1977 McLaren M26

I took this photograph at the Ferrari & Maserati Festival of Racing meeting at Donington Park in May 2003 where there was a race for Classic Grand Prix Cars, dating from 1967 to 1977. The car isn't listed in the programme of the event and I can't remember whether it took part in the race or not.

It's a 1977 McLaren M26 as driven by James Hunt for the second half of the 1977 season and in the 1978 season, and has a 2,993cc V8 Ford Cosworth DFV engine. James Hunt finished in fifth place in the World Drivers' Championship in 1977 with his team-mate Jochen Mass in sixth place, and McLaren took third place in the World Constructors' Championship. In 1978 James Hunt finished equal thirteenth with his team-mate Patrick Tambay in the Drivers' Championship, and McLaren were eighth in the Constructors' Championship.

1959 Volpini FJ

This car took part in the Millers Oils/AMOC Historic Formula Junior Race at the Silverstone Historic Tribute meeting in June 2004.

It's shown as number 28 in the programme of the event, and it's the 1959 Volpini Formula Junior car of Michael Ashley-Brown. It's chassis #011 and is one of the many Italian cars that competed in the first season of Formula Junior in 1959, using the ubiquitous Fiat 4-cylinder inline 1,089 engine.

1935/37 Railton LS Tourer

This car competed in the Pre-War Team Challenge race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2017.

The programme of the event says that car number 160 was the 1965 (sic) Railton 2 Str Sports Tourer of Stephen Bond with a 1,594cc engine.

It is, however, the 1935/37 Railton LS Tourer of Andrew Fenwick-Wilson.

According to the DVLA record BYW 574 is a 1935 Railton with a 4,168cc engine. The Railton 8 of 1935 had a 4,168cc straight-8 engine.

Here's Andrew Fenwick-Wilson at Druids Corner during the morning qualifying session.....

.....and here at Britten's chicane during the race.

Friday's Ferrari

This car took part in two rounds of the Shell Ferrari Maserati Historic Challenge series at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2004.

It's the 1966 Ferrari Dino 206 S of Lars Wramell, chassis #006, seen here in the pit lane during a practice session. The car has a 1,987cc V6 engine and was introduced in 1966 to contend the FIA's 2 litre Group 4 class of racing. The car had limited success that season and finished second to Porsche in its class, but finished in first place in 1967.

Lancia Aurelia B24 Spider

I photographed this car flanked by 3 other Lancias in what seems to be the Lancia Motor Club's display at the Silverstone Historic Festival meeting in August 2001.

It's a Lancia Aurelia B24 Spider, 240 of which were built between 1954 and 1955, 181 left-hand drive cars and 59 right-hand drive. The Spider has the 2,451cc V6 engine that was introduced with the third series of the Lancia Aurelia GT Coupé in 1953. It's shown on the DVLA site as being first registered in 1959 - presumably the date it was imported to the UK.

1938 Talbot Lago T120

This car competed in the Bill Phillips Trophy Race for Standard and Modified Pre-War Sports-Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Hawthorn Memorial Trophies race meeting at Oulton Park in July 2015.

It's the 1938 Talbot Lago T120 of Richard Bradford that was driven in the race by Geoffrey Bradford. When the Sunbeam Talbot Darracq (STD) concern broke up in 1934 Tony Lago purchased the Talbot part of the company and subsequent models were identified as Talbot Lagos. The T120 has a 2,996cc straight-6 engine designed by former Fiat designer Walter Becchia, who went on to design the engine for the Citroën 2CV.

Here's Geoffrey Bradford at Druids Corner during his race.

Maserati 250F

Maserati was a featured marque at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005, and more particularly the Maserati 250F Formula One car, 16 examples of which appeared on the track and on display in the paddock. This is one of those cars, receiving attention in the paddock before its scheduled race.

It's Josef Rettenmaier's car, chassis 2508, a 1954 car once owned by Stirling Moss and in which he competed in 1954 before signing for the Mercedes-Benz team the following season. He continued to drive the car in non-Championship races over the next 2 years, as well as allowing other drivers to compete in it, most notably Mike Hawthorn. The Maserati 250F has a 2,490cc straight-6 engine and is the only car to have appeared throughout the whole of the 2½ litre Championship period from the first race of 1954, the Argentine Grand Prix, to the last race of the 1960 season where Bob Drake drove Joe Lubin's car in the United States Grand Prix.

De Sanctis FJ

The Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000 included a race for Formula Junior cars, and this was one of the competitors in a very long entry list.

It's the 1960 De Sanctis Fiat of Marco Antonucci, powered by the 1,089cc Fiat engine, as were the majority of the Italian Formula Junior cars. Formula Junior racing was advocated in 1958 by Count Giovanni Lurani as an inexpensive first step into single-seater motor racing using inexpensive parts from production vehicles. The engine capacity was set at 1,000cc for cars of up to 360kg, and 1,100cc with a weight limit of 400kg. As the 500cc Formula 3 cars provided that inexpensive first step for British drivers the British manufacturers largely ignored this new Formula and Italian cars dominated the first season of Formula Junior in 1959, but by 1960 the British manufacturers had started to take an interest and soon took over at the top.

1954 Triumph TR2

This car competed in the '50s Sports Cars race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2015.

It's the 1954 Triumph TR2 of Mark Hoble that has a 1,991cc straight-4 engine which is an uprated version of the one that powered the Standard Vanguard. It started off life in Australia where it was used as a race car and is said to have competed in the 1955 Melbourne Grand Prix. The photograph above was taken as the car was waiting to go out on a practice session.

Here's the car in the pit garage being readied for the race.....

.....and here it is during the race at Britten's chicane.

Lotus 49

This is one of the cars I photographed at the Donington Park Museum on a visit in March 1996.

It's a 1968 Lotus 49 which has a 2,998cc Ford Cosworth DFV engine. The Lotus 49 was introduced in 1967, and despite reliability problems Jim Clark managed four wins to finish second in that year's World Drivers' Championship, although Graham Hill only managed to finish in two of the Grands Prix that season. Jim Clark won the first race of the 1968 Championship in South Africa and Graham Hill finished the race in second place. This was the last race for Lotus with their traditional green livery with a yellow stripe as the following race in Spain was the first appearance of the car with its new John Player's Gold Leaf livery - as seen in the above photograph. Graham Hill was now team leader as Jim Clark had died in an accident in a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim, and he won the Spanish Grand Prix and two other races to end the season as World Champion, Lotus winning the Constructors' Championship. 1969 was not such a successful season, the team only managing to win two races, one each for Graham Hill and Jochen Rindt, and Jochen Rindt only won one race in the car in the 1970 season before it was replaced by the Lotus 72. The car at Donington Park was chassis R12, a car built for Ford for promotional purposes, but was never raced in period as a new Lotus 49B had been produced before the car was released by Ford.

Friday's Ferrari

I photographed this car at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017.

It's a 2017 Ferrari GTC4Lusso which has the Ferrari F140ED 6,262cc V12 engine and 7-speed dual-clutch transmission. It has four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering to aid traction.

1930 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Zagato

This car took part in a 5 lap Scratch Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Hawthorn Memorial Trophies Race Meeting at Oulton Park in June 2008.

It's Roger Baxter's 1930 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Zagato, a car designed by Vittorio Jano and the body by Italian coachbuilders Zagato. The 6C 1750 has a straight-6 1,752cc supercharged engine and was in production from 1929 to 1933. It was a successful race car, winning the Mille Miglia in both 1929 and 1930.

1914/18 Vauxhall A/D Type

This car competed in the Edwardian Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in June 2008.

It's Alisdaire Lockhart's 1914/18 Vauxhall A/D Type, which was driven in the race by James Gunn. The car has the chassis of a 1914 Vauxhall A Type with the 4-cylinder inline 3,996cc engine of a 1918 D Type. The A type was originally produced with 4-cylinder engines of 3,054cc and 3,402cc. The photograph was taken at McLean's Corner.

1961 Bristol Lodekka FS6G

This was one of the participants in the Greater Manchester Transport Society's Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally at Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1995.

It's a 1961 Bristol Lodekka FS6G, and the programme of the event had this information about the vehicle:

Bristol Lodekka FS6G, ECW H60RD, 1961                                                         AAO547A

Cumberland Motor Services 550

Entered by        550 Group, Whitehaven, Cumbria

Delivered in 1961 for the Carlisle to Frizington and Thornhill services, this vehicle was used as a driver trainer after withdrawal. It passed to the 550 Group in 1991 and has been restored with help from Volvo Bus, Workington.

The vehicle was reunited with its original registration, 101 DRM, in 2001 and there's more information about it on the website of the Workington Transport Heritage Trust.

De Tomaso Mangusta

This car was one of those displayed in the paddock by the De Tomaso UK Drivers Club at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1999.

It's a De Tomaso Mangusta, 401 of which were produced between 1967 and 1971. The car was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro at Carroziera Ghia, the early cars being powered by the Ford HiPo 289 cu in (4,728cc) V8 small block engine and later ones by the Ford 302 cu in (4,949cc) unit.

1994 Lola T9400

This car was part of a display at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2008 marking 50 years of Lola Cars.

It's the 1994 Lola 9400 that Nigel Mansell drove for the Newman/Haas Racing Team in the Indy Car World Series in 1994. He didn't have a successful season, failing to win a single race and ending up in eighth place in the Championship. He had won the Championship in 1993 in a Lola T93 becoming the only man to hold the Indy Car Championship and the Formula One Championship at the same time, having won the Formula One title with the Williams team in 1992.

2007 Maserati Gran Turismo

I photographed this car at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2007.

It's a 2007 Maserati Gran Turismo, a car that was launched at the Geneva Motor Show in March of that year. The Gran Turismo is still in production after several tweaks and improvements, and the original car has the 4,244cc Ferrari/Maserati F136 V8 engine with a 6-speed ZF automatic gearbox.

Friday's Ferrari

This car took part in the Shell Ferrari Historical Challenge race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It's the 1952 Ferrari 225 S of Olivier Cazalieres, chassis #192ET, which has a Gioachino Colombo 2,715cc V12 engine with a Carrozzeria Vignale body. There were 21 examples of the 225 S built, with a mix of Berlinetta and Spyder bodies and coachwork by both Vignale and Touring.

1993 Chevrolet Camaro Z28

This is one of the cars that I photographed at the Footman James Classic Car Show Manchester at EventCity in September 2018.

It's a 1993 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 and is a replica of the pace car used at the 1993 Indianapolis 500 race. The standard fourth generation Camaro had a 204 cu in (3.4 litre) V6 engine, and in 1995 a 230 cu in (3.8 litre) V6 unit. The Z28 models should all have the 350 cu in (5.7 litre) Small Block LT1 V8 engine, though the DVLA record says that the engine capacity of this car is 3,800cc. The history of the car was detailed in a description in the windscreen of the vehicle which read as follows:

'The Indianapolis 500 auto race has used a pace car every year since 1911. The pace car is utilised for two primary purposes. At the start of the race, the pace car leads the assembled starting grid around the track for a predetermined number of unscored warm-up laps. Then if the officials deem appropriate, it releases the field at a purposeful speed to start the race. In addition, during yellow flag caution periods, the pace car enters the track and picks up the leader, bunching the field up at a reduced speed.

In 1993 the Chevrolet Camaro Z28 was selected as the official pace car for the Indianapolis 500. The starting pace car was driven by Jim Perkins and the caution pace car had Don Bailey behind the wheel.

After the Indy 500, Chevrolet released only 633 "Pace Car Editions" of the Camaro Z28, all were sold instantly. They featured "Indy 500" identification on a black and white body colour scheme with multicoloured pinstriping and white painted wheels.

After being built in Canada, and first sold in America, this Pace Car has travelled the globe, spending years with a collector in Japan. It has now found its way to the U.K. where it is owned, and being treated well, by an American car enthusiast.'

Connaught A-Type and ERA R12B

Here are two of David Wenman's cars which both took part in the Hawthorn Memorial Trophy race at the VSCC's meeting at Oulton Park in June 2006.

The yellow car is a 1952 Connaught A Type which has a 1,960cc 4-cylinder inline engine based on the 1,767cc Lea Francis unit. It was chassis A4 and one of Connaught's works team cars in 1952, when it was usually driven by Dennis Poore, then in 1953 it went to the Écurie Belge team where the drivers were Johnny Claes and André Pilette. The blue car is the 1936 ERA R12B, named Hanuman II, with the 6-cylinder inline 1,488cc supercharged ERA engine. Before the Second World War this was one of Siamese Prince Chula's White Mouse Racing stable cars and was driven by his cousin Prince Bira. There's quite an involved story about this car and ERA R12C which you can read about in this history of all the ERA cars. David Wenman drove the Connaught in the Hawthorn Memorial Trophy race,and the ERA was driven by Tony Stephens.

1981 Brabham BT49C

This car took part in the Thoroughbred Grand Prix Championship race at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2006.

It's the 1981 Brabham BT49C of Joaquin Folch, seen here at Redgate corner during a practice session. The Brabham BT49 was powered by the 2,993cc V8 Ford Cosworth DFV engine and was introduced towards the end of the 1979 racing season. In the 1980 season Nelson Picquet in his BT49 finished second to Alan Jones and his Williams FW07 in the Drivers World Championship, but won the following year's Championship in the car. The BT49 underwent various modifications over that period and Joaquin Folch's car is the BT49C, chassis #BT49/10, that was introduced in the 1981 season. Although it was used in practice at various World Championship races it never competed in any of those races, and its only major competitive outing was in the non-Championship South African Grand Prix in 1981 where Nelson Piquet finished in second place.

The car behind the Brabham is the 1979 Arrows A1 of Rowland Kinch.

1948 Alfa Romeo 158

This car was one of the competitors in the Magneti Marelli UK Race for Pre-1952 Grand Prix Cars at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997.

It's the 1948 Alfa Romeo 158 of Carlos Monteverde and was driven in the race by Willie Green. The Alfa Romeo 158 was originally designed in 1938 to compete in the pre-war Voiturette class of racing and has a 1,479cc supercharged straight-8 engine. A note in the Silverstone programme said this:

'The final two seasons of pre-war voiturette racing were dominated by Alfa Romeo's Tipo 158, a scaled-down version of one of its GP designs. Whenever it ran it won, leaving the Maserati and ERA opposition to fight over the pickings. Alfa carried on in the 1940s where it had left off before the war, for the 'Alfetta', as it was known, now complied with the new Grand Prix regulations. It retired in one 1946 race, but from then on was unbeatable until, famously, an unblown 4.5 litre Ferrari dealt the death blow here at Silverstone in 1951.'

1912 Cadillac 30 Tourer

This car took part in the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1991 starting in the Exchange Station car park in Manchester.

It's the 1912 Cadillac 30 Tourer of Roy Sherman of Billinge, and the only other information shown in the programme of the event is its registration number and that it's a 30hp car. The Cadillac 30 was introduced in 1909 and had a 226.2 cu in (or 3.7 litres) 4-cylinder inline engine. The engine size was increased to 255.4 cu in (4.2 litres) for 1910 and to 286.3 cu in (4.7 litres) for 1911 and 1912. The DVLA record says that the engine capacity is 4½ litres - and that the car hasn't been taxed since 2013.

On 7 April 2019 I showed a photograph of a 1911 Cadillac 30 Limousine that also competed in this 1991 event.

1976 Chevron B37

This car competed in the HSCC Derek Bell Trophy race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2005.

It's Simon Hadfield's 1977 Chevron B37, a Formula 5000 car and the only B37 built. It was made for the Racing Team VDS with a Morand Chevrolet V8 engine and was driven by Peter Gethin and Teddy Pillette in the 1976 season. A note about the car in the Gold Cup programme says this:

'The last F5000 car was a stunner, built for 1976, when Team VDS took one-off to the USA and Australia. Second was best result. Bruce Allison subsequently raced it in the UK's ShellSport Gp8 series, before fellow Aussie Ivan Tighe took it racing and hillclimbing back home. Now winning in Historics with Simon Hadfield.'

The photograph was taken at Lodge Corner.

Friday's Ferrari

This photograph was taken at McLean's Corner during the 1950s Drum-Braked Sports Racing Cars race at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005.

It's David Cottingham's 1957 Ferrari 500 TRC, chassis #682MDTR which is powered by a 1,984cc twin overhead camshaft 4-cylinder inline engine derived from the one used in the Formula 2 cars of 1952/53. The Ferrari 500 TR of 1956 was the first Ferrari to be labelled 'Testa Rossa', which refers to the red colour of the two camshaft covers, and the 500 TRC was the customer version of that car. Following the Ferrari is the 1959 Elva Mk 5 of David Brock-Jest and further back is Albert Otten's 1952 Allard J2.

I've shown photographs of David Cottingham's car previously, most recently on 1 September 2017.

1934 Ford Hotrod

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

There's nothing about the car in the programme but it's a Ford Hotrod, and presumably a 1934 model judging by the number on the bonnet - I've not been able to find out anything else about it. On the door of the car are a chequered flag and a Finnish flag and the words 'Oscar's Early Ford Autosalvage' and 'Köklax City'. The registration plate JTP•34 appears to be a Swedish plate, and Köklax is the Swedish name for the Kauklahti district of Espoo which is Finland's second largest city and is about 15 km from Helsinki.

1964 Porsche 904/6

This car took part in the 2¼ hour long Gentlemen Drivers Race for Pre 1966 GT Cars and Pre 1963 Sports Cars at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Donington Park in May 2001.

It's Burkhard von Schenk's 1964 Porsche 904/6 and he shared the driving in this race with Robertino Wild. The 1963 Porsche 904 of 1993 had a 1,966cc flat-4 engine, but the 904/6 had an engine of 1,996cc that was derived from the 911's flat-6 unit.

On 2 May 2015 I showed a photograph of this car that I had taken at Donington Park in 2004.

1903 Gamage Aster 6½hp

This car was amongst a display of veteran and vintage vehicles at the VSCC's Boulogne And Hawthorn Trophies Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 2005, although it wasn't listed as an entrant in the Cheshire Life Concours D'Elegance.

It's a 1903 Gamage Aster 6½hp, a car manufactured by the Parisian firm Lacoste et Battman with an Aster engine and marketed by the London department store A W Gamage Ltd. The car is still registered with the DVLA who say that the engine capacity is 748cc. HY 689 was offered for auction by Bonhams in 2008 and apparently sold for £65,300.

Jaguar XJ13

This car was part of a display by the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust in the paddock at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1995.

There are several replicas around, but this is the original 1966 Jaguar XJ13, the prototype of a car intended to contest the Le Mans 24 Hour race, and has a 4,991cc V12 engine. By the time the car was ready to be introduced, however, it had already been made obsolete by the Ford GT40 and this and the fact that the regulations were soon to be changed to limit engine capacities to 3 litres meant that it was never actually raced. The car was mothballed until it was brought out in 1971 to publicise the launch of the Series 3 Jaguar E-Type which was powered by Jaguar's first production V12 engine. Jaguar test driver Norman Dewis was taking the car on a high speed run on the MIRA test track when a type burst and the car was severely damaged in the resulting crash, although Norman Dewis luckily escaped unharmed. The car was eventually rebuilt in 1973 and is now part of the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust Collection.

The Jaguar C-Type seen behind the XJ13 is a 1953 car, bought by Italian Mario Tadini and in which he and Pietro Cagnana took part in that year's Mille Miglia race but failed to finish. The car's chassis number is XKC045.

1947 HRG 1500

This car was displayed by H&H Classic Car Auctioneers in the paddock at Donington Park at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting in May 2011.

It's a 1947 HRG 1500 with what the DVLA say is a 1,496cc engine. The HRG 1500 was produced between 1938 and 1956, 112 cars in all, and it was initially powered by a 1½ litre Singer 12 hp SOHC 1,525cc engine. The last 12 examples of the HRG 1500 had the Singer SM 1,497cc engine, so as JM 7075 does not appear to have been one of those last few cars built the engine seems to have been changed at some point for one of the Singer SM units - if the DVLA record is correct. The HRG Association was formed in 1960 for the benefit of HRG Owners. At the H&H car auction in June 2011 this car, chassis W123, apparently sold for £49,500.