1970 Lola T300

This car competed in the Formula 5000 class of the HSCC Pre '71 Single Seater Championship race at he Historic Sports Car Club's Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1987.

It's shown in the programme of the event as a 1970 Lola T300 entered by Autocavan Components Ltd and driven by Geoff Thomas, seen here during the race at Deer Leap. Formula 5000 was a intended to be a low cost formula for single-seater cars with a maximum engine capacity of 5 litres, usually powered by American V8 engines of that size. Geoff Thomas's car is chassis HU10 which originally went to the USA where it changed hands several times until it returned to the UK and was next seen in competition in 1985.

On 11 June 2016 I showed photographs of this car with its previous owner at Oulton Park in 1986 where it was described in the programme as a 1971 car.

1956 Jaguar D-Type

This car was one of a number of Jaguars on display in the paddock at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It's a Jaguar D-Type and I've seen photographs describing it as a 1954 car, although the DVLA say that YSU 740 is a yellow 1956 Jaguar, and the yellow racing colour of Belgium seems to imply that it was at one time campaigned by one of the 1950s Belgian racing teams. After much searching I've found that it is chassis XKD573 and was originally loaned to the Equipe Nationale Belge to compete in the 1956 Le Mans 24 Hour race, having been uprated to full works Jaguar D-Type specifications, including quick change front brake calipers and a wide angle cylinder head. The car was driven by Jacques Swaters and Freddie Rousselle at Le Mans and finished in fourth place, the race being won by Ron Flockhart and Ninian Sanderson in an Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar D-Type. After the race the car went back to the Jaguar factory where standard cylinder head and front brake calipers were fitted and the car was then sold to Equipe Nationale Belge. The Belgian team kept the car until the end of the 1957 racing season, and the only record I can find of it racing after then is when it was driven by a Francis Francis in the 1963 Japanese Sports  Car Grand Prix.

Three weeks after its fourth place in the 1956 Le Mans 24 Hour race, in August 1956, it was driven by Freddie Rousselle in the Daily Express International Trophy Race at Oulton Park where I took this photograph in the Paddock.

The car is apparently now in the Franschhoek Motor Museum in South Africa.

Donington Grand Prix Collection

Tom Wheatcroft was born close to the Donington Park racing circuit and in his youth he attended the Donington Park Grand Prix races in 1937 and 1938 where the German Mercedes Benz and Auto Union cars sparked his love of motor sport which stayed with him the whole of his life. After serving as a tank driver in the Second World War he became involved in the construction industry and launched his own successful building company in 1946. In 1964 he bought his first racing car, a 1949 Ferrari 125 Grand Prix car formerly owned by Peter Whitehead, and this was the start of a collection that he added to over the next few years. In 1971 he bought a large part of the Donington Park estate which included the pre-war racing circuit, and which had been used by the army as a supply depot during the war. He moved his growing car collection to the estate and over the next six years rebuilt the circuit, opening it for racing again in 1977. In the meantime work had started on a building which was to become a museum for his cars, and this opened to the public in 1973. Tom Wheatcroft died in 2009 and his son Kevin inherited the collection, and in 2017 Motor Sport Vision took over the operation of Donington Park but the following year decided the museum should close 'as it did not fit into their business plan'. The museum closed on 5 November 2018.

The last time I visited the museum was in September 2014 and here are some of the photographs I took that day.

Outside the entrance was this tribute to Juan Manuel Fangio listing the Grand Prix victories during his career in which he won five World Drivers' Championships. Alongside him is Ayrton Senna and a list of the 41 Grand Prix victories which brought him three World Drivers' Championships. In what is widely said to be his greatest race he won the 1993 European Grand Prix on a rain-soaked Donington Park circuit, dropping to fifth place at the start before taking the lead before the end of the first lap.

Donington Park had the largest number of exhibits of any motor sport museum, including a large number of Williams Grand Prix  cars.....

…..and an equally impressive display of McLarens.

The Donington Park museum also had a comprehensive display of Vanwall Grand Prix cars.

Lotus Cortina

I took this photograph at Foulstons chicane at Oulton Park during the CSCC Pre '65 Saloon Car Challenge Race at the Jaguar Drivers' Club's Cheshire Cats' Trophy Meeting in April 1987.

There were ten Lotus Cortinas in this race, together with four Ford Cortina GTs and I'm having some difficulty trying to identify the cars shown here. The second car is that of Colin Woodcock and the fourth car Simon Sayward's,but I don't know who was driving the car between those two. The car in the lead appears to be Chris Boon's, which the programme of the event shows as the only red Lotus Cortina in the race. Colin Chapman's collaboration with Ford started in 1961 when he commissioned Harry Mundy to design a twin-cam version of the Ford Kent engine. It first appeared in a Lotus 23 in 1962 and was used in the Lotus Elan which was introduced that year. Ford then approached Colin Chapman to suggest that Lotus should fit this engine to 1,000 examples of the Ford Cortina so that they could homologated for Group 2 racing. Between 1963 and 1966 3,306 examples of the Mark 1 Lotus Cortina were produced.

Friday's Ferrari

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

It's a Ferrari 430 Scuderia with a 4,308cc V8 engine and produced from 2007 to 2009. It was lighter than the standard Ferrari F430, and revised intake and exhaust systems and other engine improvements raised the power output from 490hp to 510hp. Michael Schumacher spent a lot of time testing the 430 Scuderia when it was being developed.

2017 McLaren 570GT

I was walking down the road past the local Shell filling station in Hyde one rainy day towards the end of last year when I spotted this car waiting to refuel.

It's a 2017 McLaren 570GT which has a 3,799cc twin turbocharged V8 M838T engine with twin overhead camshafts and 4 valves per cylinder. The 570GT first made an appearance in 2015 and is still being produced.

1932 Talbot AV95 Special

I photographed this car in the paddock at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

It's a 1932 Talbot 95AV Special, with a 6-cylinder OHV 2,969cc engine - though the DVLA says that it's 2,996cc - and was first registered in 1948. I can't find out much about this particular car but it appears that the Talbot 95 models were built as 4-door saloon cars, so it's possible that G0 57 was rebuilt in its present form in 1948.

1972 Porsche 911 Carrera

This car is rounding Lodge Corner in the Inter-Marque Championship race at the Aston Martin Owners' Club's meeting at Oulton Park in September 1986.

It's the 1972 Porsche 911 Carrera of Merv Sherlock, and according to the programme of the event it has a 3000cc engine. The Porsche 911 of 1972 was built with a flat-6 air-cooled engine of 2.4 litres and the 3 litre engine wasn't introduced till 1975, so it looks as if this car had a larger engine fitted at some stage. It's still registered with the DVLA who show the engine capacity as 3000cc.

Supermarine Spitfire Mk VIIIc

The Silverstone motor racing circuit is on the site of a WW2 RAF bomber station and when it was first used for the British Grand Prix in 1948 the two main runways formed a large part of the circuit. The following season, however, the circuit just ran round the perimeter of the airfield and apart from relatively minor adjustments it stayed that way till 2010 when the left hand bend at Abbey was changed to a right turn so the track meandered across towards the Maggotts curve then turned abruptly back along the line of one of the old runways towards Brooklands corner. This meant that the runways were able to be used by aircraft and part is still in use, mainly as a heliport, for the British Grand Prix and other meetings. When I went to the Historic Festival meetings there in the 1990s there were always a few interesting aircraft in the centre of the circuit, and this is one that I photographed at The Coys International Historic Festival meeting in August 1996.

It's a Supermarine Spitfire Mk VIIIc and was built in 1944, but didn't see any wartime service. Its engine is a Rolls-Royce Merlin built under license in the USA by the Packard Motor Car Company. The aircraft was shipped to Australia in 1944 where it remained till 1979 when it was acquired by former RAF Cranwell graduate Robs Lamplough who brought it to this meeting at Silverstone where he was competing in his BRM P125 and Talbot Lago T26 Monoplace Décallée. The programme of the event has an article which refers to the displays of vintage and classic aircraft at the meeting and says this about the Spitfire:

'Built in 1944 by Vickers Supermarine of Southampton, MV154 is one of only two airworthy Mk VIIIs in the world. Superbly restored between 1980 and 1994 by a team of engineers led by John Hart at Filton, it took to the skies again on 28 May 1994 in Robs' capable hands, almost 50 years after its first delivery flight to the RAF.'

1970 Martin BM8

This was one of the competitors in the HSCC Atlantic Computers Historic GT Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 1986.

It's John Saphir's 1970 Martin BM8, a car that was built to contest the European Sportscar Championship for 2-litre cars. Brian Martin started by building one-off sports racing cars for his own use, the first one being an MG TA with a Ford 105E engine. I've not been able to find out much about this car but several of Brian Martin's cars were powered by 2-litre BMW engines, and the programme of this event says this one had an 1800cc engine.

Williams Trophy Race

I took this photograph at Redgate corner on the first lap of the Williams Trophy Race at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in June 2008. The race celebrates the win of Grover Williams in the first Monaco Grand Prix in 1929 and the trophy that he won in that race is in the custody of the Bugatti Trust, and is given to the winner of this race to hold for one year.

Leading is the 1932 Bugatti T51 of  Charles Dean and close behind him the 1926 Bugatti T35B of Mike Preston. The light blue car in the centre of the picture is the 1928 Bugatti T35B of Brandon Smith-Hilliard with the 1927 Lea-Francis Hyper of Miss E Brewster, driven by Jeremy Brewster, coming round on the outside. The red car on the left of the picture is the 1932 Alfa Romeo 8C Monza of Graham Burrows being driven by Chris Mann, and almost alongside him is the 1931 Bugatti T51 of Stephen Shoosmith.

Friday's Ferrari

There was a large display of Ferraris on and off the track at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997 where the Italian marque was featured. This is one of the cars that took part in track parades during the meeting.

It's the 1957 Ferrari 335S of Peter Sachs, which has a 4.023cc V12 engine and is chassis #0700.  Four of these cars were produced, one a converted 315S, as Ferrari's answer to the threat the 4½ litre Maserati 450S posed for the smaller engined Ferrari 315S and 290MM. The first race for the 335S was the 1957 Mille Miglia where two cars were entered, Peter Collins driving #0700 with Louis Klementaski as co-driver, but retiring with a broken drive shaft when in the lead. The second car, chassis #0676, was driven by Alfonso de Portago, partnered by Ed Nelson, but a burst tyre caused the car to leave the road and crash, killing both men together with 10 spectators. As a result of this crash the Italian government banned racing on public roads in Italy so that was the end of the Mille Miglia, though since 1977 the event has been revived as a regularity run for pre-1958 cars that would have been eligible for the original race. The 1957 race was won by Piero Taruffi in a Ferrari 315S, and Ferrari also won the 1957 World Sportscar Championship, with a 290MM winning the 1000km of Buenos Aires, and Peter Collins and Phil Hill winning the last race of the season, the Gran Premio de Venezuela in 335S #0700. The Maserati 450S won two races, the Sebring 12 hour race and the Swedish Grand Prix, and the other two races were won by British cars, Aston Martin winning the Nürburgring 1000 km and Jaguar cleaned up at Le Mans with Ecurie Ecosse D-Types in the first two places with 3 other D-Types in third, fourth and sixth places.

1953 Cooper Bristol MkII

This car took part in the Cheshire Building Society Allcomers Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies Meeting at Oulton Park in June 1984.

It's the 1953 Cooper Bristol MkII of Roddy MacPherson with a 1971cc 6-cylinder inline Bristol engine that was derived from the pre-war BMW 328 unit. Father and son Charles & John Cooper had started the Cooper Car Company in 1946, and at first specialised in building cars for the new 500cc class of racing that British enthusiasts had started as a simple and economical way to go motor racing after the war. This developed into the International Formula 3 class in 1950, and Cooper then ventured into the Formula 2 class by putting a 1,100cc JAP engine into one of these cars, way below the 2 litre limit allowed, but even with the lack of power the car was still reasonably competitive because of its light weight. When the World Championship was run under Formula 2 regulations in 1952 because of a dearth of the larger-engined Formula 1 cars Cooper decided to design a car to compete at that level. The 1,971 Bristol engine was chosen, but the Cooper Bristol MkI (later designated the T20) could not really compete with the Ferraris and Maseratis in World Championship races and was much more successful in minor British events. In 1953 the MkII (later T23) car was introduced, having a tubular frame chassis instead of the box section frame of the earlier car and the drive train was altered to lower the driver's seat. Although a better car it wasn't much more successful than the MkI, and the following season when the new 2½ litre Formula 1 regulations came into force the car was rendered obsolete. They still soldiered on for a few years, mainly in minor British events, and then became regulars in the historic racing scene, where they're still to be seen to this day.

Here's Roddy MacPherson at Deer Leap, just after Lodge Corner, during the race. Strange how the front of the car is sharp and in focus but the driver and rear of the car are blurred. I'm sure there must be some scientific reason for that.

1922 Aston Martin Grand Prix Car

The 1995 Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone celebrated the Diamond Jubilee of the Aston Martin Owners' Club and this is one of the cars that featured in a display in the paddock.

It's one of the oldest Aston Martins in existence, and is one of two cars that Count Louis Zborowski had built with the intention of competing in the 1922 Tourist Trophy race on the Isle of Man in June of that year, but as they were not completed in time their first race was one month later in the French Grand Prix in Strasbourg. The cars were driven by Count Zborowski and Clive Gallop, but both retired by the half-way point of the 60 lap race which was won by Felice Nazzaro in a Fiat 804. The cars originally had a 4-cylinder inline twin camshaft 16 valve 1,486cc engine, but the record says that the engine in each of these cars was later replaced by 'a Benson twin cam engine designed by the Hon. John Benson', though the capacity of that engine does not seem to have been specified. The founders of the Aston Martin company, Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford, had gone bankrupt in 1924 and the company was bought by Dorothea, Lady Charnwood who put her son John Benson on the board. The DVLA doesn't have a record of PE 2516, but says that the engine capacity of its sister car, XL 3125, is 1,465cc, so that is perhaps still the Benson-designed engine.

1958 Jaguar C-Type replica

I took this photograph in the paddock at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Donington Park in May 2001.

It's a Jaguar C-Type, and although I can't find out any details about this particular car it appears to be a replica. The DVLA record (if the registration number still belongs to this car) says that it's a 1958 blue Jaguar with a 3,442cc engine. The C-Type was only produced from 1951 to 1953, so it looks like it's been created from a 1958 Jaguar XK150. Several manufacturers have produced these replica models, most notably Proteus and Lynx, and many of these are indistinguishable from the original cars. The 'LS' in the registration number indicates that it was registered in Dundee.

Richie Ginther

I took this photograph at Aintree during practice day for the British Grand Prix in July 1962.

Facing the camera is Richie Ginther who partnered Graham Hill in the BRM team driving the P578 cars. He qualified in eighth place on the grid, but problems with the car caused him to finish in thirteenth place.. He finished the 1962 season in eighth place in the Drivers' World Championship with two podium positions, second in the Italian Grand Prix and third in France. Richie Ginther had driven for the Ferrari team in the 1961 season, and the person he's talking to here appears to be Carlo Chiti who was involved is designing the 1961 Ferrari Dino 156 that had won the World Championship for Phil Hill that year. Carlo Chiti and several other personnel had walked out of Ferrari in October 1961 due to a disagreement with Enzo Ferrari and later formed the ATS racing team that would compete in Formula One racing in 1963.

Ferrari had been beset by strikes in Italy before this race, and the blue van in the background was the vehicle that brought the sole Ferrari to take part in the race, Phil Hill's Ferrari Dino 156, and you can see his car next to the van.

Cascades corner, Oulton Park

I took this photograph from close to Knickerbrook corner during the Cheshire Building Society Allcomers Race at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies Meeting Oulton Park in June 1982.

The silver car on the inside is a 1953 Cooper Bristol driven by D.M.Vine followed on the outside by H.S.Clifford in a 1953/55 Cooper Bristol. Bringing up the rear is the 1954 Maserati 250F, chassis #2513, of David Sankey. This car was supplied to Vandervell Engineering in 1954 as a rolling chassis, without engine or body, when they were developing the first Vanwall car. It was acquired by David Sankey in 1970, and in 1976 was completed with the correct 2½ litre 250F engine and 1957 style body.

1957 Maserati 250F V12

This car took part in the Chopard HGPCA 100-Mile Grand Prix Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994.

It's Thomas Bscher's 1957 Maserati 250F V12, a car built with a 2,491cc V12 engine instead of the 250F's usual 6-cylinder inline 2,490 unit. It's chassis #2531 and is one of only 2 cars specifically built to take the V12 engine, and the only one to take part in a World Championship race. It was entered for the 1957 Italian Grand Prix and driven by Jean Behra, but retired towards the end of the race with overheating problems.

When Maserati disbanded the team at the end of the 1957 season the engine was removed from the car, which was sold to Brazilian Antonio de Barros who installed a V8 Chevrolet engine and raced it till the mid-1960s. It was eventually rescued by Colin Crabbe and restored by Stephen Griswold with the 3 litre V12 engine from a Maserati T63 sports car. 

The programme of this Silverstone meeting shows the engine capacity of the car to be 2,500cc, but I can't find anything that says it's been reunited with the correct V12 engine.

Here the car's in the pit lane waiting to go out on the track at the start of a practice session. The car next to it is Jeffrey Pattinson's 1954 Maserati 250F, chassis #2508 that was originally owned and campaigned by Stirling Moss.

Friday's Ferrari

Three cars here in the pit lane during practice for a round of the Shell Ferrari Maserati Historic Challenge race at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2004.

Number 90 on the left is the 1966 Ferrari 412P of Harry Leventis, chassis #0844, which was driven in the race by Peter Hardman. It has a 3,967cc V12 engine and started off in 1966 as a Ferrari 330 P3, but in 1967 was converted to a 412P which is the customer equivalent of the 330 P3 works car. It seems the only difference between the two cars is that the works car has Lucas fuel injection and the customer car Weber carburettors - the primary reason  for this was allegedly to make it more difficult for the customer cars to beat the team cars. The car on the right is another of Harry Leventis's cars, the 1965 Ferrari Dino 206SP, chassis #0834, that he drove in the race himself. This car was originally built as a Dino 166P with a 1,593cc V6 engine, but was given a 1,987cc V6 engine later in 1965 and converted to a 206SP. Behind that is the 1966 Ferrari Dino 206S of Lars Wramell with the 1,987cc V6 engine, chassis #006 66, that was originally campaigned by Maranello Concessionaires in 1966 when its first race was in the Tourist Trophy race at Oulton Park in April of that year.

1936 ERA R12B

This car, together with seven other ERAs competed in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in June 1981.

It's the 1936 ERA R12B of Bill Morris, previously one of the White Mouse stable's trio of ERAs driven by Prince Bira, where it was given the name 'Hanuman'. It was originally built with a 2 litre engine as a B-type car, but in 1937 it was rebuilt to C-type specifications, thus becoming R12C, and given a 1½ litre engine. In 1939 the car was badly damaged in a crash during practice at Reims and was rebuilt with a B-type frame, reverting to being R12B and the name changing to 'Hanuman II'. After passing through various hands after the Second World War it came to Bill Morris. Bill Morris had managed to acquire the rest of the wreckage left over from the 1939 crash and using the damaged chassis frame rebuilt the car to its 1939 C-type specifications by 1982. That car was now R12C, as if the 1939 accident had never happened, and was given the original car's name of 'Hanuman'.

The blue car with a number 5 behind 'Hanuman II' is the ERA R5B ('Remus', another ex-White Mouse stable car) driven that day by the Hon.Patrick Lindsay.

1950 Bristol LL6B

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

It's a 1950 Bristol LL6B, in service with Crosville Motor Services Limited of Chester from 1950 to 1968 with fleet number KW175, later changed to SLB175. The programme of the event had this note about the vehicle:

Bristol LL6B, E.C.W. B35R, 1950                                                                                   LFM756

Crosville SLB175

Entered by    Mersey and Calder Bus Preservation Group

Withdrawn in 1968 and passed to present owner in 1984. Restored both externally and internally.

1955 Bristol 450S

This car competed in the Champagne Charles Heidsieck Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1993, and I photographed it early in the day in a very overcast and rain-soaked paddock.

It's the sole surviving example of the three Bristol 450S cars that were built primarily to contest the Le Mans 24 Hour race, in which they competed with three different body styles in 1953, 1954 and 1955. The cars ran in the under 2 litre class and were powered by the 1,971cc straight-6 Bristol engine derived from the pre-war BMW 328 unit. The 1953 car had a coupé body with an unusual looking nose which had two headlamps, two spotlights, and a series of air intakes including a strange series of slats in the bodywork where the grille of the car would normally be. The rear of the car was swept back with a fin on either side of the rear window. Two cars were entered for the 1953 Le Mans race but both retired before the race was half way through. For the 1954 race the body was altered, retaining the rear end of the 1953 car, but having the new nose as seen on the 1955 car in the above photograph. Three cars were entered at Le Mans and they finished seventh, eighth and ninth in the overall positions, and first, second and third in the 2 litre class. In 1955 the cars were given the open body as seen above, and again finished seventh, eighth and ninth overall, and in the first three places in the 2 litre class. After that race Bristol withdrew from racing, in part because of the terrible accident there, and the best parts of the three cars were used to build one car, the rest being scrapped. The owner of Bristol Cars, Tony Crook, kept the car until 1992 when he sold it to Simon Draper who entered it for this race at Silverstone, where it was driven by Stephen Archer. It has been taken along to several historic race meetings to sit alongside the cars of other members of the Bristol Owners' Club, but as far as I'm aware this meeting at Silverstone in 1993 is the only competitive outing it has had since that 1955 Le Mans 24 Hour race.

1950 Healey Silverstone

This photograph was taken in one of the car parks at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1975.

It's a 1950 Healey Silverstone, one of 105 such cars made by the Donald Healey Motor Company. The cars were powered by a 4-cylinder inline 2,443cc Riley engine, and being very light were suitable for competition as well as for road use.

1991 Argo Chevrolet JM 20C

I took this photograph at the Old Hairpin during practice for the Group C/GTP Sports Car race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2007.

Its Richard Oddie in his 1991 Argo JM 20C which has a Chevrolet V8 engine, the capacity of which is not specified in the programme of the event. Argo Racing Cars Ltd was originally formed in East Anglia in 1976 by Jo Marquart, Nick Jordan and John Peterson as Anglia Cars, starting off by designing a Formula 3 car which they named an Argo, then going on to make Formula Atlantic and Formula Vee cars. The name of the company was changed to Argo Racing Cars Ltd because of the confusion caused by the company name being different from that of the cars they made. In 1983 the team concentrated their efforts on Indianapolis and Group C/GTP Sports Car racing, and the car pictured is one of the 100+ sports car chassis they constructed.

Bitter Cars

Erich Bitter built his first car in 1973 based on an Opel floorplan and running gear, and between 1973 and 1986 he built 395 Bitter CD's and 488 SC's. Three of these cars were displayed by the Bitter Owners Club at the Footman James Classic Car Show Manchester at EventCity in September 2018.

This is a 1974 Bitter CD, and was described as follows:

'395 examples of the CD were built by Baur of Stuttgart for Bitter between 1973 and 1979. This CD is the only CD in the UK and was a personal import. The car is based on a shortened and stiffened Opel Diplomat chassis and fitted with a 5354cc American V8  (short block Chevy) and will achieve a top speed of 130mph. This was the 10th CD built and exported to South Africa by GM to try and establish the Marque there but no others followed. It was brought to the UK from South Africa in 2015 by its current owner. There are now less than 200 CD's left, mostly in Germany with a few in the Netherland, Belgium and the USA.
The car is owned by Andrew Grace.'

This is a 1985 Bitter SC Coupé, and the description says:

'This left hand drive 3.9 litre example SC 500, is owned by Steve Bunney who is the Technical Secretary of the Club. He acquired it from Connecticut USA in early 2017 with the much appreciated assistance from member Brian Dodd. The car had been owned from new by Bruce Wennerstrom of Greenwich Connecticut who bought it from Bitter of Beverley Hills on the 28th of May 1985 for $41,350 which is the equivalent of $97,000 or £76,000 today (August 2018). The car was fitted with a factory sun roof which was an extremely rare option as all SC's came with Air Conditioning as standard. SC 500 replaced my SC 408 which coincidentally was the demonstrator at Beverley Hills until 1988 so both cars "knew" each other in the showroom.'

This is another 1985 Bitter SC Coupé, with the following description:

'420 examples of the Coupé were sold between 1981 and 1986. The first 100 had the standard Opel Straight Six 3 ltr. Cam in Head engine as fitted to the Senator and Monza range. From the summer of 1984 the Mantzel modified 3.9. ltr engine was used with the 3 ltr. becoming an option. Sales were mostly to the USA and Germany but 25 right hand drive versions came to the UK. At the end of production in 1986 the car cost over £40,000.
This example has been owned from new by Ronald Gross and is identified as  SC 374.'

Friday's Ferrari

This was one of the competitors in the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association's Sports Car Race at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It's the 1955 Ferrari 750 Monza, chassis #0504M, of Tom Walduck that was driven in the race by Kerry McSwan. The 750 Monza had an Aurelio Lampredi designed 4-cylinder twin overhead camshaft 2,999cc engine and bodywork by Carrozzeria Scaglietti. This car was first campaigned by Mike Sparken (real name Michael J Pobereksky) who didn't own it, but 'rented' it from S.A.I.P.A. in Modena. This was apparently so that the car could be registered in Modena and so was able to avoid export restrictions and import duties when it travelled around Europe to different race meetings. The only major race that it contested was the 1955 Le Mans 24 Hour race where it was driven by Mike Sparken and Masten Gregory, but retired early in the race. It's the first Ferrari that I saw in competition, being driven by Mike Sparken in the 1955 British Empire Trophy race at Oulton Park.

1952/54 Maserati A6GCM/250F

This car took part in the Allcomers Scratch Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1973.

It's Ray Fielding's Maserati, originally a 1952 A6GCM serial number 2038 with a 6-cylinder 1,987cc engine that was a works car in 1952 and acquired the following season by Swiss driver Baron Emanuel (better known as 'Toulo') de Graffenried. Early in 1954 the car was given a 6-cylinder 2,490cc Maserati 250F engine and a new identity as chassis 2510. Toulo de Graffenried raced the car in 1954 before selling it to Australian Reg Hunt who took it 'down under' and raced it in Australia and New Zealand before selling it to Kevin Neal when he acquired Maserati 250F chassis 2516. In 1965 2038/2510 went to the UK and was campaigned by Colin Crabbe and Dan Marguiles, then to Ray Fielding before ending up in a private Swiss collection.

1923/17 Bequet Delage

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

It's the 1923/17 Bequet Delage of Alexander Boswell which Maurice Bequet and his business partner Roland Coty, with the assistance of the Hispano Suiza factory, constructed in 1926. They started with the chassis of a 1923 Delage 2LCV into which they installed the 11,959cc Hispanio Suiza V8 engine from a 1917 World War Two Spad fighter plane. It raced in the Grand Prix de la Baule where it finished in third place, but did not contest any more Grand Prix races as it didn't comply with the regulations then in place. After competing in minor events with some success for several years the partners sold the car in 1936. It was eventually acquired by Nigel Arnold-Forster who restored the car in 1980 and he drove it for several years at vintage racing events.

1923 Rolls Royce Twenty Doctor's Coupe

This car took part in the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1991, and is pictured here in the Exchange Station car park in Manchester before the start.

It's not listed in the programme of the event, but is a 1923 Rolls Royce Twenty Doctor's Coupe, one of 2940 produced between 1922 and 1929. It is chassis number 86K2 and has a 20hp 6-cylinder 3,127cc engine, and coachwork by F Mitchell Ltd of Nottingham.

1980 Arrows A3

This was one of the competitors in the Grand Prix Masters F1 Cars 1966-1985 race at the Silverstone Classic meeting in July 2010.

It's the 1980 Arrows A3 of Philip Hall, chassis A3/3 and was designed by Tony Southgate and Dave Wass. The A3 was campaigned by the Arrows Racing Team in the 1980 and 1981 racing seasons and had an aluminium monocoque chassis with conventional front nose and rear wing, and a cover over the gearbox to reduce drag. It was powered by the 2,993cc V8 Cosworth DFV engine in common with many of the cars of that era. In 1980 Riccardo Patrese managed a second place in the United States Grand Prix West and a sixth place in the Brazilian Grand Prix together with a series of minor places and retirements. Jochen Maas had a fourth place in Monaco and a sixth place in South Africa, and a few minor places and retirements. In 1981 Patrese had a second place in San Marino, a third place in Brazil then a mixture of minor places and retirements. His team mate Siegfried Stohr failed to qualify in four races and picked up three minor places and a series of retirements.

1952 Connaught A-Type

This car took part in an Allcomers Scratch Race for Historic Racing Cars at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1971.

It's the 1952 Connaught A Type of Gerry Walton, and is chassis A8. The Connaught A-Type was designed and built by Connaught Engineering's Rodney Clarke and Mike Oliver with a 1,960cc engine based on the Lea Francis 4-cylinder 1,767cc unit. Gerry Walton's car was part of the Connaught works team in 1953, and the team competed in World Championship races with drivers including Stirling Moss, Prince Bira and Roy Salvadori.