Maseratis

The featured marque at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005 was Maserati with particular emphasis on the 250F and twelve of these cars are listed in the Celebration Maserati Invitation Race with a further four being shown as static display or track demonstration cars. This is a photograph that I took at McLean’s corner during that race.

Leading is Klaus Edel in the ex-Gilby Engineering Company's Maserati 250F, with the replacement chassis #2507/2 given to the car after an accident at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in 1954. Behind it is the 1934 Maserati 8CM, chassis #3009, of Sean Danaher and the car in the background seems to be Stefan Rettenmaier's 1956 Maserati 250F, chassis #2520.

1971 Gilbern Invader

This is a photograph that I took at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s meeting at Oulton Park in May 2019.

It’s a 1971 Gilbern Invader, 603 of which were produced between 1969 and 1973. It has a 2,994cc V6 Ford Essex engine.

Friday's Ferrari

Ferrari uses the Corse Clienti Ferrari Racing Days meetings at various circuits to allow a group of specially selected customers to test limited edition cars developed exclusively for the track and to race the latest of the Challenge series of cars providing feedback on the performance of the cars to Corse Clienti engineers, thus helping Ferrari to develop its cars for the future. This is a photograph that I took at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017 where various of the Challenge cars were on display in the paddock.

It’s a Ferrari 360 Challenge model, a modified version of the 360 and was produced from 2000 to 2005 specifically for the Ferrari Challenge race series. It has a 3,586cc V8 engine.

2004 Buick Rainier

This is a photograph that I took in September 2019 – I don’t remember taking it but it looks like it was in a car park near to Tameside Hospital in Ashton-under-Lyne.

It’s a 2004 Buick Rainier, an SUV vehicle that was produced from 2004 to 2007 and had a choice of a 6-cylinder inline 254 cu In (4,160cc) engine, or a V8 with a capacity of 325 cu In (5,328cc). The DVLA record says that the ‘vehicle details could not be found’.

1993 Vauxhall Cavalier ST

This is a photograph that I took in the paddock on the Saturday testing and qualifying for the Bank Holiday weekend’s Gold Cup races in August 2018.

There’s no mention of this car in the programme of the event, but it appears to be one of several cars in the paddock that had taken part in the British Touring Car Championship races in the 1990s. I’ve not been able to find out much about the car except that it’s a Vauxhall Cavalier, and the name ‘Jones’ on the side window seems to point towards Josh Jones who competed in a Vauxhall Cavalier in the 1993 season.

1902 De Dion Bouton

This is a photograph that I took on a very rainy day at the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1980.

It's the 1902 De Dion Bouton of W.A. Pownall, and the programme of the event had this note about the car:

5           Mr W. A. Pownall, Wilmslow, Cheshire.

             1902 De Dion Bouton 8½ h.p. 1-cyl. Tonneau.

This car spent a good deal of its life in India, hence the Surrey Top. It then belonged to an Indian Prince.

1935 Alfa Romeo 8C-35

This is one of the cars that competed in the HGPCA Pre '52 GP Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It's the 1935 Alfa Romeo 8C-35 of Paul Grist and has an 8-cylinder 3,822cc engine with twin overhead camshafts. It was built to challenge the Mercedes Benz and Auto Union cars but rarely managed to get the better of them. The Alfa Romeo 8C-35 was introduced when the Tipo B Monoposto – or P3 as it is more popularly known – became overdue for replacement.  The P3 had itself been derived from the Monza and had flown the Alfa flag with great success between 1932 and 1935. The 8C-35 never beat the German cars in a top level Grand Prix but did succeed in doing so in a number of smaller races, in the hands of Tazio Nuvolari.