they carried a stock of petrol, lubricants and spare parts.
Huttons were the focal point of the motor trade in Dublin and enjoyed an enviable reputation. They supplied cars to many of Ireland's earliest motorists.
In 1903 they provided an initial base for the winning Mercedes Benz team prior to the Gordon Bennett race.
In subsequent years Huttons were offered the Ford franchise for Britain and Ireland but turned it down in deference to their Daimler agency. They had failed to foresee the market's move towards cars that were cheap and simple to maintain.
In 1925 Huttons went into voluntary liquidation and the premises at Summerhill were sold to the Dublin United Tramway Company. They eventually became the site of CIE's Summerhill bus depot.