Bentley 3 litre

On 5 April 2015 I showed a photograph of a Bentley 3 litre which had been rebuilt as a replica of one of the Bentleys that took part in the 1922 TT race in the Isle of Man and I said that it wasn't easy to recognise as a Bentley because it lacked the usual Bentley radiator casing. Here's a photograph I took at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2004 which shows what such cars usually look like.

It's a 1925 Bentley 3 litre and was driven in the Pre-War Sports Car Team Relay Race at this meeting by the owner Philip Strickland, and www.vintagebentleys.org has some information about the history of the car.

Jaguar Lister XJS

This car competed in the Gordon Russell Furniture Inter-Marque Championship Race at the Jaguar Drivers' Club's Cheshire Cats' Trophy meeting at Oulton Park in April 1987.

It's a 5.3 litre Jaguar Lister XJS, entered by BLE Automotive/WP Automotive and driven in the race by Iain Exeter. The Wikipedia article about the Jaguar V12 engine says this about the Jaguar Lister:

Lister Cars, a well-known Jaguar tuner with a long history of technical collaboration with the British automaker. The first Jaguar Lister XJRS's were built by the company BLE Automotive in Erdington, Birmingham in the early 1980s until the Lister brand was passed on to WP Automotive of Leatherhead.

MG VA

This is a photograph I took at the start of the Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run at The Village Hotel, Cheadle, Stockport in June 1993. This car had actually just left the start line at the front entrance of the hotel.

It's a 1939 MG VA and the only information in the programme of the event is that it was entered for the run by W.A. Pownall of Hazel Grove, Cheshire. The programme in previous years had included snippets of information about some of the cars, most of them in fact in the earliest years of the run, but by 1993 only these basic details were shown. The following year I was unable to even find a programme for sale at the event, and coupled with the fact that the start was at this rather out-of-the-way place I got the impression that the organisers weren't particularly interested in attracting spectators. I believe the run now starts from Worsley. This particular car was sold by the auctioneers H&H Classics in 2001.

Friday's Ferrari

This is one of David Piper's cars at the Silverstone Historic Festival meeting in August 2001.

It's a 1964 Ferrari 330P2, serial number 0836 and another four of David Piper's Ferraris are behind the 330P2. This Wikipedia article tells you about the Ferrari P series of sports prototype racing cars.

Lotus Mk X

I've shown a photograph of the Lotus Mk X  previously, on 13th May 2015, and here's another photograph of one taken at the International Historic Grand Prix meeting at Donington Park in May 2004.

This is Adrian Hall's 1955 car, and as I said before, it's based on the Lotus Mk VIII, but modified for the Bristol engine. You can see the bulge in the engine cover to accommodate the taller engine.

Oulton Park Gold Cup Meeting 2012

Here's some of the action at Britten's chicane during Race 1 of the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2012 - the HSCC 70s Road Sport Championship.

Mark Brown (1976 TVR 3000M) leading Brian Jarvis (1979 Porsche 924)

Julian Barter (1979 TVR 3000M) leading Charles Barter (1971 Datsun 240Z)

Charles Barter (1971 Datsun 240Z) leading Oliver Ford (1972 Lotus Europa)

Phil Briggs (1979 Porsche 928) leading James Dean (1972 Lotus Europa)

Brian Rides (1973 Clan Crusader)

Mark Oldfield (1978 Lancia Monte Carlo) leading James Nairn (1975 Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV)

John Thomason (1970 Triumph GT6 MkIII) leading Steve Cooke (1978 TVR 3000M)

Howard Bentham (1970 Lotus Elan)

Essex Terraplane

This car was on the Railton Owners Club stand at the Northern Classic Car show at the G-Mex exhibition centre in August 1992.

It's a 1932 Essex Terraplane, built by the Hudson Motor Car Company in Detroit, Michigan. From 1934 the car was simply called a 'Terraplane'. The Terraplane chassis and engine were also used on the British Railton car built by the Fairmile Engineering Company in Cobham, Surrey, hence the appearance of this Essex car (and also a Hudson) on the stand of the Railton Owners Club.

Falling Educational Standards? (2)

On 21st May 2014 I showed some photographs of numbers on a fence outside a primary school in Hyde. Originally the numbers 1 to 9 were on the fence, but by May 2014 it had been reduced to the numbers 1 to 5 and I queried whether this showed that educational standards were slipping. This is a photograph I took of the fence recently.

So now we're down to the numbers 1 to 3 and the dumbing down of our childrens' education seems to be getting worse and worse. I fully expect to pass this fence in a few weeks' time and find just a huge number '1'.

Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupé

I took the photograph below at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It's a 1963 Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupé and was driven in the race by the owner, Rob Walton, who is the son of the late Sam Walton the founder of Walmart, and is now chairman of the company. The programme of the event says this about the Shelby Cobra:

'The car that finally knocked Ferrari off its perch, and won the World GT Championship, was one that combined British and American ideas. We refer, of course, to the immortal Shelby Cobra. Carroll Shelby of Texas had been one of America's top sportscar drivers in the 1950s and also raced sportscars in Europe with some success. After retiring he had the idea of taking a British production sportscar, renowned for its fine handling, and dropping in a small-block American V8 engine.

The rest is history. In 1962, the first Cobra appeared - an AC Ace chassis and body with a 4.2 litre Ford engine. Shelby started racing the cars straight away and the 4.2 engine soon gave way to a more powerful 4.7 version. Just as quickly, the Cobras became a worry to the Ferraris, not only in America but also in Europe, where they were raced in GT events. For the 1964 season, a 7-litre engine and stylish 'Daytona' bodywork were added and the Anglo-American hybrid came close to beating Ferrari to the World GT Championship. In 1965 it succeeded.

Spectators at the Coys International Historic Festival Presented by Chrysler are privileged to be able to see in action a rare survivor of the Daytona Cobra coupés, racing once more against the Ferraris, Aston Martins and Jaguars that it set out to beat.'

This Wikipedia article tells you about the Shelby Cobra and gives details of the six original cars. Rob Walton's car is chassis number CSX2286.

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Alta Voiturette

This car participated in the race for the Historic Seaman Trophy at the Richard Seaman Historic Trophies meeting at Donington Park in June 2003.

It's a 1938 Alta Voiturette and was driven in the race by Martin Redmond. The programme of the event said this about the Alta entries:

The two Altas, that of David Baldock driven by Paul Jaye (121) and the other of Martin Redmond (4), can always be expected to challenge the rest. The Alta with its very advanced chassis with all independent suspension was designed and built by Geoffrey Taylor in a small workshop in Tolworth, southwest of London.

It looks as if this particular car was the subject of an H&H auction in July this year, but didn't sell.

Friday's Ferrari

The entry list for the British Empire Trophy race at Oulton Park in April 1958 included two Ferrari 250 Testa Rossas from the Belgian racing team Ecurie Francorchamps, to be driven by Alain de Changy and Freddy Rousselle. Here's a photograph of one of them in the paddock before the race.

It's Alain de Changy's car, serial number 0724TR - the barchetta.cc record for that car doesn't show it to have been in that race, but it's shown in the World Sports Racing Prototypes record. This car finished ninth in the race, but Freddy Rousselle didn't manage to qualify his car into the final from its heat.

NB: (20 Nov 2015) It looks as if the WSPR record is incorrect, and this is in fact 0736TR
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Austin Swallow

The Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally (now apparently known as the Trans Lancs Transport Show) always includes a class for cars, and this is one of the entrants pictured at Heaton Park, Manchester in 1995.

It's a 1930 Austin Swallow Saloon, about which the programme of the event says:

Austin Swallow Saloon, 1930                                                                            MW 7073

Entered by N. Sutherland, Heywood

Bought in 1976 in many parts. Re-built over the years and only this winter had a full body re-build and re-spray.

The car is an Austin Seven with a body by William Lyons' Swallow Sidecar Company and the car proved to be so successful that the company was moved from Blackpool to Coventry. The company eventually began producing the SS car, and after the war in 1945 the by then unacceptable name of 'SS' was changed to 'Jaguar'.

Connaught L2

I photographed this car at the HSCC Summer Race Meeting at Oulton Park in July 1992 - it didn't take part in the racing, but was parked outside the paddock amongst other spectators' cars.

It's a 1949 Connaught L2, the third car to be made, and was fitted with a 1767cc Lea Francis engine. These were the first cars to be built by Connaught Engineering, who went on to build Formula One and Formula Two cars in the 1950s.

Alfa Romeo 308

This car took part in the HGPCA Pre '52 GP Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 1996.

It's a 1937 Alfa Romeo 308 and was driven in the race by Duncan Ricketts. The 3 litre Alfa Romeo 308 was developed from the 8C, having the straight-8 engine from the 8C 2900, and was intended to challenge the Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union cars in the 1938 and 1939 seasons but didn't have much success, That didn't improve with the V12 engined 312 or the V16 engined 316, but Alfa Romeo finally came good with the 1½ litre supercharged straight-8 engined 158 and 159 models which made Guiseppe Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio champions in the first two years of the new World Championship for Drivers in 1950 and 1951.

Rolls Royce Phantom I

This car took part in the Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in May 1992 and this photograph was taken as the car approached the start line in the Exchange Station car park in Manchester.

It's a 1929 Rolls Royce Phantom I, and the only information about the car in the programme of the event was that it was entered by Roger S Halliwell of Lightcliffe, Halifax. 2269 examples of the Phantom I were built at the Rolls Royce factory at Derby, England, and a further 1240 at the Springfield, Massachusetts factory in the USA.

Napier-Bentley

On 2 May 2012 I showed some photographs of the 24 litre Napier-Railton which did some demonstration runs at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy meeting at Donington Park in May 2011. This car was powered by a Napier Lion broad arrow configuration aeroplane engine, and at the same meeting at Donington Park in May 2001 one of the cars competing was the Napier-Bentley, a 1929 Bentley 8 litre chassis fitted with a Napier Sea Lion boat engine which is based on that Lion aeroplane engine. Here are two photographs of the car I took that day.

You can see here the four stub exhausts from the middle of the three banks of cylinders sticking out of the bonnet above the left-hand bank of cylinders......

.....and here you can see the right-hand bank of cylinders. Chris Williams is driving the car and I took the photograph from the inside of Coppice Corner.

Heaton Park Tramway

The Manchester Transport Museum Society was formed in the early 1960s and has operated the Heaton Park Tramway since 1980. The first vehicle the Society obtained was a 1914 Manchester 'California' tram, number 765, which was rescued by the society from a farm near Huddersfield and restored with the help of the National Tramway Museum in Crich. This tram and others are run on a stretch of about 1 km of track through the park and their website gives details of when the service is operating. Here's a couple of photographs I took of 765 when I visited the park in June 1983.

Friday's Ferrari

The runners in the Cheshire Building Society Allcomers Race at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987 included the car shown below.

It's Neil Corner's 1960 Ferrari Dino 246 F1 car, serial number 0007, later renumbered 0788FT. The programme of the event said this about the car:

'Favourite for the race must be Neil Corner's Dino Ferrari, which won last year, and was also the winner of the Mike Hawthorn Trophy race at Silverstone last month. It is an unusual Dino as the works rebuilt it for Tasman racing, substituting a 3-litre V12 sports car engine in place of the 2½ litre V6.'

Guy Wolf

This single deck bus was amongst the entrants in the Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally at Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1998.

It's a 1950 Guy Wolf with a 20 seat Ormac body. The programme of the event had this to say this about the bus:

Guy Wolf/Ormac      1950                                                          SB 8155

Entered by           Mr A. Niblett, Erdington, Birmingham

New to Alexander MacConnacher of Ballachulish, Scotland this vehicle spent all its working life with them being used mainly on a triangular tour service to Loch Etive Head and return, a trip of approximately 54 miles. Withdrawn and sold for preservation in 1970 the vehicle passed through several owners hands losing its engine  to a Llandudno bus in the process, It passed to the present owners in 1981.

There's an interesting website about Guy Motors, though it doesn't appear to mention the Guy Wolf.

Mercedes-Benz 300SLR

The theme for the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994 was Juan Manuel Fangio, and there was a display of several of the cars he drove during a career in which he won the Formula One Drivers' World Championship five times. He also finished in second place in the 1955 Mille Miglia and on display at Silverstone was the car with which his teammate Stirling Moss won that race - the Mercedes Benz 300 SLR.

The Mille Miglia was run on one lap of a course of almost 1000 miles from Brescia, down the east coast of Italy, across to Rome, then back to Brescia up the west coast. Excluding the wartime 1940 Mille Miglia which took place over nine laps of a course between Brescia, Cremona and Mantua and was won by Huschke von Hanstein and Walter Bäumer in a BMW 328 Berlinetta Touring, the Mille Miglia was only won twice by a non-Italian - in 1931 by Rudolf Caracciola and Wilhelm Sebastian in a Mercedes-Benz SSK, and in 1955 by Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson in the 300 SLR.

The cars started at 1 minute intervals and the number 722 on this car indicates that Stirling Moss started the race at 7.22am. Fangio opted not to have a co-driver and his car was only fitted with a single headrest. It was numbered 658 indicating a 6.58am start, but after mechanical problems he finished 8 minutes after the winning car, in second place but 32 minutes behind Moss.

I seem to recall that until the mid 1950s it was compulsory to have a co-driver in the Mille Miglia, but I can't find anything saying when that rule was changed. The first race I can find where the results list shows cars without co-drivers is the 1954 race which was won by Alberto Ascari driving alone in a Lancia D24.

Trimax Monoposto

When I started watching motor racing in the 1950s one of the support races at each meeting was usually for 500cc Formula 3 cars. These were mostly Cooper or Kieft machines, but there was always a sprinkling of cars from other low production manufacturers, and one-off specials. The SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011 included a race for these 500cc cars with a sizeable entry list, amongst which was the car shown here.

It's the 1949 Trimax Monoposto, built by Spike Rhiandro and driven in this race by Duncan Rabagliati, and you can read the history of this car here. The car was designed to allow for engines of 500, 750, and 1,000cc to be fitted (hence the 'Trimax' name) and for the Donington Park race it used the JAP 497cc engine shown below.

Appropriately, it mirrored its debut performance in 1950 at Goodwood by coming to a standstill on the run-off area just past McLeans Corner on the first lap of the Donington Park race.

Triumph TR2 and TR3

Here are two cars which took part in the AMOC Lighthouse Anglo-American Thoroughbred Challenge race at the Aston Martin Owners Club race meeting at Oulton Park in May 2002.

This is a 1955 Triumph TR2 and was driven in the race by Roy Chamberlain. Produced by the Standard Motor Company the TR2 used a tuned version of the 1991cc Standard Vanguard engine and I remember when the car was introduced in 1953 it had such a striking appearance compared with the mainly pre-war sports cars which were around at that time.

Also in the race, and driven by Charles Gillett, was this successor to the TR2, the Triumph TR3. It had a slightly more powerful engine and the only noticable difference to the bodywork was the external grille to the radiator air intake. The grille on later TR3s was made the full width of the body and these cars are usually referred to as TR3As, although the name wasn't used officially and they were not badged as such.

Ford Thunderbird

This is a photograph I took at the Northern Classic Car Show at G-Mex, Manchester in August 1989.

It's a Ford Thunderbird First Generation, a car which was produced between 1955 and 1957, and you can tell that this is a 1956 model because the spare wheel is mounted on the back of the car and it has the air vents in the body in front of the doors. The 1957 car had further modifications to the front bumper, the grille and the tailfins. The Ford Thunderbird was produced not as a sports car, but as a 'personal luxury car' and as such the pink colour suits it.

American La France

Here's one of the cars on the Exchange Station car park in Manchester awaiting the start of the Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1991.

It's a 1916 La France Racer, owned by Clive G Williams of Hyde, Cheshire. and apart from the fact that it has a 15 litre 6-cylinder engine the only information about it in the programme of the event is that it was the car's first Manchester to Blackpool run. La France is best known as a manufacturer of fire engines and other emergency vehicles for over 100 years from the early 20th century, but also built a number of passenger cars in the early years.

Friday's Ferrari

This car took part in the BRDC '60s GT Race at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It's Hartmut Ibing's 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO, one of three such cars in the race, and the programme of the event had this to say about them:

'In keeping with today's Ferrari theme, there are no fewer than three teams of Maranello cars in the GT race, one from Italy, one from the Netherlands and one British. Included in the total are three GTOs. They are headed by Nick Mason's car, registered 250GTO, originally an Ecurie Francorchamps car which was third at Le Mans in 1962 and won the following year's Spa 500km race. Sir Anthony Bamford's was first raced by David Piper, though German driver Hartmut Ibing's was campaigned by rather less successful drivers.

Stirling Moss, who raced the prototype GTO right at the end of his career, is the star driver in the Ferrari line-up, partnering Mason, while former British touring car champion Frank Sytner drives the Bamford car and historic racing star Peter Hannan shares Ibing's car.'

The serial number of Hartmut Ibing's car is 3809GT and you can see here on the barchetta.cc website who the 'rather less successful drivers' were who originally campaigned this car.

Lister Bristol

I saw this car in the paddock at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in June 2008 in a display of vehicles by H&H Classic Car Auctions and recognised it as one I'd seen racing in the late 1950s.

The programme of the event included a notice of a forthcoming auction at Buxton which was to include this car and contained this brief description of its history:

'1955/1957 Lister Sports Racer

This Lister began life with a Riley engine and was entered for the 1955

Bol D'Or 24-hours Grand Prix  de  Paris.  It  was  converted  to  Bristol

power the following year and raced at national and international level

before crashing heavily at Snetterton in July 1957.  Thereafter, the  car

was rebuilt  by  the  Works  with  new  'flatiron'  bodywork.  The  Lister

has been in the current  ownership  since  August  1969  but  is  offered

for sale as a restoration project (Bristol engine and gearbox included).

Estimate: £50,000 - £70,000.'

This H&H catalogue description gives a more comprehensive history of the car.

Foden S20

This is one of the entries in the Commercial Vehicles over 3 tons, Class G, at the Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally at Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1993.

It's a 1961 Foden S20 and the programme of the event had this information about it:

G6          Foden S20, 1961                                                                                  763 BWA

                Entered by W.H.Church, Keighley

                Owned until 1974 by a Sheffield steelworks and then by R Church, a travelling

                showman, until 1990. Fully restored as a showman's vehicle.

The Foden Society is 'An independent society dedicated to the study and preservation of Foden products from 1856 to date'.

Lola T212

This car took part in a race billed as the HSCC Atlantic Computers Historic GT Championship at the HSCC Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1986.

It's a 1970 Lola T212, entered in the race by Oyez Stationery and driven by Chris Beauvoisin. Lola has been building a wide variety of racing cars since 1958 ranging from sports and GT cars to single seater Formula Junior, Formula 2 and Formula 1 cars. The Ford GT40s that won the Le Mans 24 Hour race in the four years from 1966 to 1969 were based on the Lola GT Mk6 and Graham Hill won the 1966 Indianapolis 500 race in a Lola T90. The 1971 European Sports Car Championship was won by a Lola T212 like the above car, a championship that was won the previous year by Jo Bonnier in a  Lola T210

Bombardier Dash 8

On 7th June 2015 the aircraft on Flybe flight BE354 from Newquay to Manchester was a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 in Flybe's purple livery.

Here's the Bombardier passing over Hyde just 3 minutes before landing at Manchester Airport.

The registration number of the aircraft is G-PRPL, which seems to be a nod to the new livery.