1954 Cooper Mk IX

This is the 1954 Cooper Mk IX of D.Price which competed in a 5 lap Scratch Race for 500cc Racing Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1984.

After the Second World War motor racing in the UK was slow to re-start, partly because of petrol rationing and the cost of running a suitable car. Home-built ‘specials’ powered by 500cc motorcycle were created to provide a reasonably cheap way means of getting involved in the sport. John Cooper and Eric Brandon, with the assistance of John’s father Charles, decided in 1946 to build two cars, and in 1947 in the second post-war race meeting to be held Eric Brandon won the first race to feature 500cc cars. In 1950 this 500cc class of racing was adopted by the FIA as a new Formula 3, and John and Charles Cooper went on to build a series of these 500cc cars, eventually graduating to Formula 2, then Formula 1 culminating in Jack Brabham winning the World Drivers’ Championship in 1959 and 1960 in the 2½ litre Cooper Climax. There's a 500 Owners Association for all 500cc Formula Three enthusiasts, with lots of information about the different marques that took part.

Friday's Ferrari

This is a photograph that I took at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017.

This is a photograph that I took at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017. It's a Ferrari F12 Berlinetta and has a 6,262cc V12 Ferrari F140 FC engine with an output of 740PS at 8,250 rpm. It was in production from 2012 to 2017.

1907 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost

This is a photograph that I took at the Broad Street/Cross Lane roundabout in Salford of one of the cars that took part in the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1965.

It's the 1907 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost of  James P. Smith and the programme of the event had this note about the car:

18.   1907 Rolls-Royce 40/50 Silver Ghost. in Belgium,

Engine and chassis made at Cooke Street, Manchester, in 1907; 4½ in. bore x 4½ in. stroke; overdrive on the 4th speed. The second oldest Silver Ghost Rolls-Royce in Britain. Had two owners since 1907. Has completed numerous rallies in Belgium, Germany, Holland and Italy, driven by the present owner.

1949 Bedford OB Duple Vista

This was one of the vehicles taking part in the Greater Manchester Transport Society's Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally at Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1990.

Not listed in the programme of the event, it's a 29 seater 1949 Bedford OB Duple Vista apparently provided new to McKinlays of Prestonpans in 1949 where it had the registration number SS 7376. Later it was with Tours (Isle of Man) where it was given the number 1949 MN and was then acquired by East Yorkshire Motor Services where it was again re-registered as KSU 381. I've also seen a photograph of the vehicle in Shetland taken in 1973 when it was with Sandwick Transport, and still had the original SS 7376 registration number. I believe it again has this original number, though it retains the East Yorkshire livery.

1957 Maserati 250F

This is a photograph that I took in the paddock at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1973.

It’s Neil Corner’s 1957 Maserati 250F which has a 6-cylinder inline 2,493cc engine. The car is chassis #2528 and was campaigned mainly by Jean Behra in the 1957 season, but also driven that year by Juan Fangio and Harry Schell. It has been owned and raced by the Corner family, Neil and his son Nigel, since 1972. The car competed in the Allcomers Scratch Race at this meeting.

1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SLR

The five times World Drivers Champion Juan Manuel Fangio was featured at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994 with a display of some of the cars that he drove in the 1940s and 50s, and the car below was one that was in that display.

Not the actual car that Fangio drove, this is the Mercedes-Benz 300SLR with which Stirling Moss and co-driver Denis Jenkinson won the 1955 Mille Miglia - Fangio, driving solo, finished in second place over half an hour behind in second place in an identical car. The car is being driven here by John Surtees in a parade of the cars from the display, in which Stirling Moss drove one of the 1955 Mercedes-Benz W196 Grand Prix Cars.

1993 Volkswagen Corrado

This is a car that I spotted in Hyde when going for my morning newspaper one day in May 2019.

It’s a 1993 Volkswagen Corrado, a car that was in production from 1988 to 1995 with a choice over that period of five different engines. This one has a four-cylinder inline 2,861cc engine.

1960 BRM P48

This is a photograph that I took in the paddock at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in September 1960.

It shows two of the three BRM P48s that took part in the race, number 14 was driven by Jo Bonnier, who finished the race in fifth place and number 15 was Dan Gurney’s who was sixth. The third BRM was driven by Graham Hill who ended up in third place. The race was won by Stirling Moss in a Lotus 18.

The  BRM P48 was an unsuccessful rear-engine version of the P25 and this was the last season for the 2½ litre cars. BRM competed in the 1961 season with the P48/57, a car that was basically a P48 fitted with a 1½ litre engine, which was no more successful than the P48. The next season, however, a new car, the P57 with a new 1½ litre V8 engine, was built and with this car Graham Hill won the 1962 World Championship.

Friday's Ferrari

This is one of the cars I photographed at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017.

It's a 2015 FerrariF12Berlinetta and has a 6,262cc V12 Ferrari F140 FC engine with an output of 740PS at 8,250 rpm. It was in production from 2012 to 2017.

1910 Humber

 

This is a photograph that I took at the Broad Street/Cross Lane roundabout in Salford of one of the cars that took part in the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1963.

It’s the 1910 Humber of M. Stothert and the programme of the event had this note about the car:

 

27.   1910 Humber

A special sports car made for a motor show in 1910 by putting the 20 h.p. engine in the 12 h.p. chassis. Unfortunately the wheels have been rebuilt for modern tyres.

1957 Kurtis KK500G Offenhauser

I took this photograph during practice for the Hawthorn Trophy Race for Post-War Racing Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2019.

It's the 1957 Kurtis KK500G Offenhauser of Stuart Harper, which was shown in the programme of the event as a 4.2 litre Kurtis Indy Roadster. This is the car that Ray Crawford took to the Indianapolis 500 race in 1957 and 1958 as the Meguiar Mirror Glaze Special, but failed both times to qualify for the race. Ray Crawford took part in the Race of Two Worlds round the banked oval at Monza with the car in both 1957 and 1958, one-sided exhibition events that pitted American Indianapolis cars against a motley collection of European cars. The race in both years consisted of three heats with the winner being the best car over the three races. In 1957 Ray Crawford's results in the heats were seventh, fourth and retired, and in 1958 tenth, eighth and fourth.

1951 Fordson E83W

This is a photograph that I took in Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1990 at the Greater Manchester Transport Society's Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally.

It's not listed in the programme of the event but it’s a 1951 Fordson E83W pickup truck which has a four-cylinder inline 1,172cc engine. The vehicle was in production from 1938 to 1957.

Maserati 3200

This is a photograph that I took at a display by the car dealers Graypaul in the paddock at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1999.

It’s a Maserati 3200, a car that was in production from 1998 to 2002 and had a 3,217cc V8 engine.

1995 Audi A4

This is a photograph that I took at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2018.

An article in the programme of the event says that the British Touring Car Championship was celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2018 and there were a number of touring cars in the paddock which didn’t take part in the touring car race at this meeting, but there’s no mention of them in the programme. This is one of those cars, and it appears to mark to the 1995 Championship which was won by Frank Bielsa in an Audi A4.

Avro Vulcan

This aircraft was part of the static display at the RAFA Woodford Air Show in June 1994.

It’s an Avro Vulcan bomber, 136 of which were built between 1956 and 1965 at Woodford. They were in service with the RAF from 1957 to 1982 and this one, Vulcan B.2 XM603, is now in the Avro Heritage Museum at Woodford.

Ferrari F430 Spider

I took this photograph at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017.

It's a Ferrari F430 Spider, a convertible version of the F430 which replaced the Ferrari 360 and was itself succeeded by the Ferrari 458. It was produced between 2005 and 2009 and has the 4,308cc Ferrari F136 E V8 engine.

1953 Jaguar C-Type

I took this photograph at Lodge Corner during the Jack Fairman Cup race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2018.

It's David Brazell’s 1953 Jaguar C-Type which has the 3,442cc 6-cylinder inline Jaguar XK engine. The car is actually a replica based on a 1952 Jaguar XK120, chassis no. 672178.

1925 Lancia Lambda

I took this photograph at the Lancashire Automobile Club’s Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1985.

I no longer have the programme for the 1985 Run, but the car also took part in 1990 when the programme of the event said that it was a 1925 Lancia Lambda and was entered by John Muschamp of Keighley, West Yorkshire. It has a 2,570cc V4 engine and the DVLA record says that has been untaxed since November 2023.

1938 ERA E-Type

I took these photographs in the paddock at the Silverstone Classic Festival meeting in July 2010.

It's the 1938 ERA E-Type of Duncan Ricketts, chassis GP1, here with a 1,988cc supercharged engine but originally with a 1½ litre unit. This and its sister car, chassis GP2 were the only two E-Type ERAs built. Only one other ERA was built later and that was the  G-Type, designed after the Second World War to compete with a Bristol 2 litre engine as a Formula 2 car, but actually competed in the Formula 1 World Championship races in 1952 when they were run under Formula 2 rules. That car later became the basis for the Bristol 450 sports car that competed at Le Mans in 1953, 1954 and 1955.

1935 Standard Avon 'Le Mans' Special Tourer

This is a car that I saw in one of the car parks at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2017.

It’s a 1935 Standard Avon 'Le Mans' Special Tourer, 1 of only 9 ‘Le Mans’ style examples manufactured by Avon.

It’s based on the Standard 9 and has a 4-cylinder inline 1,056cc engine’

1949 Leyland Titan PD1/3

This is a photograph that I took at the Greater Manchester Transport Society's Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally in Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1993.

I didn’t make a note at the time about this bus, but it appears to be one of the Greater Manchester Transport Society’s own vehicles, a 1949 Leyland Titan PD1/3, about which the programme of the event had this note:

 

Leyland Titan PD1/3, Metro-Cammell H30/26R,1949                                                                   JNA467

Manchester City Transport 3166

Entered by P.F.Wotton, Littleborough

Operated by M.C.T. until 1969, this vehicle carries bodywork to Manchester’s own design and is the sole survivor of a batch of 100 identical buses. It operated both North and South of the city during its career.

1929 Riley Brooklands

This car took part in the Pre War Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000.

It was driven in the race by Richard and Geoffrey Bradford and is a 1929 Riley Brooklands with a tuned version of the Riley Nine's 1,087cc 4-cylinder inline engine. The Riley Nine was designed by two of the Riley brothers, Percy and Stanley, and the Brooklands was the work of John G Parry Thomas and Reid Railton who shortened the chassis by some 15 inches and fitted an undershield the full length of the car. The engine had high compression pistons, special camshafts and 2 carburettors, increasing its output to 50bhp.

Friday's Ferrari

I took this photograph at the Knickerbrook chicane during 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 driven in the 50 minute race by Matthew Wilton and John Cowen. There were two versions of the Ferrari 360, the Modena and the Challenge, as well as a Spider version, each with a 3,586cc V8 engine. It doesn't say in the programme of the event which version this is, but presumably it's the Challenge.

Mercedes 190 SE

I came across this photograph recently which I had taken outside the car showroom of Stewart Wilson in Hyde.

I don’t remember taking it, but I had labelled it as a Mercedes Benz 190SE. The ‘C’ in the registration number is for cars produced between August 1985 and July 1986, so presumably Stewart Wilson was involved in Touring Car racing at that time, but I’ve not been able to find out anything about it.

Manx Norton 500cc

This is a photograph that I took at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994.

There were no motorcycle races at this meeting but there was a small group of motorcycles in a corner of the paddock, though it doesn't get a mention in the programme of the event. The Manx Nortons were made between 1947 and 1962 and the yellow number plate suggests that it's a 500cc model.

1959 Lotus 16

This car competed in the Cheshire Building Society’s Allcomers Race at the  Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in Jun 1984.

It’s Bruce Halford’s 1959 Lotus 16 which has a 2,495cc straight-4 Coventry Climax FPF engine. Bruce Halford raced in Formula One from 1956 to 1960, firstly with a Maserati 250F, then a Lotus 16 in 1959 and with Cooper T45 and T51 in 1960. In the mid-1970s he bought this Lotus 16 and competed at Historic meetings himself for several years. The Lotus 16 was raced by Team Lotus, and private entrants, from 1958 to 1960 with little success in World Championship races. Colin Chapman had to wait until the Monaco Grand Prix of 1960 for his first Lotus victory, achieved by Stirling Moss in Rob Walker's Lotus 18.

1973 BRM P160E

I took the photograph of this BRM 160E at the Donington Park Museum in October 1989.

BRM had introduced the P160 in 1971 and it had a relatively successful season, winning two Grands Prix and finishing in second place in the World Constructors' Championship. The car struggled the following season, however, and despite several updates couldn't match the Lotus 72 and when its successor the BRM P180 proved to be uncompetitive the P160 was updated yet again to produce the 160E. The P160E made its debut in the Spanish Grand Prix in April 1972, and despite Jean-Pierre Beltoise winning the Monaco Grand Prix BRM only finished in seventh place in the World Constructors' Championship. The team fared no better in 1973, again finishing in seventh place in the World Constructors' Championship with a solitary fourth place finish by Jean-PieBlogrre Beltoise being its best points-scoring finish. In 1974 Jean-Pierre Beltoise finished in fifth place in the first Grand Prix, in Argentina, but after the Brazilian Grand Prix he completed the season in the P201, though the team used the P160E in several more races that year. The Donington Museum's car was BRM P160/10 and when the museum closed it was bought by Australian John Gale who set about a comprehensive restoration of the car which he has detailed in a very informative Blog.

1928 Chrysler Model 72 Roadster

This is a photograph that I took at the Lancashire Automobile Club’s Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1983.

It’s a 1928 Chrysler Model 72 Roadster and a note in the programme of the event reads as follows:

 

144   1928 Chrysler Roadster “72”  

           Reg: YV 6036, 6-Cylinder, 26 hp, 4096cc

           (Nigel F. Walker DSO, DFC, Oxford)

Making its Manchester to Blackpool debut, this impressive American import has standard external contracting brakes, and the powerful 4-litre seven-bearing six cylinder engine.

1952 Connaught A-Type

I took this photograph at Lodge Corner during the Allcomers Scratch Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1981.

It's Gerry Walton's 1952 Connaught A-Type with a 1,960cc engine based on the Lea Francis 4-cylinder 1,767cc unit, and is chassis A8. Ten Connaught A-Types were built and A8 is one of only two that  featured a Hilborn-Travers fuel injection system instead of the Amal carburettors that were fitted to the other eight cars. It was mainly driven in period as a works car by John Coombes, Stirling Moss and Prince Bira. A later owner, Mike Young, sold the 2 litre engine and installed a 2½ litre HWM-Alta engine in 1955 to take part in Formula One racing and later took the car to South Africa. Phil Bowker subsequently bought the car and Gerry Walton sourced the Lotus 10 with the original engine which was reunited with A8. Gerry Walton acquired the car in the late 1960s and fully restored it to its 1953 state, competing with it until 1988.

Friday's Ferrari

This is one of the cars I photographed at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017.

It's a Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano which has a 5,999cc V12 F140B engine. It's named after Ferrari's Fiorano test track at Maranello and was produced from 2006 to 2012.

1938 Guy Wolf

This is a photograph that I took in Heaton Park at the Greater Manchester Transport Society’s Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally in September 1990.

It’s not listed in the programme of the event but it’s a 1938 Guy Wolf with Waveney bodywork, one of the Llandudno Marine Drive Tour buses owned by Llandudno UDC and mainly used for the 5 mile tour round the Great Orme.

1981 Reliant Scimitar GTE SE6B

I took this photograph at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2018.

It's a 1981 Reliant Scimitar GTE SE6B, and the main difference between the SE6A and the SE6B is that the 3 litre Ford Essex V6 engine in the earlier car was replaced by the 2.8 litre Ford Cologne V6.

1963 Iso Grifo A3C

This was one of the cars entered in the Coys of Kensington Pre 1964 GT Cars race at the Silverstone Historic Festival meeting in August 1999.

It's a 1963 Iso A3C driven by Jeremy Agace and Ray Bellm in the race. The car was designed by Giotto Bizzarrini who later left Iso and continued producing the car as a Bizzarrini A3C. The car was entered in the same event the following year when programme of the event had this note about the car:

 

‘Monaco based Agace’s Iso, the company’s Turin show car of ’63, benefits from a hulking great 5.3 litre Chevrolet V8 engine, buried as far back as possible in the cockpit bulkhead for optimum weight distribution. Well balanced, and superbly fettled by Paul Lanzante’s équipe, its impressive Historic log includes winning last year’s Spa 6 hours and the GT class of the Paul Ricard 24 hours in ’98. Co-driver Bellm is still seriously quick.’

1997 Robin Hood Kit Car

This is a car that took part in a classic car show in Hyde, Cheshire in October 2022.

It’s a 1997 Robin Hood Kit car, a replica car based on the Series 3 Lotus Seven. 

The DVLA record says that it has a 1,997cc engine, which appears to be the one that powered the Ford Pinto in the 1970s.

I've not seen one of these cars before, nor since.

1965 Shelby Cobra

This is a photograph that I took at the Knickerbrook chicane during qualifying for the Guards Trophy race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2017.

It’s the 1965 Shelby Cobra of Paul Gibson which has a 4.7 litre Ford V8 engine.

1930 Bentley 4½ litre

I took this photograph in the paddock at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000.

It's a 1930 Bentley 4½ litre, but despite being called a 4½ litre car the capacity of the 4-cylinder inline engine of the Bentley 4½ litre is only 4,398cc. The DVLA record of GF 3372 says that the car is currently taxed to the end of December 2026.

Friday's Ferrari

This is a photograph that I took of one of the F1 Ferraris that took part in a series of demonstration runs at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Donington Park in June 2003.

It's a Ferrari 412 T2, one of the cars that contested the 1995 Grand Prix season in the hands of Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger. The World Championship was won that season by Michael Schumacher in a Renault powered Benetton B195 with Jean Alesi in fifth place and Gerhard Berger sixth. The only Grand Prix victory for Ferrari that season was Jean Alesi's win in the Canadian Grand Prix, and he also had four second place finishes. Gerhard Berger's best results were six third place finishes.

 

The programme of the Donington Park meeting doesn't record the names of any of the drivers taking part in the demonstration runs.

1901 De Dion Bouton 4½hp Voiturette

This was one of the entrants in the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1981 and is pictured in Manchester before the start of the run.

I no longer have the 1981 programme, but it was also in the 1980 Run when the programme of the event included this note about the car:

 

3. Major A.Pownall, Wilmslow, Cheshire

1901 De Dion Bouton 4½ h.p. Voiturette

This single cylinder car was assembled in America and spent its life there until 1972, when it was imported into this country.

 

The DVLA record says that the car currently has a SORN.

1974 Bitter CD

Erich Bitter built his first car in 1973 based on an Opel floorplan and running gear, and between 1973 and 1986 he built 395 Bitter CD's and 488 SC's. Three of these cars were displayed by the Bitter Owners Club at the Footman James Classic Car Show Manchester at EventCity in September 2018 and this is one of them.

It’s a 1974 Bitter CD, and was described as follows:

 

'395 examples of the CD were built by Baur of Stuttgart for Bitter between 1973 and 1979. This CD is the only CD in the UK and was a personal import. The car is based on a shortened and stiffened Opel Diplomat chassis and fitted with a 5354cc American V8  (short block Chevy) and will achieve a top speed of 130mph. This was the 10th CD built and exported to South Africa by GM to try and establish the Marque there but no others followed. It was brought to the UK from South Africa in 2015 by its current owner. There are now less than 200 CD's left, mostly in Germany with a few in the Netherland, Belgium and the USA.

The car is owned by Andrew Grace.'

1979 TVR 3000M

This is a photograph that I took at Britten’s chicane during the HSCC Roadsports Championship Race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2005.

Julian Barter in his 1979 TVR 3000M is leading, closely followed by the 1970 TVR Tuscan of Jim Baynham.

1960 Maserati T61

This is a photograph that I took at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994.

It's the cockpit of the 1960 Maserati T61 of Lindsay Owen-Jones, chassis #2458 which has a 4-cylinder inline 2,890cc engine. The T61, and the 1,989cc T60 were generally known as Maserati Birdcage cars because of the intricate tubular space frame chassis, and in common with many of these cars 2458 started off life in the USA, in this case with Lloyd "Lucky" Casner's Camoradi team. After passing through various hands in the USA it was acquired by Lindsay Owen-Jones in 1992. Sixteen examples of the T61 were produced between 1959 and 1961.

1948 Leyland Tiger PS1

This is a photograph that I took in Heaton Park, Manchester at the Greater Manchester Transport Society’s Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally in September 1990.

It’s not listed in the programme of the event, but it’s a 1948 Leyland Tiger PS1, originally Leeds Corporation fleet no 28 and has a Roe B36R body. It was withdrawn from service in 1962 and is now preserved at Keighley Bus Museum Trust.

1937 Lagonda LG45

I took this photograph in the paddock at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1993.

It’s the 1937 Lagonda LG45 of A.W.Barker who competed in two 4 lap handicap races at the meeting. The LG45 was produced from 1935 to 1937 and had a 6-cylinder inline 4,453cc engine which is a modified Meadows unit. The Lagonda Club has this information about the LG45.