On 28 February 1932, Whitney took part in in his first overseas race, the Swedish Winter Grand Prix, over an extraordinary course comprising a twisty 1.2 miles on the frozen Lake Rämen, followed by 27 miles of narrow forest roads. He was still just 19, and had only previously competed at the Shelsley Walsh hill climb – one car at time – and raced on the sands at Southport and the ‘vast concrete prairies’ of Brooklands, where there was plenty of space for overtaking. This was his first outing in a potent Grand Prix car, the 26M Maserati he had recently purchased from Sir Henry ‘Tim’ Birkin.
We have a cover! I chose the image, of Whitney powering his 26M Maserati through Shelsley Walsh’s Upper Ess on his way to taking a massive 1.6 seconds off the hill record, during the September 1933 meeting. Rather aptly, the event organisers, the Midland Automobile Club, provided the image from their archives.