1967 Brabham BT21B

 This car competed in the Historic Formula 3 race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2018.

It's the 1967 Brabham BT21B of Jim Blockley, a Formula 3 car with a 1 litre engine and is chassis BT21B-16.

Friday's Ferrari

This car took part in the Louis Vuitton 1950s Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997.

It's the Scaglietti-bodied 1955 Ferrari 500 Mondial Series 1 of Thomas Mittler and has a twin overhead camshaft 4-cylinder inline 1,985cc engine designed by Aurelio Lampredi. That engine is a detuned version of the engine of the Ferrari 500 F2 car that won the 1952 and 1953 World Drivers' Championship for Alberto Ascari. Thomas Mittler's car is chassis 0474MD and was originally provided new to John von Neumann of California.

1950 Cooper Mk IV

I took this photograph at McLean's Corner during the Formula 3 (500cc) Racing Cars race at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

The leading car here is the 1950 Cooper Mk IV of Frederick Harper followed closely by the 1952 Mackson F3 500 of Gordon Russell. 

After the Second World War motor racing in the UK was slow to re-start, partly because of petrol rationing and the cost of running a suitable car. Home-built ‘specials’ powered by 500cc motorcycle were created to provide a reasonably cheap way means of getting involved in the sport. John Cooper and Eric Brandon, with the assistance of John’s father Charles, decided in 1946 to build two cars, and in 1947 in the second post-war race meeting to be held Eric Brandon won the first race to feature 500cc cars. In 1950 this 500cc class of racing was adopted by the FIA as a new Formula 3, and John and Charles Cooper went on to build a series of these 500cc cars, eventually graduating to Formula 2, then Formula 1 culminating in Jack Brabham winning the World Drivers’ Championship in 1959 and 1960 in the 2½ litre Cooper Climax.

The Mackson was one of three cars that were built in 1951 and 1952 by Gordon Bedson and 'Mac' McGee.

Zakspeed Ford Capri Replica

This was one of the exhibits at the Footman James Classic Car Show Manchester at EventCity in September 2018.

It's a replica of the 1981 Zakspeed Ford Capri that was campaigned by Klaus Ludwig and Manfred Winkelhock in the German DRM Championship which was powered by a 1.4 litre turbocharged engine. According to the DVLA record D389 OKM was first registered in 1987 and has a 2 litre engine.

2015 Ginetta G55

This car competed in the 50 minute long GT Challenge race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2018.

It's a 2015 Ginetta G55, driven in the race by Nick and Tom Cresswell and is here in the pit garage after the morning qualifying session being prepared for the race. The Ginetta G55 is built to FIA GT3 regulations and competes in the Ginetta GT Supercup series of races and in the GT3 class of the British GT Championship. It has a 3,726cc Ford Cyclone V6 engine and has been in production since 2011.

I took this photograph at Druids Corner during the morning qualifying session.....

.....and this one at Britten's chicane during the race.

1933 Stutz DV32

I took this photograph at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1995.

It's a 1933 Stutz DV32 Five Passenger Sedan and has a 4.7 litre 8-cylinder inline twin-overhead camshaft 32-valve engine. The chassis number is DV64 1595 and the engine number 33306, and it was sold by Bonhams Auctioneers in 2011 for $87,750.

1951 Maserati A6GCM

The SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005 featured the Maserati marque and there was a Celebration Maserati Invitation Race for Maserati (and OSCA) cars. This is one of the cars taking part in that race.

It's the 1951 Maserati A6GCM of Julia de Baldanza and is chassis #2033, originally built for the Brazilian Escuderia Bandeirantes team. The car has a 6-cylinder inline 1,985cc engine, developed by Alberto Massimino and Vittorio Bellentani as a Formula 2 car but eligible to run in World Championship events in 1952 and 1953 when the races were run to Formula 2 specifications. Some of the later A6GCM chassis were subsequently given the 1954 2½ litre engine and rebuilt as interim 250F cars.

Here's Julia de Baldanza at McLean's Corner during the race.

1973 Intermeccanica Indra

I photographed this car in one of the public car parks at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2017, and it's the first and so far only one of its kind that I've ever seen.

It's a 1973 Intermeccanica Indra, and there was an information sheet on the dashboard of the car that read as follows:

'The ‘Indra’ is a real rarity and was the last of a series of sexy sports cars built by the Torino based Carozzerria “Intermeccanica”. An Italian/American mongrel, the car was styled by Franco Scaglioni, constructed in Italy and motivated by a powerful American Corvette 327 cubic inch (5.4 litre) V8 engine. This 1973 example is one of the last of only 27 Fastback Coupes built. There were also 60 Convertibles and 40 notch-back Coupes. Originally sold almost exclusively in Germany through the Opel dealer network, most surviving cars have now found their way to collectors worldwide. Our car was sold new in Italy and subsequently passed through owners in Switzerland and France before coming to its present owner. It is believed to be the only example in the UK.'

Friday's Ferrari

I took this photograph at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017, which included races in the Ferrari Challenge Series for the Corse Clienti drivers, and private practice sessions for the F1 and FXX-K clients.

This is the Ferrari FXX-K of American driver John Taylor from Dallas, a car that is based on the LaFerrari with a 6,262cc V12 engine and a 140Kw electric motor giving a total output of 1,050hp. The Ferrari website says this about the FXX-K:

'If to own a Ferrari is a privilege, then to possess an XX is a kind of apotheosis. These intriguing letters stand for the three Ferrari programmes dedicated to its most faithful customers who are lucky enough to drive cars produced in very limited numbers and exclusively for the track.

The latest of these is the FXX-K, officially presented at the Finali Mondiali in Abu Dhabi in December 2014. In the name, the letter K stands for “KERS”, the kinetic energy recovery technology for maximising track performance. Ferrari made no compromises in the design of the FXX K, whose technological innovations provide an unprecedented driving experience for the exclusive group of customer-testers with which the “Prancing Horse” will perform a special test programme over the next two years. The huge potential of the car is summed up in a few but significant figures: 1050 total horse power, 860 of which come from the V12 heat engine and 190 from the electric motor with over 900 Nm of maximum torque.

The FXX was the first laboratory-car. It was launched in 2006 and sports a 12-cylinder 6.3-litre engine that provides a thrilling performance. The star of the second XX adventure is based on the Ferrari 599 and appeared in 2009. The 599XX is a 700-horse power concentrate of technology equipped with very sophisticated systems such as the fans that, sucking the air from the faired bottom of the car and expelling it from two rear pipes, make the vehicle stick to the asphalt, creating a perfect ground effect. Its performance is also thrilling. The XX Programmes emerged out of the ingenious and rather fascinating idea of involving a group of special customers in the development of the Ferraris of the future, asking them to help provide information to the Corse Clienti technicians. Indeed, the enthusiasts who own these cars take part in a number of technical test sessions over the year closely monitored by Ferrari experts and have the chance to meet Maranello’s engineers and professional testers in an environment in keeping with the tradition of the world’s most famous race team.'

1924 Amilcar CS

This car took part in the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in May 1992, and is pictured here in the Exchange Station car park in Manchester before the start of the Run.

It's the 1924 Amilcar CS of Roger Firth of Stalybridge, Cheshire, and that is the only information given in the programme of the event. The car was made at the Amilcar factory in Saint-Denis in Paris, to the north of the city centre, and has a 4-cylinder inline side-valve 1,004cc engine. I've found a very interesting article about the car by a subsequent owner, and you can read this here.

1969 Brabham BT26A

Tom Wheatcroft bought this car in 1969 and it was raced by Derek Bell in four of the Tasman series of races in January of 1970 including the New Zealand Grand Prix where he ended in second place. The car was then brought back to the UK where Derek Bell was entered for the 1970 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch, but did not start there because of an accident in practice. The car was repaired and entered for the Belgian Grand Prix, but Derek Bell retired on the first lap with gearbox problems, after which Tom Wheatcroft retired the car to his Museum where I took this photograph in May 1989.

It's a 1969 Brabham BT26A, chassis BT26/4, which was originally raced by the Brabham team in 1969 by Jacky Ickx and Jack Brabham. The Brabham BT26, designed by Ron Tauranac, was introduced in 1968 and had a 2,994cc Repco 860 V8 engine that proved to be very fast but unreliable, Jack Brabham and Jochen Rindt each managing to finish in only two of the races. In 1969 the cars used the 2,993cc V8 Ford Cosworth DFV engine and were much more competitive. Two of the 1968 cars were updated to this BT26A specification with the new engine, and BT26/4 was a new car. Jacky Ickx won the German Grand Prix and the Canadian Grand Prix and finished in second place to Jackie Stewart in the World Drivers' Championship. Jack Brabham, despite missing three races due to an injury in testing still finished in tenth place in the Championship. Jackie Ickx drove BT26/4, the Donington Park car, in his win in the German Grand Prix and the car is now part of Roald Goethe's ROFGO Collection.

1936 Lagonda LG45

This car took part in the Pre-War Team Challenge Race at the Aston Martin Owner Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2017.

It's the 1936 Lagonda LG45 of Richard Reay-Smith being inspected in the scrutineering bay before the start of the day's action. In 1933 Lagonda introduced the M45 with a 4,453cc Meadows engine, and three lightweight short chassis cars with more highly tuned engines were prepared by Lagonda main agents Arthur Fox and Charles Nicholl for the 1934 RAC Tourist Trophy race at Ards finishing in fourth, fifth and eighth places. Shortly after this the M45R, or Rapide, model was introduced by Lagonda  with the same short chassis and tuned engine. In 1935 one of the TT cars entered by the Fox and Nicholl team and driven by John Hindmarsh and Luis Fontés won the Le Mans 24 Hour race outright. Just before the Le Mans win Lagonda had gone into administration and was taken over by Alan Good who stopped production of the existing models and replaced them with the LG45 which had a revised version of the M45 chassis and a 4,467cc engine based on that of the M45R. Fox and Nicholl were commissioned to produce cars for the 1936 Le Mans race and they produced four cars, two four-seaters and two two-seaters, but the Le Mans 24 Hour race that year was cancelled because of a general strike in France in May and June. The two four-seater cars were broken up later that year but one of the two-seaters did compete at Le Mans in 1937. The car pictured above, DFY 187, is chassis 12210 and was originally bodied as a saloon but was rebuilt by Lagonda specialists Bishopgray in 2008 as a replica of one of those Le Mans cars.

1964 Lotus 33

This car was entered in the Innes Ireland Trophy Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994, but didn't take part in the race after an accident in the Friday practice session.

It's the 1964 Lotus 33 of Robs Lamplough, a car developed by Colin Chapman and Len Terry from the Lotus 25 and powered by the 1,497cc V8 Coventry Climax FWMV engine. The car was introduced part way through the 1964 season at the German Grand Prix and driven by Jim Clark and Mike Spence for the rest of the season, although Jim Clark reverted to the Lotus 25 for the Italian Grand Prix. The car wasn't successful at first and Jim Clark only managed a fifth and a sixth place finish in the car, ending the season in third place in the World Drivers' Championship, thanks to three wins with the Lotus 25 in the early part of the season. Mike Spence, who came into the team at the German Grand Prix after Peter Arundell had been badly injured in crash during a Formula 2 race at the Reims circuit, had a fourth and a sixth place finish to end up in twelfth place in the Championship. In the 1965 season Jim Clark won six of the ten races (one in a Lotus 25) to win the World Drivers' Championship while Mike Spence had a third and two fourth places to finish in eighth place in the Championship.

Donington Hall

I took this photograph from the inside of the Donington Park Circuit looking across a point just before the Old Hairpin corner during what looks looks the Britcar race at the Ferrari & Maserati Festival of Racing meeting in May 2003.

It's Donington Hall, and the racing circuit is situated in what was once part of the grounds of the Hall. The Hall was built in the late eighteenth century for Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 2nd Earl of Moira, later created Marquess of Hastings and it remained in his family (one of whom was created Baron Donington in 1870) until 1901 when it was sold to Frederick Grafton, son of Lord Grafton of Stapleford Park. He never lived at the Hall and it was maintained by John Gillies Shields, the late Lord Donington's land agent, Frederick Grafton occasionally visiting for sporting and social purposes. During the First World War the Hall and grounds were transformed into a prisoner of war camp for German officers, then in 1929 the Hall was put up for sale again and bought by the land agent, John Gillies Shields. In 1931 the owner was approached by Fred Craner, a former motorcycle racer and now secretary of the Derby & District Motor Club asking to be allowed to use the roads of the Estate to create a racing circuit. This was agreed, and over the next few years the circuit was gradually improved, the first Grand Prix taking place there in 1935. It gained international prestige in 1937 and 1938 when the German Auto Union and Mercedes Benz teams took part in the Grand Prix, Auto Union's Berndt Rosemeyer and Tazio Nuvolari winning those races. On the outbreak of the Second World War the Estate was requisitioned by the Ministry of Defence and the Park was turned into a vehicle storage depot. It was 1956 before the Estate was handed back to the grandson of the pre-war owner, Major John Gillies Shields, who rented out parts of the Estate as farm land and opened the Hall to refugees from the Hungarian Revolution. In 1971 Tom Wheatcroft bought part of the Estate that included the motor racing circuit, rebuilding the track and moving his collection of grand prix cars to a museum that became known as the Donington Grand Prix Exhibition. When the Ministry of Defence occupied Donington Park a Royal Air Force airfield was built on land adjacent to the racing circuit and it was decommissioned in 1946. In 1964 the site was purchased by a consortium of local government authorities and after development work was opened as East Midlands Airport in 1965. In 1976 British Midland Airways bought Donington Hall, renovating it and using it as their headquarters from 1982. British Midlands Airways later became BMI and was taken over in 2009 by Lufthansa who sold it in turn to International Airlines Group in 2012 who quickly announced that many of the staff at Donington Hall were to be laid off. Donington Hall was then sold to the Norton Motorcycle Company who hand-build bikes at the nearby Hastings House and they now use Donington Hall as an events venue.

ACU/FSRA British F2 Sidecar Championship Race

After taking some photographs of the opening lap of this race at the Knickerbrook chicane at the NG Road Racing meeting at Oulton Park in April 2017 I walked round to Britten's chicane where I took these photographs.

Peter Founds & Jevan Walmsley - Rowtec Suzuki 600

John & Jake Lowther - LCR 600 Suzuki

Nicholas Dukes & William Moralee - Baker Honda 600

Ralph Remnant & Sam Tilley - Lumey Kawasaki

Michael Jackson & Callum Crowe - Windle Sukuki 600

Giles & Jenny Stainton - LCR Suzuki GSXR 600

Wesley Pettman & Dave Porter - Windle Yamaha 600

Paul Riley & Shaun Parker - MRE Suzuki

1957 Ferrari 500 TRC

This car competed in the race for the Stirling Moss Trophy For 50s Sportscars at the Silverstone Classic meeting in July 2010.

It's the 1957 Ferrari 500 TRC of David Cottingham has a twin overhead camshaft 4-cylinder inline 1,984cc engine derived from the 1953 Formula 2 unit designed by Aurelio Lampredi and a body designed and built by Scaglietti. The 500TRC was an updated version of the 500TR, the first to have the 'Testa Rossa' red camshaft covers, modified to comply with the 1957 Appendix C Regulations, and it was a 'customer' car, never being raced by Scuderia Ferrari. David Cottingham's car is chassis #0682MDTR that was first owned by Ecurie Nationale Belge (also known as Equipe National Belge) which was formed by a merger of Ecurie Belge and Ecurie Francorchamps. It finished in seventh place in the 1957 Le Mans 24 hour race in the hands of Lucien Bianchi and Georges Harris, winning the 2 litre class.

1926 Vauxhall Rowley Special

This car was in the paddock at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Hawthorn Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in July 2015.

It's the 1926 Vauxhall Rowley Special, a car that was built in 1978 with a 14-40 chassis and a 30-98 engine by John Rowley and Julian Ghosh. The car then had the registration number DS 7502 and was driven in VSCC races by Julian Ghosh, who later became President of the VSCC. In the early 1980's the car's chassis was shortened and a different engine fitted, and in the late 1980s the car passed to James Warne then soon afterwards to David Biggins. David Biggins competed with the car for about 15 years and it has had a few different owners since then, including one in Northern Ireland where it acquired the GIG 8664 registration number. According to the DVLA record the car has the 4,224cc Vauxhall OE engine.

Manx Norton

I took this photograph at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Donington Park in May 2001.

It's a Manx Norton, but I've no other information about it except that the blue race number plate shows it to be a 350cc model. Manx Nortons were produced from 1947 to 1962 with either 499cc or 348cc engines. The Lansdowne Classic Series race at this meeting included five of the Manx Nortons with the smaller engine and it could be any one of those, or may not even have taken part in the meeting.

1962 Lotus 24

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

It's Jack Brabham's 1962 Lotus 24 with a 1,496cc Coventry Climax V8 engine. Jack Brabham had left the Cooper team at the end of the previous season to design his own F1 car and in the 1962 season he competed with the Lotus 24 until the Brabham BT3 was available. It was hoped that he'd be able to drive the BT3 in the British Grand Prix, but it wasn't ready till the following race in Germany. At Aintree Jack Brabham qualified the car in ninth place on the grid and ended the race in fifth place. He was ninth in the World Drivers' Championship table that year, ending the season with fourth place finishes in the last two races with the Brabham BT3.

 

1957 Maserati 250F V12

I photographed his car at Luffield Corner competing in the Chopard HGPCA Grand Prix Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1993.

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.

1950s XK Jaguars

These cars all competed in the AMOC 50sSports Cars Race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2015.

This car is not listed in the programme of the event, but it's the Jaguar XK120 of Siamak Siassis and should have the 6-cylinder inline 3,442cc Jaguar XK6 engine. 12,055 of these cars were made between 1949 and 1954.

Another car not shown in the programme, this is the 1955 Jaguar XK140 of Alexis de Beaumont, chassis S804523, and has the 3,781cc version of the Jaguar XK6 engine. The Jaguar XK140 was produced between 1954 and 1957, and was only offered with the 3,442cc version of the engine, so the larger engine must be a subsequent replacement.

This is the 1959 Jaguar XK150 of Andrew Moore and has the 3,781cc version of the XK6 engine. The XK150 was produced from 1957 to 1961, initially with the 3,442cc engine, and the 3,781cc unit was offered as an alternative on the S and SE models from 1959.

This is the 3,781cc Jaguar XK6 engine of the 1951 Jaguar XK120 of Chris Keith-Lucas, the larger unit  replacing the original 3,442cc engine.

1925 Bugatti T39

This car competed in the Williams Trophy Race for Pre-1934 Grand Prix Cars and the Vintage Seaman Trophy Race at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

It's the 1925 Bugatti T39 of David Hands which has a 1,493cc 8-cylinder inline engine. The Type 39 was based on the 2 litre Type 35 with a smaller engine to comply with the latest Grand Prix regulations. David Hands' car is chassis 4604 and one of the five works T39s that only raced in two major events before they were sold by the factory, and this is one of two that went to Australia. The car raced successfully there until the late 1930s and was eventually acquired by David Hands in 2005, being shipped to the UK to be restored by Tula Engineering.

Friday's Ferrari

I took this photograph at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992 where there was a special display of Ferraris in the paddock numbered 1 to 32, and a page in the programme of the event gave details of each of the cars. Unfortunately all that the note for number 8 says is 'California'.

It is a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder, a shorter chassis version of the earlier LWB car, and has the 2,953cc Gioacchino Colombo designed V12 engine. This car is chassis #2377GT which was owned for a long time by Hollywood film star James Coburn, and between 2008 and 2010 by Chris Evans.

Handley Page Victor K.2

The Handley Page Victor was one of the three 'V' bombers that formed the UK's strategic nuclear strike force in the 1950s and 60s, the other two being the Avro Vulcan and the Vickers Valiant. The Handley Page Victor later evolved into the K.2 air tanker used for refuelling other aircraft in mid-air to extend their operational range. 

These photographs were taken at the Air Display at the  Yorkshire Air Museum at RAF Elvington on a damp and overcast day in July 2010 where the museum's Handley Page Victor K.2 performed taxiing runs up and down the runway during the course of the day.

1907 Stanley 20hp Speedy Roadster

This car was one of the entrants in the Cheshire Concours d'Elegance at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Hawthorn Memorial Trophies Race Meeting at Oulton Park in June 2008.

It's Mike Clarke's 1907 Stanley 20hp Speedy Roadster, more commonly known as a Stanley Steamer and is chassis 3708. The car is listed in the Stanley Register Online.

1964 AEC Regent V

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

It's a former Bradford Corporation Transport 1964 AEC Regent V with a Metro Cammell body that was taken over by the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive at the Local Government reorganisation in 1972. Later acquired by Transperience, and I understand that it is now owned by the Keighley Bus Museum Trust. A note in the programme of the event reads as follows:

AEC Regent V, Metro Cammell H40/30F, 1964             6220KW

West Yorkshire Transport Discovery Park

Entered by          Transperience, Bradford

New to Bradford City Transport in 1964, this vehicle was passed to WYPTE in 1972 and withdrawn in 1974. Was acquired by West Yorkshire Transport Trust in 1984 and is now part of the Transperience Fleet.

1955 Austin Healey 100M

This was one of the competitors in the Pre-1961 Sports & GT Cars Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

It's the 1955 Austin Healey 100M of Robert Rawe, chassis BN1 227598, and has the 4-cylinder inline 2,660cc engine that powered the unsuccessful Austin A90 Atlantic. OSJ 919 was originally a basic Austin Healey 100 BN1, but during a restoration between 2001 and 2009 it was brought up to 100M specifications.

1963 Aston Martin DP215

This car was on display in the paddock at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It's the Design Project Aston Martin DP215, the only one made, that was built to compete in the 1963 Le Mans 24 Hour race. The car was intended to have the Tadek Marek designed 5,064cc V8 engine but instead had the same 6-cylinder inline Aston Martin 3,996cc engine that powered the DP212 cars. It was driven at Le Mans in 1963 by Phil Hill and Lucien Bianchi but retired in the 4th hour of the race with gearbox problems, though not before registering a record speed of 198.6 mph on the Mulsanne Straight. Later that year it took part in the Reims 12 Hour race but again retired with transmission problems causing the engine to over-rev which led to the valves being bent. The Aston Martin racing department was closed at the end of that year and the DP215 was retained by Aston Martin as a development car in the hopes of a return to racing, but in 1966 the car was wrecked in an accident on the M1 motorway. The remains were sold and restored gradually over several years, at one time having the Indianapolis Cooper Aston Martin 4,164cc engine, but the car was eventually reunited with the original engine 400/215/1 which powered it at the 1963 Le Mans race.

1976 Van Diemen GRD 376

This was one of the competitors in the HSCC 'BP Ultimate' Classic Formula 3 Championship race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2008.

It's the 1976 Van Diemen GRD 376 of Matthew Sturmer. Van Diemen had taken over Group Racing Developments, who produced Formula 3 chassis, in 1975 and the GRD 376 is based on the Group Racing Developments 375 with improved aerodynamics. Formula 3 cars in that period were limited to 4-cylinder engines of no more than 2,000cc, but the programme of this event doesn't specify what make of engine Matthew Sturmer's car has.

Friday's Ferrari

Another of the cars I photographed at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017

It's a 2009 Ferrari 430 Scuderia, a replacement for the Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale, and was developed from the Ferrari F430 with much of the testing done by Michael Schumacher. It's powered by the 4,308cc (263 cu in) twin ohc 32 valve V8 Ferrari F136 ED engine.

1961 Ferguson P99

This car was in the Donington Park Museum for over 35 years, and this is a photograph I took of it in October 1989.

It's the 1961 Ferguson P99 and it's the first 4-wheel drive car to compete in a Formula 1 race. The car was produced by Harry Ferguson Research Ltd with a team led by Tony Rolt and Claude Hill who decided that an even distribution of weight and torque between the front and rear axles dictated that the engine must be at the front of the car despite Cooper and Lotus recent successes with mid-engined cars. A spaceframe chassis was built which could carry either a 2½ or 1½ litre Climax engine canted at 17 degrees from the vertical to allow for a propeller shaft to link to the front axle. The gearbox was mounted behind the engine from which drive was taken to a Ferguson differential, propeller shafts then leading to differentials at front and rear. A Dunlop Maxaret braking system was used, the disks being mounted inboard at front and rear, which would prevent wheels locking in difficult track conditions. The car was loaned to Rob Walker's team  and its first outing was in the 1961 British Empire Trophy race in which Jack Fairman crashed the car on the second lap. In the British Grand Prix the car was again driven by Jack Fairman but he was delayed by electrical problems and when the car was push-started by mechanics after a pit stop (which was against the rules) the car was disqualified but was allowed to keep running as it obviously wasn't going to figure in the race results. As Stirling Moss in the Rob Walker Lotus 18/21 had retired with brake failure the team decided to bring Jack Fairman in and let Stirling Moss take over, but when he started putting in some quick laps on a damp track some of the other teams (notably Ferrari) protested to the stewards and the car had to be withdrawn. In September of that year Stirling Moss won the Gold Cup race at a wet Oulton Park with the car which became the first - and so far only - 4-wheel drive car to win a Formula 1 race. The car's only track appearances after that were drives by Graham Hill and Innes Ireland in the Australian Tasman series in 1963, though it did win the British Hill-Climb Championship for Peter Westbury in 1964. After its stay in the Donington Museum the car was sold in 2010 by RM Auctions for £410,000 and is currently owned by Stuart Rolt, Tony Rolt's son.