Pedal power

Competitors are aged between four and 11 years old, but once your knees protrude above the bodywork you are deemed too large to compete. The pedals, which are pumped back and forth rather than cycled round and round, are adjustable for various leg lengths.

Some cars are painted like Le Mans winners (appropriate given the race begins with a running Le Mans start), others just the driver’s favourite hue. My favourite is a gorgeous addition to the Ecurie Ecosse stable, resplendent in the team’s famous dusky blue. The most spectacular member of the grid has a black and gold Smokey Yunick tribute livery.

There was also a helpful crib sheet next to it, just in case (like me) you weren’t familiar with the history of B-17 pilot, race mechanic, car builder, and team owner Henry ‘Smokey’ Yunick. His black and gold cars won 57 NASCAR races and two Grand National championships (’51 and ’53), but he was seemingly best known for his creative approach to the rules.

The crib sheet didn’t expand on this bending of the rulebook, but a little light googling later revealed he really was quite the innovator. He found ways to increase his cars’ fuel capacity, such as abnormally large, long fuel lines and a basketball inside an oversize tank that could be inflated to disguise the extra capacity from anyone checking. He lowered rooflines, raised floors and even modified drip rails on various cars to improve aerodynamics (all done subtly enough to at least initially fox the stewards and other competitors).

He even qualified a car with aerodynamic bodywork that partially covered the rear wheels before cutting it away for the race so that pit stops could be performed. Others complained, but he pointed out that the rules merely said the rear bumpers could be cut and didn’t stipulate when the cutting had to take place.

Why mention all this? Well, apart from the fact that I think it’s fascinating, it’s actually pertinent to the J40s. I was told by one parent that scrutineering for the Settrington Cup is very strict and, amazingly, it has to be. By the sounds of it some parents would make Yunick blush with their flagrantly underhand attempts to gain an advantage for their offspring. We’re not just talking about tweaked gearing or ceramic bearings. How about a handbrake rigged as an extra means of propulsion?!

But this skullduggery wasn’t what surprised me most about the little J40s. What astonished me was their origin story. You see, I had assumed that they were quite rare. Probably hand-built in small numbers. But no. A staggering total of over 32,000 Austin J40s were produced between 1949 and 1971. An entire factory was built by Austin in Bargoed in South Wales in order to provide work for miners who had been injured or contracted black lung (from exposure to coal dust).

Prototypes were produced in the late 1940s and the J originally stood for Joy but then became Junior. The first car was actually a monoposto design called the Pathfinder but this was soon joined by the J40. The main pressings were supplied by Longbridge, made from fresh sheet metal, but scrap offcuts from the production of full-size cars were used for other smaller parts.

There was even a new-fangled Rotodip installed in Bargoed as a trial for the main factory in Longbridge. Although production of the J40s ceased in 1971 their legacy continued for nearly 30 years, as the factory remained open until 1999, making parts such as rocker covers for A-Series motors.

Leaning on the pit wall of the Goodwood Motor Circuit watching cars that are at least 50 years old being pedalled with determination up the start-finish straight, it’s nice to think these toys have such a rich and benevolent background. I also can’t help but wonder about the future of those doing the pedalling. If Waterloo was supposedly won on the playing fields of Eton, then perhaps the TT of 2040 will be won in the Settrington Cup of 2022…