1934 ERA R3A

This car competed 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 1934 ERA R3A of Dick Skipworth which was driven in the race by Barrie Williams and has the 6-cylinder inline 1,980cc ERA engine. R3A was the car, with a 1,488cc engine, which Raymond Mays drove to gain ERA's first major international victory, winning the 1935 ADAC Eifelrennen Voiturette race at the Nürburgring. Hans Rüesch was second in a Maserati 4CS with Tim Rose-Richards third in ERA R1A, Richard Seaman fourth in ERA R1B and Humphrey Cooke fifth in ERA R2A

Friday's Ferrari

This car is competing in the Aston Martin GT Challenge race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2017.

It's the 2000 Ferrari 360 Challenge driven in the 50 minute race by Matthew Wilton and John Cowen and it has a 3,586cc V8 engine with twin overhead camshafts on each bank and five valves per cylinder. The photograph was taken just after the Knickerbrook chicane and is looking back at Hilltop.

1933 Napier Railton

I took this photograph at Coppice Corner at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

At this meeting there was a series of demonstration runs by this Napier Railton car from Brooklands Museum that was created by Reid Railton, Chief Engineer at Thompson & Taylors Racing car works at Brooklands and intended for racing at the Brooklands banked circuit and also for world speed record attempts. A note in the programme of the event tells the story of the car:

'Commissioned by John Cobb, this car had to be equally suited to also tackle the coveted hour and 24 hour world speed records, usually on foreign soil. Named the Napier-Railton, it was a bespoke special powered by a 24 litre Napier Lion aeroplane engine whose twelve cylinders were arranged in three banks of four and drove via a three speed gearbox to a 1.66 to 1 rear axle. Railton designed all this specially and fitted it into a massive chassis frame with deep side rails passing underneath both front and rear axles. Suspension was by double cantilever springs at the rear with an identical system to the Sunbeam Tiger and Tigress he had designed earlier using semi elliptical units at the front. The only part he had derived from another car was the steering box and column from a Speed Six Bentley. The racing bodywork, similar to the Sunbeam's was made by Gurney Nutting.'

The car was successful from the start, winning races at Brooklands and setting the lap record at 143.44 mph which was still standing when the track finally closed in 1939. Between 1933 and 1936 the car took several world speed records at Montlhéry and Bonneville Salt Flats, the fastest being 100 miles at 168.59 mph. After the Second World War the car was used for a time by Sir Geoffrey Quilter for testing parachutes and later was acquired by the Hon. Patrick Lindsay who used it in VSCC races. After having several other owners it was acquired by the Brooklands Museum in 1997.

Three Aeroplanes

I took the photographs of these three aeroplanes passing over Hyde on a sunny day in February 2019 a few minutes before they landed at Manchester Airport.

This is Emirates flight EK17 from Dubai and it's an Airbus A380-861, registration number A6-EEJ

This is TUI flight BY2627 from Chambery and it's a Boeing 737 MAX 8, registration number G-TUMC. After two fatal accidents the MAX 8 was grounded in March 2019 and has only recently been cleared to resume service.

This is Saudia flight SV123 from Jeddah and it's a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, registration number HZ-AR23.

1914 Willys-Overland Model 79 Speedster

This car was on display in the paddock at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000.

It's a 1914 Willys-Overland Model 79 Speedster and has a 4-cylinder inline 4,180cc engine Willys-Overland was formed when John Willys bought the Overland car company in 1908 and subsequently renamed it the Willys-Overland Motor Company. It's noticeable that the car has right-hand drive, as did all the company's cars built prior to 1915 when they switched to left-hand drive. The board in front of the car says:

WILLYS-OVERLAND COMPANY

TOLEDO OHIO USA

Year   1914 Model 79 Speedster

Mech  4180cc 4 Cyl Side Valve 35HP

Trans  3 Speed Gearbox

Price Ex Works $1000

Plus Extras

Centre Lock Wire Wheels by

Bud Wheel Company

The Speedster was only built to

Special Order and

This Quite Original Example

is One of only 2 Known to Exist

1931 Invicta Low Chassis S-Type

This car competed in the Pre-War Team Challenge race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2017.

It's the 1931 Invicta Low Chassis S-Type of Trevor Swete and has a 6-cylinder inline 4,467cc Meadows engine. The Invicta Company was founded by Noel Macklin and Oliver Lyle and produced cars from 1925 to 1935, and the company was wound-up in 1938. It is estimated that around 1,000 Invictas were produced in that time, and Trevor Swete's car is chassis #S79.

Innes Ireland

This is a photograph I took in the paddock at the Aintree 200 meeting in April 1962.

It's Innes Ireland, who drove one of the UDT-Laystall Racing Team's Lotus 18/21s in the Aintree 200 race. He qualified the car in fifth position on the grid, but retired after 26 laps of the 50 lap race with a broken valve. In the 1962 World Drivers Championship a series of retirements, and only one points-scoring finish - fifth place in the South African Grand Prix - left him in sixteenth place in the table at the end of the season.

1961 Aston Martin DB4 Bertone Jet

This car was part of a display by Aston Martin Lagonda at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It's the 1961 Aston Martin DB4GT Bertone Jet, designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro and displayed at the 1961 Turin Show. Presumably it has the Tadek Marek designed 6-cylinder inline 3,670cc engine.

Friday's Ferrari

This is one of the Donington Park Museum's most long-standing exhibits, from its early days in the late 1970s to its closure in 2018. I took this photograph on my last visit there in September 2014.

It's a 1952 Ferrari 500, and the book 'Great Racing Cars of the Donington Collection' says this about it:

Ascari’s Ferrari

The World Championship ‘500’

When Juan Manuel Fangio won his first Word Championship title for Alfa Romeo in 1951 it signalled the end of their Grand Prix dominance. They withdrew to rest on their numerous laurels and thus competition in Formula 1 virtually died. So the Grand Prix organisers and the international governing bodies of the sport decreed that Championship-status races in 1952 and 1953 would be run for unsupercharged 2-litre Formula 2 machinery. Ferrari, typically, had just such a car immediately available in race-winning form. This was the four-cylinder, twin-overhead camshaft Tipo 500 – the classification being taken from the cubic capacity in cc of each cylinder. This unit had been designed by engineer Aurelio Lampredi, the man who had brought Ferrari success with the unsupercharged 4½-litre V12 cars and, in a straightforward twin-tube chassis frame with transverse leaf-spring independent front suspension and a rear De Dion axle, it brought the team two consecutive World Championship titles in the hands of Alberto Ascari. Burly and amiable, he was the son of the great Alfa Romeo driver Antontio Ascari who had been killed in an Alfa Romeo in 1925 when leading the French Grand Prix at Montlhéry. Alberto began racing motor-cycles in 1937, made his four-wheeled debut in the Ferrari-built ‘815’ of 1940, and after scoring many successes with Maseratis appeared in Ferrari GP cars in 1949. The World Championship started in 1950, and in 1951 Ascari was runner-up to Fangio. In the Formula 2 World Championship races of 1952-53 he became virtually unbeatable, winning every race he started (six of them) the first season and five of his eight starts the second. The only major Grand Prix he did not contest in 1952 fell to Piero Taruffi in another Ferrari 500, and in 1953 English newcomer Mike Hawthorn won for Ferrari in France and Dr Farina for them in Germany. It took Fangio to break Ferrari’s stranglehold on the Formula by winning the last 2-litre race, in Italy. To this magnificent success story had to be added non-Championship race wins at Syracuse, Marseilles, Saint-Gaudens, La Baule, Pau and Bordeaux – all for Ascari – and when the 500s were beaten it was big news. Maserati were overjoyed by their Monza success, and in 1952 at Reims the little Gordini team had enjoyed one of their finest hours, when Jean Behra led the Ferrari fleet to the line. The Donington Collection’s Ferrari 500 is No. 5, which was the car most often used by Ascari himself in the major Grand Prix races. Just which races it won is unclear, but it is certain that this is one of the most successful individual chassis In Grand Prix history. Only one other chassis is currently capable of challenging it, and that is the Jackie Stewart Tyrrell 003, which won eight Grand Prix races – of a much shorter duration – in 1971-72. Ferrari No. 5 was sold to Tony Gaze for the 1954 Tasman races in New Zealand and Australia, where it raced with a 3-litre 4-cylinder engine installed, akin to the sports-car 750S unit. Gaze ran as team-mate to Peter Whitehead in a similar car and after a successful tour the immaculate 500 was sold to Australian amateur driver Lex Davison. In his hands it became one of Australia’s best-known, best-loved and most successful racing cars, until it was brought back to England in the mid-1960s. It has been completely restored to original trim, although the 3-litre engine is still installed. With such an impressive racing record, this Ferrari is one of Donington’s proudest exhibits.

NG Road Racing Oulton Park 2017

Here are some of the competitors at Lodge Corner during the 'Into the Blue Open 600cc' race at the NG Road Racing meeting at Oulton Park in April 2017.

21 Max Symonds - Kawasaki ZX6R

71 Allister Haynes - Triumph Daytona 675R

118 Andrew Sailor - Kawasaki ZX6R

315 Martin Heaton Honda CBR 600 RR

175 Richard Leonard - Suzuki GSXR 600

109 Kate Mustill - Honda CBR 600 RR

23 Sean Montgomery - Kawasaki 600

64 Daniel Booth - Yamaha R6

27 Jamie Gillon - Yamaha R6

9 Dave Hewson - Kawasaki ZX6R

300 Kingsan Ho - Honda CBR 600

82 Justin Collins - Yamaha R6

36 Owen Richardson - Kawasaki ZX6R

68 Darren Wilson - Yamaha R6

14 Jon Wright - Yamaha R6

1965 Porsche 904 GTS

This car competed in the Visage Pre '72 Le Mans Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 1996.

It's the 1965 Porsche 904 GTS, chassis #904-096, of Martyn Konig which was originally owned by Robert Rhodes of Fresno, California. It later went to George Thwing of La Jolla who ran it in SCCA events and who eventually replaced the 2-litre flat-4 engine with a flat-6 one of the same capacity, as fitted in the Porsche 904/6. In 1968 it went to Harry Isaacs of Beverley Hills who sold the car in 1989 to Martyn Konig.

2005 Daihatsu Copen

I photographed this car in the car park of a local Hyde supermarket in October 2018.

It's a 2005 Daihatsu Copen, a car that was produced from 2002 to 2012 and has a 4-cylinder inline 659cc turbocharged engine.

The only other time I've seen one of these cars was later that same month on a family holiday in Edinburgh.

Robey Traction Engine

When I attended the historic car meetings at Silverstone in the 1990s there was always a sprinkling of old buses and commercial vehicles on the infield at the far end of the paddock, and this is one that I photographed at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting in July 1995.

It's a Robey Traction Engine and there's no mention of it in the programme of the event, but Robey produced traction engines from the last quarter of the nineteenth century to the first quarter of the twentieth century. I would estimate that the one here dates from the years immediately preceding the First World War that started in 1914.

1989 MG 6R4

This car was exhibited on the Mini Cooper Register's stand at the Northern Classic Car Show at the G-Mex Centre, Manchester in August 1990.

Loosely based on the British Leyland Rover Metro, the MG 6R4 was created to compete in the Group B rally category. It's a mid-engined four wheel drive car with a 2,991cc 24-valve V6 engine mounted back to front with the gearbox in the middle of the car. Despite a third place finish in its first rally, the 1985 Lombard RAC rally, the car wasn't a great success and midway through the 1986 season Group B was banned following a series of fatal crashes.

1957 Cooper T41

This car competed in the Hawthorn Memorial and Spanish Trophies Race for Pre-1961 Racing Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in July 2015.

It's the 1957 Cooper T41 of Duncan Ricketts that was driven in the race by Matt Ricketts, and which the programme of the event says has a 1,220cc engine. The T41 was Cooper's first step in Formula 2 racing which only two years later led to Jack Brabham winning the World Championship in the 2½ litre Formula 1 Cooper Climax T51.

Here's Matt Ricketts at Lodge Corner during the race.

Friday's Ferrari

A pit garage full of Ferraris at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1999, and most of these cars took part in the Shell Historic Ferrari Maserati Challenge race.

Car number 75 is the 1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4C of Dudley Mason Styrron which has the Gioacchino Colombo designed 4,390cc V12 engine and is chassis #15681. Number 90 is the 1971 Ferrari 512M of Patrick Stieger with a 4,993cc V12 engine, and is chassis #1018. There's another Ferrari 365 GTB behind the 512M, and a Ferrari 250GTO that you can see behind the windscreen of Dudley Mason Styrron's car. At the rear in the entrance to the pit garage is David Vine's 1952 Ferrari 625 F1 car that competed in the Maserati UK Race for Pre-1961 Grand Prix Cars.

1948 Simca-Gordini

I took this photograph on a visit to the Donington Park Museum in May 1989.

It's a 1948 Simca-Gordini with a four cylinder inline 1,098cc Simca engine and the book 'Great Racing Cars of the Donington Collection' says this about it:

'The Simca-Gordini

French Sorcery

Amédée Gordini was a French-domiciled, Italian-born engineer who raced pre-war with tuned French Fiats – then sold under the name of Simca. In 1945-46 ‘The Sorcerer’, as he was to become known, built his first true single-seater racing car. He used a Fiat-Simca Ballila transverse leaf front suspension, a narrow tube-frame, and standard back axle and rear suspension. Second time out, at the Marseilles Prado circuit, Gordini won in this car, and in 1947 he laid down three modified Simca-Gordini single-seater Voiturettes. With Prince ‘Bira’, Jean-Pierre Wimille and Maurice Trintignant as drivers, Simca-Gordini proved very successful. For 1948 the Patron wanted to build an ambitious v8 engine, but Simca vetoed the idea and he had to make do with 1430cc de-siamesed port versions of the existing production units. In 1949 when poor Wimille was killed in a 1430cc car while practicing in Buenos Aires, the Simca-Gordinis were stretched to 1490cc in which form they produced 115bhp. This made these lightweight, simple cars quite potent performers, and with newcomer Juan Manuel Fangio behind the wheel more success was achieved. For 1950 a Wade supercharger was adopted but in 1951 a break came with Simca and thereafter the Sorcerer’s shoe-string budget yielded straightforward Gordini cars which raced widely in Formula 2 and, eventually, in six-and eight-cylinder form, in 2½-litre Formula 1 – all with steadily declining success. When Gordini finally went under in 1957, Le Sorcier himself became a performance consultant to Renault, but his cars were the last serious wearers of the French Blue in Grand Prix racing until the advent of the Matra in 1986.'

1913 Scout Torpedo

This car took part in the Concours d'Elegance at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1985.

It's a 1913 Scout Torpedo, but I no longer have the programme of the meeting so don't have any other details about the car. The DVLA record says that AA6385 has a 2,107cc engine and the only information I can find about the Scout Motor Company is that Percy Dean, together with William and Albert Burden set up the Dean and Burden Brothers Company in Salisbury in 1902 and began to manufacture 'Scout' cars. The company went into liquidation in 1921.

1967 Lola T70 Aston Martin

This car competed in the Pre-'70 Le Mans Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994.

It's the 1967 Lola T70 Aston Martin of Ean Pugh who shared the driving in the race with Keith Norris. Two of these cars were built at the instigation of John Surtees.Team Surtees who entered them in the 1967 Le Mans 24 Hour Race, to be driven by John Surtees/David Hobbs and Peter de Klerk/Chris Irwin, but the first car only lasted 3 laps and the second retired after 25 laps. Ean Pugh's car is Lola T70 chassis SL73/101. The car in the background is the Lotus Elan GT of Don Hands and Peter Dixon, which also took part in that race.

1902 Haynes Apperson

This car took part in the Lancashire Automobile Clubs annual Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1991 and is seen in the Exchange Station car park in Manchester prior to the start of the Run.

It's the 1902 Haynes Apperson of R.Wilkinson of Bramhall, Cheshire, and a short note in the programme of the event says this about the car:

7. 1902 Haynes Apperson

Reg: BS8108  2 cylinder  12 hp

(R.Wilkinson, Bramhall, Cheshire)

This model is also called a "Surrey", and it is the first Manchester to Blackpool outing for both car and driver.

This car was sold by H & H Auctioneers in June 2004 when they provided this history of the Haynes Apperson Conpany. The city of Kokomo in Howard County, Indiana, from where the Haynes Apperson originated, still hold an annual Haynes Apperson Festival.

1965 Ford Falcon Sprint

This car took part in the AMOC Intermarque Challenge Race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2015.

It's the 1965 Ford Falcon Sprint of Julian Bailey-Watts, a Second Generation car that was produced between 1963 and 1965 with a choice of  6-cylinder inline engines of 144, 170 and 200 cu in, and V8 engines of 260 and 289 cu in. The programme of this event gives the engine capacity as 6,100cc, which equates to 372 cu in.

Here's the car at the Knickerbrook chicane during the race.

1931 MG C-Type Montlhery

I took this photograph at McLeans Corner during the Williams Trophy Race for Pre-1934 Grand Prix Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

It's the 1931 MG C-Type Montlhery of Barry Foster which has a 746cc supercharged engine. The MG C Type was developed from a car designed for International speed record attempts which was based on the 847cc MG M Type with a supercharged engine reduced to 743cc to try to capture speed records in the under 750cc class H. In January 1931 Captain George Eyston succeeded in setting speed records for this class with several runs at the Montlhery race track in France at over 100mph and the subsequent production MG C-Type was given the tag 'Montlhery'. On the left is the 1928 Bugatti T35 of Bruce Stops.

Friday's Ferrari

This car competed in the Coys of Kensington Ferrari GT Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997.

It's the 1956 Ferrari 250GT Coupé of Lincoln Small with the 2,953cc Aurelio Lampredi designed V12 engine. The Ferrari 250GT Coupé was produced by three different coachbuilders, the first was Carrozzeria Boano who produced 88 models from 1955 to 1957. Carrozzeria Ellena then produced 50 models between 1957 and 1958, and Carrozzeria Pinin Farina 353 between 1958 and 1960. XSK 585 is one of the Boano models and the chassis number is 0521GT.

1938 Delage Special

This car took part in the Brookland and Goddard Trophies race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Hawthorn Memorial Trophies Race Meeting at Oulton Park in June 2008.

Listed in the programme of the event as Rod King's 1938 Delage Special, it was based on a 1938 Delage D70 Saloon and originally used that car's 2.7 litre 6 cylinder engine It was intended to be a replica of the ERA Delage, a car that was one of the original 1927 Delage GP cars fitted with a 1½ litre ERA engine. When the Delage engine very soon gave up the ghost it was replaced by a supercharged 1938 2½ litre SS Jaguar engine, bored out to 2,664cc. The green car behind the Delage is the Rejo Mk4 of Simon Edwards that competed in the Hawthorn International Trophy race.

1987 TVR 390SE

Saw this car at a local filling station in the early morning recently when I was on my way to buy my morning newspaper.

It's a 1987 TVR 390SE, about 100 of which were built in the 1980s. It has a Rover V8 3,905cc engine the output of which TVR, with the assistance of tuning specialist Andy Rouse, increased to a claimed 275 bhp.

1957 Jaguar D-Type

This car was listed in the programme as a reserve for the HGPCA Sports Car Race at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It's the 1957 Jaguar D-Type of Thomas Bscher with the driver listed in the programme as Robert Pferdmenges. Thomas Bscher took part in the race in his Maserati 450S. The Jaguar appears to be chassis XKD551 which wasn't raced in period.

1969 McLaren M15 Indianapolis

I took this photograph at the Donington Park Museum in September 2014.

The board at the side of the car reads as follows:

'1969

McLaren M15 Indianapolis Car

The car was designed by Gordon Coppuck in 1969 after McLaren had decided to build a car for the 1970 Indianapolis 500.

Using their experience of building and running Can-Am cars a single seater was designed as a light alloy stressed and riveted monocoque with bulged sides, to accommodate the fuel tanks, and the bodywork was GRP.

Suspension layout was conventional using upper and lower wishbones, twin radius rods and anti-roll bar to the rear. The outboard coil-over dampers could be hardened or softened independently on either side by the driver during the race, to optimise handling on the steeply banked Indy circuit. Braking was by outboard ventilated discs all round with A.P. four pot calipers.

The engine was based upon the dominant, Garrett turbocharged 2.65 litre 4 cylinder Meyer-Drake unit developing 750 bhp at 9,000 rpm and driving through a McLaren-Hewland LG500 4-speed gearbox.

Two prototypes were ready by the qualifying deadline and the drivers were to be Denny Hulme and Chris Amon. It emerged that Chris Amon was unable to adapt to the special driving technique required for the Indy circuit and Denny Hulme was injured in a freak accident, where, due to a faulty fuel filler seal, fuel was drawn out of the tank by the airflow and ignited by the red hot turbo charger casing.'

The car in the Donington Museum is chassis M15A/3 and is the car that should have been driven in the 1970 Indianapolis 500 by Chris Amon. Carl Williams took his place and finished the race in ninth position.

1958 Leyland Titan PD2

This vehicle took part in the Greater Manchester Transport Society's Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally in Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1995.

It's a 1958 Leyland Titan PD2 which entered service with Birkenhead Corporation Transport in 1958 with fleet number 10 and has Massey bodywork. In 1969 this became part of Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive where in continued in service until 1974 when was used in the driver training school. In 1980 it was acquired by the 201 Bus Group of the Merseyside Tramway Preservation Society. A note in the programme of the event reads as follows:

Leyland Titan PD2, Massey H58R, 1958                        FBG910

Birkenhead Corporation 10

Entered by    J Nolan for the 201 Bus Group, Wallasey

Following regular service use, this vehicle was in the driving school until 1980 and has since been restored by the 201 Bus Group.

1953 Cooper Bristol

This car competed in the Classic Racing Cars race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2008.

It's the 1953 Cooper Bristol MkII of Ed Cottam which has a 1971cc 6-cylinder inline Bristol engine that was derived from the pre-war BMW 328 unit. Father and son Charles & John Cooper had started the Cooper Car Company in 1946, and at first specialised in building cars for the new 500cc class of racing that British enthusiasts had started as a simple and economical way to go motor racing after the war. This developed into the International Formula 3 class in 1950, and Cooper then ventured into the Formula 2 class by putting a 1,100cc JAP engine into one of these cars, way below the 2 litre limit allowed, but even with the lack of power the car was still reasonably competitive because of its light weight. When the World Championship was run under Formula 2 regulations in 1952 because of a dearth of the larger-engined Formula 1 cars Cooper decided to design a car to compete at that level. The 1,971 Bristol engine was chosen, but the Cooper Bristol MkI (later designated the T20) could not really compete with the Ferraris and Maseratis in World Championship races and was much more successful in minor British events. In 1953 the MkII (later T23) car was introduced, having a tubular frame chassis instead of the box section frame of the earlier car and the drive train was altered to lower the driver's seat. Although a better car it wasn't much more successful than the MkI, and the following season when the new 2½ litre Formula 1 regulations came into force the car was rendered obsolete. They still soldiered on for a few years, mainly in minor British events, and then became regulars in the historic racing scene, where they're still to be seen to this day.

Friday's Ferrari

One of the cars that I photographed at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017.

It's a 2012 Ferrari FF which has a 6,262cc V12 engine, and is the first production Ferrari with four-wheel drive. A total of 2,291 vehicles were produced  between 2011 and 2016. The markings on the car indicate that it took part in the Best of Italy Race and Tour in 2017.