Lagonda 2.6 Litre Drophead Coupe

This car was in the paddock at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

It's a 1952 Lagonda 2.6 Litre Drophead Coupe, one of 510 4-door saloon and 2-door coupe versions of the car that were produced between 1948 and 1953. At the time of its introduction the 2.6 litre was the only British car to have independent suspension, with coil springs at the front and torsion bars at the rear, and the 2,580cc straight-6 engine was the basis of the engines used to power the 1950s Aston Martin models.
This particular car was offered for sale by H&H Classic Car Auctioneers in October 2014.

Maserati 250S

This car competed in the twelve lap 1950's Sports Car Race at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies Meeting at Oulton Park in June 1993.

It's Robin Lodge's 1957 Maserati 250S and was driven in the race by Nigel Corner. A note in the programme of the event reads as follows:

'Robin Lodge has entered Nigel Corner to drive his 1957 250S Maserati. The Prototype of the 250S sports cars of 1954-56 used the earlier sports A6GCS chassis fitted with a 6 cylinder 250F 2.5 litre engine giving 230 bhp instead of the 240-270 bhp of the Grand Prix 250F engines as it ran on petrol instead of alcohol. The developed 250S cars were converted from the left hand drive of the A6GCS to right hand drive and these, in turn, were developed into the 300S Maseratis by an increase in stroke, giving 245 bhp. There was a second coming of the 250S, 1957-1959 having a 196 bhp 4 cylinder engine in a shorter wheelbase chassis resulting in a lighter car. Robin Lodge's car has this later chassis with the 4 cylinder engine.'

The earlier versions of the 250S were produced by fitting the 2½ litre engine into a Maserati 150S or 200S chassis, but only two cars were originally built with a 2½ litre engine, Robin Lodge's car (chassis #2432) and chassis #2431.

This is the Maserati at Lodge Corner during the race.

1977 BMW 3.0 CSL

I photographed this car in the paddock at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1999.

There's no information about it in the programme of the event, but it's a 1977 BMW 3.0 CSL of the Belgian Luigi Racing Team, one of which finished in eighth place in the 1977 Le Mans 24 Hour Race, winning the IMSA class. The BMW 3.0 CSL was introduced in 1972 as a homologation version of the 3.0 CS, the 2,986cc of the straight-6 engine having been increased by 1977 to 3,153cc.

ERA R7B

This is one of four ERAs that took part in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Donington Park in June 2008.

It's Paul Mullins in his 1936 ERA R7B pictured in the pit lane during a practice session. The car was originally built for Arthur Dobson with a supercharged 1,488cc straight-6 engine, but here was powered by the 1.980cc engine. After WW2 the car passed through various hands, Paul Mullins owning it from 2002 to 2014, but the longest ownership was that of Dudley Gahagan who looked after the car from 1960 to 1998.

Aston Martin DB3S

This car took part in the 'Pre-War Sports Cars with Feltham Aston Martins' race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in September 1992.

It's Simon Draper at Lodge Corner in his 1954 Aston Martin DB3S, chassis DB3S/7. This car has the straight-6 Lagonda 2,992cc engine and was originally built with a coupe body as part of the works Aston Martin sports car team. Peter Collins and Prince Bira shared the driving in this car in the 1954 Le Mans 24 hour race, but it was severely damaged in an accident after 13 hours when being driven by Prince Bira, who escaped with cuts and bruises. The car was rebuilt for the start of the 1955 season with an open body and for 1956 received the new nose, as seen above, then was sold off by the works at the end of that season.

Friday's Ferrari

Access to the pit garages was strictly regulated at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017, but I managed to get this photograph of one of the Corse Clienti F1 Ferraris from the paddock by peering through a rack of tyres.

I find it difficult to identify accurately recent F1 Ferrari models, but this appear to be a Ferrari 150° Italia as raced in the 2011 season by Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. That car was powered by the Ferrari 056 2,398cc V8 engine.

TVR

Here are photographs of four TVRs that I took at the Footman James Classic Car Show Manchester at EventCity in September 2018.

This is a 1986 TVR 420 SEAC race car and the board alongside says it has a Rover V8 dry sump alloy race engine, by V8 Developments, with stage 4 heads, big valves and solid lifters. This 5.4 litre engine produces 350bhp and the car was built and raced by Steve Cole at David Gerard. In its first year of racing in 1986 it was entered in 24 races and had 21 class wins and 19 outright race wins, but was then banned due to homologation issues. This car is one of only three to be built with a stainless steel chassis and is the only one still running with its its original chassis. The car has now been converted for road use.

This is a 2005 TVR Sagaris with a 3,996cc TVR Speed Six engine, a 6-cylinder inline alloy engine with 4 valves per cylinder and dry sump lubrication.

This car is a 1999 TVR Cerbera and has the same 3,996cc TVR Speed Six engine as the TVR Sagaris.

This car is a 2004 TVR T350T, the Targa version of the T350, and again has the 3,996cc TVR Speed Six engine.

Formula Junior

I photographed these cars at Redgate corner on the first lap of the Formula Junior race at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2007.

On the left the yellow car, number 20, is the 1960 Elva 100 of Geoff O'Nion which is being followed by the number 99 1960 Elva 100 of Peter Lavender. On the right the red 1960 OSCA (21) of Peter Mullen is alongside the 1960 Elva 100 (23) of David Watts and behind him is another 1960 Elva 100, the number 226 of Roger Dexter. I can't identify the car behind the OSCA, but the blue car behind that group is the 1958 Stanguellini (116) of Gordon Wright. The three cars bringing up the rear on the left are Bill Grimshaw in his 1959 Moorland Mk1 (29) Stephen Bulling in the red 1959 Sadler (118) and the blue 1959 Volpini (10) of Antony Childe-Freeman. All the cars bar one have 1.1 litre engines, the exception being the Sadler's which is only 1 litre.

1906 Nordenfelt

The VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy Vintage Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in August 1992 included a 4 lap handicap race for Edwardian cars and this is one of the competitors.

The programme of the event shows it as a 5,519cc 1906 Nordenfelt, and the only information I've been able to find about it is the programme note which reads as follows:

'The mysterious 1906 30hp, 5.5 litre Nordenfelt of Roger Firth is driven by Daniel Hall. According to Georgano's Encyclopedia of Motor Cars, the Nordenfelt comes from Belgium with an engine produced by Barriquand et Marre "and was reported to have all other components made by John Cockerill of Liege, although the latter firm have always denied their connection with this, or any other car."

In 1906, The Autocar claimed it was a French car, but spelt the name of the chassis Nordenfeldt and the engine Bariquand. The magazine reported that a 24-30hp Nordenfeldt was exhibited at the 1906 Olympia Show by the British Bariquand and Marre Engine Co. of 10 Poland Street, London. According to Georgano, however, the cars were only manufactured between 1906 and 1909.'

The DVLA has a record of the vehicle and says that it was first registered in February 1992, it has a 5,820cc engine, and has been registered with a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN).

Facel Vega Facel 6

I photographed this car in the car park at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It's a 1965 Facel Vega Facel 6 and is powered by the straight-6 Austin Healey engine which the Official Facel Vega record shows as 2,860cc and the DVLA says is 2,902cc. More recent photographs of this car show that it is now coloured blue.

1926 Vauxhall Tourer

This was one of the entrants in the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in May 1987 starting in the Exchange Station car park in Manchester.

It's a 1926 Vauxhall Tourer and the programme of the event said this about it:

87   1926 Vauxhall Tourer

        Reg: KU 8110   4 cylinder   17 hp

        (V. Power, Manchester)

This white tourer is owned by Samuel Webster's Brewery and is today

being used by Piccadilly Radio, Manchester, as a base for live inserts

from the Run, for Mike Sweeney's Sunday morning Family Favourites

Show.

I don't know what model of Vauxhall this is. The DVLA record says that it has a 1,701cc engine, but I can find no Vauxhall model from the 1920s that had an engine of this capacity, nor one advertised as being a 17hp model.

1950s Drum-Braked Sports Racing Cars

This is a photograph I took at McLeans Corner during the 1950s Drum-Braked Sports Racing Cars race at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005.

Leading is Marshall Bailey in his 1956 Cooper T39 Bobtail followed by the 1955 Maserati 300S of Rodney Smith (#3060) being driven by Mark Gillies. Closely behind Mark Gillies is the 1954 HWM Jaguar of Michael Steele and the car at the rear is the 1958 Lola Mk1 prototype of Richard Wills.

Friday's Ferrari

Here are three cars that competed in the 50 minute long GT Challenge race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2018. All the photographs were taken at the point where the Fosters Circuit rejoins the International Circuit just before the Knickerbrook chicane.

This is a 1999 Ferrari 360 and was driven in the race by Matthew Wilton and John Cowan. The Ferrari 360 was produced from 1999 to 2004 and has a 3,586cc V8 engine.

This is the 2007 Ferrari F430 Challenge of Tony Jones who didn't nominate a co-driver. The Ferrari F430 Challenge was in production from 2007 to 2010 and has a 4,308cc V8 engine.

This car was not listed in the programme of the event, but it's another Ferrari F430 Challenge, that of Wayne Marrs who also didn't nominate a co-driver.

Maserati 250F

I took these photographs at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997.

This is the ex-Gilby Engineering 2½ litre 1954 Maserati 250F, chassis 2507/2 which does not have a racing number and may or may not have taken part in the meeting. In the programme of the event seven Maserati 250F's are listed in the HGPCA Pre-1960 Grand Prix Race and the programme shows the colour of each of the cars, but one is shown as being blue and the other six are red. The 1936 Maserati 4CM behind the 250F belonged to Robin Lodge who did have a Maserati 250F but it is not listed in the programme for this race.

On 11 May 2019 I showed a photograph of Roy Salvadori in this car at Silverstone in 1993.

1962 Lola Mk4

I took this photograph during practice for the Aintree 200 race in April 1962.

It's a 1962 Lola Mk4 with a 1,494cc V8 engine that was campaigned in the 1962 season by the Bowmaker Racing Team in place of the Cooper T53 cars they had used the previous season. John Surtees drove this car in the race, qualifying in third place on the grid, but retired after 37 of the 50 laps with a valve gear malfunction. The second Bowmaker Racing Team car was driven by Roy Salvadori who qualified in 15th position on the grid but retired after 8 laps with a broken throttle linkage.

Chevron

These three Chevrons took part in the RJB Mining Group 6 Championship and HSCC 2 Litre Championship race at the HSCC's Summer Race Meeting at Oulton Park in July 1992.  All the photographs were taken at Lodge Corner.

This is Roger Andreason's 1973 Chevron B23, shown in the programme of the event as having a 1,995cc engine, and competing in the 'Ford BD engined Group 6 cars' class.

Gerard MacQuillan's 2 litre 1974 Chevron B31 was driven in the 'BMW and Hart engines Group 6 cars' class.

Richard Budge's 2 litre 1975 Chevron B31/36 was driven by Mike Wilds and this car also competed in the 'BMW and Hart engines Group 6 cars' class.

On 30 May 2018 I showed photographs of several Chevrons at Oulton Park in 2004.

Craner Curves, Donington Park

This is a photograph taken at the Craner Curves during the first lap of the Ron Flockhart Memorial Trophy Race at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2004.

Leading is Andrew Smith in his 2 litre 1957 Cooper T43 followed by two more Coopers, the 2 litre 1958 T45 of Anthony Ditheridge and the 2 litre 1957 T43 of Tania Pilkington. The two cars behind them are the 3.8 litre 1958 Lister Jaguar Monza of Rod Jolley and Alexander Boswell's 3 litre 1952 Ferrari 625A. Following them is a group consisting of B Type and A Type Connaughts, a Cooper Bristol and another Cooper T45. Bringing up the rear are the 4.2 litre 1957 Kurtis Offenhauser KK500G of Stuart Harper and the 2 litre 1953 Cooper Bristol T23 of David White.

John Watson

I took this photograph at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 1996.

On the left is John Watson, and he is being interviewed for Silverstone Television by former Top Gear presenter Chris Goffey. John Watson drove in Formula 1 from 1973 to 1985 for various teams, including Brabham and Surtees, but most successfully for McLaren from 1979 to 1985. He won his first Grand Prix when driving for the Penske team in the 1976 Austrian Grand Prix - the only Grand Prix to have been won by a Penske - but his best season was for McLaren in 1982 when he finished in third place in the World Championship, winning the Grands Prix of Belgium and Detroit, starting in seventeenth place on the grid in the latter race. The previous season he had won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. At this Silverstone meeting in 1996 he drove a Brabham BT34 as part of a track demonstration celebrating Jack Brabham and his cars.

Guernsey Old Car Club

Yesterday I showed photographs of two Ferraris that I had taken at the Guernsey Classic Vehicle Show that was held at Saumarez Park on 16 June 2019. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Guernsey Old Car Club and Guernsey Post released a set of six stamps to mark the occasion, each stamp depicting a car belonging to one of the members of the club. All six cars depicted were at the Classic Vehicle Show and I took the opportunity to photograph each one.

1898 Delahaye Type 2, a twin-cylinder 2.2 litre 6hp vehicle.

The 1911 Delage Type X has a 2,983cc 4-cylinder inline engine and is one of four cars built by Louis Delage to take part in the 1911 Coupe des Voitures Légère race at Boulogne, one of the cars winning the event.

A 1936 Riley Kestrel 12/4 with a 1,496cc 4-cylinder inline engine based on the Riley 9 unit.

A 1952 Bentley Mk VI with a 4¼ litre 6-cylinder inline engine and was named the 'standard steel sports saloon', being the first Bentley to be given a body at the factory instead of the chassis being sent to a coachbuilder of the customer's choosing.

A 1956 Triumph TR3 with the 1,991cc 4-cylinder inline engine that also powered the Standard Vanguard. From 1959 there was also the option of a 2,138cc engine.

A 1966 Morris Minor Traveller with a 1,098cc 4-cylinder inline engine.

I would have thought that Guernsey Post would have given the owner of each of the cars a set of the stamps but I was told by the wife of the owner of one of the cars that they had not done so, which seems to me to be a little mean of Guernsey Post.

Friday's Ferrari

When we were in Guernsey last month the Guernsey Classic Vehicle Show took place, which attracted a large variety of cars including these two Ferraris.

This is a Ferrari California and unfortunately there was no information given about this group of Supercars, but it has a 4,297cc V8 engine.

This is a Ferrari 488 GTB and again there was no information about the car, but it has a 3,902cc Turbo engine.

1934 Alfa Romeo P3

This was one of the competitors in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race at the VSCC's meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987.

It's Rodney Felton at Lodge Corner during the race in his 1934 Alfa Romeo P3. The P3 was introduced in 1932 with a twin-supercharged 2,654cc straight-8 engine which by 1935 had been enlarged to 3,165cc. By then, with the exception of Tazio Nuvolari's victory in the German Grand Prix that year (with the engine further enlarged to 3,822cc), the car was unable to match the Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz cars

On 14 February 2019 I showed a photograph of this car at Silverstone in 2000.

Jaguar D-Type

This photograph was taken at McLeans Corner on the first lap of the BRDC Historic Sportscar Championship race at the HGPCA's Donington International Historic Grand Prix meeting in May 2004.

Leading is the Ben Eastick in his 1955 Jaguar D-Type with another Jaguar, the 1950 XK120 of Nigel Webb, in second place. Bringing up the rear is John Clark in his Lola Mk1.

Brabham BT4

This car competed in the Innes Ireland Trophy Race for Pre '66 Grand Prix and Tasman Cars at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1995.

It's John Harper's 1962 Brabham BT4, built to compete in the Tasman series of races in Australia and New Zealand with a 2,751cc Coventry Climax FPF engine. The car is chassis IC-3-62 and was originally campaigned by Australian Bib Stillwell. The programme of the event gave the engine capacity as 2,445cc.

On 27 December 2016 I showed a photograph of another of these cars, chassis IC-2-62, at Donington Park in 2001 when it was owned by Frank Sytner.

March 712

This car took part in the HSCC Pre '71 Single Seater Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1987.

It's the 1971 March 712 entered by PRW Hillingdon Motors and driven in the race by Peter Walker. I've not been able to trace a history of the car, but the programme of the event says that it had a 1,594cc engine, presumably a Ford Cosworth unit. In the 1971 European Formula 2 season the works March 712 was driven by Ronnie Peterson, and other March drivers that year included Dieter Quester, Jean-Pierre Jarier, Niki Lauda, Derek Bell and Vittorio Brambilla.

AEC Regent

I took this photograph at the Greater Manchester Transport Society's Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally in Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1996.

It's a 1955 AEC Regent III, a former Huddersfield Corporation bus, and the programme of the event said this about the vehicle:

AEC Regent III, East Lancs L55R Body, 1955                                               JVH 373

Huddersfield Corporation 243

Entered by     E.G.Sykes, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire

The last lowbridge bus to operate in the fleet. Recently returned to the rally scene after a

fifteen year absence. Withdrawn from service 1970.

Maserati 4CL

This car competed in the Richard Seaman Historic Trophy race at the VSCC's race meeting at Donington Park in June 2003.

It's the 1939 Maserati 4CL of Rodney Smith that was driven in the race by Mark Gillies. The 4CL has a 1,491cc 4-cylinder inline engine with a two-stage supercharger and was designed for the pre-war voiturette class of racing. This car is chassis #1566 and on 7 September 2017 I showed a photograph I'd taken of it at Silverstone in 1996.

Friday's Ferrari

This is one of the Ferraris at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017.

It's a 2013 Ferrari 458 Spider, a car with a 4,497cc V8 engine which was produced from 2011 to 2015. It replaced the Ferrari F430 and was succeeded by the Ferrari 488. This car is chassis #193511.

Porsche 930 Turbo

This car took part in the Gordon Russell Furniture Intermarque Championship Race at the Jaguar Drivers' Club's 6th Cheshire Cats' Trophy Meeting at Oulton Park in April 1987.

It's the Porsche 930 Turbo of Chris Millard. The Porsche 930 Turbo was a turbocharged version of the Porsche 911 and this car has the 3,299cc version of the flat-6 engine which was produced from 1978 to 1989.

Alfa Romeo 158

On 3 April 2016 I showed photographs of a 1950 Alfa Romeo 158 that featured in a display of cars marking a tribute to Juan Manuel Fangio at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994. Here's a photograph of the car being wheeled out to join that display.

The 1950 Alfa Romeo 158 was designed by Gioacchino Columbo and had a 1,479cc straight-8 engine with a single stage Roots type supercharger. The updated 1951 Alfa Romeo 159 had the same engine, but with a two stage supercharger.

Audi R8 & R8R

On 24 May 2016 I showed photographs of the 1999 Audi R8R and 1980 Audi R8 at Donington Park at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting in May 2001. Here are photographs of the two cars during one of the demonstration runs that day on the stretch between the Old Hairpin and McLean's Corner.

This is the 1999 Audi R8R, two of which competed in the 1999 Le Mans 24 Hour race finishing in third and fourth places. It has a 3,596 cc twin-turbo V8 engine.

This is the 2000 Audi R8, developed from the previous year's R8R and powered by the same 3.6 litre V8 engine. The R8 competed in the Le Mans 24 Hour race six times, from 2000 to 2005, winning on 5 occasions and being beaten only in 2003 - by the Bentley Speed 8.