Crossley RFC Staff Car

This car took part in the Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run, starting from the Exchange Station car park in Manchester, in June 1990.

It's obviously a Crossley, but the programme of the event shows car number 19 as a 1912 Michigan Tourer entered by C R Unsworth of Ashton-in-Makerfield. This was either a misprint, or Mr Unsworth owned more than one eligible car as the programme for the 1987 event has this entry for car number 26:

26     1914 Crossley Staff Car,
         Reg: AE 28,  4 cylinder 20/25 hp
         (C R Unsworth, Ashton in Makerfield)
Only two of these unusual Crossleys are known
to be in existence - each is fitted with double
back wheels, and both are on this Run for the
first time.

Willment BRM

Here's a car that competed in the Coys of Kensington 80th Anniversary Trophy Race for Pre-1972 Le Mans Cars at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1999.

It's Anthony Taylor's 1965 Willment-BRM, about which I've been able to find little information except that it's powered by a 2 litre BRM engine.

NB: Since it's 50 years today since 30th July 1966, here's a link to a piece I wrote on 30th July 2012:

http://hyde1841.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/30-july-1966.html

Friday's Ferrari

Here's one of the Ferraris spotted in St Peter Port during the Guernsey Motor Festival weekend last week.

It's a Ferrari 458 Italia, and because the Guernsey registration system consists of  up to five digits and no letters, it's got an appropriate number plate.

Mercedes Benz W125 & W154 at Oulton Park

On 3 April 2012 I showed photographs of the Mercedes Benz W125 that Colin Crabbe took to Oulton Park in 1970 and 1971, and I referred to the fact that in June 1958 Mercedes Benz had taken a W125 and also a W154 to the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park to be driven in demonstration runs by Peter Collins and Tony Brooks. Here are photographs of those cars I took that day returning to the paddock after one of those runs.

The 1937 Mercedes Benz W125

The 1939 Mercedes Benz W154 (sometimes called the W163)

Benetton

I took this photograph at the Donington Park Museum in May 1989.

I had labelled the photograph as a 1986 Benetton B187, presumably how the car was identified at the museum, but the 1986 Benetton B186 was a BMW-engined car and the B187 is the 1987 Ford-engined car. The other problem is that I can't find a photograph of any Benetton car with this livery. The '012' on the front wings suggests that it's actually the 1983 Benetton Tyrrell 012, which was a Ford Cosworth-engined car and photographs show it to have had this livery.

Guernsey, July 2016

Another trip to Guernsey last week to see our grandchildren and, as a treat for me, to see the Val des Terres hillclimb on the Saturday and the Guernsey Motor Festival Seafront Sunday.

Eliza and Edward in the garden on the Thursday just before going out for a meal.....

.....at Crabby Jack's where there's a playground for the children.....

.....but Eliza also wanted to spend some time with grandpa.

On the Friday after the children's swimming lessons we had a 35 minute ride round St Peter Port on the Petit Train.....

.....which Edward enjoyed.

In the evening we took a picnic meal to Castle Cornet for a KPMG Castle Night of music and entertainment. Eliza appears to be thinking: 'The sandwiches and sausage rolls were ok, but where's the cake?'

Edward trying to produce bubbles from one of the bubble blowers they were handing out when we went into the castle.....

..... and Eliza looked singularly unimpressed with mummy's efforts.

On the Saturday morning we went to see the Val des Terres hillclimb on the road at the south of St Peter Port. This is the Ford Escort of Gary Duquemin nearing the finish line at the top of the climb..

Later we had a walk through the pit/paddock area at the bottom of the hill during which Edward needed to take a nap.

Later that afternoon there was a dip in the sea at Cobo Bay.....

.....then fish and chips on the beach,

The next day was the Motorsport Seafront Sunday in St Peter Port with a large number of vehicles on show and also in action on the North Beach car park. This is a Ford Shelby Mustang GT500.

Edward is always getting hold of Beryl's camera and taking photographs with it - usually peoples' feet out of focus and the like. But this was a picture he took of daddy during a stop for a bite to eat. Not bad for a 3½ year old,

Later in the day we had a barbecue in the garden at home.

It was back home to Hyde the next day and here are Edward and Eliza with daddy in the airport lounge just before we left.

Lister Jaguar Coupe

This car was present at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998, but it didn't compete in any of the races.

It's the 1963 Lister Jaguar GT Prototype, and this Silverstone appearance is referred to in this history of the car by H&H Classic Auctions.

Oulton Park

Some cars I photographed at the Thundersport GB Championship 2016 meeting at Oulton Park a couple of weeks ago.

A Bentley S3 Saloon in the paddock. These cars were produced between 1963 and 1965.

The following three cars were all parked in the small parking area on the outside of the circuit adjacent to the exit of Hislop's chicane at Knickerbrook.

A TVR M Series car. The 'P' in the number plate implies it was first registered between 1 Aug 1975 and 31 Jul 1976.

A Ginetta G32, the 'H' suggests that it was first registered between 1 Aug 1990 and 31 Jul 1991.

Mini Cooper 1.3i, according to the 'M' it was first registered between 1 Aug 1994 and 31 Jul 1995.

Bentley 3 litre

I photographed this car in one of the spectator car parks at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2008.

It's a 1925 Bentley 3 litre, and you can read some facts about this car on the website of the Vintage Bentley Owners Club.

Friday's Ferrari

This car competed in the Shell Ferrari Historical Challenge race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997.

The programme of the event shows it to be a 1954 Ferrari 750 Monza, entered by Paul Osborn and to be driven in the race by Tony Dron. It's got the entrant and driver correct, but it's actually a 1954 Ferrari 500 Mondial, chassis number 0468MD.

Lamborghini Countach

This car was on the Prestwich Garage trade stand at the Northern Classic Car Show at the G-Mex Exhibition Centre, Manchester in August 1989.

There's no mention of it in the show's brochure, but it's a Lamborghini Countach. The Countach was produced between 1974 and 1990, and the 'E' on the Number plate indicates a registration date between August 1987 and July 1988.

Maserati 200S

This car competed in a round of the Shell Ferrari Maserati Historic Challenge series at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2004.

It's Massimo Sordi's 1957 Maserati 200S, seen here in the pit lane during a practice session. The chassis number is 2421.

Porsche 962

On 18 November 2015 I showed photographs of a Porsche 962C that took part in a race for GroupC/GTP Sports Cars at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2007. Five Porsche 962s are listed in the programme of the event for this race, and the car shown below was also present, but is not shown in the programme.

It appears to be an ex-Team Schuppan car, and the 'Paragon' on the rear wing suggests it might have something to do with Mark Sumpter who drove the Porsche 962C shown in my earlier post.

Aston Martin DB Mk III

These two cars competed in the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1993.

This is the 1957 Aston Martin DB Mk III of John Gross

This is another Aston Martin DB Mk III, but doesn't appear in the programme of the event.

The Aston Martin DB Mk III was the final version of the DB2/4 and was succeeded in 1958 by the Aston Martin DB4,

Cooper Bristol

Here's a group of cars lined up in the paddock at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 1996.

On the front row are four Cooper Bristols; the two cars nearest the camera are the 1952 models of Proby Cautley and Spencer Flack, and behind that the 1953 cars of Bob Gilbert and Graham Burrows. The red car behind them all is the 1952 Frazer Nash of Peter Mann. Whilst generally being known as the Cooper Bristol because of the Bristol engine, it's also known as the Cooper T20.

Fire Service Response Vehicle

Walking home from my shopping trip to Hyde town centre about a month ago I spotted this vehicle parked in a side street.

It's a Vauxhall Frontera DTi 16V Fire Service Response Vehicle

The logo on the bonnet, and on the rear of the vehicle, says 'Chesham Fire Engine Services' which is apparently a hire company specialising in fire appliances.

The logo on the side of the vehicle says 'Bredbury', which is near Stockport and presumably where they are based.

Friday's Ferrari

I took this photograph at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2006.

It's Paul Osborn at Redgate Corner during a demonstration run in his 1993 Ferrari F93A, and it's probably chassis number 143, the car driven by Jean Alesi in the 1993 racing season.

Surtees TS8

This car took part in the Historic Formula Racing Cars race for the HSCC Pre '65 Single Seater Championship at the HSCC's Summer Race Meeting at Oulton Park in July 1995.

It's Mike Whatley's 1971 Formula 5000 Surtees TS8, chassis number 014.

Here's Mike Whatley approaching Lodge Corner during his race.

AEC Regent

This is one of the vehicles taking part in the Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally at Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1998.

It's a 1954 AEC Regent III, and the programme of the event had this information about it:

AEC Regent III/East Lancs  1954                                                                              UTC 672
Entered by               The Cotton family
Bamber Bridge Motor Services was once a small operator running services in Mid Lancashire. BBMS sold out to the Ribble undertaking in 1967 and number 4 was then taken out of service. Rescued in a very poor state No. 4 has been completely re-built over the years. Rumour has it that BBMS approached Leyland Motors whose factory was just around the corner to supply one PD chassis in 1954. Leyland refused to be bothered with a single request and AEC in turn supplied the chassis. BBMS then used the vehicle on the Leyland factory run, just to prove a point. Leyland never refused a single vehicle order after that. No. 4 is another fine vehicle privately owned and forming part of the Manchester Museum's collection.

UTC 672 has since been bought by Cumbria Classic Coaches, and you can read about it here.

Aston Martin DBR2

These two cars took part in the Louis Vuitton '50s Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1995.

This is the 1957 Aston Martin DBR2 of Simon Draper and was driven by David Clark in the race.

Only two Aston Martin DBR2s were built, and this is DBR2/2.

This is the other DBR2, driven at Silverstone by the owner, Steve O'Rourke, it's DBR2/1.