1936 ERA R12B

This car competed in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in June 1993.

It's a 1936 ERA which the programme of the events says was R12C and was to be driven by Tony Stephens, but it appears to be R12B - both cars at that time being owned by Bill Morris. The two cars have a strange history, R12B being a works car that was originally built in 1936 with a 2 litre engine as a B-type car, but in 1937 it was rebuilt to C-type specifications, thus becoming R12C, and given a 1½ litre engine. In 1938 it was sold to Prince Chula to become one of his White Mouse stable's trio of ERAs driven by Prince Bira, where it was given the name 'Hanuman'. In 1939 the car was badly damaged in a crash during practice at Reims and was rebuilt with a B-type frame, reverting to being R12B and the name changing to 'Hanuman II'. After passing through various hands after the Second World War it came to Bill Morris. Bill Morris had managed to acquire the rest of the wreckage left over from the 1939 crash and using the damaged chassis frame rebuilt the car to its 1939 C-type specifications by 1982. That car was now R12C, as if the 1939 accident had never happened, and was given the original car's name of 'Hanuman'. The obvious visual difference between the two cars is that R12B has a yellow chassis and R12C's is blue. (NB: I've now been told that in 1993 R12C did have a yellow chassis, so it is indeed R12C)

This is the car at what was then Foulstons chicane during the race.