1959 Tec-Mec F415

This car competed in the Maserati UK Race for Pre 1961 Grand Prix Cars at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000.

Shown in the programme of the event as a TecMec it's the 1959 Tec-Mec F415 designed by Valerio Colotti as a lightweight version of the Maserati 250F. Colotti was employed by Maserati and was working on the design when Maserati pulled out of racing at the end of the 1958 season. He set up his own company, Studio Tecnica Meccanica, and Italian racing driver Giorgio Scarlatti encouraged him to continue with this work and bought shares in the company. American Gordon Pennington then persuaded Scarlatti to sell him the shares and arranged for Camoradi's Lucky Casner to run the team for what had now become Tec-Mec Automobili. When finished the car was entered for the 1959 US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen and Brazilian driver Fritz d'Orey was chosen to drive it. The car had clearly not gone through sufficient testing and Fritz d'Orey only qualified it in seventeenth place. It only lasted for six laps in the race before it retired with a serious oil leak and that turned out to be the only World Championship appearance by the car. It lingered in a Miami garage until 1967 when it was acquired by Tom Wheatcroft who brought the car back into working order and it was in his museum at Donington Park for many years. It was eventually sold to Barrie Baxter, who drove the car at this Silverstone meeting, and he raced it successfully before eventually passing the car on to Barry Wood.

1958 Leyland Titan PD2

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.

It’s a 1958 Leyland Titan PD2 and the programme of the event had this note about the vehicle:

 

Leyland Titan PD2, Massey H58R

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.

1933 Talbot 105

This car competed in the Bill Phillips Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2005.

It's the 1933 Talbot 105 of Gideon Hudson, a car that was developed by Georges Roesch from the Talbot 90, the 6-cylinder inline 2,276cc engine of which was increased to 2,969cc. The Talbot 105 was a prominent competitor at Brooklands and also achieved success in the Alpine Trials.

1954 BRM P30

This is a photograph that I took at the Donington Park Museum in October 1989 when the Collection was not displayed as well as in later days.

It's the 1954 BRM P30, V16 Mk2 No2, alternatively known as V16/05. This car competed in Formula Libre races for a few years, and the only time I saw one in competitive action was in the Formula Libre race at the 1955 Aintree 200 meeting when Peter Collins won the race in this car. The Mk2 is a shortened and lighter version of the original V16 BRM P15 but has the same 1,496cc V16 supercharged engine which was claimed to produce 600bhp at 12,000rpm. The car was owned by Nick Mason before joining the Donington Collection, then by Bernie Ecclestone who bought the whole collection when the Donington museum closed. All of Bernie Ecclestone’s cars were later acquired by Mark Mateschitz.

Friday's Ferrari

This is one of the F1 Ferraris that were part of the Corse Clienti demonstration at the Ferrari Racing Days event at Silverstone in September 2017. I took the photograph at Club Corner from the F1 International paddock.

It's a Ferrari 150° Italia as raced by Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa in the 2011 season and is powered by the Ferrari 056 2,398cc V8 engine. The car only managed to finish in first place on one occasion, Alonso winning the British Grand Prix. He finished in fourth place in the Drivers' Championship and Massa sixth with the Championship being won by Sebastian Vettel in his Red Bull RB7. Ferrari took third place in the Constructors' Championship behind Red Bull and McLaren.

1903 Peugeot Fore-car

This is a photograph that I took on a very rainy day in Manchester in June 1984 at the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run.

It's a 1903 Peugeot Fore-car and the passenger at the front must have had an extremely uncomfortable ride that day. The programme of the event had this note about the car:

7.    1903 Peugeot Fore-car, 

       Reg: DS 6469 2-Cylinder 334cc

       ( W. Green, Blackburn)

Bought by its present owner in 1979, it is hoped to have this unusual tricycle ready for this year's Run. Not a lot is known of its history, but from the original logbook, it was apparently first registered in Southampton, and its reg. number then was AA 999.

1929 Lovell Elkhart Sprint Special

This is one of the cars that took part in the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy Race for Vintage Racing Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987.

It’s the 1929 Lovell Elkhart Sprint Special of Nick Leston with a 3½ litre engine, and the programme of the event had this note about the car: 

'…..another American racer with a Model A Ford engine is Leston’s Lovell Elkhart Sprint Racing Car, which also wins the prize for the car with the longest name!'

Here’s the car at Lodge Corner during the race.