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.

Innes Ireland

This is a photograph I took in the paddock at the Aintree 200 meeting in April 1962.

It's Innes Ireland, who drove one of the UDT-Laystall Racing Team's Lotus 18/21s in the Aintree 200 race. He qualified the car in fifth position on the grid, but retired after 26 laps of the 50 lap race with a broken valve. In the 1962 World Drivers Championship a series of retirements, and only one points-scoring finish - fifth place in the South African Grand Prix - left him in sixteenth place in the table at the end of the season.

1961 BRM P57

I took this photograph in the paddock at the Aintree 200 meeting in April 1961.

It's the 1961 BRM P57 that was driven to third place in the race by Graham Hill. 1961 was the first year of the 1½ litre Formula that replaced the 2½ litre limit that had lasted from 1954 to 1960. BRM, like the other British teams had started preparations for the new Formula too late and had been caught on the back foot by the Ferrari team who had got their new Ferrari 156 with its 1½ litre V8 engine up and running by the first race of the season at Monaco. Both BRM and Coventry Climax had new V8 engines on the drawing board but the Coventry Climax engine wasn't ready till the second half of the 1961 season, and the BRM not until 1962. In 1961 the BRM team used a 4-cylinder inline 1,496cc Coventry Climax FPF engine.

1961 Lotus 18

This was one of the competitors in the Aintree 200 race at the Liverpool circuit in April 1961.

It's the 1961 Lotus 18, one of three cars entered in the race by Team Lotus, and was driven by Trevor Taylor. The Lotus 18 was originally built in 1960 to compete in Formula 1, Formula 2 and Formula Junior races and was campaigned by the Lotus team in the 1960 Grand Prix season with a 2,467cc (later 2,497cc) Coventry Climax FPF 4-cylinder inline engine. In 1961 the regulations were changed limiting engine capacity to 1½ litres, and while Team Lotus mostly used the Lotus 21 for World Championship races the Lotus 18 was still put to use in some non-Championship races. The engine used in 1961 was the 1,500cc version of the Coventry Climax FPF engine. Trevor Taylor qualified in 14th position on the grid for the Aintree 200 race, but retired after 41 laps of the 50 lap race. The other two Team Lotus cars finished in 9th and 10th places respectively in the hands of Jim Clark and Innes Ireland.

1962 Lotus 24

I took this photograph in the paddock at Aintree on practice day for the Aintree 200 race in April 1962.

It's the 1962 Lotus 24 driven to pole position and to first place in the race by Jim Clark. The Lotus 24 was intended as a customer car to run alongside the Lotus 25 of Team Lotus and was used by the team in this race as the Lotus 25 was not yet ready. Both cars used the Coventry Climax FWMV 1,496cc V8 engine but the 25 had a monocoque chassis as opposed to the conventional spaceframe of the 24. The other Team Lotus car finished in fifth place in the race driven by Trevor Taylor. Jim Clark's car was chassis 948, which was apparently written-off in an accident at the Belgian Grand Prix later that year when being driven by Trevor Taylor.

1962 Lola Mk4

I took this photograph during practice for the Aintree 200 race in April 1962.

It's a 1962 Lola Mk4 with a 1,494cc V8 engine that was campaigned in the 1962 season by the Bowmaker Racing Team in place of the Cooper T53 cars they had used the previous season. John Surtees drove this car in the race, qualifying in third place on the grid, but retired after 37 of the 50 laps with a valve gear malfunction. The second Bowmaker Racing Team car was driven by Roy Salvadori who qualified in 15th position on the grid but retired after 8 laps with a broken throttle linkage.

André Pilette

This photograph was taken in the paddock at Aintree during practice for the Aintree 200 race in April 1961.

It's the Belgian racing driver André Pilette who competed sporadically in Grand Prix races between 1951 and 1964 for three Belgian racing teams, for Équipe Gordini, and a single race for Scuderia Ferrari in 1956 when he drove a Lancia-Ferrari D50 in the Belgian Grand Prix, continuing Ferrari's tradition of fielding a car in that race painted in Belgium's national racing colours and driven by a Belgian driver. In the Aintree 200 race he drove an Écurie Nationale Belge Emeryson Maserati and finished in 16th place.

Cooper T55

I took this photograph in the paddock during practice for the Aintree 200 race at the Aintree circuit in April 1961.

It's the Cooper T55, chassis F1/10/61, of Jack Brabham in which he qualified in second position on the grid to Graham Hill in a BRM P57. The T55 was making its debut in this race, which Jack Brabham won followed by his team-mate Bruce McLaren in another T55 with Graham Hill in third place. The Cooper T55 was powered by the Coventry Climax 1½ litre 4-cylinder FPF engines which proved no match for the 1½ litre V6 engines of the Ferrari 156 in the 1961 World Championship races. This website shows the full racing history of F1/10/61.

Cooper T53

This is a photograph I took at Aintree on the practice day for the Aintree 200 race in April 1961.

It's the 1961 1½ litre Climax-engined Cooper T53, chassis #F1-3-61 entered by the Camoradi team and driven by Masten Gregory who started in 26th place on the grid (not having posted a practice time) but ended the race in 5th place. The Camoradi team was founded by American Lloyd Casner (CAsner MOtor RAcing DIvision) and is probably better known for its efforts in sports car racing, particularly with the Maserati T61 with which Stirling Moss and Dan Gurney won the 1960 Nürburgring 1,000 km race.

On 31 March 2016 I showed a photograph of another Cooper T53 that took part in this race, the Rob Walker car driven by Stirling Moss (chassis #F1-7-61) which only lasted for two laps.

Lotus 19

I took these photographs at Aintree on practice day for the Aintree 200 meeting in April 1961.

It's a 1960 Lotus 19, called the Monte Carlo as a nod to its perceived close rival the Cooper T49 Monaco. The car was one of a pair entered for the sports car race at this meeting by the UDT Laystall Racing team, to be driven by Stirling Moss and Henry Taylor, and this one is Henry Taylor's car. Both cars were powered by the 2½ litre Coventry Climax FPF engine.

The UDT Laystall team was originally formed as the British Racing Partnership in 1957 by Stirling Moss's father Alfred and his former manager Ken Gregory to run cars for Stirling Moss, outside his other racing commitments, and other up-and-coming drivers. In a sponsorship deal the team was renamed Yeoman Credit Racing for the 1960 season and then UDT Laystall Racing for the next two seasons.

Jaguar D-Type

This is a photograph I took of a car that competed in the sports car race at the Aintree 200 meeting in April 1960.

It's Mike Salmon's 1955 Jaguar D-Type, chassis #XKD504, originally a Jaguar works car but later campaigned by Ecurie Ecosse. Sotheby's related the history of XKD504 when it was offered for auction in September 2013.

BRM P57

Here are a couple of photographs I took during practice for the Aintree 200 race in April 1962.

They're both of the BRM P57 that Graham Hill drove in the race. The original 1961 version of the P57 had a 4-cylinder 1½ litre Coventry Climax engine as a stopgap until BRM's new V8 unit was available and that model - as pictured here - was originally designated as a P578. The chassis number of this car is 5781.

Graham Hill qualified in second place on the grid, but retired after 45 laps of the 50 lap race with a broken piston. In July of that year Graham Hill came back to Aintree with the same car and finished in fourth place in the British Grand Prix, ending the season as World Champion. On 7 August 2013 I showed some photographs of both BRM cars at that race.

Cooper T53

This is a photograph taken on practice day for the Aintree 200 race in April 1961.

It's the Cooper-Climax T53 (chassis #F1-7-61) of Rob Walker, driven (but only briefly) in the race by Stirling Moss. He had bearing troubles in practice, only qualifying in 23rd place on the grid, and his race only lasted till the second lap when the bearings eventually caused him to retire.

Roy Salvadori

I took this photograph of Roy Salvadori in the paddock on the Friday practice day for the Aintree 200 race in April 1961.

In the race he drove one of the Cooper-Climax T53P cars for the Yeoman Credit Racing Team, qualifying in ninth place on the grid and ending the race in eighth position. You can see the Yeoman Credit Racing Team transporter behind Roy Salvadori in the photograph.

Here are the Yeoman Credit Racing Team cars of Roy Salvadori (no. 6) and John Surtees (no. 5) in the paddock. John Surtees finished in fourth place in the race, nearly two minutes behind the winner, Jack Brabham, in a works Cooper-Climax T55.

Roy Salvadori drove in the Formula One World Championship for eleven years from 1952 to 1962, for a variety of teams, mostly in British cars. His best season was 1958 when he finished in fourth place in the World Championship driving for the Cooper works team, but he's probably best remembered for a winning drive in the 1959 Le Mans 24 Hour race partnered by Carroll Shelby in an Aston Martin DBR1/300.

Friday's Ferrari

On 22 February I featured some photographs of Jan Biekens' Ferrari 156 recreation. That car was partly inspired by the replica of a 1961 Ferrari 156 built by Chris Rea for his film 'La Passione' which is about his boyhood idol, Wolfgang von Trips, who died in one of these cars as a result of an accident in the 1961 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Chris Rea's replica was at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1995 and below are some photographs of the car I took at that meeting.

The car was apparently entered in a Coys auction in 2000 but whether it was sold, and who the current owner is, I don't know.

I saw the original cars race at Aintree in both 1961 and 1962 and the photograph below is of Giancarlo Baghetti's car at the 1962 Aintree 200 race (serial number 0001).

Aintree Motor Racing Circuit

The old motor racing circuit at Aintree was constructed round the Grand National course, crossing the horse race track at two points so that the motor racing track was partly on the inside of the Grand National course and partly on the outside. The British Grand Prix was run on this circuit five times, in 1955, 1957, 1959, 1961 and 1962, and I was fortunate enough to see all of these races as well as other events during this period such as the Aintree 200 and 100. Unfortunately in the 1950s I didn't have a camera capable of taking photographs of cars in action on the track and in the early 1960s I had a suitable camera, but not a telephoto lens. The following photographs, however show some features of the track.

This is a good picture of the pits at Aintree with some people watching the start of the 1962 Aintree 200 race. Between the pits and the line of people you may be able to make out some cars, Jim Clark in a Lotus 24 is on this side of the track leading the race (which he won) and beyond the Lotus are the number 11 and 12 BRM P57s of Graham Hill and Richie Ginther, both of whom retired. Just in front of the pit with the red 'Daily Mirror' banner is the Ferrari 156 'Sharknose' of Phil Hill who finished third.

The rest of these photographs are from the 1962 British Grand Prix, and the first one shows John Surtees in a Lola-Climax Mk4 returning to the paddock after a practice session. The paddock was in the centre of the circuit between the Start/Finish Straight and the Sefton Straight and access to the circuit was across the Grand National course using a line of duckboards. The mechanics sometimes found it difficult to push the cars along these duckboards to the pits and I remember at the practice for the 1961 Grand Prix, when Ferrari entered a team of four cars, one solitary mechanic was attempting to push the fourth car on his own. I gave him a hand in pushing the car to the pits, but have since regretted not taking the opportunity to get some photographs in the pit area. To get from the paddock to the stands on the other side of the Start/Finish Straight there was a similar line of duckboards across the Grand National course then a tunnel underneath the motor racing track.

John Surtees' car during practice just after the Start/Finish line. He finished second to Jim Clark's Lotus 25.

Phil Hill during practice in the Ferrari 156 on the Start/Finish Straight going towards the Waterway corner. He retired early in the race.

Masten Gregory, who finished seventh in a Lotus 24, signing autographs in the paddock. In the background you can see the cooling tower which was one of my enduring memories of the Aintree circuit. It apparently belonged to the power station for Courtaulds Polymer Plant and was demolished around 1969.

The favoured point from which to watch the races was Waterway, the first corner after the start. Motor racing at the time the Aintree circuit was in use was not as safety conscious as it is now and I've often told people about one feature of the track which seemed particularly dangerous even then. Just recently I've been wondering if my memory of it had become distorted by time but with the help of Google Street View I've been able to refresh my memory, and if anything it looks even worse now than I remember it. Melling Road cuts across the circuit at Melling Crossing and Anchor Crossing and had to be closed for the duration of race meetings, as still happens today for horse race meetings. The photograph below from Melling Road (courtesy of Google Street View) shows Anchor Bend, the second corner from the start, and you can see running alongside the track the concrete wall which I remember from when I used to go there.

The next photograph, from just a little further on, shows the view down the straight towards the Waterway corner and on the other side of the wall the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. You can see that there's no run-off area whatsoever - the wall runs alongside the edge of the track.

I remember on a couple of occasions seeing cars hit this wall, fortunately without injury to the drivers involved. The first one was in the Aintree International sports car race in September 1955 when Alfonso de Portago lost control of his Ferrari 750 Monza and went into the wall backwards. In the Aintree 200 race in April 1956 Horace Gould did exactly the same thing in his Maserati 250F. There was no such thing as a Safety Car in those days and when accidents such as this happened the marshals just dragged the car off the track and it was left there for the duration of the race. The spectators just stood behind a wooden fence about 3 feet high - there was no other barrier of any kind except perhaps (though I don't recall them there)  some straw bales. I also seem to recall (but can't find any confirmation of this) that on the inside of the track at Waterway, between the motor racing track and the boundary of the Grand National course, was a barbed wire fence!