In 1957 The Avon India Rubber Co Ltd donated a trophy in memory of Commander Arthur Bryant. This trophy was for the first Feltham Aston to finish on scratch at Oulton Park in an AMOC-organised event.
Commander Arthur Bryant was a naval commander and not an Air Force officer as mistakenly reported in the past. It is very easy for an error to be made in, say, a magazine report and for historians, even those as eminent as Chris Nixon, to perpetuate the error. Hopefully now Commander Bryant can now be restored in Aston circles to the correct military service sector.
One of Commander Arthur H. Bryant’s last commands was the destroyer The Everett F. Larson. For those of you with an interest in naval matters it was a Gearing Class Destroyer named after Private First Class Everett F. Larson who was killed in The Guadalcanal campaign.
Arthur Bryant was a very keen Aston man and raced a DB2/4 before purchasing DB3S chassis number 114, registration PLU305. He purchased this car, I suspect as a result of a previously cancelled order from Brooklands of Bond St in December 1955, for campaigning in the 1956 season. The car was painted in the US racing colours of white with stripes. His first race was Goodwood on 17 March 1956 where he finished third. The car’s next race was Snetterton on 24 March but was raced by Mort Goodall and he finished sixth. The car then had another outing at Goodwood on the 2 April 1956 where he qualified the car ninth but did not start. His last race was to be at Oulton Park on 14 April 1956, where he qualified the car in 20th position for The British Empire Trophy. Tragically in the race the car hit a bank and he was thrown from the car. The car subsequently hit a tree and landed on the poor Commander, killing him. The car was written off but the engine, gearbox and some other parts were salvaged and the car then became the Tojeiro Aston Martin.
As Commander Bryant was killed racing a Feltham car at Oulton Park it is a fitting memorial that the trophy is presented for Feltham cars racing at Oulton.