Merlyn Racing Cars

I took the photographs of these two Merlyns at the Historic Sports Car Club's Summer Race Meeting at Oulton Park in July 1992. Merlyn cars were produced by Colchester Racing Developments from 1960 to 1979, mainly for Formula Junior, Formula 3 and Formula Ford racing

This is the 1971 Merlyn Mk20 of John Pearson with a 1.6 litre Ford engine and built for Formula Ford racing. It competed in the HSCC Historic Formula Ford race at this meeting.

This car took part in the HSCC Historic Formula Racing Car Championship race which was open for Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3 and Formula 5000 cars. This Merlyn Mk21 of Alf Skeels competed in the Formula 3 Class and also had a 1.6 litre Ford engine.

Friday's Ferrari

The Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997 featured the Ferrari marque and there was a display of cars in the paddock, some of which took part in track displays on the circuit.

This is one of the cars during a track display, a 1947 Ferrari 166 Corsa Spyder, and it’s being driven on a very wet day by Phil Hill who was a Ferrari team driver in the late 1950s and early 1960s driving both Grand Prix and sports cars. A board alongside the Ferrari in the paddock display read as follows:

1947

FERRARI 166

SPYDER CORSA 002C

WON THE FIRST GRAND PRIX

FOR FERRARI AT

VALENTINO PARK TURIN

Ferrari 002C started off in 1947 as a Ferrari 159C with a 1.9 litre engine, but that winter it was given a 2 litre engine and upgraded to a Tipo 166.

1915 Ford Model T Sports

I took this photograph at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2007 of a car that took part in an Edwardian Run commemorating the first Grand Prix race which took place in Dieppe in 1905.

There's no information about the car in the programme of the event, but it's a 1915 Ford Model T Sports and the DVLA record says it has a 2,892cc engine. The Ford Model T was produced from 1908 to 1927.

1957 Lotus Eleven Le Mans Series 2

This car competed in the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association Sports Car Race at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It's the 1957 Lotus Eleven Le Mans Series 2 of Malcolm Ricketts and has a 4-cylinder inline 1,460cc Coventry Climax FWB engine. The name of Cliff Allison is displayed on the side of this car, and Cliff Allison drove a Lotus Eleven at Le Mans in 1956 and 1957 - one like the above in 1956, but the 1957 car had a headrest. Colin Chapman would race the Lotus with three different engine sizes at Le Mans to contest the 750cc, 1,100cc or 1,500cc classes.

1936 Maserati 6CM

This is one of three examples of the Maserati 6CM that took part in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy race at the VSCC's meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987.

It's Gunnar Elmgren's 1936 model with a 1,493cc supercharged 6-cylinder inline engine. Gunnar Elmgren became President of the FIA Historic Motorsport Commission in his later years. Behind the Maserati is the 1936 ERA R12B of Bill Morris, one of the ERAs at one time run by Prince Chula's White Mouse Racing stable and driven by Prince Bira and was given the name Hanuman II. The ERA has a 1,482cc supercharged 6-cylinder inline engine.

The Lansdowne Motor Cycle Series

I took this photograph at McLean's Corner on the first lap of the Lansdowne Motor Cycle Series at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005.

Leading is Tim Jackson on his 1958 500cc Matchless G50. The other identifiable riders are number 1, Duncan Fitchett on a 1961 500cc Molnar Manx, and number 4, Chas Mortimer on a 1961 500cc Manx Norton.

1963 Cooper Monaco King Cobra

This was one of the competitors in the one hour long World Sports Car Masters race at the Silverstone Classic meeting in July 2010.

It's the 1963 Cooper Monaco King Cobra of Keith Ahlers, a modified Cooper T61 Monaco chassis with an American V8 engine. The programme of the event doesn't give any details of the car except that it has a 4.7 litre engine, presumably a Ford 289 cu in V8 unit. It may be chassis CM/2/63.

Cooper Climax T60

I took this photograph on the Friday practice day for the British Grand Prix at Aintree in July 1962.

It's Bruce McLaren in his Cooper Climax T60 making his way from the paddock to the circuit for a practice run. The T60, in common with the major British racing teams, had the 1,494cc Coventry Climax V8 FWMV unit, the private entrants having to use the older 4-cylinder Coventry Climax FPF engine.

Here's the car approaching Waterway Corner during practice. Bruce McLaren qualified in fourth position on the grid, and finished the race in third place behind Jim Clark's Lotus 25 and the Lola Mk4 of John Surtees.

Friday's Ferrari

This was one of four Ferraris competing in the AMOC Intermarque Challenge Championship race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2015.

All four of the Ferraris were the Ferrari F355 Challenge model, and this is the 1995 car of Tristan Simpson. The F355 Challenge was produced from 1995 to 1999 and has a 3,496cc V8 engine.

Here's Tristan Simpson at Druids Corner during a morning practice session.

1958 Tojeiro Climax

I took this photograph at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy meeting at Donington Park in May 2001.

It's Marc Hevia's 1958 Tojeiro Climax, the chassis built by John Tojeiro who was perhaps better known for his Bristol and Jaguar engined cars. The engine of this car is a 4-cylinder inline Coventry Climax 1,098cc FWA unit. The car took part in a 10 lap race for 1950s Sports Racing Cars. I think the odd angle of the photograph is because the car was in a confined space and I couldn't take one from the normal angle.

Riley v. Aston Martin

This photograph was taken at Luffield Corner during the VSCC Bill Phillips Trophy Race at the Silverstone Historic Tribute meeting in June 2004.

The red car on the left is Pete Candy's 1936 Riley Falcon Special, which he named 'TheRat', and has a 4-cylinder 1,496cc Riley 12/4 engine. On the right is David Freeman's 1936 Aston Martin Speed Model, which the programme of the event says has a 1,970cc engine, though the Speed Models were built with 4-cylinder 1,950cc units. The DVLA record says that the current capacity is 2,107cc.

1968 Surtees TS5A

This car contested the Formula 5000 Class in the Pre '71 Single Seater Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1987.

It's the 1968 Surtees TS5A, chassis #TS5A/007 of Jon Reakes, originally a Team Surtees car raced in the USA by David Hobbs in 1970. In 1971 it returned to the UK where it was leased to French driver Hervé Bayard  who competed in two races in the UK with the car, which then had a Chevrolet engine. At the end of that year it went to South Africa where it was given a Ford engine and remained there till at least 1974. By 1987 it had returned to the UK where it was acquired by Jon Reakes, and at some time between 1987 and 1992 the colour of the car was changed from blue to red.

On 1 February 2017 I showed a photograph taken in 1995 of the car at Oulton Park in its new red livery.

1985 Williams FW10

This is one of the photographs I took on a visit to the Donington Park Museum in May 1989.

It's a Williams FW10, a car that was campaigned by Nigel Mansell and Keke Rosberg in the 1985 season. Designed by Frank Dernie it had a 1,494cc twin turbocharged V6 Honda RA165-E engine, and with four wins it finished in third place in the World Constructors' Championship. Keke Rosberg won the Detroit and Australian Grands Prix and was third in the World Drivers' Championship, while Nigel Mansell won the European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch and the South African Grand Prix to end up in sixth place.

1966 Jaguar XKSS Replica

I photographed this car at the Silverstone Historic Festival meeting in August 2001.

I've seen a photograph of the car that says it is one of the early Lynx replicas, but I can find no other information to verify this. The DVLA records say that it is a 1966 car, first registered (presumably in its converted form) in 1997, with a 3,781cc engine. The original XKSS cars were produced in 1957 when Jaguar converted 25 unsold D-Types into road cars, although 9 of these cars were destroyed in a fire at the Browns Lane factory before they left the production line.

Lister Jaguar

This car competed in the JDC Modified Jaguar Challenge and JDC Lister Challenge race at the Jaguar Drivers' Club's Cheshire Cats Trophy meeting at Oulton Park in April 1987.

It's shown in the programme of the event as a 3,781cc Lister Jaguar driven by Aidan Mills-Thomas and has the 'knobbly' body which featured on the 1958 cars.

The car was apparently severely damaged at one point, to the extent that it's registration number (WTM 446) and chassis number (BHL126) were transferred to another Lister Jaguar.

This change of identity was subsequently disputed, and the result was an extremely expensive court case in which the judge finally decided that it was not his place to decide such a matter. The court case is referred to in this description of the other car involved, a 1963 Lister Jaguar GT Prototype.

The photograph below is one that I took of the 1963 Lister Jaguar GT Prototype at Silverstone in 1998.

Friday's Ferrari

I photographed this car in the paddock at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in June 2008.

It's a 1970 Ferrari 365 GTB4 Daytona and is chassis #13607. The 365 GTB4 replaced the 275 GTB4 with the Gioacchino Colombo designed V12 engine from that car bored out to 4,390cc.

1924 Thornycroft BX Tipper

This was one of the participants in the Greater Manchester Historic Transport Society's Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally in Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1993.

It's not listed in the programme of the event, but it's a 1924 Thornycroft BX Tipper, and an entry in the 1995 programme of the event gives this information:

Thornycroft BX Tipper, 1924                                                                                       TC9816

Entered by          W.H Bowker Limited, Bamber Bridge, Preston
This vehicle was fitted with hydraulic tipping gear and was originally fitted with solid tyres and converted to pneumatic tyres during the 1930's. Withdrawn from service around 1960 and was restored in 1992 and is now finished in the correct period livery of William Bowker Ltd.

1938 Alta Voiturette

This car took part in the Maserati UK Race for Pre 1952 Grand Prix Cars at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000.

It's the 1938 Alta of Martin Redmond, built by Geoffrey Taylor's Alta Car and Engineering Company for voiturette racing in the late 1930s, and was driven at Brooklands by the original owner, Hugh Curling Hunter. The car has a 2 litre engine and is chassis #62IS.

1939 Talbot Lago T23

This car took part in two races, including the 2 hour long VSCC Team Relay Race for Pre-War Sports Cars, at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

It's the 1939 Talbot Lago T23 of Richard Black, which has a 6-cylinder inline 3,996cc engine designed by Walter Becchia after Antonio Lago had acquired the Talbot Company in 1936 when it had gone into receivership.

1958 BRM P25

This is one of two BRM P25's that competed in the Historic Car Championship race at the Aston Martin Owners' Club's meeting at Oulton Park in September 1986.

It's the 1958 BRM P25 of the Hon. Amschel Rothschild and is chassis #P258, the car which Joakim Bonnier drove in the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix to give BRM their first win in a World Championship race, and the only one by a P25.

The BRM P25 has a 4-cylinder inline 2,491cc engine, and here it's being given a careful examination before its race.

Here's the car at Lodge Corner during the race.

On 4 June 2014 I showed photographs of the other BRM P25 at this meeting, John Harper's car.

1958 Heinkel Kabine 200

This is one of the cars displayed at the Footman James Classic Car Show Manchester at EventCity in September 2018.

It's a 1958 Heinkel Kabine 200 designed and produced by Heinkel Flugzeugwerke which had manufactured aircraft before and during WW2 but was prohibited from doing so after the war until the mid-1950s. After the war Heinkel built bicycles and motor scooters, and also these microcars - or bubblecars as they were also known. A paper affixed to the car says that it has a 200cc engine, and also gives the following information:

'Purchased from another club member already restored but not in a colour I liked. Many people will say they don't like this colour but I absolutely love it. I have done the inside to match with the help of a club member and friend who gave up his time to do this fantastic job and also another member and friend who I commissioned to recover the seats.

She is called Blossom.

Prior to her respray and new identity I drove her from Wem in Shropshire to Keynsham in Bath via Halesowen for the Bath Rally 153 miles each way.'

Mercedes-Benz W125

I've shown photographs a few times previously, most recently on 9 December 2017, of the Mercedes-Benz W125 that was sent to Donington Park from the Mercedes-Benz museum in September 2007 to perform demonstration runs at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting. Here are the few remaining ones that I've not previously shown.

The car was designed by Rudolf Uhlenhaut for the 1937 racing season, which was the last year of the 750kg weight limit formula with unlimited engine size. The following season engines were limited to 4½ litres unsupercharged or 3 litres if they had superchargers. The Mercedes-Benz W125 had a 5,663cc straight-8 engine which produced 575bhp.

Rudolf Caracciola, Manfred von Brauchitsch and Hermann Lang were the team's drivers in 1937, finishing in that order in the first three places in the European Championship. There were only five races in the Championship, Caracciola winning three and von Brauchitsch one, with a solitary victory for the Auto Union C-Type of Rudolf Hasse.

These last three photographs show Tony Dron at Redgate Corner during one of the demonstration runs.

Friday's Ferrari

One of the Ferraris at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017.

It's a 2003 Ferrari 575M Maranello, which has a 5,748cc F133 48 valve V12 engine. It was in production from 2002 to 2006 and 2,056 examples were built before it was replaced by the 599 GTB Fiorano.

1970 Chevron B17C

This car competed in the Formula 2 Class in the Seldon Pre '71 Single Seater Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1986.

It's the 1970 Chevron B17C of Stephen Davis and has a 4-cylinder inline Ford Cosworth 1,597cc FVA engine. It's Chassis #F2-70-1, one of only 2 cars built and the only one built for Formula 2 racing. It was driven by Swedish driver Reine Wisell for the Chevron works team in 1970, but without any success. After several subsequent owners it was acquired by Stephen Davis in 1985.

1950 BRM P15

The first of the V16 BRM P15 cars was revealed in December 1949, and in July 1999 the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone featured a 50th anniversary tribute to the marque with a paddock display of BRM cars and track parades by several of these cars.

This is the 1950 BRM P15 chassis no. 3 being driven on one of these parades by José Froilán Gonzalés. The photograph was taken from the paddock with the car at Abbey Curve.

Here's the car on display in the paddock with the light green finish that was first favoured but which was later changed to a much darker shade of green. The P15 had a supercharged 1,496cc V16 engine which was claimed to achieve 600bhp. It was notably unsuccessful in the 1950 and 1951 racing seasons, retiring from many races, but just when the Mk2 (P30) cars were starting to become more reliable the Grand Prix regulations were changed from 4½ litres unsupercharged/1½ litres supercharged to 2 litres unsupercharged for the 1952 season, thus rendering the cars obsolete. They were driven in Formula Libre races for a few years, and the only time I saw one in competitive action was in the Formula Libre race at the 1955 Aintree 200 meeting when Peter Collins won the race in P30/2.

On 1 September 2015 I showed photographs of this car and another P15 and a BRM P30 at this meeting.

1928 Ford Model A

This is one of the participants at the start point at the Village Hotel, Cheadle, Stockport in the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1993.

It's a 1928 Ford Model A, and the only information about it in the programme of the event is that it was entered by Peter C. O'Callaghan of Wrea Green, Preston. The Model A was a replacement for the Ford Model T which had been in production from 1908 to 1927. It had a 4-cylinder inline 3,294cc engine, although Ford UK used a 2,043cc engine for the European market as some European countries taxed cars according to the engine size. Production of the Model A lasted from 1927 till 1931.

1982 Lotus 91

I took this photograph during a practice session for the Thoroughbred Grand Prix Championship race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2006.

It's Dan Collins in the Classic Team Lotus 1982 Lotus 91, a car that was raced in the 1983 season by Nigel Mansell and is chassis 91/10. The Lotus 91 was powered by the 2,993cc V8 Cosworth DFV engine and has only one World Championship win to its credit, Elio de Angelis winning the 1982 Austrian Grand Prix in chassis 91/8.

1931 Bugatti Type 51

This car competed in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race at the VSCC's meeting at Oulton Park in June 1984.

It's Geoffrey St John's supercharged 1931 2,220cc Straight-8 Bugatti Type 51. The Type 51 was an evolution of the Type 35B with twin overhead camshafts instead of the single camshaft of the earlier car. It may be chassis 51160 or BC34 as Geoffrey St John owned both those cars.

Jaguar E2A

This car was one of several Jaguars on display at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998 - you can see some of the others in the background.

After Jaguar withdrew from motorsport at the end of the 1956 season the defunct racing department was charged with developing a road car based on the Jaguar D-Type which would be a replacement for the Jaguar XK150. The first prototype in 1957 was E1A which had an aluminium monocoque chassis with a 2.4 litre Jaguar XK engine and fully independent rear suspension. It was only used  for factory testing and was eventually scrapped when testing ended. The second prototype, built in 1960, was the one shown above, E2A, which had a steel chassis and aluminium body and was built with racing in mind as this was thought to provide a better testing ground. In line with the World Sportscar Championship's regulations at that time a 3-litre version of the Jaguar XK engine was fitted. American Briggs Cunningham was allowed to enter the car in the 1960 Le Mans 24 Hour race bearing the USA racing colours (as above) and was driven by Dan Gurney and Walt Hansgen, but failed to finish the race due to a blown head gasket. After Le Mans the car was given a 3.8 litre XK engine and raced in the United States by the Briggs Cunningham team till the end of the 1960 season when it was sent back to the Jaguar factory. The resultant production model was, of course, the Jaguar E-Type.

Friday's Ferrari

I photographed this car in the car park at Manchester United's Old Trafford ground in October this year.

It's a 2011 Ferrari 458 Italia which has a body designed by Pininfarina and is powered by the 4,497cc V8 F136 engine.

The Ferrari 458 was preceded by the Ferrari F430 and followed by the Ferrari 488.