Edwardian Cars

One of the short handicap races at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in June 1993 included an award for the first Edwardian (1905 to 1918) car to finish. Here are two of the eligible cars at Foulston's chicane during the race.

The leading car is the 1912 Abbott-Detroit of David White that the programme of the event says has a 4.7 litre Continental engine. That car is being followed by the 1913 Overland of John Brydon, and the only information about this car in the programme is that it has a 4.5 litre engine, though the DVLA record says that it is a 1915 car with an engine of 4,490cc.

Maserati Birdcage

I took this photograph at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in 1996 of these three Maseratis that are generally referred to as 'birdcage' cars because of the intricate tubing that makes up the chassis of the car.

On the left, car number 37 is the 1960 Maserati T61 of Tony Smith which has a 4-cylinder inline 2,890cc engine and is chassis 2470. Next to it car 38 is a similar 1959 T61 of Valentine Lindsay which was driven in the race by Stirling Moss and is chassis 2453. The programme of the event shows car 39 to be the identical T61 of Nick Mason, but the car pictured is actually the 1961 Maserati T63 of Edmond Pery, chassis 63002 and apparently has a 3 litre V12 engine. The red car behind the T63 is the 1930/31 Maserati T26 of Anthony Hartley which is chassis 2518 and has an 8-cylinder inline 2½ litre engine.

General Dynamics F-16

 This is one of the aircraft in the static display at the RAFA Woodford Airshow in June 1994.

It's a General Dynamics F-16A, and though there's no information about it in the programme of the event it appears to have the markings of the Belgian Air Force.

1955 Aston Martin DB3S

This car took part in one of the races at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1992.

It's the 1955 Aston Martin DB3S of Tony Smith and has the 2,922cc 6-cylinder inline Lagonda engine designed by W O Bentley who moved to Lagonda after his Bentley car company had been taken over by Rolls Royce. This is one of Aston Martin's DB3S customer cars and is chassis DB3S/103, one of three cars originally acquired by the Kangaroo Stable, a group of Australian drivers who came to England in 1955 to race in Europe. The Kangaroo Stable was set up by Tony Gaze, an ex-World War 2 fighter pilot, and included David McKay, Tom Sulman and Jack Brabham. Sports car racing was much restricted in Europe after the Le Mans tragedy in 1955 and the Kangaroo Stable disbanded towards the end of the year. DB3S/103 went to Australia and passed through various hands before returning to the UK and being acquired by Frank Sytner in the mid-1980s, then to Tony Smith in 1991.

Here's Tony Smith at Lodge Corner during the race.

1963 MGB

I took this photograph at McLeans Corner during the Equipe GTS Series race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

The white car is the 1963 MGB of Derek Beresford and the red car is the 1963 MG of Simon Ashworth. The number 2 car leading the MGB's is the 1963 TVR Grantura of Rod Begbie, while the red car you can see behind David Beresford's car seems to be the MGB of Simon Wood and is also a 1963 car.

1978 Lotus 79

This was in a display of cars by the Historic Lotus Club at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1995.

It's a 1978 Lotus 79, the first car to take full advantage of the superior road-holding made possible by the ground effects aerodynamics developed by Colin Chapman and his team. Colin Chapman had explored the use of ground effects with the previous year's Lotus 78 and the problems encountered were resolved in the Lotus 79. Like the Lotus 78, the Lotus 79 was powered by the 2,993cc Ford Cosworth V8 engine. At the start of the 1978 season the team's two drivers, Mario Andretti and Ronnie Peterson used the previous year's car for the first few races, Andretti winning the Argentine Grand Prix and Peterson the South African Grand Prix. Mario Andretti drove the Lotus 79 in the Belgian Grand Prix, winning the race, while Ronnie Peterson finished in second place in the Lotus 78 and started with a Lotus 79 in the next race. Mario Andretti won another four races, ending the season as World Drivers' Champion, while Ronnie Peterson won the Austrian Grand Prix to end up in second place in the Championship, though sadly losing his life in a Lotus 78 in an accident at the start of the Italian Grand Prix. Lotus won the World Constructors' Championship in 1978, the last occasion on which they have done so.

Friday's Ferrari

This car was on the stand of Hampson Limited Classic Car Dealers at the Northern Classic Car Show at the G-Mex Centre, Manchester in August 1991.

It's a Ferrari Dino 246 GT and has a 2,419cc V6 engine. Three series of the Dino 246 GT were produced, all the chassis being even numbered, series 1 from 1969 to 1970 - a total of 357 cars the chassis numbers being 00400 to 01116, series 2 from 1970 to 1971 - a total of 506 cars with chassis numbers 01118 to 02130, and series 3 from 1971 to 1974 - a total of 1624 cars with chassis numbers in the range 02132 to 07650. Ferrari also produced 1274 Spyder versions of the car between 1972 and 1974 with chassis numbers in the range 02174 to 08518.

1936 ERA R8C

This is one of nine ERAs that took part in the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy Race for Historic Racing Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in August 1992.

It's the 1936 ERA R8C of Bruce Spollon with a supercharged 6-cylinder inline 1,988cc engine. The car was originally built for Earl Howe with a B-type chassis as R8B but was rebuilt to C-type specifications before the Second World War. It was drastically modified in the early post-war years with a D-type chassis and streamlined bodywork, but Bruce Spollon returned it to its pre-war specification after he had acquired the car in 1977.

1967 Matra MS5

 I took this photograph at the Donington Park Museum in September 2014.

It's the Matra MS5 with which Jacky Ickx won the 1967 European Formula 2 Championship and has a 1,598cc Ford Cosworth FVA engine. The board at the side of the car reads as follows:

'MATRA MS-05 1967

In the mid 1960’s Matra enjoyed considerable success in Formula 3 and Formula 2 racing with (especially) its MS5 monocoque-based car, winning the French and European Championships.

In 1967 Jacky Ickx famously amazed the Formula 1 establishment by clocking in the 3^rd fastest qualifying time of 8.14” on the German Nürburgring track, in the 1600cc MS5 Formula 2, which was allowed to enter alongside the 3000cc Formula 1 cars. In the race he failed to finish due to a broken suspension.

This car has been restored to a race condition by Hall and Hall, and is owned by a private collector who has loaned the car to Donington Collection.'

1955 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 300SLR.

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, 24 minutes before Stirling Moss, but after mechanical problems he finished 8 minutes after the winning car, in second place but 32 minutes behind his team mate. Before the mid 1950s it was compulsory to have a co-driver in the Mille Miglia, but this was changed for the 1954 race which was won by Alberto Ascari driving alone in a Lancia D24.

1975 Sauber C4

This car competed in the HSCC 2 litre Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Summer Race Meeting at Oulton Park in July 1992.

It's the 1975 Sauber C4 of Ian Giles, and the only information about it in the programme of the event is that it had a 2,000cc engine. This is chassis 75-C04-001, the only C4 built, and it was raced in 1975 mainly by Harry Blumer, finishing in third position in the Swiss Sportscar Championship. The car has an aluminium monocoque chassis instead of the tubular frame of the earlier Sauber cars, and has a 1,795cc 4-cylinder inline Ford Cosworth BDG engine.

1926 Bugatti Type 40

This car was in the paddock at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

It's a 1926 Bugatti Type 40, about 830 of which were produced between 1926 and 1930, and has a 4-cylinder inline 1,496cc engine.

1929 Bentley 6.5 litre

This car took part in the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in May 1987 and is pictured in the Exchange Station Car Park in Manchester before the start of the Run.

It's the 1929 Bentley 6.5 litre of William Loughran of Walmer Bridge, and the programme of the event said this about the car:

1929 Bentley 6.5 litre

Reg: UP 2224  6 cylinder   37.2 hp

(William Loughran, Walner Bridge)

This car is a previous winner of the prestigious

Kensington Gardens Concours, and also a

previous winner on this Run. It has been 

owned and maintained by Mr Loughran and his

wife for the past six years. He specialises in

veteran and modern cars at his premises close

to Lancashire Constabulary Headquarters at

Hutton.

There's lots of interesting information about the car on the Vintage Bentleys website.

Friday's Ferrari

I photographed this car in the paddock at the Silverstone Classic meeting in July 2010, but it didn't take part in any of the races there.

It appears to be a 1957 Ferrari 250 TR Scaglietti Spyder, but started off life as a 1961 Ferrari 250 GTE 2+2, chassis #2349. It spent its early years in Sweden where it was badly damaged by a fire and was rebuilt in its current form by Neil Twyman.

1932/35 Wolseley Hornet Special

This car competed in two scratch races at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies Meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987.

It's John Seber's 1932/35 Wolseley Hornet Special, a version of the Wolseley Hornet Six that was produced from 1932 to 1935. The Wolseley Hornet Special had a 6-cylinder inline engine, originally of 1,271cc with later cars being given the 1,604cc engine of the Wolseley Fourteen. The programme of the event says that John Seber's car has a 1,750cc engine.

Here's John Seber at Lodge Corner during one of his races.

1973 Tyrrell 006

 I photographed this car in the Donington Park Museum in May 1989.

It's the Tyrrell 006 that took Jackie Stewart to his third and last World Drivers' Championship title in 1973 and has a 2,993cc V8 Ford Cosworth DFV engine. After driving Tyrrell 005 for the first two races of the 1973 season in Argentina and Brazil, and finishing in third and second places respectively, Jackie Stewart drove Tyrrell 006/2 for the rest of the season, winning five of the races and the World Drivers' Championship before the final race of the season in the USA at Watkins Glen. He had already made his mind up to retire after that race, but after team mate François Cevert was killed in an accident during practice for that race he walked away and announced his retirement. 

1948 Olson Offenhauser

This car took part in the Chopard Grand Prix Cars Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1993.

Seen here at Luffield Corner during the race it was labelled in the programme as a 4.3 litre 1948 Olson, due to be driven by David Clark and Hugo Spowers. It seems to be the Olson Offenhauser that Jackie Holmes drove in the 1950 Indianapolis 500 race, qualifying in 30th place on the grid and shown as finishing in 23rd place in the race, although apparently having spun off on the 123rd of the 138 laps, the usual 200 lap race having been curtailed because of rain.

1960 Leyland Tiger Cub

This was one of the entrants in the Greater Manchester Transport Society's Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally at Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1993.

It's a 1960 Leyland Tiger Cub with a Willowbrook DP43F body and was originally owned and operated by the North Western Road Car Company Limited as number 796. In 1972 it passed to the North Western (SELNEC Division) Road Car Company Limited which later became the SELNEC Cheshire Bus Company Limited, later being merged into the SELNEC Passenger Transport Executive. Withdrawn from service in 1973 it was sold into preservation and was exported to the Netherlands in the 1990s, being re-registered BE-21-96, then was purchased by Rexquote later in the decade for heritage bus services, being re-registered as LDB 796. The heritage bus services were later transferred to Quantock Motor Services Limited, a company formed by Rexquote who ran LDB 796 till 2007 when it was purchased by John Edwards.

A note in the programme of this Heaton Park Rally reads as follows:

Leyland Tiger Cub PSUC1/1, Willowbrook DP43F, 1960                                    LDB796

North Western 796

Entered by D J Jamieson, Heaton Mersey

This vehicle has recently undergone a partial repaint at the Museum of Transport.

1966 Lola T70 MkIII

This was one of the competitors in the HSCC Atlantic Computers Historic GT Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1987.

It's the 1966 Lola T70 MkIII of Terry Smith, chassis SL71/23, originally a MkII car and raced in hillclimbs by Phil Scragg with open wheels and cycle fenders. Later went to Tony Harrison, Brian Classic and David Preece, then to Terry Smith who rebuilt the car with MkIII bodywork. The programme of the event shows the engine to be 5,000cc, but the DVLA record (which shows the car is untaxed since 1993) says that the engine capacity is 4,700cc.

1959 OSCA FJ

I photographed this car preparing to leave the paddock for a qualifying session for the Formula Junior race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2007.

It's the 1959 OSCA FJ car of Tony Pickering, powered - as were most Italian FJ cars - by a Fiat 1,098cc engine. Formula Junior racing was initiated in 1958 by Giovanni Lurani as an affordable introduction to single seater racing and was initially dominated by the Fiat-engined Italian cars, particularly Stanguellini. British interest remained for some time with the 500cc Formula 3 class of racing, but when they turned their attention to Formula Junior cars such as Elva and Lola started to make an impression, and when Cooper and Lotus introduced their mid-engined cars they became the ones to beat.

Friday's Ferrari

Yesterday I showed a photograph taken at the 1992 Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone of two Jaguar D-Types and a Maserati T61, with a Ferrari in the background. Here's a photograph the Ferrari in the paddock at that meeting.

It's Pete Waterman's 1958 Ferrari 250 TR which was driven in the race by Willie Green. The car has the Gioacchino Colombo designed 2,953cc V12 engine  and is chassis #0742 TR.

1956 Jaguar D-Type

I took this photograph at Luffield Corner during the HGPCA Sports Car Race at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

Leading are two former Ecurie Ecosse 1956 Jaguar D-Types, Frank Sytner driving Sir Anthony Bamford's car and John Harper driving that of Robert Brooks. Both cars have the 3,781cc straight-6 engine and are the cars that finished in second and first places respectively in the 1957 Le Mans 24 Hour race, Sytner's being chassis XKD603 and Harper's XKD606. Behind those two cars is the 1960 ex-Camoradi Maserati T61 of Lindsay Owen-Jones with a 2,890cc straight-4 engine. In the background approaching Priory Corner is Willie Green in Pete Waterman's 1958 Ferrari 250TR, chassis 0742TR.

1961 Lotus 18/21

I took the photograph of this car on the approach to Waterway corner at Aintree during practice for the British Grand Prix in July 1962.

It's Tony Shelly driving John Dalton's 1961 Lotus 18/21 in which he qualified in 18th place on the grid, but retired with an overheating engine after six laps of the race. Tony Shelly was a New Zealander who came to Europe in the 1962 season and was reasonably successful in non-championship events but was entered for only three of that season's Grand Prix races, and after this British Grand Prix appearance failed to qualify for the German and Italian Grands Prix.

Porsche 911 Carrera

This car took part 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 the Porsche 911 Carrera entered for the race by C.A.S. Motor Sport and was driven in the race by Richard Chilton. The only information in the programme of the event is that it had a 3 litre engine. The car competed in another race at this meeting, this time as number 25, and I showed photographs of the car in that guise on 2 February 2015.

Umberto Maglioli

My brother took this photograph during practice day for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in July 1956.

It's the Italian racing driver Umberto Maglioli who drove a Maserati 250F for the Scuderia Guastalla, qualifying in 24th place on the grid and retiring on the 21st lap of the race with a broken gearbox. Umberto Maglioli had a brief career in Grand Prix racing, competing in only ten races between 1953 and 1957, his best results being third place finishes in the 1954 Italian Grand Prix and the 1955 Argentinian Grand Prix. Both those occasions were shared drives in a Ferrari 625, with José Froilán Gonzales in 1954 and Giuseppe Farina and Maurice Trintignant in 1955 - this Argentinian race being the one where the midsummer heat was so intense that the only finishers to complete the race single-handed were Juan Fangio and Roberto Mieres. Umberto Maglioli had a longer career in the World Sportscar Championship, winning the Targa Florio three times, in 1953 in a solo drive in a Lancia D20, 1956 in a Porsche 550 with Huschke von Hanstein, and 1968 with Vic Elford in a Porsche 907. In 1954 he won the 1000km of Buenos Aires with Giuseppe Farina in a Ferrrari 375 MM and the Carrera Panamericana in a solo drive in a Ferrari 375 Plus. Ferrari won the 6-race World Sportscar Championship that year, also winning the Le Mans 24 Hour race and the RAC Tourist Trophy race at Dundrod.

Celebration Maserati Invitation Race

The SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005 featured the Maserati marque, and in particular the Maserati 250F. One of the races was a Celebration Maserati Invitation Race, and I took this photograph at McLean's Corner during that race.

Leading is the Tec-Mec F415 of Barrie Baxter, a car that Valerio Colotti was working on as a development of the Maserati 250F when Maserati pulled out of racing at the end of the 1957 season. Colotti set up the Studio Tecnica Meccanica to build the car for the 1959 season, but only one car was built, and it only started in one race, the 1959 US Grand Prix, where it only lasted for six laps. There were 12 Maserati 250Fs listed in the programme of the event for this race and two of them are behind the Tec-Mec here but I can't identify which ones they are - although the one to the right of the Tec-Mec may be the Cameron Miller replica CM7 of Allan Miles. The car with the blue band round the nose behind that trio is the V12-engined Maserati 250F (2531) of Thomas Bscher and the car bringing up the rear is the Cameron Miller 250F replica (CM2) of Ian Duncan, being driven by Rick Hall.

1958 BRM P25

Two BRM P25's were entered in the Historic Car Championship race at the Aston Martin Owners' Club's meeting at Oulton Park in September 1986, and this one was entered and driven by the Hon. Amschel Rothschild.

Although universally known as the BRM P25, I've found this information in a Bonhams description of the car when it came up for auction in 2007:

BRM’s in-period Project 25 classification covered the engine design alone, the spaceframe chassis structure comprising Project 27. While this Lot offers the eighth of the team’s 2½-litre 4-cylinder Type 25s to be built, this car was the third to use the `1958 spaceframe Project 27 chassis in place of an original semi-monocoque design which had been used for the preceding five cars. Those semi-monocoque BRM Type 25s built from 1955 to 1957 are recorded within the team archive as cars ‘251’ to ‘255’. The subsequent six pure spaceframe cars built 1958-1959 were then referred to as ‘256’ to ‘2511’, even though their Project 27 chassis frames were numbered in sequence ‘27/1’ to ‘27/6’. Hence, this car was referred to in contemporary BRM team records – which survive today – as ‘258’, while its specific chassis frame stamping reads – again perfectly correctly – ‘27/3’.

The P25 was said to be the fastest of the 1954-1960 Formula 1 era, partly due to the oversquare (102.87 mm bore x 74.93 mm stroke) engine allowing for larger valves to be fitted. The car was plagued with reliability problems, however, and the only Grand Prix win was Jo Bonnier's victory in the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix in this car, chassis 258.

Here's the car rounding Lodge Corner during the race.

Ferrari 458 Challenge EVO

This was one of the participants in the Trofeo Pirelli series of races contested by the Corse Clienti at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017.

It's the Ferrari 458 Challenge EVO of Kriton Lendoudis, the Challenge being developed from the 458 by reducing the weight of the body panels with the EVO version having improved aerodynamics, including the large rear wing. The car is powered by the 4,499cc V8 Ferrari F136 F engine.

Aeroplanes

Some aircraft flying over Hyde on the evening of 28 May 2019 just a few minutes before landing at Manchester Airport. Not so many coming over at the moment because of the travel restrictions.

6.42pm Aurigny flight GR78 from Guernsey to Manchester, ATR 72-500 reg. G-VZON

6.52pm Emirates flight EK19 from Dubai to Manchester, Airbus A380-842 reg. A6-EVB

6.57pm Loganair flight LM597 from Inverness to Manchester, Embraer ERJ145ER reg. G-SAJN

6.59pm Oman Air flight WY105 from Muscat to Manchester, Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner reg. A4O-SD

7.04pm KLM flight KL1081 from Amsterdam to Manchester, Embraer ERJ175STD reg. PH-EXX

7.08pm Vueling flight VY8748 from Barcelona to Manchester, Airbus A320-214 reg. EC-LAA

7.17pm Qatar Airways flight QR23 from Doha to Manchester, Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner reg. A7-BCA

7.34pm Flybe flight BE487 from Belfast to Manchester, Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 reg. G-PRPF

1934 Aston Martin Ulster LM15

This car took part in a race for Standard and Modified Pre-war Sports Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

It's the 1934 Aston Martin Ulster of Russell Hicks, one of the team cars that competed in the 1934 RAC Tourist Trophy race on the Ards circuit in County Down where it finished in sixth place. In the Le Mans 24 Hour race earlier that year the car had a drilled chassis which was not allowed in the TT race, so it was rebuilt with a solid chassis and the chassis number changed from  LM11 to LM15. The three Aston Martin team cars had all failed to complete the Le Mans race so before the TT race, as green was considered to be unlucky, the cars were repainted Italian red, the colours of designer A C Bertelli's country of birth. The other two team cars in the TT finished in third and seventh places in the race following which a small number of replica cars were built and given the name 'Aston Martin Ulster'.

Michael Teutul

In May/June 2007 we had a holiday in the USA, centred on New Jersey, but we made a couple of trips to New York and on one of these trips as we came out of Penn Station there was a crowd of people around three chopper motorcycles I took these two photos, but it was some time later before I was able to put some names to the people concerned.

When I got home again and was showing my photographs to a workmate he pointed out that the guy on the nearest bike was Michael Teutul, and when I expressed ignorance he explained that there was a television channel that showed a series called 'American Chopper' that featured Paul Teutul and his two sons Michael and Paul Junior. It was on the Discovery channel that I couldn't get on my TV, but later was shown on another channel that I could access. In the above photographs you can see Paul Teutul Senior on the far side and (presumably) Paul Teutul Junior on the middle bike in the second photo.

1956 Cooper T39

This was one of the competitors in the HGPCA Race for pre 1959 Drum Brake Sports Cars at the Silverstone Historic Tribute meeting in June 2004. 

It's a 1956 Cooper T39 of George Cooper (no relation as far as I know), more commonly known as the Cooper Bobtail because of the truncated tail of the car which was aerodynamically effective, but which John Cooper claimed to have been shortened so that it would fit inside the works transporter. The car was used in the 1,100cc and 1,500cc classes of sportscar racing and this car has a 4-cylinder inline 1,450cc Coventry Climax engine. It was reputedly the road-holding characteristics of this car that led John Cooper to produce first the rear-engined 1½ litre Formula 2 car and then the 2½ litre Formula 1 car that gave Jack Brabham the World Drivers' Championship in 1959 and 1960. Cooper's successes led all the other teams to adopt the rear-engine layout, and the last Formula 1 Grand Prix to be won by a front-engined car was Ferrari's victory in the 1960 Italian Grand Prix.

1971 McLaren M19A

This car took part in the HSCC Seldon Pre '71 Single Seater Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1986.

It's the Otford Group's 1971 McLaren M19A, and was driven in the race by James Wallis. The car was designed by Ralph Bellamy with a 2,993cc V8 Ford Cosworth DFV engine and was campaigned by the McLaren team in the 1971 and the first three races of the 1972 season. In the 1971 season the car was plagued with reliability problems and finished in sixth place in the World Constructors' Championship with Denny Hulme the most successful driver, finishing in thirteenth place in the World Drivers' Championship with two fourth places, a fifth and a sixth. In 1972 Denny Hulme was again the leading McLaren driver with a second place in Argentina then a win in South Africa in the first two races before driving the McLaren M19C at Monaco and for the rest of that season. He finished in third place in the World Drivers' Championship that season behind Emerson Fittipaldi and Jackie Stewart.

1938 Auto Union D-Type

 I took this photograph of a 1938 Auto Union D-Type at the Donington Park Museum in March 1996.

It was one of a group of Auto Union racing cars that disappeared after the Second World War when the part of Germany where they had been produced and were stored was occupied by Soviet Russia when the war ended, and all the remaining cars were transported to Russia. It was generally assumed that after the Russians had gleaned what information they could from the cars they had all been destroyed. With the breakdown of the USSR, however, several of these cars came to light and one by one the remains were resuscitated by the engineers at Crosthwaite and Gardiner in Buxted, East Sussex. This is one of those cars and was on display at the Donington Park Museum for a period after its restoration.

The Auto Union D-type had a supercharged 3 litre V12 engine and was driven in 1938 by Hermann Müller, Rudolf Hasse, Christian Kautz, Hans Stuck, Tazio Nuvolari and Ulrich Bigalke and in the curtailed 1939 season by Herman Müller, Tazio Nuvolari. Rudolf Hasse, Georg Meier and Hans Stuck.

Friday's Ferrari

This car took part in the one hour long Italian Historic Car Cup at the Silverstone Classic meeting in July 2010.

It's the 1966 Ferrari Dino 206S of Harry Leventis, chassis #0834 and he shared the driving in the race with Richard Attwood. The car started off in 1965 as a Dino 166S, with a 1,593cc V6 engine, but later that year was fitted with a 1,987cc V6 engine, and that and further alterations gave it the same configuration as the Dino 206S. 

1952 Jowett Jupiter

This was one of the exhibits on the stand of the Jowett Car Club at the Northern Classic Car Show at the G-Mex Centre, Manchester in August 1990.

It's a 1952 Jowett Jupiter, one of around 900 that were produced between 1950 and 1953. The car had a more highly tuned version of the Jowett Javelin's 1,496cc flat-4 engine that produced 60 bhp and was capable of a maximum speed of around 85 mph. The DVLA record says that the car was last re-taxed earlier this year and its colour is now shown as red.

1954/7 Cooper Heyward Special

This was one of the competitors in the Scratch Race for 500cc Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies Meeting at Oulton Park in June 1984.

It's the 1953/7 Cooper Heyward Special of David Docherty and has a 500cc Triumph vertical twin engine. Like so many of the cars that took part in this inexpensive form of racing soon after the Second World War it was largely built by its first owner, Charles Heyward, using parts from older Cooper Mk IV and MkVI cars.

1957 Kurtis KK500G Offenhauser

This car competed in the Ron Flockhart Memorial Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005.

It's the 1957 Kurtis KK500G Offenhauser of Stuart Harper which was shown in the programme of the event as a 4.2 litre Kurtis Indy Roadster. This is the car that Ray Crawford took to the Indianapolis 500 race in 1957 and 1958 as the Meguiar Mirror Glaze Special, but failed both times to qualify for the race. Ray Crawford took part in the Race of Two Worlds round the banked oval at Monza with the car in both 1957 and 1958, one-sided exhibition events that pitted American Indianapolis cars against a motley collection of European cars. The race in both years consisted of three heats with the winner being the best car over the three races. In 1957 Ray Crawford's results in the heats were seventh, fourth and retired, and in 1958 tenth, eighth and fourth.