Some obsessions stay in the family. Same with careers. You may not intend to follow in your parents’ footsteps, but it can be hard to escape the influences you grew up with.
And if you grew up in a family of motorsport obsessives who ran one of England’s most famous garages, with two racing drivers for brothers, it can be hard to escape a life behind the wheel.
MG fans will know of Wandsworth’s Bellevue Garage, which was founded in 1931 and was renowned for tuning fast cars under the watchful eye of ‘Wilkie’ Wilkinson, one of the founders of the BRMC and a member of the BRDC. Bellevue was the Evans’ family business, and all of the Evanses were associated with motorsport in one form or another.
Doreen Evans was born in 1916. Her parents had been regular visitors to Brooklands since the circuit opened in 1907, and family outings often comprised a trip to Brooklands, where the children sat in race cars and watched the drivers ready themselves and their machines for competition.
Her two brothers, Denis and Kenneth, began racing as soon as they were able. As the eldest, Denis was the first to try his hand at everything motorsport had to offer, from hillclimbs and time trials to club events. Kenneth followed in his footsteps when he went up to university, and a year later the pair bought a 750cc Montlhery MG Midget and had it tuned by Wilkinson to give them the competitive edge.
It should come as no surprise, then, to discover that Doreen Evans passed her driving test on her seventeenth birthday and was racing shortly after. She celebrated passing her test with the purchase of one of three J2 MGs; the others were bought by her brothers so that the family could compete as a team. The Bellevue Garage racing stable was successful in trials and speed events, but the Evanses were keen on all forms of motorsport.
When Doreen decided to try her hand at circuit racing, her father bought her an MG Magna with a six-cylinder Wolseley Hornet engine and had Wilkinson tune it for her. Her performances attracted the attention of bigwigs at MG, who began to support the Evans family in their racing ventures, even though the Bellevue crew with their tuned and modified racing beasts beat the works team on more than one occasion.
In 1934, Doreen Evans was partnered with Margaret Allan at the Brooklands’ LCC Relay Race, which was beset with torrential rain. The pair finished third overall, but failed to take the Ladies’ Cup when a careful perusal of the rulebook showed that anyone finishing on the podium was out of contention for the prize. As a result, the Ladies’ Cup went to the P5 team headed by Kay Petre.
Doreen Evans’ Brooklands results are not as impressive as some of the other Brooklands Belles’, but they were enough to secure her a seat with one of the MG works teams. In 1935, she was one of MG’s six ‘dancing daughters’, three all-female teams sent to compete at 24 Hours of Le Mans. All three teams made it to the end of the endurance race, and Evans and partner Barbara Skinner finished 25th overall and 10th in class.
In 1936, Doreen Evans hit the headlines as the result of an accident at the Brooklands International Trophy Race. She was going flat out down the Railway Straight behind the wheel of an independently-sprung R-Type Midget when she noticed that her car had caught fire, but she was going too quickly to get out safely. By the time she hit the end of the Members’ Banking the car – still travelling at speed – was slow enough that she could jump out without risking injury. Evans escaped with some bruises and minor burns, and the car ended the race when it smacked into the paddock fencing.
Evans also drove a saloon MG in rallies as a works driver, but was probably best known behind the wheel of BLL 492, one of the most famous customer MGs ever made. The car was one of three built for the Evans family by Wilkinson, and was a 1934 MG N-Type NA “powered by a six cylinder, 120 horsepower, supercharged, lightweight, special tuned engine, featuring an ENV pre-selector 4-speed gearbox – a predecessor to the automatic transmission,” according to an old auction record. It was with this MG that Evans competed in the 1934 and 1935 rally seasons, winning a first class award in the 1935 RAC Rally.
Doreen Evans’ motorsport career lasted for only three years. In 1936 she retired from racing and married Allan Phipps, who came from a prominent Colorado family and would later own the Denver Broncos. The couple moved to the States, where Evans secured her pilot’s licence, showing that racing or no racing, adrenaline was in her blood. Doreen Evans died at home in California in April 1982.
Kenneth Evans went on to become a grand prix racer, although he retired before the advent of Formula 1. After the war, he became Chief Flag Marshall for the BRDC at Silverstone. Once married, Denis Evans retired from racing and concentrated on running the Bellevue Garage.
And if you grew up in a family of motorsport obsessives who ran one of England’s most famous garages, with two racing drivers for brothers, it can be hard to escape a life behind the wheel.
MG fans will know of Wandsworth’s Bellevue Garage, which was founded in 1931 and was renowned for tuning fast cars under the watchful eye of ‘Wilkie’ Wilkinson, one of the founders of the BRMC and a member of the BRDC. Bellevue was the Evans’ family business, and all of the Evanses were associated with motorsport in one form or another.
Doreen Evans was born in 1916. Her parents had been regular visitors to Brooklands since the circuit opened in 1907, and family outings often comprised a trip to Brooklands, where the children sat in race cars and watched the drivers ready themselves and their machines for competition.
Her two brothers, Denis and Kenneth, began racing as soon as they were able. As the eldest, Denis was the first to try his hand at everything motorsport had to offer, from hillclimbs and time trials to club events. Kenneth followed in his footsteps when he went up to university, and a year later the pair bought a 750cc Montlhery MG Midget and had it tuned by Wilkinson to give them the competitive edge.
It should come as no surprise, then, to discover that Doreen Evans passed her driving test on her seventeenth birthday and was racing shortly after. She celebrated passing her test with the purchase of one of three J2 MGs; the others were bought by her brothers so that the family could compete as a team. The Bellevue Garage racing stable was successful in trials and speed events, but the Evanses were keen on all forms of motorsport.
When Doreen decided to try her hand at circuit racing, her father bought her an MG Magna with a six-cylinder Wolseley Hornet engine and had Wilkinson tune it for her. Her performances attracted the attention of bigwigs at MG, who began to support the Evans family in their racing ventures, even though the Bellevue crew with their tuned and modified racing beasts beat the works team on more than one occasion.
In 1934, Doreen Evans was partnered with Margaret Allan at the Brooklands’ LCC Relay Race, which was beset with torrential rain. The pair finished third overall, but failed to take the Ladies’ Cup when a careful perusal of the rulebook showed that anyone finishing on the podium was out of contention for the prize. As a result, the Ladies’ Cup went to the P5 team headed by Kay Petre.
Doreen Evans’ Brooklands results are not as impressive as some of the other Brooklands Belles’, but they were enough to secure her a seat with one of the MG works teams. In 1935, she was one of MG’s six ‘dancing daughters’, three all-female teams sent to compete at 24 Hours of Le Mans. All three teams made it to the end of the endurance race, and Evans and partner Barbara Skinner finished 25th overall and 10th in class.
In 1936, Doreen Evans hit the headlines as the result of an accident at the Brooklands International Trophy Race. She was going flat out down the Railway Straight behind the wheel of an independently-sprung R-Type Midget when she noticed that her car had caught fire, but she was going too quickly to get out safely. By the time she hit the end of the Members’ Banking the car – still travelling at speed – was slow enough that she could jump out without risking injury. Evans escaped with some bruises and minor burns, and the car ended the race when it smacked into the paddock fencing.
Evans also drove a saloon MG in rallies as a works driver, but was probably best known behind the wheel of BLL 492, one of the most famous customer MGs ever made. The car was one of three built for the Evans family by Wilkinson, and was a 1934 MG N-Type NA “powered by a six cylinder, 120 horsepower, supercharged, lightweight, special tuned engine, featuring an ENV pre-selector 4-speed gearbox – a predecessor to the automatic transmission,” according to an old auction record. It was with this MG that Evans competed in the 1934 and 1935 rally seasons, winning a first class award in the 1935 RAC Rally.
Doreen Evans’ motorsport career lasted for only three years. In 1936 she retired from racing and married Allan Phipps, who came from a prominent Colorado family and would later own the Denver Broncos. The couple moved to the States, where Evans secured her pilot’s licence, showing that racing or no racing, adrenaline was in her blood. Doreen Evans died at home in California in April 1982.
Kenneth Evans went on to become a grand prix racer, although he retired before the advent of Formula 1. After the war, he became Chief Flag Marshall for the BRDC at Silverstone. Once married, Denis Evans retired from racing and concentrated on running the Bellevue Garage.