1952 Connaught A-Type

I took this photograph at Lodge Corner during the Allcomers Scratch Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1981.

It's Gerry Walton's 1952 Connaught A-Type with a 1,960cc engine based on the Lea Francis 4-cylinder 1,767cc unit, and is chassis A8. Ten Connaught A-Types were built and A8 is one of only two that  featured a Hilborn-Travers fuel injection system instead of the Amal carburettors that were fitted to the other eight cars. It was mainly driven in period as a works car by John Coombes, Stirling Moss and Prince Bira. A later owner, Mike Young, sold the 2 litre engine and installed a 2½ litre HWM-Alta engine in 1955 to take part in Formula One racing and later took the car to South Africa. Phil Bowker subsequently bought the car and Gerry Walton sourced the Lotus 10 with the original engine which was reunited with A8. Gerry Walton acquired the car in the late 1960s and fully restored it to its 1953 state, competing with it until 1988.

Friday's Ferrari

This is one of the cars I photographed at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017.

It's a Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano which has a 5,999cc V12 F140B engine. It's named after Ferrari's Fiorano test track at Maranello and was produced from 2006 to 2012.

1938 Guy Wolf

This is a photograph that I took in Heaton Park at the Greater Manchester Transport Society’s Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally in September 1990.

It’s not listed in the programme of the event but it’s a 1938 Guy Wolf with Waveney bodywork, one of the Llandudno Marine Drive Tour buses owned by Llandudno UDC and mainly used for the 5 mile tour round the Great Orme.

1981 Reliant Scimitar GTE SE6B

I took this photograph at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2018.

It's a 1981 Reliant Scimitar GTE SE6B, and the main difference between the SE6A and the SE6B is that the 3 litre Ford Essex V6 engine in the earlier car was replaced by the 2.8 litre Ford Cologne V6.

1963 Iso Grifo A3C

This was one of the cars entered in the Coys of Kensington Pre 1964 GT Cars race at the Silverstone Historic Festival meeting in August 1999.

It's a 1963 Iso A3C driven by Jeremy Agace and Ray Bellm in the race. The car was designed by Giotto Bizzarrini who later left Iso and continued producing the car as a Bizzarrini A3C. The car was entered in the same event the following year when programme of the event had this note about the car:

 

‘Monaco based Agace’s Iso, the company’s Turin show car of ’63, benefits from a hulking great 5.3 litre Chevrolet V8 engine, buried as far back as possible in the cockpit bulkhead for optimum weight distribution. Well balanced, and superbly fettled by Paul Lanzante’s équipe, its impressive Historic log includes winning last year’s Spa 6 hours and the GT class of the Paul Ricard 24 hours in ’98. Co-driver Bellm is still seriously quick.’

1997 Robin Hood Kit Car

This is a car that took part in a classic car show in Hyde, Cheshire in October 2022.

It’s a 1997 Robin Hood Kit car, a replica car based on the Series 3 Lotus Seven. 

The DVLA record says that it has a 1,997cc engine, which appears to be the one that powered the Ford Pinto in the 1970s.

I've not seen one of these cars before, nor since.

1965 Shelby Cobra

This is a photograph that I took at the Knickerbrook chicane during qualifying for the Guards Trophy race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2017.

It’s the 1965 Shelby Cobra of Paul Gibson which has a 4.7 litre Ford V8 engine.