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Monday, 20 July 2026

1960 Scarab F1

I took this photograph at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000.
It's a Scarab F1 car which was built by American Lance Reventlow's Reventlow Automobiles Inc to contest the 1960 Formula 1 racing season. Like the Aston Martin DBR4 it was virtually obsolete before it turned a wheel in anger - in the 1959 season, and again in 1960 the old front-engined cars were dominated by the rear-engined ones, and the old 2½ litre Formula was due to be replaced by a new 1½ litre limit in 1961. The car had a 2,441cc 4-cylinder inline engine designed for Scarab by Leo Goossen, formerly of Offenhauser, and only started in two races in 1960, both Lance Reventlow and Chuck Daigh retiring from the French Grand Prix, and the single entry in the USA Grand Prix finished in 10th place driven by Chuck Daigh. At this Silverstone meeting the car was driven by Don Orosco in the Maserati UK Race for Pre 1961 Grand Prix Cars.

Sunday, 19 July 2026

1953 Triumph Mayflower

I took these photographs at a classic car show in Hyde, Cheshire, in October 2022.
It’s a 1953 Triumph Mayflower which was built by the Standard Motor Company and was in production from 1949 to 1953.
Nicknamed the 'Razor Edge' like its big brother the Triumph Renown, it had a 4-cylinder inline side-valve 1,247cc engine.
 It was built in Coventry and  was also assembled in Port Melbourne, Australia and Nyköping, Sweden.

Saturday, 18 July 2026

1935 Lagonda Rapier

This is a photograph that I took at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987.
It’s the 1935 Lagonda Rapier of I.Rowe which the programme of the event says had a 1,100 cc engine. 470 of these cars were built by between 1934 and 1935 and a further 46 by Rapier Cars who took over the rights to make the Rapier after the Lagonda company failed in 1935. It was originally made with a 4-cylinder inline 1,104cc engine which was later reduced to 1,084cc to allow it to compete in the 1,100cc racing class.

Friday, 17 July 2026

Friday's Ferrari

I took this photograph at Club Corner during the Corse Clienti Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli race at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017.
It's the Ferrari 488 Challenge of Swiss driver Volkan Ekinci, a car which has a 670hp 3,902cc V8 turbocharged engine developed from that of the Ferrari 488 GTB.

Thursday, 16 July 2026

1924 Peugeot Quadrillette

This is a photograph that I took before the start of the Lancashire Automobile Club’s Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1976.
It’s a 1924 Peugeot Quadrillette and the programme of the event had this note about the car:
 
39     G.O. Wallis, Oldham, Lancs.
           1924 Peugeot Quadrillette 5 h.p. 4-cylinder.
“Alexandra” was found last year in a barn in the south of France where she had been since before the war. It is the only Quadrillette known with a wagonette body. This body is predominantly wood and its main purpose in life was undoubtably to take animals to the local market. By the deposits in the back and the smell when found it had obviously not been cleaned since last used. The acetylene lighting is rather poor so let’s hope we finish before sunset.

Wednesday, 15 July 2026

1959 Cooper-Climax T51

This is a photograph that I took at the Donington Park Museum in September 2014.
It's a 1959 Cooper-Climax T51 and the book 'Great Racing Cars of the Donington Collection has this note about it:
 
The works cars of Brabham and Salvadori began running 2.2-litre Climax engines and Leonard Lee of the Coventry company authorized development of full 2½-litre units for 1959. With 2,495cc, and 240bhp the Cooper-Climax T51s were on a power-to-weight par with the front-engined opposition, and Jack Brabham and Bruce McLaren – his youthful New Zealand team-mate – proved them totally competitive. Brabham won the Monaco and British GPs, and when his car ran out of fuel while leading the United States GP at Sebring, McLaren took over to score a victory which assured Brabham and Cooper-Climax of the World Championship titles.
 
There’s also this note about the T51 in the Donington Collection:
 
Cooper-Climax T51
Chassis unnumbered – Collection property – believe to be works No. 2 car, as driven by Bruce McLaren in 1959. To Collection from the late Jo Siffert’s collection of racing cars, Fribourg, Switzerland.

Tuesday, 14 July 2026

Lola Mk1

This is a photograph that I took at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2008. It’s a Lola Mk1 but is not shown in the programme of the event nor in the results listing, and the number 14 car in the Sports Racing Cars race is the Piper of Anthony Goddard.
The Lola Mk1 was designed by Eric Broadley in 1958 and was usually powered by a 4-cylinder inline 1,098cc Coventry Climax engine. Around 40 of the cars were built and a variety of engines were used.