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.

1955 Mercedes Benz 300SL

This is a photograph that I took at the Christie’s International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It’s a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL, a car that was produced from 1954 to 1963 and was a development of the W194 that won the 1952 Le Mans 24 Hour race. Its distinguishing feature was the gull-wing doors, and it was powered by the 2,996cc straight-6 M198 engine with Bosch fuel injection.

1924 Rolls Royce

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 appears to be a Rolls Royce 20 Open Touring which should have a 3,127cc engine, but the DVLA record say that it’s a 1924 Rolls Royce with a 6,283cc engine. The only other model Rolls Royce produced in 1924 was the  40/50 Silver Ghost with either a 7,036cc or a 7,428cc engine.

1939 Maserati 4CL

This car competed in the Historic Trophy race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1985.

It’s the 1939 Maserati 4CL of Dan Margulies, chassis 1582, which  has a 4-cylinder inline supercharged 1,489cc engine, and I have come across this brief history of the car:

 

Maserati 4CL [1582] (Toni Branca): Delivered 31 July 1946 to Guido Barbieri from Reggio Emilia, and raced in the 1946 Turin and Milan GPs. It is possible that the chassis was then used by Barbieri in his 1.5 litre Maserati 6C Sports Special, which first appeared in October 1946. The car reappeared in normal 4CL form in 1949 in the hands of Swiss Anton Branca, who raced it throughout 1949 and 1950. The car then passed through a variety of Swiss owners’ hands, at one stage fitted with a Ford V8 engine, before being campaigned in historic racing by Dan Margulies for more than 20 years, and being owned most recently by Klaus Edel and then Oliver Maierhofer.