Friday's Ferrari

This car competed in the Shell Historic Ferrari Maserati Challenge race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1999.

It's the 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB/C of Martin McGlone and is chassis #07407. This was the competition version of the Ferrari 275 GTB and has the Giacchino Colombo designed 3,286cc V12 engine with a single overhead camshaft per bank.

1933 Singer Le Mans

This car was on the stand of the Singer Owners Club at the Northern Classic Car Show at the G-Mex Centre in Manchester in August 1993.

It's a 1933 Singer Le Mans which was a variant of the 4-cylinder inline 972cc Singer 9 model with a more highly tuned engine and other improvements that made it successful at a variety of motoring events, Though not particularly successful at Le Mans.

1956 Maserati 250F

This car took part in the Cheshire Building Society Allcomers Race and also a Handicap Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies Meeting at Oulton Park in June 1984.

It's one of a series of replica cars built by Cameron Millar, mainly in the 1970s and early 1980s using, at least in the early cars, a large number of genuine period Maserati parts. Each was given a serial number beginning 'CM' and this one is CM2, owned and driven that day by Alan Cottam. It is powered by the 6-cylinder inline 2,490cc Maserati engine.

Here's Alan Cottam pictured at Deer Leap during the Allcomers Race.

1930 Alvis 12/50

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 here before the start of the Run in the Exchange Station car park in Manchester.

It's a 1930 Alvis 12/50 and the only information about it in the programme of the event is that it was entered for the Run by John P. Glithero of Hyde, Cheshire. The Alvis company was founded in 1919 with motor car production commencing three years later with the 10/30 model, and 1924 was to see the launch the 12/50 that established Alvis as a manufacturer of high-quality sporting cars. The 12/50 originally had a 4-cylinder inline engine of 1,496cc and was produced through various revisions until 1932, the engine size being increased to 1,598cc and finally to the 1,645cc of the car pictured here.

1949 Talbot Lago T26C

This was one of the competitors in the Pre '52 Grand Prix Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival at Silverstone in July 1995.

It's the 1949 Talbot Lago T26C of Tony Bianchi which has a 6-cylinder inline 4,482cc unsupercharged engine. The Talbot Lagos took part in the 1949 (pre-World Championship) Grand Prix races but were generally outnumbered and outclassed by the Ferraris and Maseratis, although Louis Rosier won the Belgian Grand Prix and Louis Chiron the French Grand Prix in one of these cars. Tony Bianchi’s Talbot-Lago T26C is chassis #110 008 which was Philippe Etancelin's car in 1949 and then passed to Jean Achard in November 1950. Achard moved to Brazil, taking the car, and sold it there to Pinheiro Pires who raced it in Brazil from 1951 to 1954. The car came to the UK via Colin Crabbe in the 1980s and then via other UK owners to Tony Bianchi in the 1990s.

Ivor Bueb

I took this photograph at the Daily Herald International Trophy meeting at Oulton Park in August 1956.

It's Ivor Bueb who drove an Ecurie Demi-Litre 1,098cc Cooper T39 Climax in the race. He started his racing career in 1953 with a 500cc Cooper Formula 3 car and graduated into sports car racing where he succeeded in winning the Le Mans 24 Hour race twice, both times in a Jaguar D-Type - in a works car with Mike Hawthorn in 1955 and sharing an Ecurie Ecosse car with Ron Flockhart in 1957. He participated in six Grand Prix races but scored no Championship points, and sadly died in a crash at a Formula 2 race at Clermont-Ferrand in 1959 when driving a BRP Cooper Borgward.

1958 Leyland Worldmaster RT3/2

This is one of the vehicles that took part in the Greater Manchester Transport Society's Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally in Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1996.

It's a 1958 Leyland Worldmaster RT3/2 and is one of the Greater Manchester Transport Museum's own vehicles. A note about it in the programme of the event says this:

Leyland Worldmaster, Plaxton Body, 1958                                                                                              SDK 442

Entered by                       S. Lord, Wardle, Rochdale, Lancs

Former operator - Ellen Smith (Tours). The Leyland Worldmaster was built for  overseas use, but a few

were  sold  in the UK. Ellen Smith  Tours  took  delivery of 2 Worldmasters.  SDK 442  is  one of the few

survivors if not the only one in the UK. The original body was by Duple, but rebuilt in 1972 by Plaxtons.

Friday's Ferrari

This was one of the cars at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017.

It's a 2016 Ferrari F12tdf, a track version of the Ferrari F12berlinetta with an uprated version of the same Ferrari F140 FC 6,262cc V12 engine. The tdf tag pays tribute to the Tour de France automobile race that took place most years from the late 19th century until 1986 and was won by Ferrari many times in the 1950s and 60s.

1937 Lagonda LG45

This car took part in one of the Handicap Races at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1982.

It's David Hine in his 1937 Lagonda LG45 pictured on the approach to Lodge Corner during the race. The LG45 was produced from 1935 to 1937 and has a 6-cylinder inline 4,453cc engine which is a modified Meadows unit. The Lagonda Club has this information about the LG45.

1958 BRM P57

This car competed in the HGPCA Pre '60 GP Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 1996.

It's Bruce McCaw's 1958 BRM P25, chassis P25/7, and was driven in the race by Robin Hall. BRM’s in-period Project 25 classification covered the engine design alone, the spaceframe chassis structure comprising Project 27. This car is the seventh of the team’s 2,491cc 4-cylinder Type 25s to be built and was the second to use the `1958 spaceframe Project 27 chassis in place of an original semi-monocoque design which had been used for the preceding five cars. Those semi-monocoque BRM Type 25s built from 1955 to 1957 are recorded within the team archive as cars ‘251’ to ‘255’. The subsequent six pure spaceframe cars built 1958-1959 were then referred to as ‘256’ to ‘2511’, even though their Project 27 chassis frames were numbered in sequence ‘27/1’ to ‘27/6’. The P25 was said to be the fastest of the 1954-1960 Formula 1 era, partly due to the oversquare (102.87 mm bore x 74.93 mm stroke) engine allowing for larger valves to be fitted. The car was plagued with reliability problems, however, and the only Grand Prix win was Jo Bonnier's victory in the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix in chassis 258.

1944 AEC Matador

This is one of the participants in the Emergency & Specialised Vehicles class at the Greater Manchester Transport Society's Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally in Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1995.

It's the 1944 AEC Matador from the Society's own Museum of Transport in Manchester and is a former military vehicle that was converted to a recovery vehicle for Lancashire United which was based in Atherton and was swallowed up by the Greater Manchester Transport Executive in 1976. A note in the programme of the event says this:

AEC Matador, 1945                                                                                                                                   LSU282

Entered by                    Greater Manchester Transport Society

Used for many years by Lancashire United Transport as their recovery vehicle at Atherton garage, it

was presented  to the  Museum of Transport in 1985 and has  given excellent service  in the recovery

of exhibits for the collection since that date.

Strangely, though the programme says it's a 1945 vehicle the Museum's own website says that it dates from 1943, and the DVLA record shows the year of manufacture as 1944.

Queen Elizabeth II

 

1934 Frazer Nash

This car competed in the Historic Trophy Race at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1981.

It's Guy Smith's 1934 Frazer Nash about which the programme of the event says: 'Guy Smith's smart single seater Frazer Nash has a Speed 25 Alvis engine.' This 6-cylinder inline 3,571cc engine was fitted by the brothers Frank and Jack Norris in 1937.

Trevor Grimshaw

This is one of the drawings of Trevor Grinshaw  which I've had for about 30 years and it's entitled 'Factories' - one of his favourite subjects.

Friday's Ferrari

David Piper drove this car in the Shell Ferrari Historical Challenge race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998 and is seen here leaving the pit lane during the morning qualifying session.

Listed in the programme of the event as a 1965 Ferrari 330 P2 with a 4 litre engine it looks more like the 330 P3 - David Piper's Ferraris are often difficult to identify, but I would guess that this car is chassis number 0844 or 0846.

1972 Triumph Stag

Walking for my morning paper one day recently I was passed by this car which then pulled into the local Shell filling station.

It's a 1972 Triumph Stag, over 25,000 of which were produced between 1970 and 1977.

The car is powered by the then new Triumph 2,997cc V8 engine.

All the Triumph Stags were convertibles, and to meet American safety standards they were fitted with a roll-bar behind the seats which was connected to the windscreen frame by a T-bar. There was also a removable hardtop available which became a standard fitment for the later cars.

AC 428

I took this photograph at the Northern Classic Car Show at Belle Vue, Manchester in September 1985.

It's an AC 428 and if my memory serves me right it was one of the cars that were to be auctioned at the end of the show. The AC 428 was built on a lengthened AC Cobra 427 MkIII chassis with bodywork by the Frua workshop in Italy and it was powered by a Ford 428 cu in (7,014cc) V8 engine. The car was produced from 1965 to 1973 and the registration number AC 428 is currently on a blue 1971 AC 428 Coupe.

1929 Bentley Napier

This car is pictured at Clay Hill taking part in the Vintage Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1975.

It's Peter Morley in the 1929 Bentley Napier, a vehicle that he and David Llewellyn created in 1968 using a 24 litre Napier Sea Lion engine which has a 'W' configuration - two banks of four cylinders in a 'V' with a third upright bank between them. The car was originally built on a Sunbeam chassis but after an accident was rebuilt using the chassis of a 1929 8 litre Bentley. The nose of the car was later altered to resemble that of the Napier Railton. This may well be the year that I was watching from Clay Hill when Peter Morley lost a wheel from the Bentley Napier as it rounded the Knickerbrook corner putting him out of the race.

1960 Maserati T61

This car competed in the Classic Car Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994.

It's the 1960 Maserati T61 of Lindsay Owen-Jones, chassis #2458 and has a 4-cylinder inline 2,890cc engine. The T61, and the 1,989cc T60 were generally known as Maserati Birdcage cars because of the intricate tubular space frame chassis, and in common with many of these cars 2458 started off life in the USA, in this case with Lloyd "Lucky" Casner's Camoradi team. After passing through various hands in the USA it was acquired by Lindsay Owen-Jones in 1992. Sixteen examples of the T61 were produced between 1959 and 1961.

1971 McLaren M19A

I took this photograph on the practice day  for the 1972 Gold Cup race at Oulton Park in May 1972.

It's the 1971 McLaren M19A of Denny Hulme, chassis M19A/1, and he qualified for the race in second place to Peter Gethin's BRM P160B, though he won the race the following day ahead of Emerson Fittipaldi's Lotus 72 and Tim Schenken's Surtees TS9. The McLaren M19A was designed by Ralph Bellamy and was powered by the 2,993cc V8 Cosworth DFV engine. In the 1972 World Drivers' Championship Denny Hulme finished in third place to Emerson Fittipaldi and Jackie Stewart, winning just the South African Grand Prix, McLaren also finishing in third place in the World Constructors' Championship.

1980 McLaren M29

The Donington Park museum had a large collection of McLaren cars and this is one that I photographed on a visit in September 2014.

It's a 1980 McLaren M29, chassis M29/5, and the last one built. The M29 was designed by Gordon Coppuck with a 2,993cc Ford Cosworth V8 DFV engine and raced by the team from half way through the 1979 season to the early part of the 1981 season but wasn't particularly successful, its best results being three fourth place finishes by John Watson in that time. Chassis 29/5's first race was the 1980 German Grand Prix driven by Alain Prost, who also drove it in the United States Grand Prix, and Andrea de Cesaris drove it in four races early in the 1981 season.

Friday's Ferrari

The Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997 included races featuring Ferraris, a Ferrari display in the paddock - some of which took part in a series of track displays - and several other Ferraris that weren't part of the official display but which also took part in the track displays. This is one such car that I came across in one of the pit garages.

It's a 1967 Ferrari 312, chassis 0003, that Chris Amon drove in that year's World Drivers' Championship races, ending the season in fifth place in the Championship with his best results being four third place finishes. The car has a 2,990cc V12 engine and at the time of this Silverstone meeting was owned by Abba Kogan and driven that day by Keith Duly.

1924 Bentley 3 litre

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 in the Exchange Station car park in Manchester before the start of the Run.

It's the 1924 Bentley 3 litre of Clive Miller of Stalybridge and is chassis 592. The programme of the event had this note about the car:

Bentley 3 litre

Reg: FR 5792  4 cylinder  2996cc

(Clive Miller, Stalybridge)

A very original car, still with many of its original fitments - outside exhaust, auxiliary oil tank and Edwardian headlamps, Also original engine, gearbox, rear axle and Harrison 2-seater body. The car was photographed and featured in Autocar in 1925.

1956 Maserati 250F

This was one of the competitors in the Allcomers Historic Car Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1971.

It's Richard Bergel's 1956 Maserati 250F with the 6-cylinder inline 2,490cc engine, and like most of the 250Fs has a chequered history. Originally chassis 2522, it was the car with which Stirling Moss won the 1956 Monaco Grand Prix and later that season was renumbered as 2523. Towards the end of the 1956 season it was used as a test bed for the 2½ litre V12 engine but by 1957 the 6-cylinder engine had been put back and the car was later sold to Centro Sud and the chassis number changed once more, this time to 2526.

Here's Richard Bergel in the race heading towards Hilltop, and in the top right-hand corner is what was still called Esso Bend.

1967 Bristol MW6G

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

It's a 1967 Bristol MW6G with Eastern Coachworks body that was supplied new to the Western National Omnibus Company of Exeter in February 1967 with fleet number 1436. From 1970 it operated on the company's Royal Blue Services and continued in service with the Western National Omnibus Company until 1977. The MW6G was built with a Gardner diesel engine of either 5-cylinders (5HLW) or 6-cylinders (6HLW) and the DVLA record says that HDV 641E has an 8.4 litre unit, which would seem to indicate the 8,370cc 6-cylinder 6HLW engine. The programme of the event said this about the bus:

'Bristol MW6G, ECW C39F, 1967                                                                                   HDV 641E

Royal Blue 1436

Entered by           D Brown, Doncaster

Former Operator - Western National (Royal Blue). The last MW chassis to be built'

It was entered in the Rally again in 1996 when the following information was added:

'This vehicle carries an ECW Series II Coach Body. It was new in 1967 to Western National as a Royal Blue reserve vehicle.'

1962 Lotus 25

This car competed in the HGPCA Pre '65 Grand Prix Car Race at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It's the 1962 Lotus 25 of Cedric Selzer with a 1,496cc V8 Coventry Climax FWMV engine that was driven in the race by Chris Alford. The Lotus 25 was raced by Jim Clark in the 1962 season but its initial unreliability leading to retirement in four of the races meant that he could only finish in second place to Graham Hill's BRM in that season's World Drivers' Championship. He won the Championship the following year though and finished in third place in 1964 driving the Lotus 25 in the early part of the season before switching to the Lotus 33 for the second half of the season. Cedric Selzer's car was rebuilt from the remains of Lotus 25 chassis R4 that was destroyed in a crash during practice for the 1963 Belgian Grand Prix when being driven by Trevor Taylor.

1936 Maserati 6CM

This car took part in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in June 1970.

It's the 1937 Maserati 6CM of Ray Fielding with a supercharged 6-cylinder inline 1,493cc engine. It is chassis 1540 and was at one time part of the Doune Motor Museum collection. The red car behind it is Lord Doune's 1930 Maserati 8C, chassis 2514, that was driven by Ray Fielding in the Richard Seaman Memorial Vintage Trophy Race. The programme of the event says this about the car:

'.....also in the third row is a most welcome dark horse in the form of a rare 1930 blown 8C 2½ litre Grand Prix Maserati. This car was brought over from Switzerland by Lord Doune, famous for his Scottish museum of Sports and racing cars and the Doune hill climb course, who has entered the car to be driven by Ray Fielding.'

2018 McLaren 600LT

I took these photographs recently at the White City Retail Park in Stretford, Manchester.

This is a 2018 McLaren 600LT which is based on the 570S and has a 3,799cc twin turbocharged V8 engine.

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 1986 Ferrari 412 which was  last evolution of a car that started as the 365 GT 2+2, then developed into the 400 and 400i. The 412 has colour-coded bumpers and a higher bootline, as well as an enlarged 4,943cc V12 engine producing 340bhp. This was the final version of the engine used in the Daytona.

1949 Morris Minor Series MM

This car was on the stand of the Morris Minor Owners Club at the Northern Classic Car Show at the G-Mex Centre in Manchester in August 1994.

It's a 1949 Morris Minor Series MM, the car designed by Alex Issigonis and has a 4-cylinder inline 916cc engine. Although it appears to be black in this photograph it is a dark shade of maroon. A note in the brochure of the event says this:

'The Morris Minor Owners Club will be displaying a number of cars which covers the production of the Minor models from first to last. The first is a 1949 Lowlight MM convertible in maroon. This car has only been back on the road 6 months and is as near to original as possible. It is owned by the national club secretary.'