1964 Sunbeam Alpine Mk IV

I took this photograph at a car show in Saddleworth in June 1988.

It's a 1964 Sunbeam Alpine Series IV with a 4-cylinder inline 1,592 engine. 12,406 of these cars were built between 1964 and 1965.

1950s Sports Car Racing at Oulton Park

I took this photograph at Britten's chicane during the AMOC '50s Sports Cars race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2015.

Leading is Tim Reid in his 1960 Lola MkI followed by Paul Kennelly in a 1950 Jaguar XK120. The next car is the 1955 Jaguar XK140 of Alexis de Beaumont then the 1955 Austin Healey 100M of Robert Rawe, and Mark Hoble's 1954 Triumph TR2.

1960 Turtle Drilling Special

This car took part in the Magneti Marelli UK Race for Pre-1961 Grand Prix Cars at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It was driven in the race by Don Shead and it's the 1960 Meskowski Schmidt Offenhauser Special in the #23 'Turtle Drilling Special' livery in which it failed to qualify for the 1962 Indianapolis 500 Mile race in the hands of Leon Clum. Originally built by Wally Meskowski for Peter Schmidt for the 1960 Indianapolis race, it was driven as #44 by Bob Veith and finished in eighth place. Later in 1998 it returned to the USA and was repainted in its 1960 livery.

1977 Wolf WR1

I tool this photograph on a visit to the Donington Park Museum in March 1996.

Walter Wolf was a Canadian who became a Formula One constructor in 1976 by buying the assets of the Hesketh team when it withdrew from F1. The first car designed and built by the team led by Harvey Postlethwaite was the WR1 which, driven by Jody Scheckter, won its first race in Argentina then went on to win the Monaco and Canadian Grands Prix, finishing second to Niki Lauda in the Drivers' World Championship and fourth in the World Constructors' Championship. It was powered by the Ford Cosworth DFV 2,993cc V8 engine.

1908/22 GN Thunderbug

This car competed in the Boulogne Trophy race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Hawthorn Memorial Trophies Race Meeting at Oulton Park in June 2008.

It's Mark Walker's 1908/22 GN Thunderbug, with a 4,228cc V-twin engine created using two cylinders from a 9-cylinder radial engine. The GN cyclecar was produced between 1910 and 1925, originally with a V-twin JAP or Peugeot engine, and later GN's own 1100cc engine.

1954 Dennis Pax Gully Emptier

This vehicle took part in the Greater Manchester Transport Society's Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally in Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1995.

It's a 1954 Dennis Pax Gully Emptier, and the programme of the event said this about it:

Dennis Pax Gully Emptier, 1954                                                                                        GVL877

Entered by       W.J. Aldridge, Ilkeston

Served Lincoln Corporation From 1954-1972. Then used as a farm water carrier. Rescued

and since repainted, but not restored. Most of the vehicle remains original.

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 2017 Ferrari F12Berlinetta and has a 6,262cc V12 Ferrari F140 FC engine with an output of 740PS at 8,250 rpm. It was in production from 2012 to 2017.

1975 Lola T400

This car took part in the Derek Bell Trophy race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2008.

It's the Formula 5000 Lola T400 of Michael Lyons, chassis HU7, and has a 5,000cc Chevrolet V8 engine. HU7 was one of two cars sold to the Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing Team in 1975.

1960 Maserati T61

I took this rather blurred photograph with my Kodak Brownie 127 camera in the paddock at the August Bank Holiday meeting at Aintree in 1960.

It's John Coundley in the 1960 Maserati T61 that he drove for the American Camoradi team. The car has a 4-cylinder inline 2,890cc engine and seems to have been one of the cars that competed in the Le Mans 24 Hour Race in June of that year. I've not been able to confirm the chassis number, but it seems likely that it was either 2461 or 2464.

1953 Cooper Bristol MkII

This was one of the competitors in the HGPCA Pre '60 GP Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 1996.

It's the 1953 Cooper Bristol MkII of Bob Gilbert which has a 1971cc 6-cylinder inline Bristol engine that was derived from the pre-war BMW 328 unit. Father and son Charles & John Cooper had started the Cooper Car Company in 1946, and at first specialised in building cars for the new 500cc class of racing that British enthusiasts had started as a simple and economical way to go motor racing after the war. This developed into the International Formula 3 class in 1950, and Cooper then ventured into the Formula 2 class by putting a 1,100cc JAP engine into one of these cars, way below the 2 litre limit allowed, but even with the lack of power the car was still reasonably competitive because of its light weight. When the World Championship was run under Formula 2 regulations in 1952 because of a dearth of the larger-engined Formula 1 cars Cooper decided to design a car to compete at that level. The 1,971 Bristol engine was chosen, but the Cooper Bristol MkI (later designated the T20) could not really compete with the Ferraris and Maseratis in World Championship races and was much more successful in minor British events. In 1953 the MkII (later T23) car was introduced, having a tubular frame chassis instead of the box section frame of the earlier car and the drive train was altered to lower the driver's seat. Although a better car it wasn't much more successful than the MkI, and the following season when the new 2½ litre Formula 1 regulations came into force the car was rendered obsolete. They still soldiered on for a few years, mainly in minor British events, and then became regulars in the historic racing scene, where they're still to be seen to this day.

1957 Aston Martin DBR4

I took this photograph at Britten's chicane during the Hawthorn Memorial & Hawthorn Spanish Trophies Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in June 2006.

It's Hubert Fabri in his Aston Martin DBR4, a car that was first built and tested in 1957 although it didn't make its Grand Prix debut until 1959. By that time the new generation of rear-engined cars had made the older front-engined cars uncompetitive and the best results it managed were Roy Salvadori's sixth place finishes in the British and Portuguese Grands Prix in 1959. Originally powered by a 6-cylinder inline 2,493cc engine, Hubert Fabri's car had the same 6-cylinder inline 2,992cc engine as the DB3S sports car.

1911 Cottin et Desgouttes

I took this photograph on a visit to the Donington Park Museum in October 1989.

 

It's a 1911 Cottin et Desgouttes Grand Prix car that was driven by Georges Deydier in the French Grand Prix that year, but he failed to finish the race. It has a 10½ litre engine, and the history of the car is recounted here.

1935 Alfa Romeo 8C-35

This car competed in the HGPCA Pre '52 GP Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1995.

It's the 1935 Alfa Romeo 8C-35 of Paul Grist and has an 8-cylinder 3,822cc engine with twin overhead camshafts. It was built to challenge the Mercedes Benz and Auto Union cars but never beat the German cars in a top level Grand Prix, although it did succeed in doing so in a number of smaller races in the hands of the legendary Tazio Nuvolari.

Friday's Ferrari

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

It's the 2007 Ferrari F430 Challenge of Tony Jones during the race on the stretch between Hilltop and the Knickerbrook chicane. The Ferrari F430 Challenge was produced from 2007 to 2010 and has a 4,308cc V8 engine.

Boeing PT-17 Stearman Kaydet

I took this photograph at the Royal Air Forces Association's Woodford Air Show in June 1995, but the only mention of it in the brochure of the event is that a 'Steerman' would be part of the static display.

It's a Boeing Stearman Kaydet PT-17 N2S-3, an aircraft that was used as a military trainer, and this particular one was part of the US Army Air Force in the later stages of the Second World War. The Stearman Kaydet was powered by various different engines, and the PT-17 N2S-3 used the Continental R-670-4 engine.

1929 MG M-Type

This car took part in the Lancashire Automobile Club's annual Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car run in June 1990, and is pictured here in the Exchange Station car park before the start of the Run.

It's a 1929 MG M-Type which has a 4-cylinder inline 847cc engine and is based on the Morris Minor. It was in production from 1928 to 1932 and 3,235 were built in that period. The programme of the event has this note about the car:

1929 MG M-Type

Reg: GG 4819  4 cylinder  8 hp

(T.H.Swallow, Linthwaite, Huddersfield)

This car spent seven years of its life welded to

the roof of a garage, as an advertising gimmick.

It has been four times winner of the Turner

Goblet, also won the Webster Trophy.

There's some interesting information about the car that I found in this Triple-M Register Forum.

1975 Hesketh 308C

This was one of the competitors in the HSCC Derek Bell Trophy race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2005.

It's the 1975 Hesketh308C  of Steve Hartley and has a 2,993cc V8 Ford Cosworth DFV engine. James Hunt drove the 308C in the latter part of the 1975 season and won his first World Championship race, the 1975 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, in the earlier Hesketh 308B.

1927 Fowler Traction Engine 'Oriana'

At the historic car meetings at Silverstone in the 1990s there was always a sprinkling of old buses and commercial vehicles on the infield at the far end of the paddock, and this is one that I photographed at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting in July 1994.

It's a 1927 Fowler 5nhp 10 ton DNB tractor, works number 17287, that was built as a road roller and converted to a tractor in 1980.

1983 Triumph Acclaim CD

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

It's a 1983 Triumph Acclaim, and this is the information leaflet that was in the window of the car:

1956/57 Willment Climax

These cars are at Britten's chicane during 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.

Leading is the 1956/57 Willment Climax of Barry Cannell with a 4-cylinder inline 1,963cc Coventry Climax FPF engine, driven in period by Graham Hill, Jack Brabham and Stuart Lewis-Evans amongst others. The car behind it is the 1959 Sadler MarkIII of E.D.Butler, driven by Martin Walford, then the 1959 Maserati Tipo 61 of  Alan Minshaw. Following that car is (I think) the 1958 Lister Knobbly of Stephen Gibson, then the 1959 Cooper Monaco of Anthony Ditheridge and the 1958 Devin SS of Ron Gammons.

Friday's Ferrari

The Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997 featured a Ferrari display in the paddock which included the two cars pictured below.

The car on the left is a 1952 Ferrari 340 Mexico which at that time was owned by Carlos Monteverde and is chassis #0226AT. The car is powered by a 4,102cc V12 engine designed by Aurelio Lampredi and the body designed by Giovanni Michelotti for Carrozzeria Vignale. Only four of these cars were produced, three Berlinattas and one Spyder, and they were built specifically to take part in the Carrera Panamericana race from the south of Mexico near the border with Guatemala to the north of the country near the border with Texas. In the end the Spyder which was entered for the American Bill Spear did not start in the race but the three Berlinettas did. The car above was driven by Alberto Ascari and Giuseppe Scotuzzi and retired after an accident in the early stages of the race. One of the other cars, driven by Luigi Villoresi and Franco Cornacchia, also failed to  finish, but the third Berlinetta, driven by Luigi Chinetti and Jean Lucas, finished the race in third place.

On the right is the 1957 Ferrari 335S of Peter Sachs, which has a 4.023cc V12 engine and is chassis #0700.  Four of these cars were produced, one a converted 315S, as Ferrari's answer to the threat the 4½ litre Maserati 450S posed for the smaller engined Ferrari 315S and 290MM. The first race for the 335S was the 1957 Mille Miglia where two cars were entered, Peter Collins driving #0700 with Louis Klementaski as co-driver, but retiring with a broken drive shaft when in the lead. The second car, chassis #0676, was driven by Alfonso de Portago, partnered by Ed Nelson, but a burst tyre caused the car to leave the road and crash, killing both men together with 10 spectators. As a result of this crash the Italian government banned racing on public roads in Italy so that was the end of the Mille Miglia, though since 1977 the event has been revived as a regularity run for pre-1958 cars that would have been eligible for the original race. The 1957 race was won by Piero Taruffi in a Ferrari 315S, and Ferrari also won the 1957 World Sportscar Championship, with a 290MM winning the 1000km of Buenos Aires, and Peter Collins and Phil Hill winning the last race of the season, the Gran Premio de Venezuela in 335S #0700. The Maserati 450S won two races, the Sebring 12 hour race and the Swedish Grand Prix, and the other two races were won by British cars, Aston Martin winning the Nürburgring 1000 km and Jaguar cleaned up at Le Mans with Ecurie Ecosse D-Types in the first two places with 3 other D-Types in third, fourth and sixth places.

1948 Leyland Titan PD2/1

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

It's a 1948 Leyland Titan PD2/1 that was provided new to Weardale Motor Services of Frosterley, County Durham and remained with them until 1970. The programme of the event said this about the vehicle:

Leyland Titan PD2/1, Leyland L53R, 1948                                                                           KPT909

Weardale Motor Services

Entered by The British Commercial Vehicle Museum, Leyland

Withdrawn in 1970, this vehicle was restored by members of the Severn Valley Railway and

donated to BL Heritage. Now displayed at the British Commercial Vehicle Museum, Leyland.

1935 Austin 7 Twin Cam

I took this photograph on a visit to the Donington Park Museum in September 2014.

It's one of the two remaining very successful Austin 7 single seater racing cars that were built in 1935, and the board next to the car reads as follows:

'1935

Austin 7 Twin Cam

 

These lovely little single seaters were Sir Herbert Austin’s reply

to the successful M.G. Midgets fielded by Sir William Morris in

the 1930s.

Designed by T. Murray-Jamieson, well known for his work on

super chargers, and assisted by W.V. Appleby & T. Brown, the

cars had a troubled debut in 1936, with most of the testing and

development carried out here at Donington Park.

With teething troubles rectified, these cars went from strength

to strength during the 1937/38/39 seasons. Usually driven by

L.P. Driscoll, C.L. Goodacre & “Bert” Hadley they competed in

everything from speed trials and hill climbs through to 500 mile

races at Brooklands. The two “twin cams” made many

appearances at Donington Park winning, along with numerous

sprints and handicap races, the Coronation Trophy here in 1937,

the British Empire Trophy race here in 1938 and the Imperial

Trophy at Crystal Palace in 1939.

Not only were these cars pretty to look at, the 747cc

Engine was an engineering masterpiece, very highly stressed

And reputedly capable of revving to 12,000 R.P.M.'

I understand that this car is now at the British Motor Museum at Gaydon.

1956 Lotus Eleven

This car competed in the BRDC Historic Sports Car Championship Race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2004.

It's the 1956 Lotus Eleven of Malcolm Ricketts, which the programme of the event says has a 1,500cc engine. The Lotus Eleven was a completely new car, unlike the previous production Lotuses, the Mk VIII, Mk IX and Mk X which were all based on the Lotus Mk VI. The Eleven had a steel tubular space-frame with stressed aluminium panels, and the aerodynamic body was designed by Frank Costin and was hinged at both ends to give complete access to the engine and other mechanical parts. The car was mainly designed to run in the 1,100cc class of racing, but other engines of up to 2½ litres were also used.

1991 Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato Sanction II

This was one of the competitors in the BRDC '60s GT Race at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

Shown in the programme of the event as Simon Draper's 1960 Aston Martin Zagato, but it was actually built in 1991. The original intention in 1960 was to build 23 of the Aston Martin DB4GT Zagatos and chassis numbers were set aside for them, but only 19 were actually completed. In 1991 Aston Martin approached Zagato with the suggestion that they should build four additional cars to the same specifications, except that they would have the 4,212cc engine instead of the original 3,670 unit. The four cars were given the unused chassis numbers 0192, 0196, 0197, and 0198 (Simon Draper's car being 0196) and they would be known as Sanction II models.

Bredbury TV Scramble

In the early 1960s Motor Cycle Scrambling was frequently shown on the television at weekends, and occasionally I would go along and watch if it was somewhere local. I came across this programme recently of a meeting held in Bredbury on 4 March 1962 where I took one or two photographs.

This is Dave Bickers who was one of the top riders in the early 1960s, winning the 250cc European Motocross Championships in 1960 and 1961, and was a member of the British teams that won the Trophée des Nations event in 1961 and 1962. He was also a member of the teams that won the Motocross des Nations in 1966 and 1967. He's riding a 250cc Greeves.

I'm not sure who this is, but it may be Jeff Smith, who won the 500cc Motocross World Championship in 1964 and 1965. If it is Jeff Smith he's riding a 250cc Dot.

1954 Cooper T39

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

It's the 1956 Cooper T39 of George Cooper, more commonly known as the Cooper Bobtail because of the truncated tail of the car which was aerodynamically effective, but which John Cooper claimed to have been shortened so that it would fit inside the works transporter. The car was used in the 1,100cc and 1,500cc classes of sportscar racing and this car has a 4-cylinder inline 1,450cc Coventry Climax engine. It was reputedly the road-holding characteristics of this car that led John Cooper to produce first the rear-engined 1½ litre Formula 2 car and then the 2½ litre Formula 1 car that gave Jack Brabham the World Drivers' Championship in 1959 and 1960. Cooper's successes led all the other teams to adopt the rear-engine layout, and the last Formula 1 Grand Prix to be won by a front-engined car was Ferrari's victory in the 1960 Italian Grand Prix.

Friday's Ferrari

Ferrari uses the Corse Clienti Ferrari Racing Days meetings at various circuits to allow a group of specially selected customers to test limited edition cars developed exclusively for the track and to provide feedback on the performance of the cars to Corse Clienti engineers, thus helping Ferrari to develop its cars for the future. The Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017 included a series of test sessions involving the Ferrari FXX-K, the 'K' referring to the KERS kinetic energy recovery system with which the car is equipped. Here's one of the cars pictured at Club Corner during one of the sessions.

This is Canadian driver Eric Cheung in his Ferrari FXX-K, which is based on the LaFerrari. The car has a 6,262cc V12 engine that develops 848 hp, to which the 140kW electric motor adds 188 hp.

1962 BRM P578

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

It's the 1962 BRM P578 that Graham Hill drove in the race and is chassis P578/1 with the upright 'stack pipe' exhausts. He qualified in fifth place on the grid with Jim Clark in the Lotus 25 in pole position. In the race Jim Clark led from start to finish and Graham Hill ended up in fourth place, thanks in part to mechanical problems suffered by the Lotus 24 of Innes Ireland who had qualified ahead of Graham Hill. The BRM had been introduced in 1961 as the P57 with a 4-cylinder inline 1,496cc Coventry Climax FPF engine as BRM's new V8 1½ litre engine was still on the drawing board at the start of the season. By 1962 the P56 BRM 1,498cc V8 engine was available and the car was re-designated as the P578 in acknowledgement of the V8 unit. Jim Clark was the man to beat that season, but although he won three of the races he was plagued by retirements in another four and Graham Hill won the Drivers' World Championship with four victories and four other points-scoring places. BRM also won the Constructors' World Championship.

1955 Maserati 300S

This was one of the competitors in the Coys Race for Pre-1959 Drum Brake Sports Cars at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2002.

It's the 1955 Maserati 300S of Rodney Smith, chassis #3060, and was driven in the race by Mark Gillies. The Maserati 300S has a 6-cylinder engine based on the 2½ litre unit of the 250F Grand Prix car with a lengthened stroke to bring the capacity up to 2,991cc. The car's first major race was the 1956 Sebring 12 Hour race where it was driven by Cesare Perdisa and Carlos Menditéguy, but Menditéguy crashed and overturned the car during the race. The car was then badly damaged when the trailer retrieving it was hit by a truck. The rebuild wasn't completed till 1957, but on its return to Sebring in 1959 the car was once again badly damaged in Edwin Lawrence's fatal accident during practice. It was rebuilt yet again with a fibreglass body, and later a 3.9 litre Chevrolet V8 engine was installed.  The car was fully restored to its current form in the early 1990s.

1928 Riley Brooklands

This car took part in the two hour long VSCC Team Relay Race for Pre-war Sports Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

It's David Furnell's 1928 Riley Brooklands with a tuned version of the Riley Nine's 1,087cc 4-cylinder inline engine. The Riley Nine was designed by two of the Riley brothers, Percy and Stanley, and the Brooklands was the work of John G Parry Thomas and Reid Railton who shortened the chassis by some 15 inches and fitted an undershield the full length of the car. The engine had high compression pistons, special camshafts and 2 carburettors, increasing its output to 50bhp.