Friday's Ferrari

This is a group of cars I photographed in the paddock at Silverstone in July 1995 at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting preparing to join the circuit for the morning practice session for the Louis Vuitton '50s Sports Car Race.

The car at the front is the 1956 Ferrari 860 Monza of Jean Sage, #0604M, and it is the car that won the 1956 Sebring 24 Hour race driven by Juan Manuel Fangio and Eugenio Castellotti. The Ferrari 860 Monza had a Lampredi designed 4-cylinder inline 3,432cc engine and, in conjunction with the 290MM, was victorious in the 1956 World Sportscar Championship, winning three of the five races on the calendar, the 12 hours of Sebring, the Mille Miglia, and the Swedish Grand Prix. Three 860 Monzas were built and two of them were at this Coys meeting.

Formula Junior Racing

This is a photograph that I took at Redgate Corner during the Front-engined Formula Junior Racing Cars race at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

Brian Mitcham in his 1960 Mallock U2 Mk2 is leading the 1959 Elva 100 of Mark Woodhouse which is being driven by his son, Jack Woodhouse.

1995 Porsche 968 Turbo RS

This was one of the competitors in the Aston Martin GT Challenge race at the Aston Marin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2017.

It's a 1995 Porsche 968 Turbo RS which has a 4-cylinder inline 3 litre engine and is a restyled version of the Porsche 944. It was driven in the 50 minute long race by Simon Watts and Roberto Giordanelli.

1908 Minerva N

This was one of the cars that took part in the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1980.

It's a 1908 Minerva N, and the programme of the event had this note about the car:

25   Kevin Bann, Fence, nr. Burnley, Lancs

       1908 Minerva 'N' two-seater 4-cylinder, 20/25h.p.

Part of the Peter Black collection, this powerful 4-cylinder car, made in Belgium, was a market competitor of Rolls-Royce for a period. This particular car started life with a commercial body and the present body was fitted by the Peter Black collection craftsmen.

1934 Maserati 4CS

This car competed in the Pre-War Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It's the 1934 Maserati 4CS of Norbert Schmitz-Koep and he shared the driving in the race with Ludwig Willisch. The Maserati 4CS was produced from 1931 to 1936 with a supercharged 1,088c engine, and from 1932 to 1936 with a lengthened chassis and a supercharged 1,498cc engine. Norbert Schmitz-Koep's car is chassis #1123 and was one of the five cars built with the smaller engine. Six cars were built with the larger engine, but in the 1980s or 90s #1123 was given one of the 1,498cc engines.

NG Road Racing, Oulton Park 2017

I took this photograph at Brittens chicane during the Phoenix Open race.

86 Jon McNally, Ducati Panigale 899

80 Barry Furber, Kawasaki  ZX10

22 Dave Mackay, Ducati 899

115 Kayla Barrington, Triumph Daytona 675

1907 Lion Peugeot Type VA

This was one of the cars that took part in a vintage car run from Stockport to Matlock in July 1985 organised by car dealers Gordon Ford of Stockport.

It's the 1907 Lion-Peugeot Type VA of local businessman Clive Williams, here in the  car with his family. About 1,000 of these cars were produced between 1906 and 1908 and it has a single cylinder 785cc engine.

Friday's Ferrari

This is a photograph I took at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017.

It's a Ferrari 458 Challenge EVO, the Challenge being developed from the 458 by reducing the weight of the body panels with the EVO version having improved aerodynamics, including the large rear wing. The car is powered by the 4,499cc V8 Ferrari F136 F engine.

1983 Citroën CX

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

It's a 1983 Citroën CX with a 4-cylinder inline 2,347cc engine. 

This is the note that was displayed in the windscreen of the car.

1931 Invicta Low Chassis S-Type

I took this photograph in the paddock at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Hawthorn Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in July 2015.

It's the 1931 Invicta Low Chassis S-Type of Trevor Swete and has a 6-cylinder inline 4,467cc Meadows engine. The Invicta Company was founded by Noel Macklin and Oliver Lyle and produced cars from 1925 to 1935, and the company was wound-up in 1938. It is estimated that around 1,000 Invictas were produced in that time, and Trevor Swete's car is chassis #S79.

1950 Talbot Lago T26C

This is a photograph I took at Luffield corner during the Chopard 100-Mile Grand Prix Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994.

It's Belgian driver François d'Huart in a 1950 Talbot Lago T26C which has a 6-cylinder inline 4,562cc unsupercharged engine and is in the yellow racing colours of Belgium. An online site about the Talbot Lago T26  says this about the car:

 

Talbot T26C-DA [110 053]: Built in 1950 using parts from '110 003' and raced for the works by Martin, Chaboud and Giraud-Cabantous in 1950 then by Rosier as a private entry in 1951. Driven by Trintignant for Ecurie Rosier in 1952, then Giraud-Cabantous 1952-53. Owned by Marceau Hauret 1955 and Houdayer (Paris) 1981. Raced from 1987-2000 by François d'Huart (Belgium) as '100 105'.

1957 Tojeiro Jaguar

This is a photograph I took at Brittens chicane during the AMOC '50s Sports Cars race at the Aston Martin Owners Club’s meeting at Oulton Park in May 2015.

It's The 1957 Tojeiro Jaguar of Tom McWhirter and has the 6-cylinder inline 3,781cc version of the Jaguar XK6 engine. Behind it is the 1952 Aston Martin of David Reed and the rest of the field consisting mostly of Jaguars and Austin Healeys. John Tojeiro started building cars in the early 1950s, the first car being based on an MG TA. Other cars followed and when Cliff Davis decided he wanted a car with more power to replace his Cooper MG John Tojeiro was commissioned to build a car with a Bristol engine with similar bodywork to the Cooper. This car was very successful and attracted the attention of Ernie Bailey who had connections with AC Cars and knew they were looking for a replacement for the AC 2 litre so suggested that they should use the Tojeiro Bristol as a basis for the new car. That car became the AC Ace which in turn attracted the attention of Carroll Shelby who transformed it into the AC Cobra. John Tojeiro in the meantime built four Jaguar engined cars, the first in 1956 for John Ogier and has the registration 7 GNO. The car pictured above is a rebuild of the second car which was also owned by John Ogier who wrecked the car at a hill climb at Stapleford at the end of 1957, the rebuild being completed in 1990. The third car was built in 1958 and was loaned to Ecurie Ecosse but did not have any notable success - as far as I know it is now in New Zealand. The fourth car was built for Ecurie Ecosse in 1959 and competed in the Le Mans 24 Hour race that year but failed to finish, then was wrecked in a crash during the 1959 Tourist Trophy race at Goodwood. It has since been completely restored.

Military Recovery Vehicle

I took this photograph in Heaton Park, Manchester at the Greater Manchester Transport Society's Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally in September 1993.

It's not listed in the Military Vehicles Class in the programme of the event and I didn't make a note about it at the time but it seems to be a military recovery vehicle, probably a Scammell.

1955 Swallow Doretti

This is a photograph that I took just outside the paddock at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in June 2008.

It's a 1955 Swallow Doretti and has a 4-cylinder inline 1,991cc Triumph engine. The Swallow Doretti was built by the Swallow Coachbuilding Co (then owned by the Tube Investments Group) between 1954 and 1955 using mechanicals from the Triumph TR2. Production of the car stopped after only 10 months, apparently because Jaguar, a major customer of the TI Group, were so worried about the effect on sales of their XK120 that they threatened to look elsewhere for a supplier of their components if manufacture of the Swallow Doretti continued. The DVLA record says that VVT497 currently has a SORN.

Friday's Ferrari

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

It's a 2003 Ferrari 360 Spider and has a 3,586cc V8 Tipo F131 engine with twin overhead camshafts and five valves per cylinder. The Ferrari 360 was produced from 1999 to 2004, and 7,565 examples of this Spider model were made.

Phil Hill

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

It's the 1961 World Champion Phil Hill who retired his Ferrari 156 Dino on lap 47 of the 75 lap race. The paddock was in the middle of the circuit (and the Grand National horse racing course) and this is looking towards Ormskirk Road which is in front of the building in the background - the main stands are to the left of the picture. The only way to get from the stands to the paddock and vice versa was via a tunnel underneath the two race tracks and the sign on the right points the way to that tunnel.

Historic Formula 2

This is a photograph that I took at Brittens chicane during the Historic Formula 2 Trophy Race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2008.

Leading is the 1971 March 712 of Paul Bason followed by the 1971 Lola T240 of Tim Barrington. The 1971 Formula 2 cars were limited to 1.6 litres and most cars used the Ford Cosworth FVA engine. The European Formula 2 Championship that year was won by Ronnie Peterson in a March712.

1966 Jaguar XJ13

I took this photograph in the paddock at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

There are now several replicas around and the first was built by Proteus in the early 1990s, but I think that this is the original 1966 Jaguar XJ13, the prototype of a car intended to contest the Le Mans 24 Hour race, and has a 4,991cc V12 engine. By the time the car was ready to be introduced, however, it had already been made obsolete by the Ford GT40 and this and the fact that the regulations were soon to be changed to limit engine capacities to 3 litres meant that it was never actually raced. The car was mothballed until it was brought out in 1971 to publicise the launch of the Series 3 Jaguar E-Type which was powered by Jaguar's first production V12 engine. Jaguar test driver Norman Dewis was taking the car on a high speed run on the MIRA test track when a type burst and the car was severely damaged in the resulting crash, although Norman Dewis luckily escaped unharmed. The car was eventually rebuilt in 1973 and is now part of the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust Collection.