Major Peter Braid |
Peter Braid began racing in 1949 in a Cooper Mk III and took his first win at Silverstone in July, followed by a second at Great Auclum on the 14th August then had one of the strangest racing accidents of all time. Peter's Cooper is on the roof of the Guardhouse at Blandford Army base on 27th August 1949. He was launched by the base of the bus shelter, demolished by the previous fatal accident and, bouncing off the trees, arrived on the guardhouse roof! Peter Braid fell out but was only bruised and shaken. Still racing are the Bardon Special of Don Truman, the Iota of Joe Fry and Austen May in his Cooper Mk II. Other drivers mentioned how disconcerting it was that the car was left on the roof until the completion of all the other races. On the 12th May 1951, Peter took a fourth in the Open Challenge Final at Brands, then second at Silverstone in June and a third at Great Auclum in July. For 1952, he raced a Mackson but with little success. Sadly, Major Braid was killed in the Barnes railway disaster in December 1955. |