1956 Maserati 250F

The SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005 featured the Maserati marque, and in particular the Maserati 250F. One of the races was a Celebration Maserati Invitation Race, and I took this photograph at McLean's Corner during that race.

It's one of 10 Maserati 250F replicas built by Cameron Millar and this one has the chassis number CM2. Cameron Millar acquired a genuine Maserati 250F in 1964 (originally 2501, later renumbered 2523) which he kept and raced for 8 years. In this time he purchased all the remaining cars and spare parts belonging to the Scuderia Centro Sud who had competed with the 250F in the 1950s, and also the chassis jigs from the Maserati factory. He then set about creating this series of replicas, using as far as possible genuine period parts, which are so well crafted that the FIA has allowed them to race alongside the genuine Maserati 250F and its contemporaries in competitive historic racing events. At the time of this Donington Park event CM2 was owned by Ian Duncan and was driven in the Maserati Invitation race by Rick Hall.

Classic Car Sports Car Race - Silverstone 1994

I took this photograph at Luffield Corner during the Classic Car Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994.

Leading is Valentine Lindsay in his 1955 Aston Martin DB3S (DB3S/110) followed by Stirling Moss in his Lola Mk1 and Wessel von Loringhoven in his 1959 Porsche 718 RSK. On the right-hand side is Katharina Schmidt in her 1955 Cooper T40 Bobtail, the car with which Jack Brabham made his Grand Prix debut in the 1955 British Grand Prix.

1953 Jaguar C-Type

I photographed this car in the paddock at a Lancashire and Cheshire Car Club meeting at Oulton Park in October 1956.

It's the 1953 Jaguar C-Type of Max Trimble, chassis XKC046, with a 6-cylinder inline 3,441cc engine. The car was campaigned by Ecurie Ecosse in 1953 before it went to Berwyn Baxter the following season and Max Trimble acquired the car in 1956.

Jack Brabham

In the 1950s and 60s if you went to race meetings on the practice day you could wander round the paddock watching the mechanics preparing the cars and mingle with the drivers and team members. I took this photograph on the Friday practice day at Aintree for the 1962 British Grand Prix.

This is Jack Brabham who drove a Lotus 24 at this meeting because his first Brabham car, the BT3 wasn't yet ready to race - it made its debut in the next Grand Prix in Germany. He qualified in ninth place on the grid and finished the race in fifth place, albeit a lap behind the winner Jim Clark in his Lotus 25. 

Vintage Sports Car Club racing 2006

I took this photograph at Britten's chicane during a 4 lap handicap race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Boulogne and Hawthorn Trophies Race Meeting at Oulton Park in June 2006.

Leading is Robert Wardale in a 1936 Riley Special closely followed by Mark Butterworth in a 1921 Vauxhall E Type Velox. Behind them is Wayne Gibson in a 1937 Singer B37 Sports.

Friday's Ferrari

This car competed in the Shell Ferrari Historical Challenge race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It's Christian Traber's 1955 Ferrari 750 Monza, chassis 0554M, and has a 2,999cc 4-cylinder inline engine designed by Aurelio Lampredi. The car was originally owned by Masten Gregory.

1969 Brabham BT26A

I took this photograph on a visit to the Donington Park Museum in May 1986.

It's a 1969 Brahham BT26A, chassis BT26/4, and the book 'Great Racing Cars of the Donington Collection' says this about the it:

'Formula 1 racing in 1969 was dominated by Jackie Stewart’s battles with Jochen Rindt, but the Belgian driver Jacky Ickx turned the tables on them both with his works Brabham BT26As to win the German and Canadian GPs, and the non-Championship Oulton Park Gold Cup race in England. Ron Tauranac’s long-standing allegiance to multi-tubular spaceframe chassis construction saw its ultimate expression in his BT26 cars, and with the experimental Matra MS84 four-wheel drive vehicle they were the last tube-framed Grand Prix cars to be built. Stressed-skin monocoque chassis became the rule in 1970 when a change in regulations demanded metal cladding for the rubber bag fuel tanks, and only then did the Australian engineer follow his Indy lead and build a full monocoque Grand Prix car. The first BT26s appeared in 1968, using smaller gauge chassis tubes than hitherto in Brabham practice, and with stressed steel skinning to stiffen the frame. They were intended for four-cam versions of the Repco V8 engines - made in Australia - which had brought Brabham the World Championship titles for two successive seasons. Unfortunately the ‘quad-cam’ Repco was a disastrous failure, and Jack Brabham and Jochen Rindt had a wretched season, yielding only two third places and one fifth from their few finishes. For 1969 Brabham and Tauranac decided to run Cosworth V8 engines in the BT26 chassis, forming the ‘A’ variant. Two of the three existing BT26 frames were modified by the team and, first time out in South Africa, Jack was fastest in practice, 0.2 seconds faster than Stewart’s Matra. He won the International Trophy race Silverstone, coasting over the line out of fuel, but later in the season he crashed there during testing and put himself out of racing until the Italian GP. This left Jacky Ickx alone in the works BT26A during mid-season when he gave some fine performances. In Germany he qualified BT26-4 on pole position, 1.3 seconds faster than Stewart, and as the Scot was slowed by gearbox trouble in the race so the Belgian romped home to win at a record 108.43mph average speed, setting a 7 minute 43.8 second record lap at 110.13mph. This shattered the existing figures by a full 11.5 seconds! Ickx used BT26-3 to win the Canadian GP and the Oulton Park Gold Cup, while Brabham himself drove BT26-4 to second place in Canada, fourth in the USA and third in Mexico. The car was then bought by Collection founder Tom Wheatcroft and raced for him in the Tasman series by Derek Bell. After an abortive outing in the 1970 Belgian GP, it was retired to the Collection, still in perfect condition.'

1978 Pontiac Firebird

This car competed in the HSCC 70s Roadsports Championship Race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2005.

It's the 1978 Pontiac Firebird of Neville Day and has a 400 cu in (6.6 litres) V8 engine. The car is pictured at Britten's chicane and is followed by what looks like a Lotus 7 (there were two in the race) and the 1976 Morgan Plus 8 of Philip McKelvey.

1955 Cooper Jaguar

This car competed in the HGPCA Sports Car Race at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It's Gary Pearson's 1955 Cooper Jaguar T38, chassis CJ-3-55, with a 6-cylinder inline 3,442cc engine and one of three cars built by Cooper for endurance sports car racing. One of the cars competed in the 1955 Le Mans 24 Hour race, but retired after 4 hours with an oil leak.

1970 Dodge Challenger 440 RT/SE

This is one of the cars I photographed at the Footman James Classic Car Show Manchester at EventCity in September 2018.

It's a 1970 Dodge Challenger 440 RT/SE, and the board in front of the car reads as follows:

1970 Dodge Challenger 

440 RT/SE (Special Equipment)

A product of the Detroit 'Muscle Car' wars between the

major American motor manufacturers of the era this

440ci (7.2 l) V8 produces 375hp which although good for

the 'grin' factor is not so good on the wallet with

average consumption down in the book as 9mpg(!)

Fortunately when driven sensibly this can be raised to

around 16 on a reasonable run.

The colour is 'Plum Crazy' purple, a typically outlandish

name synonymous with the time.

1959 Sadler MkIII

This car took part in the 1950s Sports Racing Cars race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Boulogne and Hawthorn Trophies Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 2005.

It's E.D.Butler's 1959 Sadler MkIII and was driven in the race by Martin Walford. The car was one of a small number of cars built by Canadian Bill Sadler, and according to the programme of the event this car has a 5,470cc Chevrolet V8 engine.

1959 PM Poggi FJ

I took this photograph at Redgate corner during the Front-engined Formula Junior Racing Cars race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011. 

It's the 1959 PM Poggi of Michael Waller and has a 4-cylinder inline 1,089cc Fiat engine. Built in Modena by Eugenio Poggi with some input from Alberto Massimino, who had previously worked for Stanguellini, only a handful of these cars were produced.

Friday's Ferrari

I took this photograph in the paddock at the at the Silverstone Historic Tribute meeting in June 2004.

It's David Piper's 1965 Ferrari 365 P2, #0836, originally built as a 330 P2 with a 3,967cc V12 engine, but converted to 365 P2 specifications with a 4,390cc V12 engine before it was acquired by David Piper in late 1965. This Silverstone meeting included a race for the 'European Sports Prototype Trophy Organised by Group4Racing' for which this car would have been eligible, but it is not listed in the programme of the event nor the table of results.

1968 Lenham Hurst GT

I took his photograph at Foulstons chicane during the European Sports Trophy race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton park in August 2004.

Leading is David Methley in his 1968 Lenham Hurst GT powered by a 1,598cc Ford Cosworth FVA engine. The following car is Ross Maxwell's 1968 Chevron B8 which has a 2 litre BMW engine, and behind him is Sean Walker's 1,850cc 1970 Chevron B16.

Maserati 250F Cameron Millar Replica

Maserati was the featured marque at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005, and particularly the 250F Formula 1 car of the 1950s. The programme of the event records that, with the exception of the Bugatti Type 35, the Maserati 250F had the highest production of any other Grand Prix car with 28 built, plus twelve further replicas. This car is one of those replicas, one of the ten built by Cameron Miller, and is chassis CM9.

Several of the original cars and the Cameron Millar replicas took part in a special Maserati race, but this car was part of a Maserati display in the Paddock Suite and did not take part in the racing or demonstration runs.

1956 Lotus Eleven

This car competed in the BRDC Historic Sports Car Championship Race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2003.

It's the 1956 Lotus Eleven of Neil Davies which the programme of the event says has a 1,480cc engine. The Lotus Eleven was designed by Colin Chapman and the aerodynamic body by Frank Costin and was intended to compete in the 1,100cc sports car class. A Lotus Eleven with a 1,098cc Coventry Climax engine driven by Reg Bicknell and Peter Jopp finished in seventh place in the 1956 Le Mans 24 Hour Race, winning the 1,100cc class. The Lotus Eleven was raced with various other engine sizes up to 1,500cc, and for the 1957 Le Mans 24 Hour Race Coventry Climax produced the 744cc FWC engine that enabled the Lotus Eleven of Cliff Allison and Keith Hall to win the 750cc class, and also the Index of Performance.

The car immediately behind the Lotus is the 1956 Cooper T39 Bobtail of Marshall Bailey that competed (with the number 19) in the Bonhams Drum Brake Sports Car Race. The number 6 car appears to be the 1955 Jaguar D-Type XKD505 that won the 1955 Le Mans 24 Hour Race driven by Mike Hawthorn and Ivor Bueb, but the car isn't listed in any of the races in the programme of this event. Just visible on the right-hand side with the WEB 6 number plate is the 1950 Jaguar XK120 of Nigel Webb.

1969 Lola T70 Mk 3B

This car competed in the one hour long World Sports Car Masters race at the Silverstone Classic meeting in July 2010.

It's the 1969 Lola T70 Mk 3B that was driven in the race by Chris Beighton and Jon Finnemore and has a 5 litre Chevrolet engine. The car is chassis SL76/148, originally owned by Joakim Bonnier and went from him to Swedish driver Picko Troberg. During practice for the 1969 Nürburgring 1000km Picko Troberg's co-driver Björn Rothstein crashed and completely wrecked the vehicle which was replaced by Lola with a completely new car bearing the same chassis number. Less than two months later that car was crashed by Ronnie Peterson at Zeltweg and again severely damaged. The remains were sold to Barrie Smith who got Lola to build a new car using whatever bits they could from the wreckage. The car has been owned by various drivers since then, including David Piper.

 

1898 Clement Voiturette

This car is pictured in the Exchange Station car park in Manchester moving towards the start line for the Lancashire Automobile Club's annual Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1990. 

Hyde businessman Clive Williams had a collection of veteran and vintage vehicles and regularly took part in the Run with other members of his family. This is an 1898 Clement Voiturette that was driven on this occasion by his daughter Louise Williams. The programme of the event gave the following information about the car:

1.     1898 Clement Voiturette

        Reg: DS 6713   1 cylinder   2.25 hp

        (Louise Williams, Hyde, Cheshire)

This charming little yellow veteran is believed to be one of the oldest

cars regularly run in the north west, but previous outings have not been

without mishap. It broke its crank on the 1987 Manchester to Blackpool 

run and repeated the trick on the following year's London to Brighton.

Last year, however, it completed both the Manchester and Brighton Runs

successfully. Louise was, by the way, the youngest driver to compete in

each Run.

The programme shows Clive Williams' son, John Williams, as having taken part in this run in a 1907 Peugeot Lion. 

1966 Shelby Mustang GT350

I took this photograph in the paddock at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2002, but this car wasn't involved in the racing there that day.

It's a 1966 Shelby Mustang GT350 and has a 289 cu in (4.7 litres) V8 engine, the same engine that powered the Shelby Cobras. The DVLA record doesn't now have any record of DGC297D.

Friday's Ferrari

I took this photograph of these two Ferraris at the Silverstone Historic Festival meeting in August 2001.

Both cars belonged to Brazilian Carlos Monteverde, the one of the left being a 1958 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, chassis 0738TR, with the Gioacchino Colombo designed 2,953cc V12 engine and was driven in the race by Carlos Monteverde himself. On the right is a 1955 Ferrari 750 Monza, chassis 0568M, with the Aurelio Lampredi designed 3,000cc 4-cylinder inline engine and was driven in the race by David Franklin. This car had a very chequered history about which the programme of the event says this:

'Built in 1955, with the three-litre four-cylinder engine - following the rule of thumb that the type number multiplied by the number of pots gives the capacity - this sleek sports-racer has an extraordinary competition history, if not with star drivers.

Originally supplied to French racer François Picard, it finished third in the '56 Agadir Grand Prix in Morocco, and third back on home soil on the speedbowl at Montlhéry, just outside Paris. Thereafter the Italian stallion spent much of its life in Scandinavia, where initially Swedish owner Tore Bjurström used it for the popular local pursuit of ice racing!

From there a short hop to Finland to its next custodian, Carl-Otto Bremer, who returned it to more conventional pastures. After finishing sixth in the '57 Swedish Grand Prix at Kristianstad, won by Jean Behra/Stirling Moss in a Maserati 450S, Bremer confined his major outings to the Helsinki GP thereafter, and the combination won in '59 having finished third the previous year.

Carlos Monteverde acquired  'The Ice Racer' two years ago, and commissioned Tony Merrick to undertake a full mechanical restoration, while leaving the body original. David Franklin has tested the car extensively and says it is beautifully balanced with its five-speed transaxle, but races it for the first time here.'

1969 BRM P139

 This is one of the cars I photographed on my visit to the Donington Park Museum in September 2014.

It's a 1969 BRM P139, the last of the revisions to the P126/P133/P138/P139 series of cars that proved no better than the previous models. It was powered by the 2,998cc V12 BRM P142 engine and in his five starts in the car in the 1969 season John Surtees only managed to complete one race, finishing third in the United States Grand Prix, and Jackie Oliver similarly only managed one finish out of four, a sixth place in the Mexican Grand Prix. The car's only appearance in the 1970 season was with one car in the South African Grand Prix where George Eaton failed to finish the race. The car was succeeded by the BRM P153 with which Pedro Rodriguez finished in seventh place in the 1970 World Drivers' Championship, winning the Belgian Grand Prix. This car in the Donington Museum is chassis BRM  P139/02.

1961 Cooper T53

This was one of the competitors in the HGPCA Pre-1966 Grand Prix Cars Race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2002.

It's a 1961 Cooper T53 with a 1½ litre engine and was driven in the race by Ted Rollason. The T53 was a 'lowline' version of the Cooper T51 and this car, chassis F1-1-61, was driven for the Yeoman Credit Racing Team in 1961 by John Surtees. At the end of that season it was taken to South Africa for Tony Maggs to compete in the South African Springbok series after which it was sold to a Rhodesian driver, a Mr Kilner and was fitted with an Alfa Romeo engine in place of its Coventry Climax unit. It was raced in South Africa and Rhodesia until 1967 when it was involved in an accident at Kyalami when being driven by another Rhodesian driver, John Coetzer, and was totally wrecked. The remains were some years later acquired by John Harper who fabricated a new frame and rebuilt the car. Ted Rollason bought the car in 2001 and competed with it that year and the following year, eventually selling the car in 2014 to German driver Wulf Goetze who continued to race the car after an intensive overhaul.

1930 Mercedes Benz SS

This car competed in the Pre-war Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000.

It's the 1930 Mercedes Benz SS of Peter-Heinz Kern, chassis GP10 and has a 6-cylinder inline 7,069cc engine. It was originally owned by Sir Malcolm Campbell and was raced by him between 1930 and 1932, including two Irish Grand Prix races and many races at Brooklands, and was fitted with a supercharger in 1931. Sir Malcolm Campbell sold the car in 1932. A note about the car in the programme of the event reads as follows:

'Another fine machine to be inspected is the ex-Sir Malcolm Campbell Mercedes Benz S-type Tourist Trophy racer. Entered by Germany's Peter Kern, the supercharged 7-litre leviathan will cut a dash down the Hangar Straight.'

1970 Macon MR8

I photographed this car at Lodge Corner during the HSCC Historic Formula Ford Championship Race at the Historic Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in June 2001.

It's the 1600cc 1970 Macon MR8 of Paul Sleeman, who had won the HSCC Formula Ford Championship with this car in the years 1999 and 2000. Macon Race Cars was started in the early 1960s by Tony Houghton and Angus McPhail and mainly built cars for Formula Ford, but also some for Formula 2, Formula B, Formula Pacific and Formula Junior.

1923 Talbot 10/23

I photographed this car in the paddock at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

It's a 1923 Talbot 10/23, created by Georges Roesch who increased the size of the 4-cylinder inline Talbot 8 engine that had been designed by Louis Coatalen from 870cc to 1,074cc. The Talbot 10/23 also had a lengthened chassis and more powerful brakes.

1989 TVR Tuscan Challenge

Walking past the local Shell filling station on the way to buy my morning paper recently I saw this car, looking a bit different from the usual rather more mundane vehicles seen there.

It's a TVR, and the DVLA record says that it's a 1989 model with a 5 litre engine. It's a TVT Tuscan Challenge, a car that was developed for a one-make race series, initially using a 4,441cc Rover V8 engine but when BMW took over the Rover company TVR developed their own 4,500cc V8 TVR Speed Eight engine. A number of the cars were converted for road use and the DVLA say that this particular car, though built in 1989, was first registered for road use in 2001.

Friday's Ferrari

I took this photograph at Club Corner during one of the Ferrari Challenge races at the Ferrari Racing Days event at Silverstone in September 2017.

It's the Ferrari 488 Challenge of James Weiland, and has a 3,902cc V8 turbocharged F154CB engine. This is what Ferrari say about the Challenge series of races:

'Over 1000 drivers have taken part in it, 100s of races have been disputed, while the overtaking, the thrills and the fun are incalculable. We are talking about the Ferrari Challenge, the most renowned single-marque championship, that has been bringing together dream cars and esteemed clients on the world’s most picturesque tracks since 1993. A competition for those who, not satisfied with just driving their Ferraris on the road, feel the urge to compete in top-level sprint races. The Ferrari Challenge is divided into three continental series: Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific series, which celebrated its inaugural season in 2011. A further English national series was added in 2019.Challenge races are always hard fought and battle-filled, allowing the driver to fully savour the excitement that only the track can give.'

1927 ERA Delage

This car competed in a Ten Lap Scratch Race for Pre-war Racing Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in August 1996.

It's Bruce Spollon's 1927/37 1,988cc supercharged straight-6 ERA engined Delage, created by Rob Walker who installed an ERA engine in one of Albert Lory's 1927 Delage 15 S8 Grand Prix cars. The car competed in Historic racing events for many years until acquired by Peter Mullin for the Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, California in 2006.

1942 Leyland Titan TD5

This was one of the participants in the Greater Manchester Transport Society's Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally in Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1993.

It's a 1942 Leyland Titan TD5 and was supplied to SMT in 1942 with fleet number J66. It remained in service until 1973 and is now in the Scottish Vintage Bus Museum. A note in the programme of the event reads as follows:

Leyland Titan TD5, Alexander L53R, 1942                                                                DSG169

Entered by J. Pettie, Stirling, Scotland

Believed to be the only 'unfrozen' TD5 to be built, this vehicle was converted to open top in 1959 and used until 1973 when purchased for preservation. Restored to original closed top condition in 1980/81.

1952 Jaguar XK120 Jabbeke Special Replica

This car was displayed by Jaguar XK specialists Guy Broad Parts on their stand in the paddock at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1999.

In 1953 Jaguar's test and development driver Norman Dewis in a Jaguar XK120  set a World Speed Record for production cars in a 2-way run over a flying mile of Belgium's Jabbeke motorway with an average speed of 140.789mph. Later in the year the record was beaten by a Spanish Pegaso with 150.13 mph, but Norman Dewis and the Jaguar returned to Jabbeke in October 1953 and reclaimed the record at 173.159 mph. The car pictured above is a replica of that car, constructed by Guy Broad's Broadsport company.