PAST IMPERFECT:Arthur Thomas Goldie Gardner overcame severe physical injuries to achieve many impressive driving records, writes BOB MONTGOMERY
THERE CAN BE few persons who have taken up the pursuit of record breaking as a “rest cure”, yet such were the strange circumstances that brought a retired British colonel to do this. But then Arthur Thomas Goldie Gardner was no ordinary car enthusiast. In 1917, during the first World War, he injured his right leg so severely in a plane crash that he had to have two years of hospital treatment.
After release from hospital, he acquired an Austin Seven and raced it at Brooklands and then drove, in turn, a Salmson, an Amilcar and an MG Montlhéry Midget. But during the 1932 Tourist Trophy race at Ards, in Northern Ireland, the MG somersaulted three times and his right leg, already barely useable from the earlier crash, took the brunt of the impact.
Another long spell in hospital followed, during which septicemia set in and amputation of the leg was only narrowly avoided.
Once recovered, Gardner declared that he was done with motor racing as it was too athletic for a man in his virtually unbendable state. Instead, he said he would concentrate on record breaking. He was to put his resolve to good effect, for in the years between 1936 and 1952 he would break over 100 international and national records in England, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium and the US. Considering that his record breaking was to be simply a rest cure from motor racing, it was to prove remarkably fruitful.
Renowned for having no mechanical knowledge and equally lacking any sense of humour, Gardner was a strange figure on the record breaking sites of Europe and America. At the annual German Record Week, in 1937, Eberan von Eberhorst of Auto Union suggested to Gardner that he could achieve a much higher speed with a car with far less drag. On his return to England, Gardner set about persuading MG to build him such a car. Four years earlier, Captain George Eyston had commissioned the MG Competition Department to build him just such a car, designated the EX135. It was bought back from its current owner and was to form the basis of Gardner’s new car.
At the 1938 German Record Week, the modified and re-furbished EX135, now renamed the Magic Midget, produced two-way averages of 187.62 and 186.567mph for the flying mile and kilometre. Its superb aerodynamics were demonstrated when it coasted over three miles, before stopping, after the runs.
For 1939, a higher gear was fitted allowing the 1,100cc record to be taken at 197.5mph. The engine was then rebored in situ the following day so that the car could have a go at the 1,500cc record as well. The next morning EX135 also took these records at speeds of 204.2, 203.8 and 200.6mph for the kilometre, mile and five kilometres respectively.
In 1946, EX135 was taken to Jabbeke in Belgium with a 750cc engine fitted, where it again took new world records for the capacity. In 1947 two of the cylinders were removed from the six-cylinder block and the Magic Midget took records for the newly introduced 500cc class.
Goldie Gardner’s death in 1958 marked the last of a unique breed of record breakers that included the likes of Cobb, Campbell and Segrave. That Gardner should have achieved so many records while in constant pain and with little mechanical knowledge makes his achievements even more impressive.
