1959 Cooper-Climax T51

This is a photograph that I took at the Donington Park Museum in October 1989.

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.

1950 Bristol 400

I took these photographs at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s meeting at Oulton Park in May 2019.

It's a 1950 Bristol 400, one of 487 cars built between 1947 and 1950. After the Second World War the Bristol Aeroplane Company set up a car division, which later became Bristol Cars, and this was the first car they produced. AFN Ltd had reached an agreement with BMW in 1934 to import their cars, and to build and market them in the UK as Frazer Nash BMWs, and Bristol acquired a licence from Frazer Nash to base their car on the box-section frame of the BMW 326 and the engine of the BMW 328. The Bristol's engine was a slightly modified version of the 328's 6-cylinder inline 1,971cc unit.

1958 BRM P25

The Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998 celebrated the 50th anniversary of racing at the Silverstone circuit with a display of cars representing each of the years from 1948 to 1997, and this is the car that represented 1957.

It's the 1958 BRM P25 of Steve O’Rourke and is a car that was said to be the fastest of the 1954-1960 Formula 1 era, partly due to the oversquare (102.87 mm bore x 74.93 mm stroke) 2,491cc engine allowing for larger valves to be fitted. The car was plagued with reliability problems, however, and the only Grand Prix win was Jo Bonnier's victory in the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix. Behind it is the Ferrari 500TRC of Modi Enav which represented 1958.

1923 Morris Cowley

This was one of the participants in the Greater Manchester Transport Society's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1976.

It's the 1923 Morris Cowley of a Mr G Whittaker, which has a 1,495cc 4-cylinder inline engine, and about 1,450 of which were built between 1915 and 1920. The programme of the event has this note about the car:

44         Mr. G. Whittaker, Simonstone, Burnley.

              1923 Morris Cowley.

Another Cowley with a Hotchkiss engine, this car was found by the present owner in scrap condition in 1964 and has been a regular on the Run since then.

1961 Cooper T61

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

It's Stuart Tizzard in his 1961 Cooper T56 during the Saturday Qualifying for the HSCC/FJHRA Formula Junior Rear Engine race. The T56 was the second Formula Junior car produced by Cooper and was originally provided with a 994cc BMC engine but Stuart Tizzard’s car has a 1,098cc Ford Cosworth engine.

Friday's Ferrari

There were a series of demonstration runs by Corse Cliente drivers in Ferrari F1 cars at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017 and this is one of the photographs I took from inside the paddock at Club Corner during one of the runs.

It's the Ferrari F2003-GA that was driven in the 2003 season by Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, the 'GA' being added as a mark of respect to head of Fiat Gianni Agnelli who had died in January 2003. The car was designed by a team headed by chief designer Rory Byrne and was introduced almost half-way through the 2003 season. It was based on the previous season's Ferrari F2002 and was powered by the 2,997cc 40 valve twin overhead camshaft V10 Ferrari 052 engine. Michael Schumacher won six Grands Prix that season and with two more third place podium finishes won the sixth of his seven World Drivers Championships, with Rubens Barrichello winning two Grands Prix to finish in fourth place in the Championship.

1911 Ford Model T

This was one of the cars that took part in a vintage car show and a run from Stockport to Matlock in July 1985 organised by car dealers Gordon Ford of Stockport.

It’s a 1911 Ford Model T and has a 4-cylinder inline 2,950cc engine. The DVLA record shows that it is currently taxed up to the end of February 2026.