MG 'Old Number One'

This car was one of the vehicles on display at the Heritage Motor Centre's Roadshow at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1995.

Known as 'Old Number One', it's not the first MG to be built, but apparently it's the first one to be built with the purpose of competing in motor sports events. The Morris Cowley bullnose origin of the car is evident and you can read here the MG Owners' Club story of the car.

When the British Leyland Motor Corporation was set up in 1968 it was decided to find out how many old vehicles were held by the various companies which were part of the new Corporation. Nearly 100 were found and in 1975 Leyland Historic Vehicles was formed to maintain this fleet of vehicles. The British Motor Heritage Trust was formed in 1983 which then led to the Heritage Motor Centre museum at Gaydon being opened in 1993. In 2000 the trust expanded to include the whole of the British motor industry and the museum now has a collection of nearly 300 vehicles, and after a major refurbishment in 2015/16 it reopened as the British Motor Museum.

Formula Junior Racing

I took this photograph during the AMOC Miller Oils Historic Formula Junior Championship race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 2002.

The leading car here at Lodge Corner is the 1963 (though it says 1959 in the programme) Lola MK5A of Robin Longden who is leading Mark Woodhouse in his 1961 Lotus 20, both cars appearing to have the 1,098cc Ford Cosworth engine. Robin Longden's car, chassis #BRJ-55, was originally owned by Eric Offenstadt, and the history of the car is shown in this Lola Heritage article. I can't find any information about the history of the Lotus.

1924 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost

I took this photograph in the Exchange Station car park in Manchester in May 1992 of two cars waiting for the start of the Lancashire Automobile Club's annual Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run.

The nearest car is a 1924 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, and the only information about it in the programme of the event is that it was entered by Triplex Safety Glass Co. Ltd. of St Helens, Merseyside. It appeared in several of the Runs around that time though, and in the 1987 Run this note was in the programme:

1924 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost,

Reg:  XR 6727  6 Cylinder  7428 cc

(Pilkington Glass Co. Ltd., St Helens.)

Found derelict in Aughton. Lancs, and was rebuilt by apprentices and artisans at the Eccleston Works, St Helens, and at King's Norton Works, Birmingham, with kind assistance from Rolls Royce at Crewe. Has completed more than 900,000 miles in its lifetime.

The car next to it is a 1923 Rolls Royce 20. and again the only information in the programme is that it was entered by A Pownall of Wilmslow, Cheshire. This car also took part in the 1987 Run, and this was the note about it in that programme:

1923 Rolls Royce 20 Tourer,

Reg:  VK 6701  6 cylinder  20 hp

(Major A. Pownall, Wilmslow, Cheshire)

The "smallest" Rolls of its day, the 20 Tourer cost £1,000 in chassis form. Rolls quoted a power figure of 53 bhp at 3000 revs. It was the first Rolls to have a detachable cylinder head.

Friday's Ferrari

This is one of the cars I photographed at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017.

It's a 1991 Ferrari Testa Rossa and has a 4,943cc flat-12 Ferrari F113 engine. The Testa Rossa was produced from 1984 to 1991, with revised versions, the 512TR and F512M continuing until 1996 - almost 10,000 cars being built in total.

1960 OSCA FJ

This car took part in the AMOC Formula Junior Race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in June 2001.

It's the 1960 OSCA Formula Junior car of Peter Mullen and has a 4-cylinder inline Fiat 1,098cc engine. The OSCA company was established by the Maserati brothers at the end of their 10 year contract with Adolfo Orsi, to whom they had sold the Maserati concern in 1937. Formula Junior racing was initiated in 1958 by Giovanni Lurani as an affordable introduction to single seater racing and was initially dominated by the Fiat-engined Italian cars, particularly Stanguellini. British interest remained for some time with the 500cc Formula 3 class of racing, but when they turned their attention to Formula Junior cars such as Elva and Lola started to make an impression, and when Cooper and Lotus introduced their mid-engined cars they became the ones to beat.

1894 Benz

This vehicle was on the stand of the Yorkshire Car Collection at the Northern Classic Car Show in the G-Mex Centre, Manchester in August 1994.

As the Veteran Car Club plate on the front of the car says, it's an 1894 Benz, but although there's an entry about the Yorkshire Car Collection in the brochure of the event there's no further information about the car. The early Benz cars had a single-cylinder 1,045cc engine.

1960 Jaguar E2A

I took this photograph at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994 and noted at the time that it was the Jaguar E-Type prototype, E2A.

After Jaguar withdrew from motorsport at the end of the 1956 season the defunct racing department was charged with developing a road car based on the Jaguar D-Type which would be a replacement for the Jaguar XK150. The first prototype in 1957 was E1A which had an aluminium monocoque chassis with a 2.4 litre Jaguar XK engine and fully independent rear suspension. It was only used  for factory testing and was eventually scrapped when testing ended. The second prototype, built in 1960, was the one shown above, E2A, which had a steel chassis and aluminium body and was built with racing in mind as this was thought to provide a better testing ground. In line with the World Sportscar Championship's regulations at that time a 3-litre version of the Jaguar XK engine was fitted. American Briggs Cunningham was allowed to enter the car in the 1960 Le Mans 24 Hour race bearing the USA racing colours (as above) and was driven by Dan Gurney and Walt Hansgen, but failed to finish the race due to a blown head gasket. After Le Mans the car was given a 3.8 litre XK engine and raced in the United States by the Briggs Cunningham team till the end of the 1960 season when it was sent back to the Jaguar factory. The resultant production model was, of course, the Jaguar E-Type.

On all the other photographs I've seen of E2A the registration number VKV752 is shown across the nose of the car, as it is in this photograph I took at the 1988 Coys meeting at Silverstone.....

.....so I'm wondering now if the car I photographed in 1994 was a replica.

1985 Toleman 185

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

It's the 1985 Toleman TG185 that was driven by Teo Fabi and Piercarlo Ghinzani. The car was designed by Rory Byrne, very similar to the previous year's TG184 that had been driven by Ayrton Senna and powered by the same 4-cylinder inline Hart 415T 1,459cc turbocharged engine. The highlight of the season was Teo Fabi's pole position in the German Grand Prix, but he only managed two finishes, a 14th place in France and 12th in Italy, while Piercarlo Ghinzani failed to finish any of the five races in which he started. The team was bought out by Benetton at the end of the season. 

1925 Bugatti Type 13

This car competed in what was labelled as a 'Ten Lap Scratch Race in Memory of Sir Henry Seagrave for Vintage Racing Cars which includes the Williams Monaco and allied Trophies' at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in August 1996.

It's the 1925 Bugatti Type 13 of David Marsh which has a 16-valve 4-cylinder inline 1,496cc engine. Five examples of the Type 13 were produced before the First World War and when the war was over Ettore Bugatti prepared the cars for racing. The cars took the first four places in the 1921 Brescia Grand Prix and the Type 13 subsequently became known as the Brescia Bugatti. There was a great demand for the car and its derivations and 2000 were built before production ended in about 1926. After giving details of the other Bugattis in the race the programme of the event says this about David Marsh's car:

'The only 4 cylinder Bugatti amongst all these 8 cylinders is the 1925 1.5 litre Brescia model of David Marsh, the VSCC President.'

The car was eligible for the Williams Monaco Trophy and the programme also says this about that Trophy:

'In 1929, the Anglo-French driver William Grover, who drove under the name of "Williams", won the first Monaco Grand Prix driving a Type 35B Bugatti, and after the last war his wife presented the actual Trophy to the Bugatti Owners' Club, which became the "Williams" Monaco Trophy and from 1976 it has been competed for at VSCC meetings mainly between Type 35B and Type 51 Bugattis and Monza Alfa Romeos, all 2-seater Grand Prix cars.'

Lamborghini

I took these photographs at the Stockport Lamborghini dealer, H R Owen in August 2019.

Lamborghini Aventador Superveloce Coupe LP750-4

Lamborghini Aventador Superveloce Roadster LP750-4

The Lamborghini Aventador LP750-4 is a 4-wheel drive car and has a 6,498cc V12 engine which produces 750 PS (which apparently stands for Pferdstarke, German for Horsepower, which is slightly less than the 'hp', or Horsepower that has been used since the late 18th century).

Lamborghini Huracan LP610-4

Lamborghini Huracan Performante Spyder LP640-4

Lamborghini Huracán Performante Coupe LP640-4

The Lamborghini Huracán is a 4-wheel drive car and has a 5,204 cc V10 engine, the LP610 producing 610 PS and the LP640 640 PS.

Lamborghini Huracan LP580-2, which has rear wheel drive only and has the 5,204 cc V10 engine, producing 580 PS.

Friday's Ferrari

This car competed 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 Kerry Manola's 1960 Ferrari 196S Dino, chassis #0776S, that was driven in the race by Spencer Martin. The car is similar to the Ferrari TR59/60 but has a 1,984cc V6 engine instead of the TR59/60's 2,953cc V12 unit.

1971 Foden S39

I took this photograph at the Greater Manchester Transport Society's Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally in Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1996.

It's a 1971 Foden S39 - there's no mention of it in the programme of the event but it also took part in the event in 1998 when the following note was in the programme:

Foden S39, 1971                                                                                                                   HTB704K

Entered by     John Thorpe, Heywood, Lancs

Originally operated by Maxwell Hart of Glasgow as a low loader carrying plant equipment.

It was then used with a conventional flat bed trailer by Preistner of Warrington on general 

haulage duties.

It was later kept at the Bury Transport Museum, but I've been unable to ascertain if it's still there.

1975 Chevron B31/36

This car took part in the RJB Mining Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Summer Race Meeting at Oulton Park in July 1995, competing in the class for 2 litre Group 6 cars with Hart/BMW engines built prior to 31/12/78.

It's the 1975 Chevron B31/36 of RJB Mining and was driven in the race by Mike Wilds. The Chevron B31 was a development of the B26 and was initially fitted with a 2 litre 4 cylinder Hart engine, but other engines including Cosworth and BMW M12 units were later used.

1950 Talbot Lago T26

This was one of the competitors in the HGPCA Pre-61 Front Engine GP Cars race at the Silverstone Classic meeting in July 2010.

It's the 1950 Talbot Lago T26 of Richard Pilkington, chassis number 110057, a car that was driven in the 1951 Le Mans 24 Hour race by Juan Manuel Fangio and Louis Rosier, but retired after 9 hours with a ruptured oil tank. The Talbot Lago T26 had a 4,482cc unsupercharged engine, and detachable wings and lighting equipment so that it could also be used in the 4½ litre Formula One Grand Prix racing of that period.

1988 McLaren MP4/4

I took this photograph in the showroom of Boston Motors, a local car dealer, in July 1991. The dealer sold Hondas, but not McLarens.

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.

1926 NSU 6/60

This is one of several vehicles, including two Auto Union Grand Prix cars, that Audi took to the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Donington Park in May 2001.

It's a 1926 NSU 6/60 that was a successful competitor in the 1½ litre class of racing in the 1920s. It has a 60 bhp 6-cylinder inline 1,482cc supercharged engine, and its best result was when it took the first four places in the up to 1½ litre class at the 1926 German Grand Prix at the Avus circuit. Georg Klöbe finished in fifth place overall with Jakob Scholl in seventh place, Franz Islinger eighth, and Josef Müller in tenth place. This is the only one of those cars that has survived, and this photograph was taken on the stretch between the Old Hairpin and McLean's Corner.

1956 Aston Martin DB3S

This car took part in the 'Pre War Sports Cars with Feltham Aston Martins' race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in September 1993.

It's the 1956 Aston Martin DB3S of Tony Smith and is chassis #DB3S/10, the last of the team cars to be built and has the 2,992cc 6-cylinder inline Lagonda engine.

In 1956 it was driven to fifth place in the GP de Rouen by Roy Salvadori and driven by Peter Walker and Roy Salvadori in the Le Mans 24 Hour race but failed to finish. In 1957 the car finished in third place in the British Empire Trophy race at Oulton Park driven by Noël Cunningham-Reid, and that was its final outing for the Aston Martin team. Peter Whitehead entered the car in the 1957 1000km race at the Nürburgring and finished in ninth place, and the following season the car was acquired by John Dalton.

The car is pictured here during the race just after Foulstons chicane and going up Hill Top towards Knickerbrook corner.

Friday's Ferrari

The Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000 celebrated 50 years of the Formula 1 World Championship, which started with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1950. There was a display of a representative selection of Formula 1 cars from those 50 years and here's one which saw action in 1979.

It's the Ferrari 312 T4 with which Jody Scheckter won the World Drivers' Championship in 1979. Scheckter won three races, the Grands Prix of Belgium, Monaco and Italy, and his team mate Gilles Villeneuve won the South African, United States and United States West races, finishing in second place in the Drivers' Championship. Ferrari, naturally, won the World Constructors' Championship. Next to the Ferrari is a 1980 Alfa Romeo 179 and next to that a 1981 Lotus 88B. The Ferrari 312 T4 was designed by a team led by Mauro Forghieri and was powered by a 2,992cc flat-12 engine.

John Surtees

I took this photograph in the paddock on practice day for the British Grand Prix at Aintree in July 1959.

John Surtees started his motorcycle racing career in the early 1950s, and was given a place in the Norton works team in 1955. By the end of that season the Norton Company was having severe financial problems and for the 1956 season John Surtees switched to the MV Agusta team. He won the 1956 500cc World Championship, and then both the 500cc and 350cc Championships for the team in 1958, 1959 and 1960. In 1959 he had a test drive for Aston Martin and this led to him taking a place in the Lotus F1 team for the 1960 season. In 1961 he drove a Cooper T53 for the The Yeoman Credit Racing Team and a Lola Mk4 for the Bowmaker Yeoman Racing Team in 1962. In 1963 he joined Scuderia Ferrari, won his first Grand Prix that season, in Germany, and finished in fourth place in the World Drivers' Championship. Still with Ferrari in 1964, he won the Drivers' Championship by one point from BRM's Graham Hill. 

In the photograph above the gentleman in the cap on the left-hand side is John Hartle, then John Surtees' team mate at MV Agusta.

1936 Maserati V8RI

I took this photograph at Foulstons chicane during the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy Race for Historic Racing Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s meeting at Oulton Park in June 1993.

It’s a Maserati V8RI with a 4,788cc supercharged V8 engine, only four of which were built. This car is chassis 4503 owned at the time by Doug Marr and was driven on the day by Tony Merrick. 4503 was originally delivered in February 1936 to Phillipe Etancelin who drove the car to win the Pau Grand Prix in its first race and competed with it in most of the European Grands Prix that year. At the end of 1936 Etancelin took the car to the USA to compete in the Vanderbilt Cup where he finished in eighth place, but soon afterwards sold the car which remained in the USA until it was eventually brought to England and ended up in the hands of Doug Marr in the late 1970s.

Lotus 47

I spotted this car amongst other Lotuses at the Silverstone Historic Festival meeting in August 2001.

It's a Lotus 47 from the late 1960s, and should have a 1,590cc Ford Cosworth Twin-cam engine. There's no record of the exact number of these cars that were built, but it's estimated to be around 60.

1930 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport

This was one of the entrants in the Lancashire Automobile Club's annual Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1990. 

Its the 1930 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport of Malcolm Hoyle and is pictured in the Exchange Station car park in Manchester making its way to the start line. This is the short note about the car in the programme of the event:

 

130.     1930 Alfa Romeo Gran Sport

             Reg: FM 8774  6 cylinder  1750cc

             (Malcolm Hoyle, Huddersfield)

The Alfa Romeo 6C was designed by Vittorio Jano in the late 1920s and was in production with several engine sizes ranging from 1½ to 3 litres until 1954. The 6C 1750 Gran Sport had a 6-cylinder inline 1,752cc engine and 257 examples were built between 1930 and 1933.

1955 Martin F3

This car took part in the 500cc Formula 3 race that ran alongside the Historic Formula Junior Championship race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1992.

It's the 1955 Martin F3 car of Reg Hargrave, but there's no other information about the car in the programme of the event. The website of the 500 Owners Association, however, tells you about Ray Martin and his cars, as well as many of the other marques that took part in this class of racing.

Manchester Metrolink Trams

 I took this photograph recently at Salford Quays close to Media City.

It's a tram on the Manchester Metrolink Ashton to Eccles route passing the Harbour City tramway stop on The Quays.

Friday's Ferrari

I photographed this car at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017.

It's a 3,496cc V8 1999 FerrariF355 Spider, a car that was produced from 1995 to 1999 when it was superseded by the F360. It was the first Ferrari to take its model number from the engine capacity in litres (3.5) and the number of valves per cylinder (5) - hence 355. The general numbering system at this time was the capacity in litres plus number of cylinders - as in the 3.4 litre V8 Ferrari 348 that preceded the F355. In the 1950s and 60s the usual numbering convention was the cubic centimetre capacity of one cylinder - so all the V12 3 litre cars were 250, as in 250 GTO, and the 4-cylinder 3 litre cars were 750, as in 750 Monza.

1913 Singer

This car took part in a 4-Lap Handicap Race for Edwardian Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in August 1992.

It's the 1913 Singer 10 of  Barry Clarke that was driven in the race by Mrs J Tomlinson. A note in the programme of the event says:

'Jane Tomlinson drives Barry Clarke's little 1913 10hp Singer of the type, which in racing form, was persuaded to lap Brooklands at 73.56 mph in 1914. Lionel Martin, who later formed Aston Martin, "won the glorious scrap for cycle-cars, motor-bicycles and light cars", to quote Bill Boddy's tome The Brooklands Motor Course. Martin was racing his modified Singer 10 at the postponed Inter-Varsity meeting at Brooklands.'

2004 BAR 060

This is a photograph I took at the Donington Park Museum in September 2014.

It's the BAR-Honda 060 that Jenson Button and Takuma Sato drove in the 2004 season. The board at the side of the car reads like this:

2004     B.A.R.   060

The BAR 060 car was driven by Jenson Button in the

2004 Formula One Championship. This car helped bring

Jenson Button home third in the drivers’ series and take

BAR to second place in the manufacturers’

championship.

In the last weeks of 2001, Prodrive was brought in by

BAR to take over the management of the then

underperforming Formula One team.

As part of the agreement, a team of Prodrive

management, including chairman David Richards, was

seconded to the team. Prodrive restructured the BAR,

operation, gave it a distinct new identity and most

importantly, made the team truly competitive for the

first time in its short history.

By the end of 2004, the team was second only to Ferrari

In terms of performance and, off the track, was meeting

Its budget targets. As a result, its major shareholder

BAT was able to sell the business to Honda and

Prodrive’s task was completed.

Jenson Button had 4 second place and 6 third place finishes to finish with 85 points in third place in the World Drivers' Championship in 2004, while Takuma Sato had one third place and a number of minor points-scoring finishes to earn 34 points for eighth place. BAR-Honda ended up in second place in the World Constructors' Championship behind Ferrari.

1968 BRM P133

This was one of the competitors in the F.O.R.C.E. Pre-1972 Classic Grand Prix Cars Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1999.

It's the 3 litre V12 1968 BRM P133 of Ean Pugh - at least that's what it says in the programme of the event. The P133 was produced in Bourne by BRM following the design of Len Terry's P126 which was built by his own Transatlantic Automotive Consultants company. There is some suggestion that the car pictured above is actually a P126. Only two examples of the P133 were built, the second of which was written off in an accident at the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix by Pedro Rodriguez. The remaining P133 was driven in the 1968 season by Pedro Rodriguez, and by Jackie Oliver in the first part of the 1969 season. A second BRM P133 entered by Robs Lamplough took part in this race at Silverstone, and that one appears to be the surviving BRM P133/01.