1961 Cooper T53 and 1958 Lola Mk I Prototype

These cars took part in two of the races at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005.

On the left is the 1961 Cooper T53 of Chris Bullimore with a Coventry Climax FPF 1,500cc engine which competed in the HGPCA Pre-66 Grand Prix Cars race. Jack Brabham had won the Drivers' World Championship in 1960 with a Cooper T53 in the last year of the 2½ litre Formula, and in 1961 the Cooper works team fielded the similar, but lighter T55. The T53 continued to be used in 1961, with a 1½ litre engine, by private entrants and this car, chassis #F1-15-61 went to Hap Sharp in the USA who drove it in the USA Grand Prix in 1961 and 1962. The car on the right is the 1958 Lola Mk1 Prototype of Richard Wills that had recently been restored by Hall & Hall and which competed in the 1950s Drum-Braked Sports Racing Cars race. It was the first Lola to be built, originally powered by a Coventry Climax 4-cylinder 1,098cc FWA engine to compete in the 1,100cc sports car category, and finished in second place in its second race driven by its builder Eric Broadley. It had great success in the hands of Eric Broadley and Peter Gammon, and as orders for the car increased Eric Broadley retired from racing in 1959 to handle the production of the car. Early models, like this prototype, had an aluminium body with the later ones being fashioned in fibre glass, and around forty examples of the Mk1 were built. Richard Wills' car now has the 1,216cc version of the Coventry Climax FWA engine, rounded to 1,220cc in the programme of this meeting.