The path from historic motor racing to novel writing is not a well trodden one - but Hutton Rudby’s Dr Chris Pearson has negotiated it with ease.
A former motorcycle racer, Dr Pearson was bitten by the bug again last year and switched from two wheels to four after, by his own admission, searching for the cheapest and most cost effective way possible way of getting back on the track.
And, as one thing led to another, the 1935 Austin Seven he and his team began racing last spring motored off the racetrack into the pages of his captivating book Murtyl’s Diaries - First Tears.
The story’s heroine is Murtyl, a brave and beautiful wartime spy who meets and associates with some of Grand Prix motorsport’s earliest stars, and the book dovetails neatly with Dr Pearson’s racing activities.
“I used to ride trials many years ago and I did a bit of road racing and motocross,” explained Dr Pearson, 54, a doctor of traditional medicines. “I never really had the finances, but that was 30-odd years ago.
“But then I moved from Guisborough and started looking for something that was exciting to do but wasn’t expensive.
“I decided I was too old to go racing motorbikes any more so I did some research into different forms of motorsport and tried to find a series I could potentially do on a shoestring and the only one which came up was this Austin Seven Series which costs, including entry fees, diesel to and from races, tyres, brakes, the whole lot, under £3,000 a year.
“So you think ‘maybe I can just about do that if I have a bit of a crack and we do a lot of stuff ourselves’, so I did some research, bought a little old car and started to put it together and my ladyfriend Sarah gave it a name - Murtyl.
“I was talking to my neighbour who loves his old cars, and the next thing he was round with bits of paper, books, magazines and all sorts.
“I started reading books about the ladies who were very brave and went to France during the war as SOE agents but when you read the stories it’s just facts and facts and facts.
“The true story is there but never told, and never brought out as something that would be entertaining to read, for people to sit back and think ‘bloody hell, those people did that’. It’s never told in a manner that is going to interest somebody young.
“So we created this character, Murtyl, after looking at a picture in the pub next to my house and it just started from there. The book seemed to just fall out of me.
“Whenever I travelled abroad to work and I was sitting in a hotel after a lot of driving, it just seemed to happen and come out, and we’ve ended up with this.”
So in between work and racing, Dr Pearson pieced together the story of Murtyl which, although fictional, is based on real events and features real people from the Second World War.
“What I’d like to get across is that although Murtyl is an amalgamation of 42 ladies who went into France as spies and radio operators, of which only seven returned, they were all unbelievably brave, unselfish and allowed us to live the lives we live today,” explained Dr Pearson. “So she’s an amalgamation of them all, to let people know how fantastic they were.
“The three Grand Prix drivers that the story heads towards and is based around are Willie Grover-Williams, Robert Benoist and Jean-Pierre Wimille all existed.
“Willie Grover-Williams won the first ever Monaco Grand Prix, yet no-one knows who the hell he is, and Robert Benoist was a works Bugatti driver and a World War One fighter ace, unbelievably brave, and they ran they ran an operation for the Allies from Paris, importing arms, setting people up, all towards D-Day and having a resistance that was going to assist the Allies as they went through.
“They were unbelievably brave people with hearts that most people today couldn’t imagine, and these are people who are great-grandads to people my age or younger than me, and I thought it would be nice to put something together, let a bit of emotion out and allow younger people to see through a fun, adventurous book how steely, hard and committed these people were.
“Murtyl’s father rides a motorbike, she’s taught to fly and taught to drive by Robert Benoist and she buys her first car which, if she had actually existed, would be what we are racing now.
“On one side of the car we have the names of all the Grand Prix drivers from 1929 to 1950 and on the other side we have all the names of the ladies who went into France as SOE agents. It’s a celebration of who they were and what they did. It gives an opportunity just to stand there for 20 seconds and think ‘they are some of the people who allowed us to be in the position we are in and to enjoy what we enjoy doing today’.
“I’ve no idea why I started writing a book. It just seemed to start. I’ve never really been a reader. If I’m interested in something I’ll read about it but I’ve usually got so much going around in my head that I’ll rarely pick up a book. I’m dyslexic too which doesn’t help.
“I found an editor who said they would edit it for me but they seemed to run it through a computer programme and it came back as the most boring, horrible read. So I found a lady near Pickering who said she would do it.
“She sent back the first two chapters and said it was a delight to do. She said she could see where my dyslexia problems were and all she had to do was punctuate it properly. I started reading what she’d sent me and I had a few little tears because it read exactly as my imagination expected it to read. So I gave it to her and she edited it for me.”
“Seven or eight” people from Dr Pearson’s village are immortalised as in the book.
“It’s easier for me because I know their face and I know their mannerisms,” he explained.
“I needed to get Murtyl to Paris in the book and I couldn’t work out how to do it. Someone I know suggested she should get there by barge.
“That solved the problem, so I made him the captain of the barge.”
With the his first season of car racing and first book under his belt, Dr Pearson is now looking forward to more of the same this year.
Off track, he’s planning more books - again with Murtyl as the central character - with historical happenings such as the failed bid to send a supergun from Teesport to Iraq likely to figure.
On track, the team are looking to build on their debut season in which they regularly finished near the top of the standings and enjoyed a rainswept race victory in a Bentley Drivers’ Club allcomers’ race at Silverstone last August, with Dr Pearson at the wheel.
“We won although it was only because it rained so hard,” he insisted, modestly.
“It was just a privilege to be out there. We were up against four-and-a-half and five litre Morgans and the like.
“And it was a handicap, they had to come round and lap us twice but once it rained they couldn’t live with us.”
This year the plan is to compete in 10 750 Motor Club meetings, plus selected Aston Martin Owners’ Club and Bentley Drivers’ Club races plus visits to Portimao in Portugal and Spa, Belgium.
Dr Pearson will again take the wheel for some races with Sarah Harbour also taking a turn along with Steve Robinson and Andrew Hobson, who are both from Hutton Rudby too.
There will be some attention paid to the gearbox - “We’re running with a four-speed box, first gear is so low it’s unusable and fourth gear is just a massive overdrive and too big a step to get to,” explains Dr Pearson - but otherwise they’re good to go, and can’t wait to get back on the grid.
“I’m absolutely loving it,” admitted Dr Pearson. “The people are great, really helpful and eager to give you lots of knowledge and help.
“It’s a bit of a party atmosphere often because they’re so hospitable and friendly.
“One lady in the 750 Motor Club bakes lots of cakes and at the end of the meeting when they’re giving out the trophies, she goes round and gives everyone some cake and a cup of tea or coffee.”
To buy a signed copy of the book visit www.murtyl.com - where you can also win one of 10 signed copies - alternatively buy a hard or electronic copy via Amazon or goodreads.com
More Neal’s on Wheels in tomorrow’s Gazette.
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