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.