1933 Napier Railton

The VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Donington Park in May 2011 featured demonstration runs by Brooklands Museum's 24 litre Napier Railton.

The car was created by Reid Railton, Chief Engineer at Thompson & Taylors Racing car works at Brooklands and intended for racing at the Brooklands banked circuit and also for world speed record attempts. A note in the programme of the event tells the story of the car:

'Commissioned by John Cobb, this car had to be equally suited to also tackle the coveted hour and 24 hour world speed records, usually on foreign soil. Named the Napier-Railton, it was a bespoke special powered by a 24 litre Napier Lion aeroplane engine whose twelve cylinders were arranged in three banks of four and drove via a three speed gearbox to a 1.66 to 1 rear axle. Railton designed all this specially and fitted it into a massive chassis frame with deep side rails passing underneath both front and rear axles. Suspension was by double cantilever springs at the rear with an identical system to the Sunbeam Tiger and Tigress he had designed earlier using semi elliptical units at the front. The only part he had derived from another car was the steering box and column from a Speed Six Bentley. The racing bodywork, similar to the Sunbeam's was made by Gurney Nutting.'

The car was successful from the start, winning races at Brooklands and setting the lap record at 143.44 mph which was still standing when the track finally closed in 1939. Between 1933 and 1936 the car took several world speed records at Montlhéry and Bonneville Salt Flats, the fastest being 100 miles at 168.59 mph. After the Second World War the car was used for a time by Sir Geoffrey Quilter for testing parachutes and later was acquired by the Hon. Patrick Lindsay who used it in VSCC races. After having several other owners it was acquired by the Brooklands Museum in 1997. 

Here's the car just leaving McLeans corner during one of the demonstration runs.

This last photograph is one I took of the car with my trusty Kodak Brownie 127 camera at a Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy meeting at Oulton Park in the late 1950s when it was in the ownership of Patrick Lindsay.

Friday's Ferrari

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

It's a 2017 Ferrari GTC4LussoT and has a 3,855cc V8 twin turbocharged Ferrari F154 engine instead of the 6,262cc V12 engine of the Ferrari GT4CLusso. It shares the 4-wheel steering system of that car, but doesn't share the four-wheel drive facility.

Ecurie Ecosse 1956

I took these photographs at the British Empire Trophy meeting at Oulton Park in April 1956.

This is a 1956 'shortnose' Jaguar D-Type, chassis XKD561, one of two cars entered in the race by Ecurie Ecosse and has the 6-cylinder inline 3,441cc engine.

This is Ron Flockhart who drove the car in the photograph above. The race was run in the form of three heats, for cars up to 1500cc, 1501cc to 2700cc, and over 2700cc. There was then a final race over 25 laps run on a handicap basis with the smallest capacity cars getting a 40 second start, the next group 25 seconds, and those with the largest engines on scratch. Ron Flockhart finished in seventh place in the D-Type, the first finisher in the over 2700cc class, with the six cars in front of him all being from the up to 1500cc class. Stirling Moss won the race in a Cooper T39.

This is Ninian Sanderson who drove the other Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar D-Type in the race and finished in ninth place in the final. 

Three months later. in July of 1956, the Le Mans 24 hour race was won by an Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar D-Type driven by Ron Flockhart and Ninian Sanderson.

2010 Rolls Royce Ghost

This car came past me recently when I was walking down Union Street in Hyde, though unfortunately the sun was shining from the wrong direction.

It's a 2010 Rolls Royce Ghost, with a 6,592cc V12 engine. The car was advertised in Autotrader in November 2017, and was apparently the first car ever to be advertised there with payment to be solely in Bitcoin. The amount asked was the then sterling equivalent of £117,995, but I don't know if it actually sold for that price. It seems to currently belong to a car hire firm specialising in 'luxury and executive' cars.

1953 Allard J2R

This was one of the entrants in the HGPCA Race for pre 1959 Drum Brake Sports Cars at the Historic Sports Car Club's Historic Tribute meeting at Silverstone in June 2004.

It's Dean Butler's 1953 Allard J2R, chassis 3404, which was driven in the race by Michael Windsor Price. Prior to the Second World War Sydney Allard produced a series of Allard Specials, and in 1945 founded the Allard Motor Company Ltd, which soon began to produce lightweight cars powered by large American V8 engines that were sold on both sides of the Atlantic. Sydney Allard himself drove his cars several times at Le Mans in the early 1950s, the best result being a third place finish in the 1950 race with an Allard J2. The J2R was Allard's final competition car, and it has a 390 cu in (6.4 litre) Cadillac V8 engine. The company continued to produce the Palm Beach and K3 sports cars and the P1 Sports Saloon until finally going into administration in 1957.

1971 Lotus 56B

I took this photograph at the Donington Park museum in October 1989.

It's the 1971 Lotus 56B, a gas turbine powered four-wheel drive car that was one of Colin Chapman's innovative attempts to steal a march on the other F1 manufacturers. A gas turbine engine car, the STP-Paxton Turbocar, had run in the Indianapolis 500 in 1967 and looked like winning the race until a bearing failure caused it to drop out 3 laps from the finish. In 1968 Maurice Philippe had designed the Lotus 56 and Colin Chapman entered three of the Pratt & Whitney gas turbine powered cars for the Indianapolis race. Two of the cars, including one driven by Graham Hill, dropped out but the third car driven by Joe Leonard, who had qualified in pole position, suffered a broken fuel pump drive shaft nine laps from the end of the race when in the lead. The Lotus 56B was basically the same as the 56 with adjustments to the suspension to help the cars to handle right-hand as well as left-hand corners, and larger fuel tanks because the gas turbine engine was much thirstier than the internal combustion engines of the conventional F1 cars. It also had the aerodynamically efficient wedge-shaped body of the Lotus 72. The car wasn't a success in F1 for a variety of reasons - the larger fuel tanks made it much heavier than its competitors, the fact that there was no engine braking meant that the drivers had to rely solely on the brakes to slow the car down, and there was a slow response to the accelerator because of turbo-lag. The car only took part in three Grand Prix races in 1971, at Zandvoort where Dave Walker performed well on a wet circuit before spinning off and retiring, at Silverstone where Reine Wisell ended up eleven laps behind the winner and was not classified as a finisher, and at Monza where Emerson Fittipaldi finished in eighth place. The following season Lotus stuck with the more conventional Lotus 72, and Emerson Fittipaldi won the World Drivers' Championship with that car.

1964 Elva Courier

This car competed in the Equipe GTS race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2019.

It's the 1964 Elva Courier of Rob Cobden, one of about 400 of the MkI and MkII Couriers produced between 1958 and 1961. Various different engines were used to power the Courier, the most common being the Riley 1.5 or MGA unit, but Rob Cobden's car has the 1,498cc Kent engine from the Ford Cortina.

Here's the car at Britten's chicane during the early morning practice session.....

…..and here at Druids Corner during the race.

1953 Osca MT4

This car took part in the Italy v Rest of the World race for Pre 1959 Drum Brake Sports Cars at the Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 2001.

When the Maserati brothers Ernesto, Ettore and Bindo sold their shares in the Maserati company to Adolfo Orsi in 1937 they agreed a contract to stay with the company for 10 years, and in 1947 when the contract terminated they formed a new company, Officine Specializzate Costruzione Automobile (O.S.C.A.) - more usually known as Osca. Their initial aim was to build a car for the 1100cc class of sports car racing, and their first car was the 1,092cc MT4 with the engine based on a 4-cylinder Fiat unit. The MT4 was produced until 1953 with the engine being enlarged to 1,453 cc for the later cars. The car above is chassis #1129, a 1953 car, and was driven in the race at Silverstone by Gavin Pickering.

Friday's Ferrari

I photographed this car in the pit lane during a practice session at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2004.

It's Alexander Boswell's 1952 Ferrari 625, originally a 2 litre Ferrari 500 that competed in World Championship races in 1952 and 1953. When the regulations were changed in 1954 to allow engines of 2½ litres the chassis was extended, a 2,498cc engine fitted, and the car was redesignated a Type 625. Later in 1954 a 2,942cc engine from a Ferrari 735 sports car was installed and the car was subsequently acquired by Peter Whitehead who raced the car in Australia in 1956 and 1957. It then found its way to the USA, via Argentina, where it stayed till ending up with Alexander Boswell in 1999.

1971 Chevrolet El Camino

I took these photographs in one of the car parks at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2018.

It's a 1971 third generation Chevrolet El Camino, 41,606 of which were produced that year by Chevrolet in their nine factories, seven in the USA, one in Canada and one in Argentina.

The El Camino is a coupé utility vehicle, with a passenger compartment at the front  and a cargo bed at the back. The third generation model was based on the Chevelle station wagon platform, and there was a choice of two 6-cylinder inline and four V8 engines. This particular car has the 350cu in (3,735cc) V8 engine.

1970 Porsche 917

This was one of the cars displayed by the Porsche Club GB at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000.

It's one of the Porsche 917 cars with Gulf livery that was campaigned by the John Wyer Automotive team in the World Sportscar Championship races of 1970 and 1971. The Porsche 917 was originally built with a 4.5 litre air-cooled flat-12 Porsche 912 engine which was progressively increased to 4.9 litres then 5 litres from 1969 to 1971. John Wyer's cars were particularly successful in 1970 and1971, winning 7 out of the 10 races in the World Sportscar Championship in 1970 (and 2 of the other races were won by the Porsche Salzburg team - including the Le Mans 24 Hour race), and 5 out of 11 races in the 1971 season (and 3 of the other races were won by Martini Racing's Porsche 917s - again including the Le Mans 24 Hour race). The John Wyer Automotive team didn't do too well in the Le Mans 24 Hour race in those 2 years, all three cars retiring in 1970 and two in 1971, although Richard Attwood and Herbert Müller did finish in second place in the third car.

1938 Fiat 508C

This car competed in the Redgate Mug Race for Standard and Modified Pre-war Sports Cars at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

Listed in the programme of the event as a Fiat New Balilla it's Cyril Hancock's 1938 Fiat 508C with a 4-cylinder inline 1,089cc engine. It's called the 'new' Balilla because of mechanical improvements made to the car including independent front suspension, and a larger overhead valve engine replacing the 995cc sidevalve engine of the older car. Next to the Fiat is Adam Painter's supercharged 1,496cc 1935 Maserati 4CS.

Britten's Chicane, Oulton Park

Three photographs here and a short video clip taken at Britten's chicane during the Equipe Pre '63 race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2018.

This is the 1965 Austin Healey 3000 of Martyn Corfield leading the 1959 Elva Courier of Paul Andrew. In the background Adam Key in his 1961 Austin Healey Sprite has spun after Island Corner and is still facing the wrong way.

Paul Kennerley in his 1959 Jaguar XK150 is leading David Reed in his 1952 Aston Martin DB2

James Haxton in his 1960 Austin Healey 3000 leading the 1954 Austin Healey 100/4 of Jim Campbell, the 1962 Morgan Plus 4 of Mark Hoble and the 1962 Lotus Elite of John Pearson.

The field passing through Britten's chicane on the first lap of the race. It's a bit shaky and filmed on my little Canon IXUS camera.

1959 BRM Transporter

The Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1999 commemorated the 50th anniversary of BRM with a paddock display of BRM cars, some of which took part in track parades over the weekend. This is one of the vehicles that was on display in the paddock.

It's the BRM transporter built in 1959 by Marshall Motor Bodies Ltd of Cambridge to the design of Rubery Owen & Co Ltd, owner and builder of the BRM racing cars. It was built on a Leyland Royal Tiger chassis with an underfloor engine, and left-hand drive as most of its journeys would be in continental Europe. It could accommodate three cars with one on the upper deck and two on the lower deck with spare wheels stowed on both sides, and tools and spare parts in side lockers. It replaced the three Austin transporters which took one car each, and a Commer mobile workshop that accompanied the team to each venue.

1960 Lola Mk1

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

It's a Lola Mk1 but has no racing number, and although there was a race for 1950s Sports Cars this car is not listed in the programme of the event as taking part. The Lola Mk1 was designed by Eric Broadley in 1958 and was powered by a 1,098cc Coventry Climax FWA engine, and the car pictured here is a 1960 model that belonged in 2007 to John Monson. It had been rebuilt in 1966 and given an FWA engine bored out to 1,149cc, and a new chassis number BR27B in place of the original BR27.

Friday's Ferrari

I took these photographs in the paddock on practice day for the British Grand Prix at Aintree in July 1962.

It's the 1962 Ferrari 156 that was driven in the race by Phil Hill. It had a 1,476cc 120° V8 Ferrari Type 178 engine, but was not as successful as the 1961 model in which Phil Hill had won the World Championship, and Wolfgang von Trips had finished in second place although losing his life in an accident in the Italian Grand Prix in the penultimate race of the season. In 1962 the Ferrari wasn't as quick as the British BRM, Lotus, Lola and Cooper cars with their new V8 Coventry Climax engines, and they were hampered by a series of strikes in Italy which meant they were unable to compete in the French Grand Prix and Phil Hill's was the only Ferrari that took part in the British Grand Prix. The Ferraris also failed to start in either of the last two races that season, in the USA and South Africa.

Phil Hill only managed to qualify the car in 12th place on the grid, and retired from the race on the 47th of the 75 laps with distributor failure. The Chief Engineer at Ferrari, Mauro Forghieri, is sitting in the cockpit of the car in both of these photographs.

1938 Bugatti Type 57C

This was one of the entrants in the Cheshire Concours d'Esprit at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2017.

It's a 1938 Bugatti Type 57C with a twin-cam 8-cylinder inline 3,257cc engine and is chassis 57707.

There's a note about the car in the programme of the event that says this:

Bugatti Type 57C Stelvio (1938)

A grand prix car under sports touring bodywork, the Type 57C Stelvio was mechanically identical to the Type 57 Bugattis that won the French Grand Prix and multiple victories at Le Mans from 1936 to 1939.

There was a parade lap by entrants in the Concours d'Esprit during a break in the racing.

1990 Tyrrell 019

This is the car that represented 1990 in the line-up of cars marking each of the 50 years of racing at Silverstone at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting in 1998.

It's the 1990 Tyrrell 019, designed by Harvey Postlethwaite and powered by a 3,493cc V8 Ford Cosworth DFR engine. It is notable for being the first F1 car to feature a raised nose instead of the downward pointing ones that were then commonly used, as Harvey Postlethwaite had realised that raising the nose cone would increase the amount of air passing underneath the car and thus increase the downforce produced. The car was not very successful - although Jean Alesi finished in sixth place in the car's first Grand Prix at San Marino and second at Monaco in the next race, the only other points-scoring places that season were Saturo Nakajima's two sixth places in Italy and Japan.

1936 Austin 7 'Miss Green'

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

It's Christian Pedersen's 1936 Austin 7 with a 4-cylinder inline 747cc engine.

The programme of the event doesn't say that it is supercharged, but it apparently has a Lancia Volumex supercharger.

Here's Christian Pedersen at Druids Corner during the morning qualifying session. The car has 'Miss Green' painted on the engine cover, but I've been unable to find out anything about 'Miss Green'.

 This is 'Miss Green' at the exit of Britten's chicane during the race. All the car was originally painted in the same dark green colour as the engine cover.

1929 Bentley S/S Special 'Monty'

This car took part in an Eight Lap Scratch Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Donington Park in May 2001.

It was built by Stanley Mann's restoration company, mainly by Stewart Fernside, and has a single seat body and 8 litre engine, and is named 'Monty'. Apart from that I can't find much information about the car. It was listed in the programme of the event as a 1929 Bentley S/S Special and was driven in the race by Stanley Mann. It has a close resemblance to another of Stanley Mann's Bentleys, 'Old Mother Gun', and also to the Bentley Pacey Hassan, both of which took part in this meeting.

1964 Bristol FS6G Lowdekka

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 1964 Bristol DF6G Lodekka, DFG 157 with Crosville from 1964 till it was withdrawn from service in 1977. The note in the programme of the event says:

Bristol FS6G, ECW H60RD, 1964                                                                   4227FM
Crosville Motor Services DFG 157
Entered by Messrs Lynas & Scott, Warrington
One of many similar vehicles operated by the company throughout its territory.

1952 Jaguar XK120

This is one of the cars that was displayed at the Northern Classic Car Show at the G-Mex Centre, Manchester, in August 1990.

It's a Jaguar XK120 and the only note about it I made at the time is that it was a 1952 model. It will have the 6-cylinder inline 3,442cc engine. The DVLA record says that the XK 1 registration still exists on a black Jaguar, though it doesn't say which model, just that it was manufactured in 1950. Strangely for such an eye-catching number I can't find any reference to it on the Internet.

Friday's Ferrari

This car was part of the Ferrari Owners' Club's contingent at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997.

It's a 1950 Ferrari, chassis 0060M, originally built with a 1,995cc V12 engine as a 166 Sport Touring Berlinetta but later upgraded to a 195 by the factory and given the larger 2,341cc engine. The car competed in the 1950 Le Mans 24 Hour race driven by Raymond Sommer and Dorino Serafini but failed to finish the race.

ACU/FRSA British F2 Sidecar Championship Race

I took these photographs at the exit of the Knickerbrook chicane on the first lap of the ACU/FRSA F2 Sidecar Championship Race at the NG Road Racing meeting at Oulton Park in April 2017.

This is the field coming down towards the chicane from Hilltop and is being led by number 72, the Rowtec Suzuki 600 of Peter Founds & Jevan Walmsley.

The exit of the chicane, and the leader is now the LCR 600 Suzuki (2) of Lee Crawford & Patrick Farrance with the Rowtec Suzuki 600 (72) of Peter Founds & Jevan Walmsley in second place, the LCR Honda 600 (99) of Stephen & Matty Ramsden in third place, and the LCR Honda 600 (4) of John Holden & Lee Cain fourth.

The LCR Honda 600 (4) of John Holden & Lee Cain is just disappearing on the left of the pcture. Number 3 is the Bellas 600 Honda of Conrad Harrison & Andy Wincle, 42 is the Honda 600 of John & Jake Lowther and 22 is the LCR Suzuki of Dave Wallis & Scott Hardie.

Number 42 is the Honda 600 of John & Jake Lowther, 22 is the LCR Suzuki of Dave Wallis & Scott Hardie, 16 is the Shelbourne Honda 600 of Gary & Daryl Gibson and 31 is the Baker Honda 600 of Nicholas Dukes & William Moralee.

Number 31 is the Baker Honda 600 of Nicholas Dukes & William Moralee, 95 is the Lumey Kawasaki of Ralph Remnant & Sam Tilley and 964 is the DMR Honda of Stuart Anderson & Phil Gravel.

Number 95 is the Lumey Kawasaki of Ralph Remnant & Sam Tilley, 964 is the DMR Honda of Stuart Anderson & Phil Gravel and 8 is the DDM Suzuki 600 of Brian Ilara & Jody James.

Number 41 is the MRE Suzuki of Paul Riley & Shaun Parker and 5 is the Shand 600 F2 of Gordon Shand & Phil Hyde.

Number 30 is the Ireson Honda 600 of Andy King & Jeff Gillard, 32 is the Lumley 007 600 of Richard Lumley & Ray Whitnell and 55 is the LCR Suzuki GSXR 600 of Giles & Jenny Stainton.

Number 161 is the MRE Suzuki of Paul Downes & David Hainsworth and 29 is the OTC Baker Yamaha 600 of Peter Alton & Keith Brotherton.

Number 84 is the LCR Kawasaki of Maria Costello & Helen Deeley and behind them the number 24 Shelbourne Honda 600 of Andy Wilby & Paul Lowther then the number 167 Windle Yamaha 600 of Wesley Pettman & David Porter.