he tragedy which happened during the 1936 RAC International Tourist Trophy held on the 21.993-kilometer road course of Ards in Northern Ireland, became one of the most tragic accidents by number of fatalities in British motorsport history. Eight spectators lost their lives and more than 25 were injured, 10 of them seriously.
With the use of public roads for racing activities banned in England in consequence of the infamous Paris-Madrid road race of 1903, that passed to history as “The race to death” in which were killed Marcel Renault and six other persons, the first edition of the RAC Tourist Trophy, held two years later, was raced on the the Isle of Man, where it remained until post World War I era. But in 1928 the competition moved to Ards, a challenging natural course from Dundonald to Newtonards, Comber and back to Dundondald, located east of Belfast, in Northern Ireland. Ards would host the event until 1936.
On Saturday, 05 September 1936, the RAC International Tourist Trophy started under wet conditions. While lying in third place on his 18th lap, Belfast driver Jack Chambers lost control of his Riley Brooklands 9 #31 after passing a railway bridge and skidded on Church Street, near the Newtownards District Hospital in the village of Newtownards. There was a bump in the road, the car shot into the air and the driver was absolutely unable to regain control of it. Chambers' car struck a gas lamp-post at a speed of over 100 mi/h (161 km/h) and hit a house wall before running broadside into a footpath crowded with spectators, who stood no chance.
The first newspaper reports indicated that only one spectator was killed. This was not true, eight spectators were left dead. Amongst the victims, the Newtownards residents were Leslie Samuel Wilson, a fourteen-year-old who was killed on the spot, and his lifelong friend William A. McGimpsey, 15, who died shortly afterwards; Alexander Warden, 36, a member of the Newtownards Silver Band; James McKnight, 60; Samuel McAuley, 42, a prominently associated with Ards United Football Club. All five were later buried at Movilla Cemetery in Newtownards.
Three others died or were declared dead at hospital in the hours following the accident. Hans Wallace, 62, a farmer of Drumawhay, County Down, Northern Ireland, passed away before midnight. William Thorne, 47 or 43, married, of Worcester, England and Ernest Jacobs, 28, of Hull, Yorkshire, England, died on Sunday, 06 September 1936 morning. Ten others were detained in hospital, mainly suffering with head injuries and leg fractures. Among them was Alexander Warden's wife. Jack Chambers, the driver of the ill-fated car, escaped serious injury.
R.I.P
