1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza

I took this photograph in the paddock at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1961.

It's a 1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza and has an 8-cylinder inline 2,336cc engine. The registration number is FYE 7, with a chassis  number 2211130  which was originally owned and raced by the Hon. Brian Lewis who later became Lord Essendon. At the time of this race meeting it seems to have been owned by the Hon. Patrick Lindsay who drove his ERA R5B 'Remus' in the Richard Seaman Historic Memoria Trophy race that day. Between the races at the meeting was a parade by some 20 Pre-War drivers including such names as John Bolster, Louis Chiron, S.C.H. Davis, George Eyston and Lord Essendon 'driving cars with which they have been associated'. I don't specifically remember it, but presumably Lord Essendon drove his old Alfa Romeo during this parade.

1931 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza

 I took this photograph at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1985.

It's a 1931 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza which has an 8-cylinder inline 2,336cc engine designed by Vittorio Jano. It gained the 'Monza' name by winning the 1931 Italian Grand Prix at Monza driven by Tazio Nuvolari and Giuseppi Campari, and Tazio Nuvolari also won the 1931 and 1932 Targa Florio races in one of these cars. Originally designed as a racing car it was later also produced as a road car.

Alfa Romeo

I took this photograph at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies Meeting at Oulton Park in June 1981.

On the left is a 1925 Alfa Romeo RLSS which has a 6-cylinder inline 2,996cc engine, and on the right a 1931 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza with a supercharged 8-cylinder inline 2,336cc engine. Both cars belonged to David Black who drove the RLSS in a 5 lap handicap race, and the Monza was one of his alternative entries together with his 1934 Maserati 8CM for the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race.

Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza

This car took part in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1973.

It's the 1931 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza of W.D.A.Black, originally built with a Vittorio Jano designed supercharged 2,336cc straight-8 engine which was increased to 2,557cc for the 1933 8C 2600 model. The programme of the event says that the engine capacity of this car is 2,665cc. The car was named the 'Monza' following its win in the 1931 Italian Grand Prix at Monza driven by Tazio Nuvolari and Giuseppi Campari - co-drivers being necessary as the race was scheduled to last for 10 hours. In those days Grand Prix cars also often took part in sports car racing with the addition of mudguards and lighting equipment, and the Alfa Romeo Monza can lay claim to being one of the most successful racing cars ever with four wins in the Le Mans 24 Hour race and three each at the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio, in addition to the 1931 Italian Grand Prix.

Alfa Romeo

These three cars took part in the Pre-War Sports Car Team Relay Race at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2004.

All three cars were entered by William Ainscough, two to be driven by James Baxter and Roger Lucas. From the left they are a 1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza, a 1931 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Le Mans and a 1931 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Spider. You can read about the Alfa Romeo 8C here.

Deuteranomaly

Deuteranomaly is apparently the most common type of colour blindness. According to Wikipedia: "These individuals have a mutated form of the medium-wavelength (green) pigment. The medium-wavelength pigment is shifted towards the red end of the spectrum resulting in a reduction in sensitivity to the green area of the spectrum." Which means that these people have problems differentiating between red and green. The following photograph was taken at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1999.

Both cars were built (early 1930s and early 1960s) at a time when, by and large, racing cars were painted in their national racing colours. The green car is an Italian (racing colours: red) Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza, and the red car is a British (racing colours: green) Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato.