ASTON MARTIN VS BUGATTI
Nearly a century ago, a Brescia Bugatti chased an Aston Martin Cloverleaf for definitive hillclimb honours. Now both are back for more
1920s sports cars reunite to duel once again at the fabled Aston Clinton hillclimb
Aston Martin versus Bugatti: the Definitive Showdown. That could be the taster line for an ultimate hypercar face-off, Aston Martin Valkyrie head-to-head with Bugatti Chiron. Later, perhaps. But not now, and certainly not 95 years ago. That’s when the same two marques locked horns – so many fast-car magazine clichés, must rein them in – at the Aston Clinton hillclimb, from which Lionel Martin took the first part of his sports-car company’s name.
And that is where we are today, with the actual Aston that came second in the Herts Automobile and Aero Club’s 1924 hillclimb (even though the hill is in Bucks, just). Lionel Martin’s own Cloverleaf model, so named for its two-plus-one seating arrangement, won the day but survived no more than another decade. The similar car bought new in 1923 by Noel Beardsell, in which he was runner-up to Martin, is still with us, however, now sheltering under a gazebo from a smattering of rain. It’s the second-oldest surviving example of a roadgoing production(ish) Aston Martin.
The Astons, 95 years ago, were hotly pursued on this hill by a pair of Brescia Bugattis, in third and fourth. Thus is the scene set for our Cloverleaf’s return to Aston Hill, ready to be measured – subjectively this time, not by stopwatch – against its Bugatti nemesis once again. Our particular Bugatti’s early history is unknown, but it’s a 1920 example of the right type – Type 13 – to rival the Aston Martin. First time around, the Astons prevailed on their ‘home’ hill. Will the same be true today?
THE CLOVERLEAF comes from the very beginning of Aston Martin history, a few years after the company had been started by Martin and his engineer partner Robert Bamford. The latter exited the enterprise in 1920 but Martin stayed in the picture until 1925 when the company, still known as that point as Bamford and Martin and based in Abingdon Road, Kensington in West London, ran out of money. So the Cloverleaf uses a Coventry Simplex sidevalve engine of 1486cc, more or less as fitted to the first-ever Aston Martin, which the partners had built in 1920.
One of its most advanced features for the time was a braking system able to involve all four wheels, albeit not by a single control action. The footbrake acts on the front wheels, the handbrake on the rears, all via cables. Another innovation was the fitment of a water pump, although the cooling system’s copper pipework above the flat cylinder head has more of the flavour of Victorian steam machinery than cutting-edge heat exchange.
Over the years the Cloverleaf lost its original body and became a two-seater, the better to suit it for a racing career that continued right up to 1969 and victory in the Aston Martin
Owners’ Club’s St John Horsfall Trophy race at Silverstone. Then its owner, David Cole, died suddenly and the now not-Cloverleaf lay unused for the next four decades until architect, engineer and pre-war Aston enthusiast John Browning bought it.
It took him another decade to start the restoration of chassis number 1926 to its original Cloverleaf form, during which time he undertook a mountain of research and waited for the ash timber that he needed to re-make the body frame, sawn from an ash tree felled in his own garden, to season. The research even included the exploratory making of a 1:24-scale model of the frame.
The restoration is completely lovely, a feast of nickel plating, varnished wood, brass and leather. Just how lovely is acknowledged by the Cloverleaf’s win of the Club Trophy at the 2016 Concours of Elegance at Windsor Castle, along with 2013 and 2015 AMOC pre-war concours wins. Mark Donoghue owned it after John Browning and he’s here today to talk me through the niceties of driving it – although it’s a bittersweet day for Mark, because he has just sold the Cloverleaf to Japanese collector and enthusiast Yuki Hayashi.
‘First time around, Aston Martin prevailed. Will the same be true today?’