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VINTAGE 500cc FORMULA III
Contact: guylfrost@optonline.net

BRYNFAN TYDDYN SPECIAL 1957 Effyh/Cooper/Norton 500

EFFYH is an acronym of four Hakonsson brothers that produced 500 cc racers in Sweden following WWII. The Effyh was introduced in America by John Fitch, who won Best in Class at the Giants Despair hillclimb in May of 1951, followed by a race win in June at Bridgehampton.
The Brynfan Tyddyn (Welsh for “Hilltop Manor”) races were then held annually in conjunction with the hillclimb from 1952 through 1956. They took place on 3.5 miles of winding blacktop through the woods and fields around state Senator T. Newell Wood’s estate near Harvey’s Lake, PA.

As Formula III racing evolved, the “Invincible Norton” overhead twin-cam motorcycle engines used by the Cooper cars began to leave all other 500’s in the dust. Even as the Brynfan Tyddyn races grew to national status, the Formula 3’s must have been Senator Wood’s favorite for they always had a race of their own.

Local lore has it that Jack DuPont refurbished an Effyh/JAP that he found in Wood’s horse barn, but he suffered only DNF’s in 1955 and again in ’56. Lex DuPont held the lap record in a Cooper until 1956, when Carroll Shelby came from out west to set a new best lap in a 2-liter Ferrari. But an off-course excursion by a sedan ultimately led to the end of Wood’s daring adventure at Brynfan Tyddyn. The ‘57 races were on the SCCA calendar for Saturday, July 20th but an outcry about safety led Wood to cancel his races at the last moment.

But this sad ending to racing on public roads also gave birth to the Brynfan Tyddyn Special. One of the Formula III entrants in the ’57 hillclimb was listed as “F.E. Effort” (Wood?) in an Effyh/Norton that finished 2nd in class. But the Effyh chassis had been designed for the JAP motor and was too small to hold a Norton.

Senator Wood, who owned a metals fabrication company, had extended the frame to receive the Norton motor along with the latest rear suspension from a Cooper. Wood also obtained two Norton “Manx” motors from R.J.A. Petty, a noted race engine builder in Farnborough, England in 1956.

These frame modifications now required all new body panels that were designed in the streamlined fashion of the mid-‘50’s. The new body and other fittings were fabricated from aluminum and stainless steel, all to “show-car” standards that included Borrani wire wheels, Nardi wood steering wheel, Brooklands windscreen and fitted upholstery.

Spares galore from the 50’s range from Lodge sparking plugs to Dunlop Blue Streak tyres and a timing wheel engraved “T.N.Wood Pennsylvania USA”. The Brynfan Tyddyn Special is still in original condition and Ray Petty’s long-stroke motor runs strong and will idle faultlessly ‘til the tanks are emptied of methanol.

Minimum of $30,000.
Please contact Guy Frost for more information. guylfrost@optonline.net 516-621-2745 (NY)