Dr. Claire Chester Wilson MD, Chief of Surgery at Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, was vice president and then president of the Sports Car Club of British Columbia (SCCBC) during the period of time (1958-1959) that the club developed the legendary road racing circuit Westwood. Wilson provided leadership at a critical time for the sport in the Vancouver area and could be said to be the father of Westwood. Dr. Wilson was also a racer and special builder and an active participant in all other affairs of the sport.

Claire Wilson was born in 1913 in Calgary, Alberta where he received his elementary and secondary education but went to Winnipeg, Manitoba for his medical training. After graduation from medical school, he moved to Vancouver where he interned at Vancouver General Hospital and met his wife to be, a nurse named Edith. During World War Two Wilson was on loan to the Royal Navy, and he served in the Indian Ocean, Burma and Mediterranean theatres of war.

Claire’s motorsport career began with a 1929 Indian motorcycle while he was still in the Prairies. After the war he acquired another Indian, this time with a side-car, followed by a Chevrolet then a Chrysler and finally his first sports car,

CLAIRE WILSON - Inducted 2004

Pioneer - Sports Car and Road Racing

Wilson Buckler-MG Special, 1958  (SCCBC Archives)

 

Dr. Claire Wilson, 1958

by Jim Lee, 1958 - edited by Tom Johnston, 2004

an Austin A90 Atlantic.

Organized sports car racing in the Western Canada began at Abbotsford Airport in 1950, run by the group that would eventually become the SCCBC. Wilson’s name turns up in the results of the SCCBC race at Abbotsford, October 10, 1954 where he finished 10^th in the features Le Mans race driving an Austin Healey. Apparently, the Healey didn’t have enough power, so its four cylinder motor was replaced by Jaguar six (purchased from another motorsport pioneer Jim Rattenbury). A series of other sports cars followed, including a Jaguar engined AC Aceca. By the late

1950s, Wilson had constructed a very potent special based on a British Buckler chassis employing MG running gear and a Mistral glass fibre body. Wilson had a complete machine shop in his New Westminster home, and he knew how to use it.

When Westwood opened, Wilson purchased a memorable car, a Lotus 17 1500cc Climax, sports racing car, state of the art at the time. Surprisingly, Wilson rarely raced the car himself but made it available to several other SCCBC drivers at the time. The most notable drive in the car’s history was when the famous Belgian sports car racer Olivier Gendebien visited Westwood in May of 1960 and set a new outright circuit record during a four lap demonstration

.