1952/54 Maserati A6GCM/250F

This car took part in the Allcomers Scratch Race for Historic Racing Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1969.

It's the  Maserati of Dan Margulies, originally a 1952 A6GCM serial number 2038 with a 6-cylinder 1,987cc engine that was a works car in 1952 and acquired the following season by Swiss driver Baron Emanuel (better known as 'Toulo') de Graffenried. Early in 1954 the car was given a 6-cylinder 2,490cc Maserati 250F engine and a new identity as chassis 2510. Toulo de Graffenried raced the car in 1954 before selling it to Australian Reg Hunt who took it 'down under' and raced it in Australia and New Zealand before selling it to Kevin Neal when he acquired Maserati 250F chassis 2516. In 1965 2038/2510 went to the UK and was campaigned by Colin Crabbe and Dan Margulies, and later went to Ray Fielding before ending up in a private Swiss collection.

1959 BRM P25

I took this photograph on a visit to the Donington Park Museum in March 1996.

It's a 1959 BRM P25 and is finished in the colours of the British Racing Partnership who had one of the cars on loan in the 1959 season. BRM - British Racing Motors - was founded in the late 1940s to produce a car capable of challenging the dominant foreign racing teams, mainly Italian, in the major Grand Prix races. The first cars, the 1½ litre V16 supercharged P15 and P30, promised much but delivered little, only beginning to run well when the 1½ litre supercharged/4½ litre unsupercharged Formula was dying out through lack of competition. The P25, built for the new 2½ litre Formula fared little better and was just beginning to become competitive when the rear-engined Cooper started to dominate the sport. The engine of the P25, designed by Stuart Tresilian, was 'oversquare', with a very large bore in relation to its stroke to accommodate the massive inlet valves. These, with the large ports and carburettors, enabled very high rpm to be achieved - some 9,000 rpm - producing 248bhp. The car made its debut in 1955, but it was 1959 before it gained its first major victory, a win by Jo Bonnier in the Dutch Grand Prix. In an attempt to compete with the rear-engined Coopers, BRM quickly designed a rear-engined car, the P48, which was essentially a P25 with the engine at the back instead of the front. The P25's were cannibalised to provide parts for this new car which made its debut in late 1959 but it was unable to bring success to the team, and it was 1962 before they finally had a winner with the P578 which brought the World Drivers' Championship to Graham Hill. The Donington Park workshops rebuilt three of the 1959 P25 cars from original bits and pieces including the pale green car above, chassis 2510, which was driven for the British Racing Partnership by Stirling Moss, but is perhaps best known for its accident in the German Grand Prix at Avus when brake failure caused Hans Herrmann to crash in spectacular fashion. The large picture on the wall behind the BRM shows a 1936 Alfa Romeo 8C-35, probably the one once owned by Dennis Poore that was for a time part of the Donington Collection.

1954 Maserati 250F

I took this photograph during the Allcomers Scratch Race at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies Meeting at Oulton Park in June 1974.

It's Ray Fielding in his 1954 Maserati 250F, originally a 1952 A6GCM serial number 2038 with a 6-cylinder 1,987cc engine that was a works car in 1952 and acquired the following season by Swiss driver Baron Emanuel (better known as 'Toulo') de Graffenried. Early in 1954 the car was given a 6-cylinder 2,490cc Maserati 250F engine and a new identity as chassis 2503. Toulo de Graffenried raced the car in 1954 before selling it to Australian Reg Hunt who took it 'down under' and raced it in Australia and New Zealand before selling it to Kevin Neal when he acquired Maserati 250F chassis 2516. In 1965 2038/2503 went to the UK and was campaigned by Colin Crabbe and Dan Marguiles, then to Ray Fielding before ending up in a private Swiss collection.