Riley 9 Brooklands – 1928

Riley 9 Brooklands, year 1928. Chassis (VIN) number 8021, engine number 2007. Original British registration number AZ 1189.
Colour blue combined with a light blue chassis and silver painted wire wheels.
Only about 100 Riley 9 Brooklands cars were built, and this Riley 9 Brooklands comes with a complete and very interesting history.

On 30 March 1928 the car was ordered by Leslie Porter Ltd. from Belfast and the car was delivered on 20 July 1928 to Mr. William Paige Noble. Mr. Noble participated in the legendary Tourist Trophy (Ards TT circuit Belfast) which was held on 18 August 1928.
The Riley 9 participated the race under entry number 11. After attaining second place in lap fifteen Noble crashed the Riley at Newtownards breaking the rear axle.
Noble kept the Riley until 14 February 1935 when the car was sold to Hedge End Motors Ltd in Southampton. The car has spent the pre-WW2 years with owners living in the vicinity of the banked Brooklands racetrack in Weybridge near London.
The war years were spent with an owner in Cheshire. After WW2 the Riley spent most years with owners in the Liverpool area.
Between 1949 and 1955 the Riley was owned by Neville Pierce of Stamford Service Station in Holywell North Wales. Pierce had the Riley extensively refurbished and modified for racing purposes.
The Riley was fitted with a more powerful 1496 cc Riley engine, a Armstrong-Siddeley four-speed preselector gearbox, sturdier axles, bigger drum brakes, and new hubs with “knock on” wheel nuts.
These parts were derived from a 1935 Riley 12/4 Kestrel.
In this post war period (club) racing was resumed, and prewar racing cars were recommissioned and made competitive again.
The British Vintage Sports Car Club (VSCC) considers the alterations made to the car as period modifications. A VSCC eligibility document is present. Because of the extensive modifications this Riley 9 Brooklands can be seen as a modified “racing special”.
The last British owner had the car in possession from 1959 until his death in 2011.
This Mr. J.A. (Jim) Trotter raced the Riley in the VSCC club competitions.
In 2011 the Riley was sold to a Dutchman who had the car garaged by a British friend. The Riley is still registered in the United Kingdom. This Riley 9 Brooklands comes with a very extensive history file, including a list of all the owners from 1928 until 1957 (made by the Lancashire County Council in October 1957), and a taxes registration book listing further owners up to Mr. J.A. Trotter.
Despite the complete documentation, the history is not entirely without problems.
There is another Riley 9 (fitted with a “Le Mans” type bodywork) known with chassis 8021, but without known history.
The existence of this car was brought to the attention of Mr. Trotter in the 1980s. Correspondence from 1987 between the owner of that chassis and Mr. Trotter is also included in the documentation.
Mr. Trotter purchased the AZ1189 with its complete and documented history in 1959, when the car was demonstrably known as 8021, and there was no reason to cheat at that time. A letter from the late Barbara Farquhar (an authority on Riley Brooklands authenticity born 1924 – died 2015) confirms that this Riley 9 Brooklands must be considered as the authentic Riley 9 Brooklands with chassis 8021 which is registered as AZ 1189. This letter is also part of the documentation.

So here we have a fantastic 96-year-old Riley 9 Brooklands racing car with proven pre-war racing provenance in the 1928 Ards-TT, a long and unbroken line of pre- and post-war owners, made race ready and competitive again in the 1950s with Riley 12/4 components, and raced in VSCC club events up to the early years 2000.
An important historic Riley racing car with a magnificent history covering almost 100 years!

Technical specifications:
Four-cylinder OHV in-line engine (Riley 12/4 ‘Kestrel’ )
cylinder capacity: 1496 cc
capacity: approx. 65 bhp at 5500 rpm
torque: unknown
induction: 2 x S.U. carburettors
gearbox: 4-speed, manual (Armstrong Siddeley preselector)
brakes: Girling rod operated drum brakes around
top speed: unknown
weight: unknown