This is one of the many Ferraris present at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017.
A blog largely about photos I've taken over some years of classic and historic racing and sports cars.
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Friday, 4 April 2025
Thursday, 3 April 2025
1990 McLaren MP4/5B
This is one of the cars that I photographed at the Donington Park Museum in September 2014.
It's a 1990 McLaren MP4/5B, a redesigned version of the MP4/5, which was powered by a 3,493cc Honda V10 engine and was driven that season by Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger. Ayrton Senna won six of the thirteen races, and with two second place and three third place finishes won the World Drivers' Championship with 78 points. Gerhard Berger had two second place and five third place finishes to earn 43 points and ended up in fourth position in that Championship. McLaren won the World Constructors' Championship with 121 points, ahead Ferrari with 110 points.
Wednesday, 2 April 2025
1929 Lea Francis
I took this photograph at a classic car show
organised by car dealers Gordon Ford of Stockport in July 1987.
It’s a 1929 Lea Francis with what the DVLA
record says is a 1,479cc engine. A search of Lea Francis models doesn’t show
any with that size engine, so it’s probably a Lea Francis 12 which had a
1,496cc engine. There's a Lea-Francis Owners' Club for owners and enthusiasts.
Tuesday, 1 April 2025
1955 Vanwall
This is a photograph that my brother took in the paddock at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in September 1955.
It's the 1955 Vanwall (#VW2) that was driven in the race by Harry Schell. He qualified in fifth place on the grid, but retired after 16 laps with a broken universal joint. The race was won by Stirling Moss in a Maserati 250F.
Labels:
1955,
Gold Cup,
Harry Schell,
Oulton Park,
Vanwall,
Vanwall VW2
Monday, 31 March 2025
1958 Maserati 250F
I took this photograph at Luffield corner during the Corporate Jets Historic Grand Prix Car race at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.
Leading is Lindsay Owen-Jones in his 1958 Maserati 250F #2534 followed by Martin Stretton in David Duffy's 1955 Connaught B-Type and what looks like Nigel Corner's 1957 Maserati 250F. In the background is Robin Lodge in the ex-Gilby Engineering Company's 1954 Maserati 250F.
Sunday, 30 March 2025
1910 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost
This car took part in the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1979.
It's the 1910 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost of D. Marquis and is pictured in the assembly area prior to the start of the Run. The information in the programme of the event about this car is very sparse, being just details of the car model and the entrant:
27 Mr D. Marquis, Lytham
1910 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, 6 cylinder 40/50 hp
Saturday, 29 March 2025
1938 ERA Parnell Challenger
I took this photograph at
Druids Corner during one of the races at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Formula
Vintage meeting at Oulton Park in May 2019.
It's Duncan Ricketts in the ERA Parnell Challenger which was
conceived by Reg Parnell for the 1½ litre Formule Internationale which was
expected to be introduced in 1941 - events in 1939 obviously stopped that from
happening. It was apparently intended to be fitted with an MG engine, but its
only appearance before the war was at Prescott in early 1939 when it had an ERA
engine. After the war Reg Parnell fitted it with an 8-cylinder inline Delage
engine, but lost interest in the project after acquiring a Maserati 4CL. It was
driven by David Hampshire in a couple of events with the Delage engine in 1947
and more recently came into the ownership of Duncan Ricketts who restored the
car with a supercharged 1,488cc ERA engine.
Friday, 28 March 2025
Friday's Ferrari
This was one of the cars in
the International Paddock at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in
September 2017.
It's a 2001 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.
Thursday, 27 March 2025
1936 Albion K127 Dropside Lorry
This was 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 1988.
A note in the programme of the event reads as
follows:
BTB 429 Albion K127 Dropside Lorry. 1936.
Entered by D. Huffer, Manchester.
Originally
supplied to special specifications to Messrs. Pincroft – Dyers & Finishers
of Adlington, Lancs.
Wednesday, 26 March 2025
1974 Chevron B26
I took this photograph during the Saturday practice and qualifying sessions of the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2018.
It's John Burton in his 1974 Chevron B26 at Lodge Corner during the qualifying session for the HSCC Pre,80 Endurance Challenge race. The B26 was a replacement for the B23, and as well as revised suspension and a rear wing it had an aluminium monocoque tub instead of the spaceframe chassis of all the earlier Chevron sports racing cars. It had a 4-cylinder inline 1,998 Ford engine with an aluminium block, which had been designed by Brian Hart and re-engineered by Cosworth. Only 9 of these cars were made, mainly due to lack of demand because of the 1973 oil crisis in the UK.
Tuesday, 25 March 2025
1937 Alta 2 Litre Sports
I took this photograph in the
paddock at the Silverstone Classic meeting in July 2010.
It’s not listed in the
programme of the event, but it’s a 1937 Alta 2 Litre Sports then owned by John
Ruston. Geoffrey Taylor formed the Alta Car and Engineering Company and
produced his first car in 1929, the name 'Alta' apparently being chosen when he
read a novel which referenced the town of Alta in Alberta, Canada and the name
appealed to him. He produced a number of cars in the 1930s, firstly with a twin
overhead camshaft 4-cylinder inline 1,074cc engine which was later increased to
1,496cc and then 1,960cc. John Ruston's car has a supercharged 1,960cc engine
and was once driven by George Abecassis and Tony Gaze.
Monday, 24 March 2025
1980 Peugeot 504
This is one of the cars that
were on display at the Footman James Classic Car Show Manchester at EventCity
in September 2018.
Sunday, 23 March 2025
1961 Porsche 718
This is a photograph that I took at the Aintree 200 race meeting at Aintree in April 1962.
It's Wolfgang Seidel's 1961 Porsche 718 with the 1,498cc 4-cylinder boxer engine. He started in 14th position on the grid, but retired after 10 laps with a broken differential.
Saturday, 22 March 2025
1953 Jaguar C-Type
I took this photograph at Lodge Corner during the Jack Fairman Cup race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2018.
It's David Brazell in his 1953 Jaguar C-Type which has the 3,442cc 6-cylinder inline Jaguar XK engine. It's actually a replica based on a 1952 Jaguar XK120, chassis no. 672178.
Friday, 21 March 2025
Friday's Ferrari
This is a photograph that I
took at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017.
It's a Ferrari F12 Berlinetta
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.
Thursday, 20 March 2025
Audi Sport Quattro S1
This is one of the cars that
Audi took along to the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at
Donington Park in May 2001, together with the Auto Union C-Type and D-Type
pre-war Grand Prix cars. The car is seen at Coppice Corner during one of the
demonstration runs.
It's an Audi Sport Quatro S1 which
was a variant of the Quattro and was developed for homologation for Group B
rallying in 1984. It had an all-aluminium
5-cylinder inline 2,133 cc engine with twin overhead camshafts and 4 valves per
cylinder, Bosch fuel injection and a KKK K27 turbocharger.
Wednesday, 19 March 2025
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 and is pictured here leaving the pit lane during the morning qualifying session.
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.
Tuesday, 18 March 2025
1971 Brabham BT36
I took this photograph at Brittens chicane
during the FIA Historic Formula 2 International Series race at the Gold Cup
meeting at Oulton Park in August 2017.
It's Luciano Arnold’s 1971 Brabham BT36 which
has a 4-cylinder inline 1,596cc Ford Cosworth engine and is chassis #BT36/11,
originally owned and campaigned by Silvio Moser.
Monday, 17 March 2025
1916 American LaFrance
This is one of the cars that
turned up at a small motoring meet at the top of Werneth Low in Hyde in July
1991.
It's a 1916 American LaFrance
that was owned by local businessman Clive Williams and has a 6-cylinder inline
15 litre engine. La France is best known as a manufacturer of fire engines and
other emergency vehicles for over 100 years from the early 20th century, but
also built a number of passenger cars in the early years.
Sunday, 16 March 2025
1914 Crossley RFC Staff Car
I took this photograph just after the start point on the Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1978.
It’s not listed in the programme of the event,
but the programme for the 1987 event has this note about the car:
26
1914 Crossley Staff Car,
Reg: AE 28, 4 cylinder 20/25 hp
(C R Unsworth, Ashton in Makerfield)
Only two of these unusual Crossleys are known
to be in existence - each is fitted with double
back wheels, and both are on this Run for the
first time.
Saturday, 15 March 2025
2011 Aston Martin Rapide
This is a car that I photographed in the paddock at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2017.
It's a 2011 Aston Martin Rapide with a 5,935cc V12 engine and was in production from 2010 to 2020.
Friday, 14 March 2025
Friday's Ferrari
I took this photograph during the Coys of Kensington Pre-1964 GT Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.
The leading car is a Ferrari 250 GT, but it was obviously a late entrant as the programme of the event doesn't show a number 22. There was also a Ferrari Challenge race at this meeting, but there's no car number 22 in that race either. I've tried looking at details of all the Ferrari 250 GTs and I can't find the chassis number of this car, so all I can say about it is that it has the Gioacchino Colombo designed 2,953cc V12 engine which powered most of the Ferrari 250 series of cars. The following car is the 1961 Lotus Elite of Christopher Ross and behind that is the 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO of Paul Pappalardo, chassis 5111GT.
Thursday, 13 March 2025
1967 Leyland Titan PD2
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 Leyland Titan PD2A/27
with East Lancs H37/28R body and was provided new to St Helens Corporation
Transport with fleet number 54 in May of 1967. A note in the programme of the
event says this about the vehicle:
Leyland Titan PD2A/27, East Lancs
H65R, 1967 MDJ 554E
St Helens Corporation 54
Entered by R. Hughes,
Warrington
Purchased by the present owner
in 1991 and restored to its original red and cream livery.
Wednesday, 12 March 2025
Ducati 899
This was a competitor in one of the races at the NG Road Racing meeting at Oulton Park in April 2017.
It's the Ducati 899 of Sam Middlemas with a V-twin 898cc engine and is pictured in the pit garage before the start of the meeting.
Tuesday, 11 March 2025
1957 Maserati 300S
This car took part in the 1950s
Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at
Silverstone in July 1999.
It's the 1957 Maserati 300S,
chassis #3074, of Mark Knopfler and has a 2,991cc 6-cylinder inline engine that
was based on the 2½ litre unit of the 250F Grand Prix car with a longer stroke,
and took part in the World Sportscar Championship between 1955 and 1957. The
car was originally bought by Brazilian driver Antonio Mendes de Barros and
stayed in South America till the 1970s when it was acquired by Australian Bruce
Spicer, then via Bob Jane and John R Sheppard to Kerry Manolas. In 1994 it was
bought by Mark Knopfler. The white number 11 car behind the Maserati is the Don
Law Racing 1954 Jaguar D-Type which was driven in the race by Win Percy, and
beyond that is Paul Pappalardo’s 1959 Ferrari 250TR59/60.
Monday, 10 March 2025
1959 Austin A35 Countryman
This is one of the cars that I
photographed at the Footman James Classic Car Show Manchester at EventCity in
September 2018.
It's a 1959 Austin A35 Countryman
and has a 4-cylinder inline 948cc engine. The A35 replaced the A30 and over 280,000
Austin A35s were produced between 1956 and 1959. The external differences
between the two cars were that the A35 saloon had a larger rear window and a
painted grille instead of the A30's chrome one. The A30 also had semaphore
trafficators in the B pillars whilst the A35 had front and rear flashing
lights.
Sunday, 9 March 2025
1926/30 Hispano Delage
This car competed in the Boulogne
Trophy race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in June 2008.
It's the 1926/30 Hispano
Delage 500CV of Anthony Howat, a comparatively recent construction using the chassis
of a 1926 Delage and a 500hp 1930 V12 Hispano Aero engine of 27 litres.
Saturday, 8 March 2025
1953 Cooper Bristol Mk2
I took this photograph at the Donington Park Museum in October 1989.
The book 'Great Racing cars of the Donington Collection says this about the car:
The Cooper-Bristol
Front-engined Formula 2
Easter Monday, 1952, was an electrifying day
for British racing enthusiasts. It was the day on which a new Formula 2 car and
a new young driver burst into the headlines. The car was the Cooper-Bristol,
and the driver was twenty-three-year-old Mike Hawthorn.
Three of these brand-new cars had appeared at
Goodwood, and had won three of the day’s main events. Hawthorn won two, Alan
Brown the third, and then the blonde young ‘Farnham Flyer’ was second to
Gonzales’ fearsome 4½-litre Ferrari in the last event of the meeting.
For the rest of the 1952 season Hawthorn went
from strength to strength. Headline-writers discovered he was known as ‘Mike’,
not ‘Mick’, and his Cooper-Bristol season earned him a French Grand
Prix-winning works Ferrari drive for 1953.
Charles and John Cooper had taken the BMW-based
sports Bristol engine and gearbox, mounted it in a box-section, transverse rear
spring, independently-suspended chassis, and had produced a light, easy to
drive and manoeuvrable Formula 2 car. Design was based on knowledge gained from
their mid-engined F3 cars, but the proprietary engine and gearbox made a
front-engined layout more practical for the 2-litre class.
For 1953, a Mark 2 tubular-chassised version
was developed, which proved very popular with such private entrants as Ken
Wharton, Alan Brown and Écurie Écosse – for whom Jimmy Stewart, Jackie’s elder
brother, drove at times. The Cooper-Bristols could never challenge the Italians
on equal terms, but they have a vital place in the story of Britain’s rise to
Grand Prix dominance.
Later in the book there's this note about the exhibit:
Cooper-Bristol Mark 2
Chassis ‘OBMK 2/9/53’ – Collection property –
believed to be the car taken to Australia by Reg Hunt, later owned and raced by
Len Lukey of ‘Lukey Muffler’ exhaust fame. To Eddie Clay, fitted Holden engine
when the Bristol burst. Believed sold to Peter Menere. A Collection rebuild.
The Cooper Bristol Mk2 was later renamed as the Cooper Bristol T23.
Friday, 7 March 2025
Friday's Ferrari
This is a photograph I took at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2014.
It's a 1985 Ferrari 328 GTS
and has the F106AB 2,927cc 32 valve V8 engine with twin overhead camshafts per
bank. The Ferrari 328 was produced between 1985 and 1989, a total of 7,412 cars
- 1,344 of the GTB and 6,068 of the GTS. It replaced the 308 model and was
superseded by the Ferrari 348.
The numbering of this car, and
its predecessor and successor, followed the then Ferrari convention of using
the engine capacity then the number of cylinders. Hence the Dino 246 was 2.4
litres and 6 cylinders, the 308 was 3.0 litres and 8 cylinders, and the 328 was
3.2 litres and 8 cylinders.
Thursday, 6 March 2025
1963 Lotus 23B
This car competed in the Historic Motor Racing News Gentlemen Drivers Sports Racing Challenge race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2005.It's not listed in the programme of the event, but it's Marshall Bailey's 1963 Lotus 23B. The Lotus 23 was introduced in
1962 to compete in the smaller classes of sports car racing and was used with engines with
capacities ranging from from 750cc up to 1600cc. It proved to be an extremely
successful car and about 130 examples of the Lotus 23, 23B and 23C were
produced between 1962 and 1963.
Labels:
2005,
Gold Cup,
Lotus 23B,
Marshall Bailey,
Oulton Park
Wednesday, 5 March 2025
1931 Bentley 4½ litre
I took this photograph at Luffield corner during the Taylor Woodrow Pre-War Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994.
It's the 1931 Bentley 4½ litre of Paul Benton which was driven in the race by Soames Langton. Despite being called a 4½ litre car, the capacity of the 4-cylinder inline engine of the Bentley 4½ is only 4,398cc. The DVLA record of GT8771 says that the car has been untaxed since December 1995.
Tuesday, 4 March 2025
Drag Racing 1965
In 1964 and 1965 the US
National Hot Rod Association in conjunction with the British Drag Racing
Association organised an exhibition tour of Britain which in 1965 included a
drag race meeting on the runway of RAF Woodvale near Southport. This is a
photograph of one of the American dragsters that took part.
Monday, 3 March 2025
1923 Vauxhall Rowley Special
This car competed in the Boulogne Trophy Race
at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s meeting at Oulton Park in May 2005.
It's the 1923 Vauxhall Rowley Special of
Geoffrey O’Connell, a car that was built in 1978 with a 14-40 chassis and a
30-98 engine by John Rowley and Julian Ghosh. The car then had the registration
number DS 7502 and was driven in VSCC races by Julian Ghosh, who later became
President of the VSCC. In the early 1980's the car's chassis was shortened and
a different engine fitted, and in the late 1980s the car passed to James Warne
then soon afterwards to David Biggins. David Biggins competed with the car for
about 15 years and it has had a few different owners since then, including one
in Northern Ireland where it acquired a GIG 8664 registration number. The
programme of the event says that its engine capacity is 4,224cc,
presumably the Vauxhall OE engine.
Sunday, 2 March 2025
1938 ERA E-Type
This is a photograph I took in
the paddock at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone
in July 1998.
It's the 1938 ERA E-Type,
chassis GP1, here with a 1,980cc supercharged engine but originally with a 1½
litre unit. This and its sister car, chassis GP2 were the only two E-Type ERAs
built. Only one other ERA was built later and that was the G-Type, designed after the Second World War
to compete with a Bristol 2 litre engine as a Formula 2 car, but actually
competed in the Formula 1 World Championship races in 1952 when they were run
under Formula 2 rules. That car later became the basis for the Bristol 450
sports car that competed at Le Mans in 1953, 1954 and 1955.
It was owned by Duncan
Ricketts but didn’t take part in this meeting, though Duncan drove Julian
Mazjub’s 1938 Alfa Romeo 308C in the HGPCA Pre-1952 Grand Prix Car Race.
Saturday, 1 March 2025
1928 Amilcar CGSS
This is a photograph I took in Mount Street, Manchester just after the start point for the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1977.
It's the 1928 Amilcar CGSS of R.C. Stafford, and apart from that there's no information about the car in the programme of the event. The CGSS was produced by the Amilcar Company between 1926 and 1929 and had a 4-cylinder inline 1,074cc engine. The DVLA record says that YX15 is 'Not taxed for on road use'.
Friday, 28 February 2025
Friday's Ferrari
I took this photograph during
the Aston Martin GT Challenge race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at
Oulton Park in May 2017.
It's a 2009 Ferrari F430 Challenge and was driven in the 50 minute long race by Richard Cook and Harvey
Stanley. The Ferrari F430 Challenge,
which has a 4,308cc V8 engine, replaced the 360 Challenge and was produced from
2007 to 2010, being succeeded by the 458 Challenge.
Thursday, 27 February 2025
1962 Lotus 24
This is a photograph that I
took at Waterway Corner at Aintree on the Friday practice day for the British
Grand Prix in July 1962.
It's Trevor Taylor in his Lotus
24 which was powered by the same 1,496cc Coventry Climax FWMV engine as the
Lotus 25, but had a conventional spaceframe chassis instead of the Lotus 25's
monocoque chassis. The Lotus 25 was to be run by the Lotus team and the Lotus
24 was intended to be a customer car although Trevor Taylor drove the Lotus 24
in five of the nine World Drivers' Championship races that season. He qualified
in tenth place on the grid at Aintree and finished in eighth place in the race,
and his only points scoring finish that season was in the Dutch Grand Prix when
he finished in second place.
Wednesday, 26 February 2025
1954 Maserati 250F
I took this photograph at Luffield
corner during the Corporate Jets Historic Grand Prix Car Race at the Christie's
International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.
It's Robin Lodge in the
ex-Gilby Engineering Company's 1954 Maserati 250F, with the replacement chassis
#2507/2 given to the car after an accident at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton
Park in 1954, and it has the 6-cylinder inline 2,491cc Maserati engine.
Tuesday, 25 February 2025
1949 Guy Arab III
This is a photograph that I took in Heaton Park, Manchester at the Greater Manchester Transport Society's Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally in September 1990.
It's not listed in the programme of the event, but it's a 1949 Guy Arab III and was new to Blackburn Transport in August 1949. It remained in service in Blackburn until 1973 when it was sold for preservation.
Monday, 24 February 2025
1956 Cooper T39
This car competed in the Bonhams
Drum Brake Sports Cars Race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August
2003.
It's Dutchman Adrian van der
Kroft's 1956 Cooper T39 Bobtail with a 1,460cc Coventry Claimax engine, and it
was named the 'Bobtail' because of the way the tail of the car was cut off just
behind the rear wheels. This was found to make it more aerodynamically
effective, but John Cooper tried to hide this fact by claiming it had been
shortened so that it would fit inside the works transporter. It had the race number
10 in the programme of the event. The red number 23 car is the 1953 Tojeiro Bristol of Nick Wigley.
Sunday, 23 February 2025
1961 Chevrolet Bel Air Station Wagon
This is one of the cars that were on display at the Footman James Classic Car Show Manchester at EventCity in September 2018.
It's a 1961 Chevrolet Bel Air Station Wagon and has a 348cu in (5.7 litres) Big-Block V8 engine. The Bel Air was produced from 1950 to 1976 (1981 in Canada) and this is a 5th Generation car that was in production from 1961 to 1964.
Saturday, 22 February 2025
1929 Napier Bentley
This is a photograph that I
took at Lodge Corner at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s meeting at Oulton Park in
August 1996.
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.
Friday, 21 February 2025
Friday's Ferrari
I took this photograph at Club
corner during the Corse Clienti Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in
September 2017 where there were a series of Ferrari Challenge races, and track
demonstrations by F1 cars.
This is a 2002 Ferrari F2002,
a car that was raced by Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello in the 2002
season and the first four races of the 2003 season, and was powered by the
3,000cc Ferrari V10 Tipo 051 engine. In 2002 Michael Schumacher won the World
Drivers' Championship by winning eleven of the seventeen races with Rubens
Barrichello winning four of the remaining races. The Ferrari team won the World
Constructors' Championship and scored more points than all the rest of the
teams put together.
Thursday, 20 February 2025
2000 Williams FW22
This is one of the cars that I photographed at the Donington Park Museum in September 2014.
It's the Williams FW22 that was driven for the Williams Team by Ralf Schumacher and Jenson Button (in his first F1 season). The car was designed by a team led by Patrick Head and had a 2,998cc V10 BMW engine. Ralf Schumacher's best results were three third place finishers and he ended up with 24 points and fifth place in the World Drivers' Championship, which was won by Michael Schumacher, while Jenson Button didn't manage any podium finishes and managed 12 points to get eighth place. The Williams Team ended up in third position in the World Constructors' Championship, won by Ferrari.
Wednesday, 19 February 2025
1953 Jaguar C-Type
I took this photograph at Lodge Corner during the 1950's Sports Car Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1993.
It's Paul Burdell in a 1953 Jaguar C-Type with the 6-cylinder inline 3,442cc engine. The registration number is XSV894 and the DVLA say that it hasn't been taxed since May 1992. I've not been able to identify the car in the coventryracers.com website.
Tuesday, 18 February 2025
1963 Iso Grifo A3C
This was one of the cars entered in the Coys of
Kensington Pre 1964 GT Cars race at the Silverstone Historic Festival meeting
in July 2000.
It's the 1963 Iso A3C driven by Jeremy
Agace and Ray Bellm in the race. The car was designed by Giotto Bizzarrini who
later left Iso and continued producing the car as a Bizzarrini A3C. The
programme of the event had this note about the car:
‘Monaco based Agace’s Iso, the company’s Turin
show car of ’63, benefits from a hulking great 5.3 litre Chevrolet V8 engine,
buried as far back as possible in the cockpit bulkhead for optimum weight
distribution. Well balanced, and superbly fettled by Paul Lanzante’s équipe,
its impressive Historic log includes winning last year’s Spa 6 hours and the GT
class of the Paul Ricard 24 hours in ’98. Co-driver
Bellm is still seriously quick.’
Monday, 17 February 2025
1934 Morris Fourteen
This is a photograph that I took at a Vintage and Historic Vehicle Display & Run organised by the Saddleworth Museum in June 1988.
A note that I took at the time said that it was a Morris Fourteen, but that was a car that was produced from 1936 to 1939 and had a 1,818cc engine whereas the DVLA record says that this car has a 1,292cc engine. The Morris Ten, however, produced from 1932 to 1948, did have a 1,292cc engine and photographs that I've seen of it look more like the car pictured above.
Sunday, 16 February 2025
Austin Sevens
I took this photograph before the start of the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car run in June 1976.
They all appear to be Austin Sevens and the DVLA record says that the nearest one, UT5209, is a 1929 car but I can't identify it in the programme of the event. The next one, PK1518 is a 1928 car with the start number 81 and the programme says this about it:
81 Mr. F. Crabtree, Colne, Lancs.
1928 Austin Seven Chummy
Off the road for 16 years this car was found in a Huddersfield yard in scrap condition. After a complete rebuild it does 48 miles to the gallon. Who can afford to run anything else in 1976?
Saturday, 15 February 2025
1959 Cooper MkIV
This car competed in the Historic Formula
Junior Championship race at the Aston Martin Owners Club’s meeting at Oulton
Park in September 1992.
It’s the 1950 Cooper Mk IV of David Holland and
it was entered in the class for 500cc Formula Three Cars. After the Second
World War motor racing in the UK was slow to re-start, partly because of petrol
rationing and the cost of running a suitable car. Home-built ‘specials’ powered
by 500cc motorcycle were created to provide a reasonably cheap way means of getting
involved in the sport. John Cooper and Eric Brandon, with the assistance of
John’s father Charles, decided in 1946 to build two cars, and in 1947 in the
second post-war race meeting to be held Eric Brandon won the first race to
feature 500cc cars. In 1950 this 500cc class of racing was adopted by the FIA
as a new Formula 3, and John and Charles Cooper went on to build a series of
these 500cc cars, eventually graduating to Formula 2, then Formula 1
culminating in Jack Brabham winning the World Drivers’ Championship in 1959 and
1960 in the 2½ litre Cooper Climax. There's a 500 Owners Association for all 500cc Formula Three enthusiasts, with lots of information about the different marques that took part.
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