1959 Aston Martin DBR4

This was one of the competitors in the HGPCA Pre-61 Front Engine Grand Prix Cars race at the Silverstone Classic meeting in July 2010 and is pictured in the paddock waiting to take to the track for the qualifying session.

It's the 1959 Aston Martin DBR4 of Wolfgang Friedrichs, chassis DBR4/1. The DBR4 is 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-engine cars had made the older front-engine cars uncompetitive and the best results it managed were Roy Salvadori's sixth place finishes in the British and Portuguese Grands Prix in 1959. The car is powered by a 6-cylinder inline 2,493cc engine.

Sunbeam Cars

I took this photograph at the Northern Classic Car Show at Belle Vue, Manchester in September 1984.

The car on the left is a 1956 Sunbeam Mk III, and on the right is a 1955 Sunbeam Alpine. Both cars have a 4-cylinder inline 2,267cc engine.

1953 Frazer Nash Targa Florio

This car was in the paddock at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in August 1992.

It's a 1953 Frazer Nash Targa Florio, chassis number 421/200/177 with a 6-cylinder inline 1,971cc Bristol engine, which was delivered to its first owner, a J Hood, in June of 1953. The Targa Florio owes its name to the victory by Franco Cortese in the 1951 Targa Florio race in Sicily driving a Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica.

1993 McLaren MP4/8

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

It's the 1993 McLaren MP4/8 that Ayrton Senna drove in the 1993 season and there was a board alongside the car showing its history which reads as follows: 

'1993 McLaren MP4/8

The McLaren MP4/8 was a Formula One racing car that competed in the 1993 season. It raced in all sixteen Grand Prix , scoring five wins. The engine was a Ford HBD7 3.5 V8. The car was designed by Neil Oatley around advanced racecar technology, including a semi-automatic transmission, active suspension and traction control systems.

McLaren had to make do with the Ford HBD7 3.5 V8 engine which had inferior power compared to the Renault engine found in their chief rival Williams, and even the higher spec Ford engine fitted in the Benetton that season. Because Benetton had a pre-existing contract as the Ford factory team, McLaren had to settle for a customer engine which lacked some of the technological advancements of Benetton’s factory engine. McLaren did secure a supply of the higher spec Ford engines after the British Grand Prix. The customer spec Ford engine was approximately 40 hp less that the works Ford engine in the Benetton, and at least 100 hp less than the Williams. During the season, McLaren improved their car and engine performance with technology from TAG Electronics.

Initially, Ayrton Senna was so unconvinced by the car and the engine that he demanded a race-by-race contract at $1 million per Grand Prix, though others suggested that this was a marketing ploy between Senna and Ron Dennis to keep sponsors on edge and interested.

However, the MP4/8 was competitive enough to achieve some remarkable successes. Even though rival Alain Prost was in the superior Williams FW15C, Senna’s skill enabled him to lead the championship during the first weeks of the season. The MP4/8 was known for having a considerably shorter wheelbase (length) than the FW15C and was a noticeably smaller car in length than Prost’s Williams. Later in the season the Frenchman asserted the dominance of his Williams to take the lead for good, while Senna fell off pace during the second half of the schedule and dropped to third place. While Prost clinched the championship with two races to spare, Senna went on to win the last two races. The Brazilian had five wins in total, including one of his greatest drives in the 1993 European Grand Prix , and finished second in the drivers’ championship to Alain Prost, whilst McLaren finished runners up to Williams in the manufacturers’ championship.

This is the Senna T car from the Donington European Grand Prix weekend.'

Friday's Ferrari

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.

It’s the Ferrari 250 GTO of Sir Anthony Bamford, now Lord Bamford, and was driven in the race by Frank Sytner. It is a 1963 car, chassis #4399GT, that was rebodied at the end of 1963 with a 1964 series II body. This car was first owned by Colonel Ronnie Hoare of Maranello Concessionaires and raced by several drivers including Mike Parkes, Graham Hill and Innes Ireland, Graham Hill winning the 1963 Tourist Trophy race at Goodwood and Mike Parkes the 1964 Spa 500 km race. Innes Ireland and Tony Maggs finished in sixth place in the 1964 Le Mans 24 Hour race. It was bought by Anthony Bamford in 1969.

1992 Ford GT40 MkII Replica

This was in the car park overlooking the Cascades corner at the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring Historic Race meeting at Oulton Park in May 1992.

It's a replica of a 1960s Ford GT40 MkII apparently built by (or for) Ford dealers Timms of Leigh. The registration number denotes a car registered between 1 August 1991 and 31 July 1992 and the DVLA no longer has a record of a car with that number.

1950 Bentley Mk VI

Here are some photographs I took in January 2020 of a car I saw outside the The Lowry at Salford Quays when I came out of the Lowry Outlet Mall at the other side of the square.

It’s a 1950 Bentley Mk VI which has a 6-cylinder inline 4,257cc engine.

5,208 of these cars were produced between 1946 and 1952.

1908 Napier 60hp

I took this photograph in the paddock at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987.

It’s Trevor Tarring's 1908 60hp competition Napier with a 6-cylinder 11.6 litre engine. The car didn’t take part in any of the races at this meeting, but Trevor drove a 1932 Frazer Nash Exeter in one of the races whilst his daughter Emma competed in two races in a 1928 Frazer Nash Supersports. The blue car behind the Napier is the 1936 ERA R12B ‘Hanuman II’ of Bill Morris.

1970 Brabham BT34

This was one of the competitors in the Silverstone International Trophy Race for Pre-1978 Grand Prix Cars at the Silverstone Historic Festival meeting in August 2001.

It's a 1971 Brabham BT34, a car designed by Ron Tauranac who placed the car's radiators in front of the front wheels in order to fit a wing to give downforce at the front. Because of the unusual look of the bulky radiators at the front of the car the BT34 was dubbed the 'lobster claw'. Only one BT34 was built and it was powered by the 2,993cc V8 Ford Cosworth DFV engine. Graham Hill drove the car in the 1971 season without much success, his best result being fifth place in the Austrian Grand Prix, although he did win the International Trophy Race at Silverstone. In 1972 the car was driven by Carlos Reutemann and Wilson Fittipaldi, the best result being Carlos Reutemann's win in the non-Championship Brazilian Grand Prix. It was driven in this race at Silverstone by Ean Pugh.

1960 Bristol SC

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 1990.

It's not shown in the programme of the event but it's a 1960 Bristol SC, originally owned by Crosville Motor Services Limited and apparently with North Yorkshire Moors Railway at the time of this Rally.

1970 Royale RP4

This was one of the competitors in the HSCC 2 Litre Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring meeting at Oulton Park in May 1987.

It's Richard Brightman's 1970 Royale RP4, a car that was built to compete in the Formula F100 class of racing. Formula F100 was set up in 1970 as a sports car equivalent of the single seater Formula Ford, the cars being powered by 1,300cc engines - usually BMC or Ford Kent. Formula F100 wasn't a success, only lasting for two years, but Royale RP4s won the Championship in both years, with Ray Allen in 1970 and Tom Pryce in 1971.

Friday's Ferrari

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

It's a 1997 Ferrari F50 with a 4,699cc V12 Ferrari Tipo F130B engine. The F50 was introduced in 1995 to celebrate the company's 50th anniversary and 349 were produced between 1995 and 1997.

1929 Lancia Dilambda

This is one of the cars that took part in the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1981 and is pictured before the start of the Run.

It's a 1929 Lancia Dilambda which was produced from 1928 to 1935 and has a 3,958cc V8 engine, but I no longer have the programme of the event so have no further information about this car.

1959 Tec-Mec F415

This car competed in the Maserati UK Race for Pre 1961 Grand Prix Cars at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000.

Shown in the programme of the event as a TecMec it's the 1959 Tec-Mec F415 designed by Valerio Colotti as a lightweight version of the Maserati 250F. Colotti was employed by Maserati and was working on the design when Maserati pulled out of racing at the end of the 1958 season. He set up his own company, Studio Tecnica Meccanica, and Italian racing driver Giorgio Scarlatti encouraged him to continue with this work and bought shares in the company. American Gordon Pennington then persuaded Scarlatti to sell him the shares and arranged for Camoradi's Lucky Casner to run the team for what had now become Tec-Mec Automobili. When finished the car was entered for the 1959 US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen and Brazilian driver Fritz d'Orey was chosen to drive it. The car had clearly not gone through sufficient testing and Fritz d'Orey only qualified it in seventeenth place. It only lasted for six laps in the race before it retired with a serious oil leak and that turned out to be the only World Championship appearance by the car. It lingered in a Miami garage until 1967 when it was acquired by Tom Wheatcroft who brought the car back into working order and it was in his museum at Donington Park for many years. It was eventually sold to Barrie Baxter who drove the car at this Silverstone meeting and raced it successfully before eventually passing the car on to Barry Wood. The number 53 car alongside is the 1½ litre 1961 Cooper T53 of Chris Bullimore who took part in the Maserati UK Race for Pre 1966 Grand Prix & Tasman Cars while the number 39 car at the back on the left is Peter Austin’s 1963 Brabham BT7A which was also one of the competitors in that race. The red cr on the right at the back is George Rozwadowski’s 1½ litre 1957 Lotus Eleven that  took part in he 1950s Sports Car Race.

1970 Chevron B16

This is a photograph I took in the paddock at the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1986.

It's the 1970 Chevron B16 of Richard Budge but it didn't take part in any of the races at this meeting, though Richard Budge drove his Chevron B6 in the HSCC Atlantic Computers 2 Litre GT Championship race. The B16 was designed by Derek Bennett to compete in the European 2 litre Championship series which it won by one point from Lola in 1970. It was raced with Ford Cosworth and BMW engines, and also with Mazda Rotary engines. Richard Budge’s car has a 1,800 cc mid-mounted Ford Cosworth FVC four-cylinder engine.

1962 BRM P578

The 50th anniversary of the founding of the BRM team was celebrated at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1999 with a display of BRM cars, some of which took part in a series of track demonstrations. This is a photograph I took inside a marquee in the paddock where the cars were displayed.

This is the BRM P578 that was driven by Graham Hill and Richie Ginther in the 1962 season. The BRM P57 was introduced in 1961 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 with his Lotus 25 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. The car originally had 'stack-pipe' exhausts but these were eventually abandoned as they tended to fall off one-by-one.

1961 Mercedes Benz 190SL

This car was on the display stand of the Mercedes-Benz Club at the  Footman James Classic Car Show Manchester at EventCity in September 2018.

It's a 1961 Mercedes Benz 190SL and has a 4-cylinder inline 1,897cc engine. A descriptive note at the side of the car gave this information:

'Production of the 190SL began in 1955 and they were styled on the much larger 300SL Roadster but with a smaller 4 cylinder ohc engine and a twin carburetor fuel system. The last cars came off the production line in 1963 having made 25,881. This car has recently been the subject of a total restoration by local specialists and is now considered to be in better condition than when first produced. Always in the shadow of its big brother (300SL), the 190SL was a more affordable model but with the same styling including the “eyebrows" over the wings. In recent times the value of these cars has increased quite significantly.'

1927 Stutz Vertical Eight

This car was in the paddock at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1985.

It's a 1927 Stutz Vertical Eight with an 8-cylinder inline engine that the DVLA record says is 4,900cc (300 cu in).

Friday's Ferrari

I came across this car in one of the pit garages at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It's a Ferrari Dino SP from the early 1960s but it didn't take part in the meeting and isn't mentioned in the programme of the event. The Ferrari Dino SP was the first mid-engine car built by Ferrari and only six chassis were produced, but with five different engine configurations, the cars being modified and converted to different specifications several times. The cars followed the Ferrari convention at that time of the model number being based on the size of the engine and the number of cylinders so the five different models were:

Ferrari 246 SP, 2,417 cc Tipo 171S Dino V6 engine.

Ferrari 196 SP, 1,984 cc Tipo 190 Dino V6 engine

Ferrari 286 SP, 2,863 cc Dino V6 engine

Ferrari 248 SP, 2,459 cc Tipo 199 V8 engine

Ferrari 268 SP, 2,645 cc Tipo 202 V8 engine

The six cars were chassis numbers 0790, 0796, 0798, 0802, 0804 and 0806, and the cars were all very similar in looks which makes it difficult to identify the one pictured above, but it's not 0798 because this car was then owned by Bernie Carl and was also at this meeting where it was driven in the Shell Ferrari Historical Challenge Race by Gregor Fisken:

 

1938 Auto Union D-Type

This is a photograph I took at Donington Park in May 2001 at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting on the straight between the Old Hairpin and Starkey's Bridge.

It's a 1938 Auto Union D-Type which Audi had brought to the meeting together with a 1937 Auto Union C-Type and various other vehicles which were displayed in the paddock, and some of which took part in demonstration runs round the circuit. The Auto Union D-Type chassis was based on the previous year's C-Type, but the engine was of a completely new V12 design. With the displacement limited to just three litres it had a capacity of 2,986cc and a Two Stage Roots-Type Supercharger producing 420 bhp at 7000 rpm. Another major change was the move of a single central mounted fuel tank to two side-tanks, which enabled the driver to sit further back in the chassis. There were only four races in the 1938 European Grand Prix Championship, three of which were won by the Mercedes Benz W154 and one by Tazio Nuvolari in an Auto Union D-Type.

1929 Bentley Napier

This is a photograph that I took on the straight between Clay Hill and Druids Corner during the Richard Seaman Memorial Vintage Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s meeting at Oulton Park in June 1984.

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. A note in the programme of the event says this about the car:

 

‘Certainly deserving of a win is Peter Morley in the incredible 24 litre Lion engine Bentley, which on occasion can provide more thrills than the rest of the field put together, or at any rate can make as much noise.’

1959 Maserati T61

This car competed in the Louis Vuitton 1950s Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 1997.

It’s Valentine Lindsay’s 1959 Maserati T61, generally known as a Maserati Birdcage on account of its space frame chassis and which the programme of the events says has a 2,850cc engine. It's chassis #2453, which was totally wrecked in an accident at Daytona in late 1959 but the remains were used to re-create the car in the early 1990s.

1934 Foden S Type

This is one of the vehicles that took part in the Greater Manchester Transport Society's Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally at Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1988.

It's a 1934 Foden S Type and the note about the vehicle in the programme of the event says this:

'NG 6631 Foden S Type, 1934. Entered by B. Hallam for F.B. Atkins & Sons Limited.

Supplied new to Kings Lynn & District Farmers Co-operative Limited and found derelict in a farmyard in 1976. A six year restoration programme has been undertaken by the current owner.'

Esso Bend

This is a photograph I took during the AMOC '50s Sports Car Race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2015.

It's the far reaches of the circuit with Island Bend to the left leading to the loop of Shell Oils Corner and then off to the left again is Britten's chicane. When I went to my first meeting at Oulton Park in 1955 it wasn't possible for spectators to get to this part of the circuit and it was years before access was opened up. The original name for the loop was Esso Bend, and it's the name which it is still used by older people like myself. In the mid 1970s this part of the circuit was not used, a hairpin corner being created at Island bend  and for a shorter circuit a link between the Cascades corner and Knickerbrook. The earliest programme I have which shows the full circuit in use again is 1987 and by this time the loop was named Shell Oils Corner. The car approaching the camera in the above shot is Tom McWhirter's 1957 Tojeiro Jaguar and the three cars following him are the 1954 Austin Healey 100-4 of Martyn Corfield, the 1951 Aston Martin DB2 Lightweight of Darren Roberts and Tim Reid's 1960 Lola Mk1. On the other side of the loop is the 1952 Aston Martin DB2 of David Reed.

1957 Lotus Eleven

This was one of the competitors in the Louis Vuitton 50s Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1995.

It's Peter Austin's 1957 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 1,460cc engine.

Friday's Ferrari

This car took part in the Aston Martin GT Challenge race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2017.

It's the 2000 Ferrari 360 driven in the 50 minute race by Matthew Wilton and John Cowen. There were two versions of the Ferrari 360, the Modena and the Challenge, as well as a Spider version, each with a 3.6 litre V8 engine. It doesn't say in the programme of the event which version this is, but presumably it's the Challenge.

1904 Turner Miesse

I took this photograph in a very wet Manchester at the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1980.

I no longer have the programme of this event, but this is a 1904 Turner Miesse steam car which it seems was, and still is, owned by the Black Country Living Museum. The Turner Manufacturing Company originated as an engineering business around the middle of the 19th century in a small workshop in Wolverhampton. In 1902 the company’s owner, James Burns Dumbell, obtained the manufacturing rights for the Belgian Miesse steam car from the Brussels based company of J. Miesse. The Miesse steam cars were a first class design and proved to be very popular in Europe. At this time petrol engines were not always reliable and so there was a place in the market, albeit briefly, for steam cars. The car had a three cylinder, single acting engine (steam only admitted above the piston) with a paraffin-fired flash boiler.

Alfa Romeo BAT 9 Concept Car

This is a photograph I took at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994.

It's one of the three Alfa Romeo BAT cars produced between 1953 and 1955, BAT 5, BAT 7 and BAT 9, and this is the 1955 car, BAT 9. They were part of the Coys auction which was held on the Saturday evening of the weekend-long meeting. The BAT here stands for Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica and the cars were built in a joint project by Alfa Romeo and the Italian coachbuilding firm Bertone, being largely the brainchild of Franco Scaglione of Bertone.

1955 Maserati 250F

I took this photograph at Lodge Corner during the Cheshire Building Society Allcomers' Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies Meeting at Oulton Park in June 1981.

It's David Kergon driving the Maserati 250F that he co-owned with Peter Martin. It's indistinguishable from a 1950s Maserati 250F, but it's one of 12 replicas built by Cameron Millar and this one has the chassis number CM2. Cameron Millar acquired a genuine Maserati 250F in 1964 (originally 2501, later renumbered 2523) which he kept and raced for 8 years. In this time he purchased all the remaining cars and spare parts belonging to the Scuderia Centro Sud who had competed with the 250F in the 1950s, and also the chassis jigs from the Maserati factory. He then set about creating this series of replicas, using as far as possible genuine period parts, which are so well crafted that the FIA has allowed them to race alongside the genuine Maserati 250F and its contemporaries in competitive historic racing events.

1959 Cooper T51

This is one of the competitors in the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association Pre '65 Grand Prix Car Race at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It's the 1959 Cooper T51 of Martin Stretton, and is in the colours of the British Racing Partnership/Yeoman Credit Racing Team of 1959-1960. It is one of two cars that were raced by the British Racing Partnership in 1959, mainly in Formula 2 races with a 1½ litre Borgward engine, then by the Yeoman Credit team in both Formula 1 and some Formula 2 races in the 1960 season with 2½ litre and 1½ litre Coventry Climax engines. Martin Stretton's car has the 2,495cc Coventry Climax engine.

1974 Jaguar E-Type Series III

This was one of the cars displayed at the Northern Classic Car Show at Belle Vue, Manchester in September 1983.

It's the 1974 Jaguar E-Type Series III with which Bob Tullius and his Group 44 racing team won the SCCA Class B Production Car Championship in 1975. The Series III marked the final years of the Jaguar E-Type and was produced from 1974 to 1997 with V12 engines of 5.3, 6.0 and 7.0 litres, Bob Tullius' car having the 5,344cc unit. The car is now owned by the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust.