90th anniversary of the Ards TT disaster.

Saturday the 5th of September marked the 90th anniversary of the Ards TT disaster. This was a terrible motorsport accident that occurred on Saturday 5th September, 1936 during the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) Tourist Trophy race on the famous Ards Circuit in Northern Ireland. Local driver Jack Chambers lost control of his Riley Brooklands 9, race number 31 in heavy rain on Church Street in Newtownards, crashing into a lamppost and then into a crowd of spectators.

The tragedy sadly resulted in the deaths of eight spectators and injured over 40 others, ultimately ending the era of car racing on the open streets of County Down.

This was a race that local innovator Harry Ferguson with Wallace McLeod did so much to promote and get up and going.  McLeod was the head of motor engineering at Belfast Technical College and had been friends with Harry Ferguson over many years. Harry Ferguson was personally heart broken by the tragedy. The annual race first held on the 18th of August, 1928 attracted over 500,000 spectators each year as they lined the streets.  Many from around the world and had previously been a great success.  The race that took place over 6 hours had a circuit in the form of a triangle of 13.7 miles long.  The race was only possible as Harry Ferguson had successfully lobbied the Northern Ireland Parliament to allow the closing of roads for racing.    

Stevan Patterson, Castlederg, Co. Tyrone