1935 SS 2

I photographed this car at the Northern Classic Car Show at the G-Mex exhibition centre in Manchester in August 1990 and the only note I made about it at the time was that it was an SS 2.

William Lyons' Swallow Coachbuilding Company first started making the SS 1 and SS 2 cars in 1932, the name of the company being changed to SS Cars Ltd in 1934, and again to SS Jaguar in late 1935 -  the 'SS' being dropped in 1945 for obvious reasons. The SS 2 was produced until 1940, first with a  4-cylinder inline 1,006cc engine, changed after 1934 to 1,343cc or 1,608cc. The DVLA record shows that AAR 451 was last taxed in 1990 and has a 1,479cc engine.

1958 Lister Jaguar

I took this photograph at Britten's chicane during the 50's Sports Car Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Boulogne and Hawthorn Trophies Race Meeting at Oulton Park in June 2006.

Leading is Stephen Gibson in his 1958 Lister Jaguar with Rupert Whyte in his 1958 Lotus Eleven behind him. Next is Barry Cannell in his 1956/57 Willment Climax followed by what may be Tim Llewellyn's 1956 Tojeiro Jaguar, and bringing up the rear is the 1955 Cooper T39 Bobtail of Adrian van der Kroft.

1954 BRM P30

This car is at Luffield Corner competing in the Chopard Grand Prix Cars Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1993.

It's the 1954 BRM P30, the Mk2 version of the original V16 BRM P15. The Mk2 was shortened and lightened, but had the same 1,496cc V16 supercharged engine which was claimed to produce 600bhp at 12,000rpm. This car is chassis V16/04 (or V16 Mk2 No.1) and is being driven by Nick Mason who owned it at that time, but it's now part of Bernie Ecclestone's large collection of rare Grand Prix cars.

Old Hairpin, Donington Park

This is a photograph I took from the straight between McLean's Corner and Coppice Corner of the field rounding Old Hairpin Corner on the first lap of the Pre-1961 Sports & GT Cars Race at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

The two leading cars are an Austin Healey and a Lotus Elite, and as far as I can make out the 12 cars in the photograph are:

44  1955 Austin Healey 100M, Michael Thorne

59  1960 Lotus Elite, Robin Longden

7    1959 Lotus Elite, Brian Arculus

98  1955 Austin Healey 100M, Mark Pangborn

97  1954 AC Ace, Mark Morgan

49  1957 Aston Martin DB MkIII, Jon Gross

18  1955 Austin Healey 100M, Robert Rawe

5    1957 AC Ace, Andy Shepherd

65  1951 Bristol 401 ‘Mitchell Special’, Andrew Mitchell

47  1959 Aston Martin DB MkIII, Simon Jefferies

48  1955 Aston Martin DB2/4, James Campbell

85  1948 Frazer Nash High Speed, Ned Spieker

1971 Surtees TS8

I photographed this car at Lodge Corner competing in the HSCC Derek Bell Trophy race during the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2005.

It's the 1971 Surtees TS8 Formula 5000 car of John Monson and has a 5 litre Chevrolet engine. It is chassis TS8/005 and was originally a Team Surtees car driven by Mike Hailwood.

Friday's Ferrari

Ferrari was the featured marque at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997, and as well as a special display of Ferraris in the paddock there were three races in the weekend programme set aside for Ferraris.

Here are two of the Ferrari 250 GTOs that were present that day, both owned by Anthony Bamford, then Sir Anthony and now Lord Bamford. The one on the left is a 1963 car, chassis #4399GT that was rebodied at the end of 1963 with a 1964 series II body. This car was first owned by Colonel Ronnie Hoare of Maranello Concessionaires and raced by several drivers including Mike Parkes, Graham Hill and Innes Ireland, Graham Hill winning the 1963 Tourist Trophy race at Goodwood and Mike Parkes the 1964 Spa 500 km race. Innes Ireland and Tony Maggs finished in sixth place in the 1964 Le Mans 24 Hour race. It was bought by Anthony Bamford in 1969 and at this Silverstone meeting it was driven by Frank Sytner in the Coys of Kensington Ferrari GT race. On the right is a 1962 car, chassis #3767GT that doesn't appear to have taken part in any of the races that weekend. It was originally owned by David Piper who raced the car in 1962 and early 1963, his best results being wins in the Kyalami 9 hour race and the Angola Grand Prix in late 1962. It then spent some years in the USA with various owners before returning to the UK and eventually being acquired by Anthony Bamford in 1974. Both cars are powered by the 2,953cc V12 engine designed by Gioacchino Colombo.

1990 Nissan R90CK

This car competed in the Group C/GTP Sports Car Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2007 and is seen here at McLean's Corner during a practice session.

It's the 1990 Nissan R90CK of Henry Pearman with a 3,496cc twin turbocharged V8 engine that Mark Blundell qualified on pole position for the 1990 Le Mans 24 Hour race. It was driven in that race by Mark Blundell, Julian Bailey and Gianfranco Brancatelli, but retired with engine problems in the eleventh hour of the race.

1929 Crossley 20.9 Tourer

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

It's the 1929 Crossley 20.9 Tourer of Alan H Moores, a car that was built not far from there in Gorton. Crossley Brothers made their first car in 1904 and the vehicle manufacturing part of the company was registered as Crossley Motors Limited in 1906. Cars were made at their Napier Street - later renamed Crossley Street - site from 1904 to 1938, and buses till 1958. The Crossley 20.9 had the 6-cylinder inline engine from the Crossley 18/50, the 2,692cc unit being bored out to 3,198cc - though the DVLA record shows the capacity of NF 5377's engine to be 2,697cc. The programme of the event has this note about the car:

Crossley 20.9 Tourer

Reg: NF 5377   6 cylinder    21 hp

(Alan H. Moores, Denton)

Regular entrant in the Run, this car is

also used regularly throughout the

summer months.

1922/30 GN Wasp

This was one of the competitors in the Boulogne Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2005.

The GN was a cyclecar that was produced by H R (Rodney) Godfrey and Archibald Frazer-Nash between 1910 and 1923. The car pictured is the 1922/30 GN Wasp of Winston Teague that was built by Jack Moor in 1931 with a 1922 GN Akela 1100cc V-twin engine and which replaced his original Wasp that had been wrecked in a road accident when being towed to Shelsley Walsh. 

1955 Connaught B Type

This car competed in the Corporate Jets Historic Grand Prix Car 100-Mile Race at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It's the 1955 Connaught B Type of David Duffy, and was driven in the race by Martin Stretton. The Connaught B Type was made famous by Tony Brooks' win in the 1955 Syracuse Grand Prix where the main opposition were the five cars of the Maserati works team, since when the B Type has been known as the Connaught Syracuse. It has a 4-cylinder inline 2,470cc Alta engine and seven of the cars were produced, David Duffy's car, chassis B4, being originally acquired by Rob Walker for whom it was raced by several drivers between 1955 and 1958, amongst them Tony Rolt, Jack Fairman and Reg Parnell.

On 27 December 2014 I showed photographs of the car that I had taken at Oulton Park in 1987.

Maserati T61

The Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Oulton Park in September 2005 paid tribute to the Maserati marque, and the car pictured below was one of a number that were displayed in the Paddock Suite.

It's a 1959 Maserati T61, chassis #2470, and has a 4-cylinder inline 2,890cc engine. The T61, and the 1,989cc T60 were generally known as Maserati Birdcage cars because of the intricate tubular space frame chassis, and in common with many of these cars 2470 started off life in the USA. After passing through various hands in the USA, and being owned at one time in the 1980s by Lord Hesketh, it was acquired by Tony Smith in 1998, and since then has been sold to a German racing enthusiast, Constantin von Dziembowski. Sixteen examples of the T61 were produced between 1959 and 1961.

1970 Chevron B16

I took this photograph at Lodge Corner during practice for the European Sports Prototype Trophy race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2004.

It's the 1970 Chevron B16 of David Yates and I've seen the engine of this car described as being a 1,790cc 4-cylinder inline Ford Cosworth FVC unit, but the programme of the event shows the engine capacity as 1,850cc. The Chevron B16 was also raced with 4-cylinder BMW and Mazda Rotary engines.

Friday's Ferrari

There were a series of demonstration runs in Ferrari F1 cars by Corse Cliente drivers at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017 and this is one of the photographs I took from inside the paddock at Club Corner during one of the runs.

It's the Ferrari F2003-GA that was driven in the 2003 season by Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, the 'GA' being added as a mark of respect to head of Fiat Gianni Agnelli who had died in January 2003. The car was designed by a team headed by chief designer Rory Byrne and was introduced almost half-way through the 2003 season. It was based on the previous season's Ferrari F2002 and was powered by the 2,997cc 40 valve twin overhead camshaft V10 Ferrari 052 engine. Michael Schumacher won six Grands Prix that season and with two more third place podium finishes won the sixth of his seven World Drivers Championships, with Rubens Barrichello winning two Grands Prix to finish in fourth place in the Championship.

1954 Tojeiro Bristol

This car took part in the Bonhams Drum Brake Sports Cars (HGPCA) race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2003.

It's the 1954 Tojeiro Bristol of Tom McWhirter and has the 6-cylinder inline 1,971cc Bristol engine derived from the pre-war BMW M328 unit. There doesn't seem to be a great deal of information online about the early MG, Lea Francis and Bristol engined Tojeiros and I've not been able to find out about this car's early history. I have found, however, that it is one of the exhibits at the Moray Motor Museum in Elgin, so if I'm ever in the Inverness area I'll go and see what they can tell me about it.

Stirling Moss and Mike Hawthorn

I took this rather fuzzy photograph with a Kodak Brownie 127 camera in the paddock during practice for the British Grand Prix at Aintree in July 1957.

It's Stirling Moss who was part of the Vanwall team, and Mike Hawthorn who drove a Ferrari 801 for the Scuderia Ferrari team. Stirling Moss qualified his Vanwall in pole position on the grid with team mate Tony Brooks also on the front row, the two Vanwalls sandwiching Jean Behra's Maserati 250F. Mike Hawthorn was on the second row in fifth place with the Ferrari 801, which was the final evolution of the D50 cars that Ferrari had inherited from Lancia towards the end of the 1955 season. Eventual World Drivers' Championship winner (for the fourth consecutive season) Juan Fangio was next to Mike Hawthorn in fourth position. Stirling Moss led the 90 lap race in the early stages, pulling away from Jean Behra for about 20 laps, but his car then developed a misfire and after two quick pit stops to try to rectify the problem Tony Brooks, having a painful drive following an accident at Le Mans, was flagged into the pits for Stirling Moss to take over his car, then in fifth place, but dropping to ninth after the change-over. Stirling Moss began to catch the cars in front of him, getting up to fourth place behind Jean Behra, Mike Hawthorn and Stewart Lewis-Evans in the third Vanwall by lap 69 when everything suddenly changed. Coming down the Railway Straight towards the Melling Crossing the clutch in Jean Behra's Maserati exploded leaving him to roll round to the pits to retire. As Mike Hawthorn came to pass the stricken Maserati one of his tyres punctured on the debris left by the broken clutch and he had to slow down to stop at the pits for a wheel change. Stuart Lewis-Evans quickly caught and passed the Ferrari, but almost immediately was passed by Stirling Moss to take the lead in the race. So at the end of the lap which he had started in fourth place with a hope of maybe catching the leader by the end of the race Stirling Moss crossed the line in the lead, which he held to the end of the race. Luigi Musso in a Ferrari 801 was second and Mike Hawthorn finished in third place - all the other finishers had been lapped by those three cars.

1939 Delage D6-75 TT Replica & 1916 Sunbeam Indianapolis

I photographed these two cars in the paddock at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2007.

On the left is the 1939 Delage D6-75 TT Replica of Robert Heelis that was driven in two races by Toby Heelis, the 2 hour long White House Memorial Pre-War Team Relay race and the VSCC Historic Seaman Trophy race. The Delage D6-75 was the last of the D6 models to be be produced before the war and has a 6-cylinder inline 2,998cc engine. The car on the right is the 1916 Sunbeam Indianapolis of Julian Majzub which was driven in the VSCC Edwardian Racing Cars race by Robin Tuluie. It is one of the two cars built by Sunbeam to contest the 1916 Indianapolis 500 race although only one car actually took part in the race which, for the only time in its history, was reduced to 300 miles. The cars had a twin-cam 24 valve 6-cylinder inline 4,914cc engine and the single entry was driven in the race by Belgian driver Josef Christiaens with Frank Bill as riding mechanic, finishing in fourth place in a race won by Dario Resta.

1974 Surtees TS16

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

It's the 1974 Surtees TS16 of Andrew Beaumont which is powered by the 2,993cc V8 Ford Cosworth DFV engine. The TS16 was campaigned for the Surtees team chiefly by Carlos Pace and Jochen Mass in the 1974 season, and by John Watson in the 1975 season. It was not a success, usually retiring or finishing way down the field with its only points scoring finish being Carlos Pace's fourth place in the 1974 Brazilian Grand Prix. The car driven by Andrew Beaumont at Silverstone appears to be chassis TS16/04.

Jaguars

I took this photograph at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2002.

It's a line of Jaguars, three XK120 fixed head coupés and, second from the left, an XK150 drophead coupé. The Jaguar XK120 was introduced at the 1948 London Motor Show, the early cars having a wood-framed open two-seater body with aluminium panels, but replaced by an all-steel body early in 1950. All the XK120s had the 6-cylinder inline 3,442cc Jaguar XK6 engine. In 1954 the XK120 was succeeded by the XK140 which was outwardly very similar to the XK120, but had various improvements including the engine and dashboard being moved forward 3 inches to give the driver more legroom. The XK140 was then succeeded in 1957 by the XK150 which was rather more obviously different to the two earlier cars, having a one-piece windscreen, a wider grille and a straighter wing line from front to rear. It started production with the same 3,442cc engine, but from 1959 the 3,781cc engine became available as an alternative. Production of the XK150 ended in early 1961 with the introduction of the Jaguar E-Type.

1959 BRM P25

This car was in the Donington Park Museum for many years, and I took this photograph on a visit to the museum in May 1989.

It's a 1959 BRM P25 and is finished in the colours of the British Racing Partnership who had one of the cars on loan in the 1959 season. BRM - British Racing Motors - was founded in the late 1940s to produce a car capable of challenging the dominant foreign racing teams, mainly Italian, in the major Grand Prix races. The first cars, the 1½ litre V16 supercharged P15 and P30, promised much but delivered little, only beginning to run well when the 1½ litre supercharged/4½ litre unsupercharged Formula was dying out through lack of competition. The P25, built for the new 2½ litre Formula fared little better and was just beginning to become competitive when the rear-engined Cooper started to dominate the sport. The engine of the P25, designed by Stuart Tresilian, was 'oversquare', with a very large bore in relation to its stroke to accommodate the massive inlet valves. These with the large ports and carburettors enabled very high rpm to be achieved - some 9,000 rpm - producing 248bhp. The car made its debut in 1955, but it was 1959 before it gained its first major victory, a win by Jo Bonnier in the Dutch Grand Prix. In an attempt to compete with the rear-engined Coopers, BRM quickly designed a rear-engined car, the P48, which was essentially a P25 with the engine at the back instead of the front. The P25's were cannibalised to provide parts for this new car which made its debut in late 1959 but it was unable to bring success to the team, and it was 1962 before they finally had a winner with the P578 which brought the World Drivers Championship to Graham Hill. The Donington Park workshops rebuilt three of the 1959 P25 cars from original bits and pieces including the pale green car above, chassis 2510, which was driven for the British Racing Partnership by Stirling Moss, but is perhaps best known for its accident in the German Grand Prix at Avus when brake failure caused Hans Herrmann to crash in spectacular fashion - as seen in the photograph to the left behind the car above.

Friday's Ferrari

This was amongst the many Ferraris at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017.

It's a 1984 Ferrari 512 BBi and is the last of a line of Berlinetta Boxer cars designed by Leonardo Fioravanti that was introduced in 1973. The Berlinetta Boxer cars have a flat-12 engine designed by Giuliano de Angelis and Angelo Bellei with the original one, powering the Ferrari 365 GT4/BB, having a capacity of 4,390cc. In 1976 the flat-12 engine was increased in size to 4,943cc for the Ferrari 512 BB, and in 1981 the four triple-choke Weber carburettors were replaced with Bosche mechanical fuel injection in the BBi.

1973 Aston Martin V8

This was one of the competitors in the AMOC Aston Martin Championship race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2002.

It's Arthur Thurtle's 1973 Aston Martin V8, with a 5,340cc V8 engine designed by Tadek Marek. Introduced in 1969 as the DBS V8, 4,021 cars were produced between then and 1989, the name changing in 1972 to the Aston Martin V8 and eventually to the AM V8.

Drag Racing

In 1964 and 1965 the US National Hot Rod Association in conjunction with the British Drag Racing Association organised an exhibition tour of Britain which in 1965 included a drag race meeting on the runway of RAF Woodvale near Southport. This is a photograph of one of the American dragsters that took part.

I don't recall having a programme at the event, but this is apparently Gary Casady's Ansen Forgings Chevy powered 400 Junior fueler.

1970 Tyrrell 001

This car was on display in the paddock at the Silverstone Historic Tribute meeting in June 2004.

It's the 1970 Tyrrell 001, not a successful car itself, but one which led to the last two of Jackie Stewart's three World Drivers' Championship wins. Powered by the ubiquitous 2,993cc V8 Ford Cosworth DFV engine it was introduced towards the end of the 1970 season replacing the March 701 for the last three races, but retiring in each of those races. Jackie Stewart finished in fifth place in the championship that year having won it with the Matra MS80 in 1969. Jackie Stewart only drove the car in the first race in 1971, in South Africa, where he finished in second place, then drove the Tyrrell 003 in the rest of his appearances that season to win the Championship again, repeating that feat with the Tyrrell 006 in 1973.

1937 Riley 12/4 Sprite

This car competed in three races, including the 2 hour long VSCC Team Relay Race for Pre-War Sports Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

It's Simon Kelleway's 1937 Riley 12/4 Sprite, which has a 4-cylinder inline 1,496cc engine derived from that of the Riley Nine.

1937 Leyland PD5

I photographed this bus in Heaton Park, Manchester at the Greater Manchester Transport Society's Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally in September 1993.

It's a 1937 Leyland TD5, registration number FEV 178, but it isn't listed in the programme of the event. It was provided new to the Eastern National Omnibus Company in 1937 with fleet number 3709 and a Brush L28/29R body. Rebodied with this ECW body in 1949 it was withdrawn from service in 1952. It then apparently went to Luton & District, but I can't find any fleet list that records this. The DVLA record says that it has an 8½ litre diesel engine and that it's been untaxed since 1 March 1996.

1966 Ford Lotus Cortina

This car is at Lodge Corner competing in the HSCC/HRSR Historic Racing Saloon Championship Race at the Historic Sports Car Club's race meeting at Oulton Park in June 2001.

It's Les Goble's 1966 Ford Lotus Cortina with a 4-cylinder inline 1,598cc twin cam version of the Ford Kent engine. 3,306 examples of the MkI car were built, a large proportion of them being white with a dark green stripe like the car pictured.

Friday's Ferrari

I photographed this car at the area set aside for the cars of the Ferrari Owners Club at the Silverstone Historic Festival meeting in August 2001.

It's a Vignale bodied 1953 Ferrari 166MM with a Gioacchino Colombo designed 1,995cc V12 engine. The original owner was Porfirio Rubirosa, and it's owner at the time of this Silverstone meeting was Bernard Worth who had owned the car since 1960. The chassis number has been changed a couple of times and it appears to now be 0308M, but the history of the car is shown on the barchetta.cc file for chassis 0328M.

1953 Jaguar C-Type

This car competed in the Ten Lap Invitation Race for 1950's Sports Racing Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in August 1996.

It's the 1953 Jaguar C-Type of Julian Ghosh with the 6-cylinder 3,442cc Jaguar XK6 engine. I can't find it in the coventryracers list of Jaguar C-Type chassis numbers, so it may be a replica.

Here's Julian Ghosh at Lodge Corner during the race

1929 Maserati V4 'Sedici Cilindri' Replica

In 1929 the Maserati brothers conceived the idea of mating two 2-litre Maserati 26B straight-8 engines side-by-side in a common crankcase coupled to a central driveshaft to create the 3,961cc sixteen cylinder Maserati V4. In September 1929 the car was driven by Baconin Borzacchini in Cremona to set a new 10 mile International Class C World Speed record of 246.07 km/h (152.93 mph). The following year Baconin Borzacchni gave the car its first win in the Tripoli Grand Prix, and it was then taken to the USA for the Indianapolis 500 race but retired with a broken magneto early in the race. For the remainder of the 1930 European Grand Prix season its best result was third place in the Monza Grand Prix driven by Ernesto Maserati. The car never lived up to its promise because the of problems with tyre and brake wear caused by the power developed by the twin engines and it is believed that only two cars were built. The car below, photographed at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park featuring the Maserati marque in September 2005 is a replica of the Maserati V4 built by Anthony Hartley requiring some 20,000 hours of work over several years in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

1990 Tyrrell 019

The Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000 celebrated 50 years of the Formula One World Drivers' Championship that started with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on 13 May 1950. There was a display of cars representing those 50 years in the paddock, some of which took part in track demonstration runs during the meeting.

This is one of the cars leaving the pit lane on one of the track demonstration runs, and it's Paul Osborn's 1990 Tyrrell 019. The Tyrrell 019 was designed by Harvey Postlethwaite and was powered by the 3,493cc V8 Ford Cosworth DFR engine, which was a derivation of the DFV engine. It was driven by Saturo Nakajima and Jean Alesi in the 1990 season, but suffered more retirements than finishes and only ending up in a points-scoring position in four races, the best of these being Jean Alesi's second place in the Monaco Grand Prix. It did, however, have the distinction of being the first car to have the higher nose cone, instead of the downward pointing ones that were then used, which improved the downforce produced by the car and which was eventually adopted by all the teams.