Bristol 10, Feb 2014 : We enjoyed a thoroughly entertaining talk last night by well known historic racer Julian Bronson at the Bristol Aerospace Welfare Association. (BAWA)

Julian walked us through his extensive racing career which started off banger racing in a Hillman Minx bought for just £5, wearing a pig farming coat for overalls.  Julian soon progressed into rallying as funds allowed and quickly enjoyed success trading fork lifts to fund his racing passion. Amongst the hundreds of classic cars rallied or raced his favourites included driving the pre war E.R.A, Lister knobbly and his beloved 60’s F1 Scarab.

Julian told us the highlight of his career was winning Historic Grand Prix Monaco four times, after which they honored him with a life time membership of the Automobile Club de Monaco.

The secret to his success he told us “Was having a good engineer to ensure the basic rules of engineering are set before he even gets in the car. Shock absorbers are always reconditioned at the end of each season. Spring rates and roll bar settings are always checked to ensure they equate to the relevant power to weight and roll centres. There is no point testing or changing anything on the car until these fundamentals are set.”  Sound advice from an experienced seasoned racer who has enjoyed success at both Goodwood Revival and the Historic Grand Prix Monte Carlo.

Having raced all over the world favourite circuits were Le Mans and the street circuit Macau, driving on the limits so often comes with its own dangers. Julian has survived two huge crashes at Goodwood Revival meeting, recalling one heavy one into the wall at Madgwick Corner,  he told us once emerged from the crash, the circuit commentator, Marcus Pye announced “Its all fine, he’s OK, his internal air-bag’s gone off!” much to the amusement of the spectators.

This year Julian will be back out in the F1 Scarab (seen above) and also in a few selected outings in the E-Type.

Photo Source: Goodwood; photo credit: Tim Scott / Fluid Images and UltimateCarPage