Hartwell, George

[Michael Aikey]

I am looking for biographical (i.e. date and place of birth, etc.) and racing information on George Hartwell. He ran a Cooper-Vincent in the late 1940's, early 1950's. Thanks.

[Adam Ferrington]

Michael,

George Reginald Hartwell was born on 16th June 1911 in Portsmouth, Hampshire.

As far as I can see he did not race before the war, but he was one of the pioneers of 500cc racing in the immediate post-war period, racing a Monaco 500cc, and Coopers.

He built up a chain car of dealerships in the Bournemouth area, and later became well-known for tuning Rootes products including Hillman Imps.
See this link :-
http://www.imps4ever.info/tech/tuner...l_history.html

He died in Bournemouth in mid-1975

[Vitesse]

Unless there were two George Hartwells, he most definitely did race pre-War. Boddy's Brooklands book has a number of references to him, starting with the 1933 LCC International Relay Race, in which he drove an Aston Martin for Oxford (the University AC presumably). He competed in an MG in the same event in 1934, the 1935 opening meeting, the 1935 Whitsun meeting (third in a Lightning Short Handicap) and the 1935 LCC Relay. In a Mountain handicap at the autumn 1936 BARC meeting he came second in his blown Magnette to Kay Petre's blown Riley, beating Douglas Briault's ERA. Finally, he shared a 4.3 litre Alvis with RS Newton in the LCC 3 Hours in 1938 - they finished 12th, Hartwell "finding the big Alvis a handful at times and once baulked an SS."

[Michael Aikey]

Thank you for the information. I have a neat photograph signed by Harwell driving a "Cooper Vincent HRD 1000cc." It's nice to give some dimension to the signature.

[Michael Aikey]

Adam,
Thank you for directing me to the Imp site. I saw a Sunbeam Harrington LeMans parked on campus at the University of South Carolina in 1965. Thought it was a neat car, but, since, I've fed my "Prince of Darkness" habit with Moggies and Healeys. It was interesting to see the Hartwell connection to Harringtons.
Michael

[Vitesse]

Hartwell's Magnette was a K3, c/n 3017. This was the ex-works car which Earl Howe crashed in the 1934 Mille Miglia. It was rebuilt and sold to Hartwell.

Other 1934 appearances: the Empire Trophy, a handicap at the July Donington meeting, Brighton Speed Trials (1st equal, 1100cc class) and Chalfont Heights hillclimb (1st 1300cc class).

In 1935 he took a win at Brooklands in the April 22nd meeting and won the 1100cc class at Brighton (outright this time).

At the end of 1935 he seems to have sold the K3 to Sir Alasdair MacRobert, but may have continued to drive it in some events. In addition he had acquired Eddie Hall's sprint/hillclimb MG NA 0679, which was fitted with a K3 engine: it is difficult to work out which car he used for which events in 1936 without photo evidence.

Mike Hawke's book "K3 Register" includes a picture of Hartwell in K3017 at Brighton.

Incidentally, at the 1935 LCC Relay he entered as part of the "Hartwell Team", which would seem to indicate very early racing involvement by his company.

Hartwells on Holdenhurst Road in Bournemouth was (is?) quite a landmark. There was usually something interesting in the showromm in the 70s when I lived near there.

[HiRich]

Michael,
George was one of the original "500" pioneers immediately post-war. As Adam says, he started with the custom-built Monaco, which proved successful on the hills, but less so once circuit racing got underway.
If you visit the 500 Owners Association website (www.500race.org), you will find some information. Under "Marques" you will find some information on the Monaco, and George's career.
According to Gregor Grant, George was also one of the participants in the original Silverstone expedition (well told on the website under"Acorns To..."). The Monaco proved very successful through 1948 on the hills and particularly speed trials (mixing it with, and often beating the Cooper MkIIs and one S. Moss) but less so on the few circuits.
According to Austen May's book, Hartwell sold the Monaco and ordered a Cooper (presumably the newly announced MkIII, aka T7 for the 500, and T9 for the stretched-chassis 1,000) 1,000 in '48-49 winter. You can look on the website under Marques/Cooper for images of the various models to see whether this matches the image you have. A quick scan forwards through the results I have suggests that he never dropped a 500 motor into the car (an hour's work for a good mechanic), so I would guess that he stuck with the 1,000cc motor, and quite possibly to the hills and speed trials.
Doug Nye's book mentions George as one of 10 ordering MkIIIs with 1,000cc twins, which could potentially compete in F2 (unblown 2litre). Hartwell is mentioned as competing with the Vincent 1,000 in a race at Blandford Army Camp, well beaten by John Cooper and Eric Brandon with JAP-twins.
He is listed ordering a MkIV (T11/T12) for 1950, apparently with a JAP twin this time.
George turns up again, ordering an F2 Cooper Bristol MkI in 1952, though apparently now as a team owner - "the George Hartwell-Alan Fraser syndicate, for Bournemouth-domiciled Belgian Andre Loens". And again a MkII in 1953 (where it mentions he, Alan, and Jack Fairman sharing a Sunbeam Talbot on the 1952 Alpine Rally)

[jph]

In the early post-war years, as well as the Monaco and the Coopers, he also raced ERA R2A. Not sure whether he actually owned it, but he raced it several times at Goodwood in 1950. In later years, the Hartwell Imp driven by Ray Payne during the mid-1960s wasa leading light in small saloon racing, giving the Fraser Imps a good run for their money.

[Vitesse]

There were indeed two George Hartwells, but only one of them raced. George Hartwell Sr was a garage owner in Oxford and built an Austin Seven special for his son as an 18th birthday present. Registered JO66 it was initially known as the Hartwell Special. George Junior seems to have used it in mainly in inter-varsity and club competitions although he did run it in a couple of climbs at Shelsley Walsh in 1929 and 1930 before selling it to A Sebag Montefiore, who continued to climb and sprint it. He sold it to Bunny Almack and it eventually passed to KC Jarvis.

Source: Austin Seven Competition History by Canning Brown.