Wolseley Racing consisted of a number of motor car racing efforts between 1903 and 1969 supported by

Wolseley Motor Company Wolseley Motors Limited was a British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in early 1901 by the Vickers Armaments in conjunction with Herbert Austin. It initially made a full range, topped by large luxury cars, and dominated the market in the Ed ...

which resulted in many victories and helped promote the brand and prowess of the company. In addition to the company-sponsored racing there were individuals who entered Wolseley cars or cars with Wolseley motors into races. The history of Wolseley Racing can be split into three periods matching the

history of the automobile Development of the automobile started in 1672 with the invention of the first steam-powered vehicle, which led to the creation of the first steam-powered automobile capable of human transportation, built by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot in 1769. Invento ...

: # The early days before

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

when the automotive industry and racing was in its infancy # between the wars after production was switched from a war effort back to domestic products and the innovations of WW1 had been applied to engine technology and # from after World War II to the present day.

Before World War I

With

Napier & Son D. Napier & Son Limited was a British engineering company best known for its luxury motor cars in the Edwardian era and for its aero engines throughout the early to mid-20th century. Napier was founded as a precision engineering company in ...

, the Wolseley cars were Britain's only entries in early races such as the

1902 Gordon Bennett Cup The 1902 Gordon Bennett Cup, formally titled the III Coupe Internationale, was a motor race held on 26–28 June 1902, on public roads between Paris, France, and Innsbruck, Austria. The race was held over a 565 km section of the route of the ...

and Paris-Vienna Trial, 1903

Paris–Madrid race :''See also the 1911 Paris to Madrid air race.'' The Paris–Madrid race of May 1903 was an early experiment in auto racing, organized by the Automobile Club de France (ACF) and the Spanish Automobile Club, Automóvil Club Español. At the time ...

, the 1904 Circuit des Ardennes and 1905 Gordon Bennett Cup where

Charles Rolls Charles Stewart Rolls (27 August 1877 – 12 July 1910) was a British motoring and aviation pioneer. With Henry Royce, he co-founded the Rolls-Royce car manufacturing firm. He was the first Briton to be killed in an aeronautical accident with ...

was a driver. The 1903 race saw not only a Wolseley car driven by

Herbert Austin Herbert Austin, 1st Baron Austin (8 November 186623 May 1941) was an English automobile designer and builder who founded the Austin Motor Company. For the majority of his career he was known as Sir Herbert Austin, and the Northfield bypass ...

himself (later to own the company) but another of the Wolseleys was involved in a high-speed accident (one of a number during the race) that ultimately caused this form of city to city road-racing to be banned. In 1907 Wolseley Italiana entered three x cars under the Wolsit name in the

Coppa Florio The Coppa Florio (or Florio Cup) was a motorsport race for automobiles first held in Italy in 1900. It was renamed in 1905 when Vincenzo Florio offered the initial 50,000 Lira prize money and a cup designed by Polak of Paris. The cup was to be awa ...

with just one of them finishing.

Between the wars

A specific racing department was created in 1920 by Wolseley Managing Director

Arthur John McCormack Arthur John McCormack, CBE, (1866–1936) was an English businessman and patent holder. He is principally associated with Vickers' Wolseley Motors Limited where he was MD from 1911 to 1923Baldwin, Nick "The Wolseley", Shire , Princes Risborough U ...

(who had competed in the 1902 Circuit des Ardennes race as a riding mechanic for the winner

Charles Jarrott Charles Jarrott (16 June 1927 – 4 March 2011) was a British film and television director. He was best known for costume dramas he directed for producer Hal B. Wallis, among them ''Anne of the Thousand Days'', which earned him a Golden Globe ...

) which resulted in the Wolseley Viper 1 (using a

Wolseley Viper The Wolseley Viper is a British-built, high-compression derivative of the Hispano Suiza HS-8 liquid-cooled V-8 engine, built under licence by Wolseley Motors during World War I. It powered later models of the S.E.5a, SPAD VII and other Brit ...

engine from an aircraft), Wolseley Moth and

Wolseley Hornet six The Wolseley Hornet is a six-cylinder twelve fiscal horsepower lightweight automobile which was offered as a saloon car, coupé and open two-seater as well as the usual rolling chassis for bespoke coachwork. Produced by Wolseley Motors Limited ...

all gaining success in races at

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...

. The Moth and Hornet were based on commercially available Wolseley cars of the time. The Moth cars were based on the Wolseley 10 or 15 and the Hornet Racer built with a "Special Speed Chassis". Notable drivers of these cars include

Woolf Barnato Joel Woolf BarnatoPronounced Barnatoo – from Barnett too (27 September 1895 – 27 July 1948) was a British financier and racing driver, one of the "Bentley Boys" of the 1920s. He achieved three consecutive wins out of three entries in the ...

Kaye Don Kaye Ernest Donsky (10 April 1891 – 29 August 1981), better known by his ''nom de course'' Kaye Don, was an Irish world record breaking car and speedboat racer. He became a motorcycle dealer on his retirement from road racing and set up Amba ...

Kay Petre Kathleen Coad Petre (' Defries; 10 May 1903 – 10 August 1994), known as Kay Petre, was an early motor racing star. She was born in York, Ontario, now part of Toronto. Family Kathleen Coad Defries was the daughter of Robert Leo Defries KC (d ...

James Robertson Justice James Robertson Justice (15 June 1907 – 2 July 1975) was a British actor. He is best remembered for portraying pompous authority figures in comedies including each of the seven films in the ''Doctor'' series. He also co-starred with Grego ...

and Alastair Miller. It was Miller who set the 1922 British Double-Twelve Record in a Wolseley Moth. MHV Wolseley Brooklands 1920

After World War II

The

Wolseley Hornet (Mini) The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...

achieved results during the 1960s such as the 1966 and 1967 Leinster Trophy driven by

Alec Poole Alec Poole is an Irish motor racing driver from Dublin. He competed successfully in saloon and sports car races in Great Britain throughout the 1960s. In 1969 he won the British Touring Car Championship in a privately entered Mini Cooper S. In 1 ...

and others until the Wolseley brand was retired in 1969.

References

{{reflist, 30em British auto racing teams British racecar constructors