Alfred Thomas ‘Goldie’ Gardner OBE

‘Goldie’ was born on 31 May 31 1890 in Essex and his early passion was motorcycles, but after Major Gardner’s British Army reconnaissance plane was shot down in the First World War, his injuries drove him into competing on four wheels. He began motor racing in 1924 and in 1930 he came to the attention of Cecil Kimber, founder of MG, and subsequently raced various of these cars with considerable success. In 1934 he bought a streamlined MG Magnette K3 in which he set a new land speed record at Daytona Beach. In 1937 he went to Dessau in Germany with the streamlined EX135 ‘Magic Magnette’ where he created a new Flying Mile record at 148.5mph, and was back to raise it to 186.6 in 1938. He finally broke the 200mph barrier for an 1100cc car in May 1939. He was still setting speed records in 1952 when he suffered a cerebral haemorrhage and was forced to retire. He died in 1958.