1972 BRM P160E

The 50th Anniversary of the BRM was marked at the Coys International  Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1999 by a display of many of the cars, some of which took part in track parades. This is the 1972 BRM P160E which was driven in the track parades by Jean-Pierre Beltoise.

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-Pierre 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.

1997 Fiat Barchetta

This is a car I spotted early one morning in Hyde recently when I went out to get my daily newspaper.

It’s a 1997 Fiat Barchetta which has a 1,747cc 4-cylinder inline engine.

About 57,800 of these cars were built between 1995 and 2005, all of them with left-hand drive.

There's obviously a Scottish connection here and I was expecting the 'GJ' in the registration number would indicate Glasgow, but it's a London registration.

1960 Cooper Monaco

This is a photograph that I took at the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1986.

It's the 1960 Cooper Monaco of Sid Hoole which competed in the HSCC Pre ’60 Historic Sports Car Championship race and the programme of the event says it had a 2,500cc emgine. There were three versions of the Cooper Monaco, the T49 of 1959, the T57 of 1960 and the T61 of 1961, so this should be a  T57.

1911 Vauxhall C-type Prince Henry Tourer

This is a photograph that I took in Manchester before the start of the Lancashire Automobile Club’s Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1973.

It’s a 1911 Vauxhall C-type and the programme of the event had this note about the car:

 

21.      Vauxhall Motors Ltd., Luton, Bedfordshire.

             (Driver – Mr. A.A.Garland).

             1911 Vauxhall C-type “Prince Henry” Tourer, 20 h.p.

Here is an early example of the famous “Prince Henry” models designed by Lawrence Pomeroy and regarded by some experts as the first true Vauxhall sports car. It is named after Prince Henry of Prussia who sponsored early motor reliability trials, and the original price of the chassis alone was £485. The 3-litre side-valve engine of four cylinder construction has a cone clutch, four-speed gearbox and bevel gear rear axle. Maximum speed is around 70 m.p.h. at about 25 m.p.g.

Friday's Ferrari

This is one of the cars that were displayed in the paddock at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017.

It’s a 2017 Ferrari GTC4Lusso which is powered by the Ferrari F140ED 6,262cc V12 engine and has 7-speed dual-clutch transmission with four-wheel drive and a four-wheel steering system. It was introduced in 2016 and ceased production in 2020.

1955 HWM Jaguar

This car competed in the Pre and Post War Single Seater and Post War Sports Cars Handicap Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1985.

It's the 1955 HWM Jaguar of Kirk Rylands, one of a handful of sports cars produced by the Hersham and Walton Motors company of John Heath and George Abecassis, and has the 3,781cc 6-cylinder inline Jaguar XK engine.

Aston Martin Project 214

I took this photograph at the Silverstone Classic meeting in July 2010.

It's a replica of the Aston Martin Project 214 which was based on the Aston Martin DB4GT and it took part in the Masters ‘Gentleman Drivers’ GT Race at this meeting. It had a 4.2 litre engine and was driven in the race by Wolfgang Friedrichs and David Clark. Two Project 214 cars were originally built, one of which was destroyed in an accident during practice for the 1964 Nürburgring 1000 km race.