Found on Prewarcar:
Lord Raglan, Patron of the Bugatti Owners' Club, passed away last Saturday
More news to follow soon at the website of the Bugatti Owners' Club:
http://www.prescott-hillclimb.com/stoppress.aspx

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RAGLAN, Fitzroy.

A leading member of the British aristocracy who could boast an unbroken line of male (but illegitimate) descent from Henry II and the earlist Plantagenets. (The first Baron Raglan is remembered for having an arm amputaed at Waterloo and politley asking for its return to enable him to recover his wedding ring. He later ordered the ill-fated "Charge of the Light Brigade" which he observed by telescope from a nearby hill)). He was was born FitzRoy John Somerset on 8th November 1927; the son of Major FitzRoy Richard Somerset, (the 4th Baron Raglan) and the Honourable Julia Hamilton. The young Fitzroy was educated at Westminster school; Oxford University and the Royal Cirencester College of Agriculture, and served in the Welsh Guards. He was the long term owner, for twenty-seven years (from around 1949) of a type 37A (37298 with engine 189) and also bought the ex-Chris Staniland car (37290-188) which he used for spares until 1967 when he sold the remains to neighbour Martin Dean. He is now best remembered as the owner of car 51153 (UK registration NY 7337) used in competition by himself and John Venables-Llewelyn and frequently driven to meetings by road. He also owned a primrose and dark-blue type 46 tourer (46331-199 with the UK reg. no. SV 6684), a car which had been prepared for a trans-Sahara expedition and fitted with "estate" coachwork by original Georges Combe. As a competitor at Prescott between 1984 and 1999, he showed great consistency, recording long-course times of 54 secs. seven times with a best of 54.21 in September 1998. Best time for the short-course was 44.11 secs. recorded in August, 1998 (see “Bugantics” 58/2/19). His interest in sporting cars extended over more than sixty years. In 1955 he worked as a volunteer bodywork designer in Cairo on an Egyptian sports-racing car known as the Phoenix 150 SR (the brainchild of Raymond Flower) to be used for long distance events such as Rheims and Le Mans. It was said to be the only car to carry the Egyptian racing colours (pale violet with red numbers on a white background). He lived in the historic and extremely beautiful Cefntilla Court near Usk and adjacent to Raglan village in Monmouthshire and was actively involved in local affairs. He married Alice Baily, daughter of Peter Baily, in 1973 but the couple had no children and were divorced in 1981. He was a mainstay of the UK Bugatti Owners Club for several decades and was appinted its Patron. He was a founding member of the Bugatti Trust in 1987 and in January 2009 he hosted the "Raglan avec Elégance" evening. The event was recorded and the DVD is available from the Trust (£12.99 plus p&p). On Friday 22nd January 2010 he was admitted to the Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire where he died during the weekend aged 82.

(I am not sure who owns the copyright to the attached picture. If anyone knows, perhaps they could contact this site. If they are not happy with it being used I will ask for it to be removed immediately. GCL.)

Very sad news...

R.I.P

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Make your dream devour your life, so that life doesn't devour your dream.
[Antoine de Saint-Exupéry]

sad news of a venerable gentleman, my best memory of fitzroy was at the nec classic and sportscar show whilst manovering his car onto the stand for display he accidently reversed into an ac shootingbrake the owner of the ac was livid he ranted at fitzroy, who gently stated just send me the bill its raglan LORD RAGLAN he shrugged his shoulders and walked away camly leaving the ac owner jaw dropped, we all fell about laughing fitzroy was a great character and will be sadly missed,

Very,very sad news

In memory;
http://www.bugatti-trust.co.uk/sales/dvd-raglan.shtml

I first met Fitzroy on the International rally in Sidmouth [1985] I did not know him from adam.His jacket sleeves had leather patches and I certainly would not have confused him for aristocracy.A kind man,and an intelligent one.He will certainly be much missed.john barton.

here is Lord Raglan [ far left ] on that rally,with friends....

This only happens in England...

I am peeing my pants (by lack of a GP engine cover...)

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Vive la Marque !!

Lord Raglan and his T51 video and text portrait on:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/8478507.stm

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46331
A car which was produced in May 1930 as one of a batch of 42 chassis and fitted with engine and rear axle / gearbox unit numbered 199. The car had been ordered on 14th May 1930 by the Paris agency of (Goudge?) Mondan and Wilson. The factory invoice for the rolling chassis fitted with wire wheels totalled 67,868 Ffs. The car was sold to local customer Georges Combe (de Saint-Macary) of Rue d'Ardigné, Paris and then sent to local coachbuilder Figoni where it was fitted with a 2-door, 4-seater cabriolet body painted pale blue with dark blue wings and upholstery and grey hood. In June 1930 it was registered as 6483 RE2.

The car was lightly used over the next nine years but was dismantled and hidden before its owner was mobilized to Pau at the outbreak of the Second World War. The body and chassis had been stored separately in commercial properties owned by Combe and around 1948 he decided to recommision the car for use in a rally held across the Sahara Desert. Mechanical modifications were made to make the car suitable and it was fitted with a large "estate" body. A well-known picture shows one of Combe's mechanics sitting in the car outside his tannery workshop at Saint-Dennis, Paris. Two journalists who had promised to accompany him failed to do so and his entry was withdrawn.

In 1954 the car was one of 441 cars listed in "The Bugatti Book" (see page 109). The information supplied by the owner includes a new address at 40, Avenue Georges Mandel (XVIe), Paris. His name is rendered as "Comb, Georges". An extensive list details the modifications made to the car in preparation for the 1951 Alger – Le Cap Rally with the reason for non-particiaption given as the illness of the crew. The car was re-registered as 4053 DR 75 in 1955 and was put to use for a while. In November 1962 it was listed on page 48 of "The Bugatti Register and Data Book" (H.G. Conway) but, in the late sixties the car was sold with its original body which was refitted and painted beige and maroon. The car was then issued with a new registration ; 76 CYY 75 (Paris) It is unclear who carried out this work or owned the car at this stage but in 1981 it was driven by Gilbert de Dietrich of Jaegerthal, France in the Rencontre Mondiale du Centenaire Ettore Bugatti (car no. 010).

In 1989, under the heading "The Dauphin Type 46" Hugh Conway's Bugatti Magnum (pages 224-6) showed five pictures of the car but wrongly captioned it as a "Molsheim-bodied Type 46 Coupé". The car is still carrying the Paris registration 76 CYY 75 and appears to be still painted beige with maroon wings. Under-bonnet shots show the chassis plate ("31 HP") and the car's engine fitted with a 16-lead distributor and a downdraught (Zenith Stromberg ?) carburettor without an air filter but with a wooden bung blocking the inlet. At some time in the eighties or nineties the car passed into the ownership of Michel Seydoux (F).

In 1995 and 2000 the car was listed in Barrie Price's Veloce publication "Type 46 & 50 – The Big Bugattis" with the invoice date given as 17th May 1930 to agent "Monau, Paris" (sic) for owner "Coombes" (sic) with the note "Auctioned by Poulain-le-Fur, 1993 – now Lord Raglan" Other sources refer to the car having been auction on the 29th April 1996 in Paris and having been sold for 664,044 French francs which was equivalent then to £85,739 (including 10.674% commission). See Classic and Sportscar, April 1996. The car was listed on page 133 of the 2000 British Bugatti Register where it is stated to have been imported in 1996 by Lord Raglan and issued with UK age-related reg. no. SV 6684. He is said to have returned the wings to their original shape and fitted a new dashboard and trunk. The car has been repainted primrose and dark blue and was used regularly until its owners death in January 2010.

http://www.bugatti-trust.co.uk/news/new ... glan.shtml