Tom Barrett (Sunbeam mechanic)

Infobox Person
name = Tom Barrett


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birth_date = birth date|1891|11|21|df=yes
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death_date = death date and age|1924|09|27|1891|11|21|df=yes
death_place = San Sebastian Grand Prix circuit, Spain
death_cause = Crash whilst motor-racing
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residence = Wolverhampton
nationality = British
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employer = Guy Motors, Sunbeam
occupation = Motor-racing mechanic
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religion = Christian, chorister at St. John's Church, Wolverhampton
spouse = Lillian Ivy,
neé Worthington-Roberts
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Tom Barrett (21 November 1891 - 27 September 1924) was a motor-racing riding mechanic. His death in the 1924 San Sebastian Grand Prix brought an end to the practice of riding mechanics in two-seat racing cars. cite web
title=Tom Barrett
url=http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/Museum/Transport/Cars/Sunbeam/TomBarrett.htm
publisher= [http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk Wolverhampton Museum of Industry] ]

Racing in this early period was conducted between unreliable cars over long road courses, rather than by repeated laps of a dedicated short circuit. There was no nearby "pit lane" in which to conduct repairs and so it was necessary to carry a mechanic on-board the car.

Life and early career

Tom was born in 1891, at Prestwood Road, Wolverhampton, one of 9 children. His father, George Barrett, had been born in rural Essex but came to Wolverhampton and worked in engineering factories. Tom and his eldest brother William served apprenticeships at the pump-making factory of Joseph Evans & Sons, where their father also worked.

During the First World War, Tom worked at Guy Motors. Rather than Guy's better-known lorries, this work was on small mechanisms such as fuzes for depth charges. Like his future driver, Kenelm Lee Guinness, this war-work was sufficiently important to excuse military service during the war.

In 1915, Tom married local girl Lillian Ivy Worthington-Roberts. They moved to Burleigh Road, Wolverhampton, remaining nearby to Wolverhampton's engineering works. He continued to be an active church-goer and became a member of St. John's Church choir.

In early 1918 Guy began work on aero-engines, planning large orders for the ultimately unsuccessful ABC Wasp and Dragonfly aero-engines. In fact they only managed to produce one complete prototype of each, before the semi-completed production batch was transferred to another factory. cite book
title=Sunbeam Aero-engines
last=Brew |first=Alec
date=1998
publisher=Airlife
isbn=1-84037-023-8] After the end of the war, the aero-engine work at Guy was closed. Tom's appetite for aero-engines had been whetted though and he moved to the nearby Sunbeam works so as to continue it. The market for aero-engines at this time was flooded by war-surplus and so Sunbeam focussed on new engines for airships.

By 1921 though, airship accidents made this work less attractive and so Tom moved into Sunbeam's 'Experimental Department', supporting their successful racing cars, including the Sunbeam 350HP. Sunbeam's road cars were highly regarded in this period and the prestige and engineering innovation derived from the racing effort was seen as a significant part of this.

1924 accident

Sunbeam's works drivers for the Grand Prix were Henry Segrave and Kenelm Lee Guinness. Guinness' usual mechanic, Bill Perkins, had been injured in a crash at Brooklands some weeks earlier, when the driver Dario Resta had been killed.

Two mechanics travelled to Spain with Segrave and Guinness, Tom Barrett and the Italian, Marocchi. As Segrave spoke a little Italian, he and Marocchi were in one car, Guinness and Barrett in the other.

September weather for the race day was wet with rain and the track was slippery. There was an attempt to sprinkle sand on the track for extra grip, but the earth from local fields that was used was more clay than sand and actually made things worse.

On the 11th lap Guinness's car hit a rut in the road, which along with the slippery surface, caused him to lose control. The car left the track, spun, rolled, and crossed back over the track before coming to rest. Both occupants were thrown out of the car and into a railway cutting. Barrett was killed instantly. Guinness was a little more fortunate, his fall being broken by some telegraph wires, but was still seriously injured. He never raced again and seems to have been permanently affected by the crash, culminating in his suicide in 1937. cite web
title=Top 100 racing drivers
url=http://www.historicracing.com/top100.cfm?driverID=5468&fromrow=1
publisher= [http://www.historicracing.com historicracing.com] ]

Segrave was always known for his concern for others in his team, but he was unaware of the accident. After winning the race, he was aghast to discover the fate of his colleagues.

On 16 October 1924, Tom was buried at Heath Town Church in Wolverhampton. Many of his engineering colleagues from Sunbeam, Guy and Joseph Evans attended. After the accident, Lillian was given a job at Sunbeam. She later worked as an auxiliary nurse at the Wolverhampton Royal Hospital.

Rule changes

After this accident, rules were changed so that mechanics no longer rode in the cars during the race. Tom's untimely death must thus have saved many lives and injuries in motor racing. However the requirement for two seats in "sports car" racing classes was retained for many years to come.

References