Catalogue description Whitney Straight Collection

This collection is mainly composed of correspondence, both business and personal. There are also albums of newspaper cuttings, lists of Straight's race results, photographs and lists of films.

Straight, Whitney, d 1979, motor racing driver

Open to bona fide researchers. By appointment only.

• Sport

Whitney Straight was an unusual phenomenon in 1930's British motor racing: he was American, he was a professional and he retired from a very successful career at a very young age. His enthusiasm for motor sport caused him to give up his studies at Cambridge University in 1934, after attending Dartington Hall in Devon, an unorthodox progressive school established by his mother Lady Willard Straight. He had started racing in 1932 at the age of 20 and immediately shown skill and speed that were out of keeping with his youth. From a Riley Brooklands he jumped straight to a Grand Prix Maerati, with which he soon started winning races. He took two Mountain Championships at Brooklands, and won the Prix de Berne and the South African Grand Prix in 1934. He raced in Europe as much as England, and was also a successful hillclimb driver. In 1934 he used his wealth to set up a professional racing team, running three Maseratis and two MG's, modified to designs by Reid Railton and himself, and employing Guilio Ramponi as head mechanic. However by 1935 it was clear that it would be impossible to compete on the Grand Prix circuits against Mercedes and Auto Union and he retired from active racing, despite an offer of a drive from Auto Union. In keeping with his love of flying he started a new career in civil aviation developing airfields and flying schools. He married Lady Daphne Finch-Hatton and as WW2 began he joined the RAF. In 1941 he was shot down and captured but he escaped and returned to England. He was appointed Air Commodore, Air Transport Command in 1942 and was awarded the MC and DFC. After the end of the war he had roles on the boards of BEA, BOAC, Rolls Royce and the Post Office. He died in 1979 (April 5th) aged 66, having had a meteoric racing career which he turned into a business, and then applying his wealth, acumen and enthusiasm to the world of aviation.

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