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.