1903 Renault Type 10/12

This was one of the Cheshire Life Concours D'Elegance entrants at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Boulogne and Hawthorn Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in May 2005.

It's Tristan Jensen's 1903 Renault Type 10/12 which the programme of the event says has a 2-cylinder 1,800cc engine.

 

1948 Leyland Tiger PS1

This vehicle took part in the Greater Manchester Transport Society's Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally at Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1993.

It's a 1948 Leyland Tiger with a Brush body, and was provided new to Burnley, Colne and Nelson. The note about it in the programme of the event reads as follows:

Leyland Tiger PS1, Brush, B34R, 1948                                                                                HG9651

Burnley, Colne and Nelson 10

Entered by R Eckersall, Ashton-under-Lyne

This vehicle was converted to front entrance for one man operation in 1960. Purchased by the present owner in 1974 and reconverted to original rear entrance during restoration.

Friday's Ferrari

The Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997 featured a tribute to the Ferrari marque with three Ferrari races and a display in the paddock of cars going back to the earliest days of Ferrari. I found this car in the paddock which wasn't part of the special display and isn't listed in the programme of the event as taking part in any of the races.

It's Paul Pappalardo's 1959 Ferrari 250 TR59/60, chassis #0774TR, the car that won the Le Mans 24 Hour race in 1960 driven by Olivier Gendebien and Paul Frère. It has the Gioacchino Colombo designed 2,953cc V12 Tipo 128 engine.

1988 McLaren MP4/4

I took this photograph at the Donington Park Museum in May 1989.

It's a 1988 McLaren MP4/4, the car that dominated the 1988 Formula 1 season driven by Ayrton Senna an Alain Prost. It was designed by Steve Nichols, and was powered by the 1,494cc turbocharged V8 Honda RA168E engine in place of the previous season's TAG Porsche unit. Ayrton Senna won 8 of the 16 races that year and Alain Prost 7, the remaining race being won by Ferrari's Gerhard Berger - appropriately the Italian Grand Prix. Senna and Prost finished first and second in the World Driver's Championship with Berger a long way behind in third place. McLaren, of course, won the World Constructors' Championship, scoring only two points less than the combined total of all the other teams.

1962 Gemini Mk4A

This was one of the competitors in the Miller Oils/AMOC Historic Formula Junior race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2004.

Pictured during the race at Lodge Corner, it's the 1962 Gemini Mk4A of Oliver Crosthwaite being driven by Simon Diffey and has a 4-cylinder 1,098cc Ford Cosworth engine. It was quite an advanced car for its era, particularly for a Formula Junior car, with inboard front brakes, side radiators, and futuristic aerodynamics.

Austin Healey 100

I photographed this car at the Northern Classic Car Show at the G-Mex Centre in Manchester in August 1990.

It's an Austin Healey 100, possibly on the stand of the Austin Healey Club, and the rally plate on the front of the car seems to indicate that it took part in the Norwich Union Classic Car Rally in 1990. The Austin Healey 100 was designed by Donald Healey using using the 4 cylinder inline 2,330cc engine from an Austin A90 Atlantic. The single car Healey made was spotted at the 1952 London Motor Show by Leonard Lord, managing director of Austin, who reached an agreement with Donald Healey for the cars to be made by Austin with the bodies provided by Jenson Motors. The cars were produced from 1953 to 1956.

1937 Maserati 6CM

This car competed in the HGPCA Pre '52 GP Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 1996.

It's the 1937 Maserati 6CM of Peter Hannan ad is chassis #1547. Grand Prix racing in the 1930s was dominated by the German teams of Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union, and to a lesser extent the Italian Alfa Romeo team. Smaller manufacturers like Maserati built their cars for the Voiturette (or 'small car') class which was for cars with a maximum capacity of 1½ litres. The 4-cylinder Maserati 4CM introduced in 1932 had considerable success, but when these cars started to be outclassed by the British ERA cars Maserati produced the 6CM with a 6-cylinder 1½ litre supercharged engine which then became the car to beat.

1961 Lotus 18

I took this photograph at Lodge Corner during the HGPCA Pre '66 Grand Prix Cars race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2003.

It's the 1961 1475cc Lotus 18 of Mark Griffiths. The mid-engined Lotus 18 was a replacement for the front-engined Lotus 16 and the first such car to be built by Lotus, and was used in Formula 1, Formula 2 and Formula Junior racing. Mark Griffith's car is chassis 914 and was built to as a Formula 1 car with a 1500cc Coventry Climax FPF engine.

1925 Bugatti Type 35

This car took part in the Williams Trophy Race for Pre-1934 Grand Prix Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

It's the 1925 Bugatti Type 35 of Duncan Pittaway. The Type 35 had a 1,991cc straight-8 engine and was the most successful racing car of its era.

Friday's Ferrari

This is one of the cars that took part in the Corse Clienti Ferrari Challenge series of races at the Ferrari Racing Days event at Silverstone in September 2017.

It's the Ferrari 488 Challenge of Laurent de Meeus, 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.'

1962 Cooper T60

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

It's the 1962 Cooper T60 that was driven in the race for the Cooper works team by Tony Maggs, and has a 1,494cc V8 Coventry Climax FWMV engine. It is chassis F1-18-61 and Tony Maggs qualified the car in thirteenth place on the grid and finished the race in sixth place. In the 1962 season his best result was second place in the French Grand Prix and he was seventh in the World Drivers' Championship.

1971 Surtees TS9B

This is one of three Surtees TS9's that competed in the Force Pre-1972 Grand Prix Car Race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2002.

It's the 1971 Surtees TS9B of Peter Austin, chassis TS9/004, that was raced by the Surtees team in the 1971 and 1972 seasons, being uprated from a TS9 to a TS9B before the start of the 1972 season. The Surtees TS9 was powered by the 2,993cc Ford Cosworth DFV V8 engine and was not particularly successful, the best result being Mike Hailwood's second place in the 1972 Italian Grand Prix. 

1959 Lister Jaguar

Gary Pearson drove this car in the Louis Vuitton '50s Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1995.

It's a 1959 Lister Jaguar and is bearing the white bodywork with blue stripes that adorned the second of these Costin bodied cars to be made, chassis BHL123, which went to the American Briggs Cunningham's racing team. Gary Pearson at one point restored the former Briggs Cunningham car, and his car at Silverstone has the same 6-cylinder inline 3,781cc Jaguar XK engine that was fitted to BHL123. The 1959 car was designed by Frank Costin to accommodate a Chevrolet Corvette engine, which most of them did, although a few of the cars used the same Jaguar engine as the earlier Lister 'Knobbly' cars.

1939 Mercedes Benz W154

I photographed this car at Redgate corner at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in June 2008.

It's a 1939 Mercedes Benz W154 from the Mercedes Benz museum that had been taken to the event to complete a number of demonstration runs in the hands of Tony Dron. The rules governing the running of the European Championship races for 1938 had been changed from a 750kg weight limit with no restriction on engine sizes to a maximum engine capacity of 4½ litres unsupercharged or 3 litres with a supercharger. The W154 was designed by Rudolf Uhlenhaut based on the chassis of the previous year's W125 and used the 2,962cc supercharged V12 M154 engine. Three of the four European Championship races that year were won by three Mercedes Benz drivers, Manfred von Brauchitsch, Richard Seaman and Rudolf Caracciola, with Tazio Nuvolari winning the final race in his Auto Union D-Type. For the 1939 season the engine was modified to use a two-stage supercharger and designated as an M163 - for this reason the 1939 car is sometimes erroneously referred to as a Mercedes Benz W163. The body was also given a sleeker, less bulbous look. Mercedes Benz again won three of the four European Championship races, Hermann Lang winning two and Rudolf Caracciola one. The other race was again won by an Auto Union D-Type, this time driven by Hermann Müller.

1937 SS Jaguar 100

This is one of the cars I photographed during a visit to the Doune Motor Museum when on a family holiday in Scotland in August 1996.

It's a 1937 SS Jaguar 100, and a note in the Donington Collection brochure says this about the car:

'The foundation on which the Jaguar sports car tradition was based in the post-war years was the pre-war SS 100 range of cars built by William Lyons, later Sir William Lyons who ran a company called Swallow Coachbuilding. A striking production of the late thirties was the SS 100 which had some competition successes just before the war. This particular car was bought by Lord Moray in the early 1960s when he decided to take up competitive motoring, and in particular hill climbs. At present, it still has the post-war Jaguar XK140 engine that was installed some years ago, but an original SS engine has been obtained to bring the car back to its original specification. It was one of the best looking English sports cars of its time.'

The museum closed in November 1998.

1959 Elva 100 FJ

I took this photograph at Lodge Corner during the AMOC Miller Oils Historic Formula Junior Championship race at the Aston Martin Owners Club meeting at Oulton Park in May 2002.

It's Bernard Brock in his 1959 Elva 100 FJ which has a 1,098cc BMC A series engine. Initially successful, the front-engined Lola was overshadowed by the Cooper and Lotus rear-engined cars in the 1960 season.

Friday's Ferrari

I took these photographs at the Silverstone Classic meeting in July 2010.

It's Alexander Boswell's 1952 Ferrari 625A, chassis #0482, originally a 2 litre Ferrari 500 that competed in World Championship races in 1952 and 1953 with a 2 litre engine. When the regulations were changed in 1954 to allow engines of 2½ litres the chassis was extended, a 2,498cc engine fitted, and the car was redesignated a Type 625. Later in 1954 a 2,942cc engine from a Ferrari 735 sports car was installed and the car was subsequently acquired by Peter Whitehead who raced the car in Australia in 1956 and 1957. It then found its way to the USA, via Argentina, where it stayed till ending up with Alexander Boswell in 1999.

1929 Chrysler 77

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

It's a 1929 Chrysler 77, and the only information about it in the programme of the event is that it was entered by Stuart L Baxter of Linwhaite, Huddersfield.

1968 Nerus Silhouette

This was one of the competitors in the HSCC Classic Sports Cars and RJB Thundersports Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in June 2001.

It's David Beckett's 1968 Nerus Silhouette, a car that was built to compete in the short-lived Formula F100 that was intended to be a sports car version of the single-seater Formula Ford series, but it only lasted for 2 years. Nerus Engineering specialised in the manufacture of racing car components, and the Silhouette was designed by Cedric Seltzer who had been Jim Clark's race engineer in 1963/64. Only two cars were built, a third one later being built up from spare parts, and they were powered by a 1.3 litre Ford Kent engine. The programme of this event says that David Beckett's car has a 1,971cc engine.

Mercedes Benz Kompressor Club

Several members of Germany's Mercedes Benz Kompressor Club for vehicles produced between 1927 and 1934 attended the Coys International Historic Festival Meeting with their cars in July 1994 and took part in a demonstration run around the circuit.

This photograph shows three of the cars in the paddock but my knowledge of the cars is not good enough to allow me to identify them, though the red car in the middle appears to have once belonged to English golfer Henry Cotton.

Here's two of the cars at Luffield Corner during the demonstration run, and they were joined by an earlier car, a 1924 2 litre Mercedes Benz Targa Florio - one of three cars that contested the Targa Florio race in Sicily that year, Christian Werner winning the race in one of them.

This was a snippet in the programme of the event about the cars:

1962 BRM P578

I took this photograph at the Donington Park Museum in March 1996 showing the rear end of the car that brought BRM its only World Drivers' and Constructors' Championships.

It's the 1962 BRM P578 which Graham Hill drove in the 1962 and 1963 seasons, although the 'stack-pipe' exhaust system was quickly revised as the pipes had a tendency to drop off quite frequently. The Great Racing Cars of the Donington Collection says this about the car:

'The ‘Stack-Pipe’

BRM’s Championship winner

Sir Alfred Owen made it clear to BRM’s personnel that 1962 was to be their make-or-break season. They had won their first, and so far only, Grand Prix victory at Zandvoort in 1959, and now the expensive new 1½ litre V8 engine had to prove itself successful. It did, and Graham Hill won his first Grand Prix at Zandvoort, went on to win again in the German, Italian and South African rounds, and ended the season as World Champion Driver. British Racing Motors won the World Constructors’ Championship; honour was satisfied, and the concern survived. BRM’s prototype P56 V8-engined car appeared in practice for the 1961 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, where it impressed as one of the sleekest and smallest Formula 1 cars of its time. The engine was a 90-degree twin-overhead camshaft V8 with Lucas fuel injection, designed by Chief Engineer Tony Rudd, and initially it offered about 188bhp at 10,500rpm. The prototype P56 car introduced a neat and light multi-tubular spaceframe chassis with strikingly handsome bodywork, and the type began the 1962 season with individual megaphone exhausts swept-up from each cylinder bank. These won it the name of the ‘Stack-Pipe BRM’, and Hill won the first heat of the Brussels GP with it, then went on to win at Goodwood and then in an epic near dead-heat with Jim Clark’s Lotus-Climax at Silverstone. The stack-pipe exhausts regularly came adrift, and were replaced by a complex low-level system at Spa. Hill fought a season-long battle with Clark, and his American team-mate Richie Ginther drove ably to take third place in Germany and second to Hill in BRM’s great day at Monza. BRM V8 engines sold well to private customers, and the P56s raced on through 1963 when Hill won the Monaco and United States GPs and Ginther excelled once more. The pair chased Clark home in the World Championship table. By that time, people had stopped laughing at BRM!'

The car was generally known as the P578 to differentiate the 8-cylinder car from the previous season's 4-cylinder P57, but because it had a P56 engine the car itself was known as such by BRM. 

English Electric Canberra

I took this photograph at the Air Display at the Yorkshire Air Museum at RAF Elvington on a damp and overcast day in July 2010.

It's an English Electric Canberra, a light bomber designed to replace the de Havilland Mosquito which had served the RAF so well during the Second World War. The Canberra entered service with the RAF in 1951, and the last one was withdrawn from service in 2006.

1926/30 Hispano Delage

This car competed in one of the races at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in August 1996.

It's the 1926/30 Hispano Delage of Robin Baker, a comparatively recent construction using the chassis of a 1926 Delage and a 500hp 1930 Hispano Aero engine of 27 litres. The programme of the event says when discussing the various entrants in this race:

'.....Robin Baker goes the whole hog by having fitted a liquid cooled Hispano-Suiza V12 Aero engine of no less than 27.1 litres to his Delage chassis ensuring lightning acceleration.'

Friday's Ferrari

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

It's Patrick Stieger in his father Englebert's 1970 Ferrari 512M, chassis #1018, originally a 512S Spider model but converted to a 512M Berlinetta in 1971. The description of the 512M in the barchetta.cc website reads as follows:

'During 1969 Ferrari developed a sports racing model to compete in the 1970 Group 5 Sports Car Championship, this was the 512 S model, built to do battle with the Porsche 917. The regulations required that twenty five examples of the model had to be built to achieve homologation, and in January 1970 Ferrari presented the requisite number of cars to FIA officials in Maranello for inspection. The motive power was a mid-mounted 5 litre V12 engine with Lucas indirect fuel injection, producing a claimed 550bhp @ 8500rpm, coupled to a five speed + reverse transaxle. The body was available in either closed, berlinetta, or open, spider, configuration, and the fibreglass panels were mounted on a semi-monocoque chassis in aluminium with a supplementary steel tube frame. For the Le Mans 24 Hour Race a “coda Lunga”, long tail, body section was available, which was designed to provide greater aerodynamic efficiency on the long Mulsanne Straight.

The 512 S model ran through the 1970 season both as works and private entries, its best result being a victory on its second outing in the 12 Hours of Sebring, this being a works entry driven by Andretti/Giunti/Vacarella, with Andretti joining the driving squad after his own car retired with transmission failure when leading. A 512 S also won the non championship Fuji 200 Mile Race in Japan, and a 512 M version won the Kyalami 9 Hour Race in South Africa. Although there was little to choose in performance between the 512 S and the Porsche 917, the latter had the greater reliability, which enabled it to take the Manufacturers’ Championship.

For the 1971 season, Ferrari concentrated on their 312 P(B) sports prototype, and left the 512 entries to the privateers, although they did offer a revised more aerodynamic body package, which had first appeared on the Kyalami winning car in late 1970. This was called the “M” package, “Modificato” or modified, featuring a more wedge shape flatter profile, and all cars converted to this form were coupés. In the USA the Roger Penske team developed their own 512 M, chassis # 1040, which was the quickest 512 of all time, but like the regular cars didn’t meet with much overall success, with no 512 victories during the season. Late in 1971 chassis # 1010 was fitted with a 7 litre engine and converted to run in the American CanAm series. It managed a 4th place at Watkins Glen driven by Mario Andretti, before the car was sold to the NART organisation.'

#1018 was originally supplied to German driver Georg Loos but at the end of the 1971 season it became part of Pierre Bardinon's Ferrari collection for 20 years before ending up with Englebert Stieger in 1991.

1946 Bristol L5G

This was one of the many single deck buses taking part in the Greater Manchester Transport Society's Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally at Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1996.

It's a 1946 Bristol L5G provided new to the North Western Road Car Company in January 1947 with a Brush B35R body and a Gardner 5LW 7 litre 5-cylinder diesel engine. In 1958 it was rebodied with a Willowbrook B38R body and continued in service with North Western until 1964. After passing through various hands it was acquired by the Greater Manchester Transport Society in November 1986. The programme of the event has the following note about the vehicle:

Bristol L5G, Willowbrook B38R, 1946                                               BJA425

Entered by                                        Greater Manchester Transport Society

This vehicle has been fully restored at the Museum of Transport by volunteers of the Society. Material costs of over £4,000 have been raised with the assistance of David Whitehead and Stuart Cameron who held auctions at the Museum in conjunction with the spring and autumn transport festivals.

1962 Anglo American Cooper T59

This car took part in the Historic Formula Racing Cars Pre '65 Single Seater Championship Race at the HSCC's Summer Race Meeting at Oulton Park in July 1995.

It's the 1962 Anglo American Cooper of Ean Pugh that was driven in the race by Mark Linstone. The car was built by Ian Burgess of Louise Bryden-Brown's Anglo American Racing team and it was based on a Cooper T59 Formula Junior car with a 1,475cc Coventry Climax FPF engine. It was entered for three Grand Prix races in the 1962 F1 season, finishing in 12th place in the British Grand Prix, 11th place in Germany, but didn't qualify for a starting place in the Italian Grand Prix. Ian Burgess was the driver on each occasion.

1958 Lotus Eleven

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

It's Peter Austin's 1958 Lotus Eleven, about 270 of which were built by the Lotus Company between 1956 and 1958. The Lotus Eleven was built with a variety of engines of different sizes from 750cc to 1500cc, and the programme of the event shows Peter Austin's car to have a 1,089cc engine. The red car at the side of the Lotus is Burkhard von Schenk's 1957 Maserati 300SI, and behind are the 1957 Jaguar D-Type of Sir Anthony Bamford (driven by Frank Sytner) and the 1957 Lotus Eleven of Malcolm Ricketts.

1955 Maserati 250F

The Vintage Sports Car Club's  SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005 featured the Maserati marque and in particular the Maserati 250F, and at from time to time during the meeting various of the Maseratis that were present were displayed in a marquee in the paddock. This is a photograph I took of a few of the cars that were there one of the times I walked through the marquee.

Number 237 is the 1955 Maserati 250F of Michael Hinderer, chassis #2516, a car that was mainly campaigned for the works team in 1955 by Jean Behra. At the end of that season it was sold to Australian Reg Hunt who raced it successfully for several years and it then passed through the hands of other Australian drivers before being acquired by Cameron Millar in the 1960s. Subsequent owners were Anthony Mayman, who allowed a wide range of friends to race the car, and Thomas Bscher before it ended up with Michael Hinderer. Behind that car is Maserati 250F #2515 which was then owned by Tom Wheatcroft, the owner of the Donington Park race circuit and museum. Originally a Maserati team car, it was driven mainly by Roberto Mieres in the 1955 season then by Chico Landi and Gerino Gerini in two races in Argentina at the start of the 1956 season. It was then sold to Scuderia Guastalla for the remainder of the 1956 season before being bought by Ottorino Volonterio who contested Grand Prix races with it till the end of the 1959 season, driving it himself on two occasions, but mainly using other drivers. At the end of the 1959 season he retired the car from racing, but kept it until selling it in 1965 to Tom Wheatcroft. Beyond that is a Maserati 300S sports car that I've been unable to identify, and apparently just leaving the marquee is the 1951 Maserati A6GCM of Julia de Baldanza.

De Tomaso Pantera

This car was exhibited by the De Tomaso Drivers Club UK at the Northern Classic Car Show at the G-Mex Centre, Manchester in August 1990.

It's a De Tomaso Pantera which has a 351cu in Ford V8 engine and was produced from 1971 till 1992. Alejandro de Tomaso started by building a Formula One car which appeared sporadically from 1961 to 1963, and after an unsuccessful attempt to re-enter racing in conjunction with Frank Williams in 1970 he gave up Formula One to concentrate on the road-going models which he had started to manufacture in 1963. A note in the brochure of the event says this about the car:

'The car on show is owned by Chris Statham (one of the very few Northern members). The car has been very customised and  is absolutely unique. Chris had the bodywork made to his own styling.'

Aston Martin DB4 Zagato

This photograph was taken at what was then the Foulstons chicane during the Inter-Marque championship race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1993.

Leading is the 1990 Aston Martin DB4 Zagato of Geoffrey Harris (one of the Sanction models) followed by the 1960 DB4 Zagato of James Taylor. I can't identify the next car, but behind that is the 1982 Porsche 911 of Alistair Sinclair then the 1964 Jaguar E-Type of Allen Lloyd. The red car on its way to Shell Oils Corner appears to be the 1979 Porsche 911 of Graham Owlett.

Friday's Ferrari

One of the Ferraris at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017.

It's a 2003 Ferrari 575M Maranello which has a 5,748cc F133 48 valve V12 engine. It was in production from 2002 to 2006 and 2,056 examples were built before it was replaced by the 599 GTB Fiorano.