Desmond Titterington
Desmond Titterington was one of the most charming drivers ever to drive for Ecurie Ecosse. An Ulsterman, his father ran a very successful flax and yarn merchant in Cultra. Desmond, one could say, was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Certainly his early races in Ireland did not set the Irish racing fraternity into raptures. One of Ireland's more colourful rally and occasional racing drivers, Robin Eyre-Maunsell, recently remarked that Desmond started racing when Robin's father, Charles Eyre-Maunsell was racing and Desmond had a bad habit of flying off the road at high speed.” Back then Desmond had a lot of criticism from the local drivers who were disparaging about this chinless wonder and public school toff with more money than sense. Yet my dad used to say that if you found a beginner who kept going off the road he was the one to watch. He saidbeginners were divided into two sorts, the ones who were hopeless ,and the ones who actually understood at one level that they could go through corner A at a certain speed but had not yet discovered how to do it. He rated Desmond that way and I thought it was very perceptive of him”
As a war was on and Harland and Woolf’s shipyard in Belfast was a prime target, Desmond was parcelled off to Glenalmond school in Perthshire where he developed a great affinity for Scotland. He then went to St Andrews University to study economics and philosophy and this was when his sporting life changed, as it was there that he first met a mad young Paisley youth called Archie Scott Brown. They shared digs at the The Scores in St Andrews. When he returned to Belfast Desmond immediately bought a J2MG and launched himself into the hustle of Irish club motor racing. It was then that Desmond had his first indirect links with Ecurie Ecosse as his second race car was a pre-war Fiat Balilla that he bought from one of David Murray’s friends, Pat Melville who normally raced a 30/98 Vauxhall.
Titterington’s first serious race car was one of the most difficult sports car to drive, the brutal Allard J2X. He won the Leinster Trophy with it and raced it once at Charterhall. He competed in the Ulster Trophy with a lumbering DB3 Aston Martin, a car that was slimmed down to become the more successful DB3S.David Murray had his eyes on this polite and well mannered Irishman and invited him to drive an Ecosse C-type at Snetterton in 1954 and he was to race both in 1954 and 1955 with Ecurie Ecosse particularly with the D-type Jaguars the team inherited from Jaguar.
Anyone who ever visited the Dundrod circuit , used for the Tourist Trophy Races, will know that it is an unforgiving circuit with high grass and stone banks and a very narrow road but Desmond Titterington was king of Dundrod. Lofty England drafted him into the Jaguar factory team for the 1955 race to partner Mike Hawthorn in a 3.8 litre D-type. It had been a tragic year as the Le Mans race had seen a horrendous accident and a race subsequently won by Hawthorn. Now, at Dundrod, Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz were due to meet again. Jaguar’s best hope was the Hawthorn/Titterington car and talking about the race many years later Desmond explained that he had almost pleaded with Lofty England to take over from Hawthorn as Titterington was clearly quicker than Hawthorn in the race. Then Hawthorn’s Jaguar blew up trying to catch Stirling Moss with the Mercedes-Benz 300SLR. Desmond always felt that Mike Hawthorn was not fit for the TT and was still troubled after the Le Mans disaster and that he might have been able to keep Moss in sight due to his familiarity with the circuit.
A few days after the event Desmond received a telegram from Mercedes-Benz team manager Alfred Neubauer inviting him to share a Mercedes-Benz 300SLR on the Targa Florio for clearly the Irishman was adept at open road racing. It was a crowning accolade and it was perhaps fitting that Desmond decided that winter to retire from racing.
When the troubles started in Belfast the family business was sold and Desmond and his wife Paddy moved permanently to Perthshire with their family. He attended some of the dinners organised by Ecurie Ecosse in the early 1990s but he was clearly a sick man. Desmond and Paddy had arranged to attend the Ecurie Ecosse 50th anniversary dinner in 2002 but the week before the event Desmond passed away. He was a charming man and a tough and fast racing driver.
