1934 Alfa Romeo P3 and 1938 ERA E-Type GP2

This is a photograph that I took at Foulstons chicane during the Richard Seaman Historic Memorial Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s meeting at Oulton Park in June 1993.

Rodney Felton in his 1934 Alfa Romeo P3 is leading Gordon Chapman’s ERA E-Type GP2, which is being driven by Bill Morris.

1934 Alfa Romeo P3

This was one of the competitors in the HGPCA Pre-61 Front Engine Grand Prix Cars race at the Silverstone Classic meeting in July 2010.

It's Umberto Rossi’s 1934 Alfa Romeo P3 with an 8-cylinder inline 3,165cc engine and is chassis 50006. The P3 was introduced in 1932 with a twin-supercharged 2,654cc straight-8 engine which by 1935 had been enlarged to 3,165cc. By then, with the exception of Tazio Nuvolari's victory in the German Grand Prix that year (with the engine further enlarged to 3,822cc), the car was unable to match the Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz cars.

1934 Alfa Romeo P3

This was one of the competitors in the Pre 1952 Grand Prix Cars Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It's Rodney Felton's 1934 Alfa Romeo P3 and was driven in the race by Sir John Venables-Llewelyn. The P3 was introduced in 1932 with a twin-supercharged 2,654cc straight-8 engine which by 1935 had been enlarged to 3,165cc. By then, with the exception of Tazio Nuvolari's victory in the German Grand Prix that year (with the engine further enlarged to 3,822cc), the car was unable to match the Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz cars. This car is chassis #50009 that was destroyed in an accident in 1949 but the remains were eventually reconstructed by Rodney Felton.

1932 Alfa Romeo P3

This was one of the competitors in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race and the Allcomers Scratch Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in June 1970.

It's the 1932 Alfa Romeo P3 of Neil Corner and was driven in both the races by Peter Waller. The car has a 2,905cc twin-supercharged straight-8 engine designed by Vittorio Jano. The P3 was introduced in 1932, and Tazio Nuvolari won two of the three races in the European Championship that season with his team mate Rudolf Caracciola winning the third race. The Alfa Romeo team was suffering financial problems and missed the early part of the 1933 season, but later in the year the cars were handed over to Scuderia Ferrari and won the last two European Championship races of the season. The first two races of the 1934 season were won by Alfa Romeo but the second race, the French Grand Prix, marked the entry of the Mercedes Benz and Auto Union cars into the fray, and these cars went on to dominate Grand Prix racing until the start of World War 2. The Alfa Romeo P3, however, had its swan song in the 1935 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, Tazio Nuvolari beating the 5-car Mercedes Benz and 4-car Auto Union teams.

1934 Alfa Romeo P3

This was one of the competitors in the Pre 1952 Grand Prix Cars Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000.

It's Rodney Felton's 1934 Alfa Romeo P3 that was driven in the race by Sir John Venables-Llewelyn. The P3 was introduced in 1932 with a twin-supercharged 2,654cc straight-8 engine which by 1935 had been enlarged to 3,165cc. By then, with the exception of Tazio Nuvolari's victory in the German Grand Prix that year (with the engine further enlarged to 3,822cc), the car was unable to match the Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz cars. This car is chassis #50009 that was destroyed in an accident in 1949 but the remains were eventually reconstructed by Rodney Felton.

1934 Alfa Romeo P3

This car took part in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race at the VSCC's meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987.

It's the 1934 Alfa Romeo P3 of Rodney Felton, chassis #50009, with a 3,165cc twin-supercharged straight-8 engine designed by Vittorio Jano. The P3 was introduced in 1932, and Tazio Nuvolari won two of the three races in the European Championship that season with his team mate Rudolf Caracciola winning the third race. The Alfa Romeo team was suffering financial problems and missed the early part of the 1933 season, but later in the year the cars were handed over to Scuderia Ferrari and won the last two European Championship races of the season. The first two races of the 1934 season were won by Alfa Romeo but the second race, the French Grand Prix, marked the entry of the Mercedes Benz and Auto Union cars into the fray, and these cars went on to dominate Grand Prix racing until the start of World War 2. The Alfa Romeo P3, however, had its swan song in the 1935 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, Tazio Nuvolari beating the 5-car Mercedes Benz and 4-car Auto Union teams.

1934 Alfa Romeo P3

This was one of the competitors in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race at the VSCC's meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987.

It's Rodney Felton at Lodge Corner during the race in his 1934 Alfa Romeo P3. The P3 was introduced in 1932 with a twin-supercharged 2,654cc straight-8 engine which by 1935 had been enlarged to 3,165cc. By then, with the exception of Tazio Nuvolari's victory in the German Grand Prix that year (with the engine further enlarged to 3,822cc), the car was unable to match the Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz cars

On 14 February 2019 I showed a photograph of this car at Silverstone in 2000.

Alfa Romeo P3

This car took part in the Race for Pre 1952 Grand Prix Cars at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000.

It's Rodney Felton's 1934 Alfa Romeo P3 and was driven in the race by Sir John Venables-Llewelyn. The programme of the event said this about the car:

'Alfa Romeo are prominent too, indeed the redoubtable Sir John Venables-Llewelyn will be a contender for outright victory with Rodney Felton's gorgeous P3. The supercharged straight-eight machines were winners in the early '30s, driven by stars like Tazio Nuvolari and Achille Varzi.'

The Alfa Romeo P3 was introduced in 1932 with a twin-supercharged straight-8 engine, initially with a capacity of 2,654cc. In 1933 much of the European racing season was missed due to financial problems at Alfa Romeo, but the cars were eventually handed over to Enzo Ferrari whose Scuderia Ferrari ran the cars for the 1933-1935 seasons. By 1935 the P3s were outclassed by the Mercedes-Benz W25s and Auto Union B Types, but Tazio Nuvolari won a famous victory in the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring with a P3 bored out to 3,822cc.

ERA

Here are photographs of some of the ERAs that took part in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987.

This is the six-cylinder 1½ litre supercharged engine of the 1935 ERA R1B, then owned by Sue Marsh and driven in the race by Duncan Ricketts. This car was originally owned by Dick Seaman.

This is R11B, named 'Humphrey' by its first owner Reggie Tongue after the ERA founder, Humphrey Cook. It was originally a 1½ litre car in 1936, but was given a 2 litre supercharged engine in the late 1940s. This car was owned, and driven, by Martin Morris from 1962 until his death in 2006 when it passed to his son David.

This is Martin Morris in R11B at Lodge Corner during the race.

This is R5B, a 1936 1½ litre car purchased by Prince Chula for his White Mouse team and driven by his cousin Prince Bira. Prince Chula already owned R2B and the two cars were named 'Romulus' (R2B) and 'Remus' (R5B) after the Roman twins. Driven here at Lodge Corner by Ludovic Lindsay who inherited the car from his late father the Hon. Patrick Lindsay in 1986. The programme of this event shows the engine capacity as 1,986cc supercharged.

This is R12B, a 1936 car with rather a messy history, originally with a 2 litre engine, but here with a 1½ litre supercharged unit. Another car that was once a White Mouse team car driven by Prince Bira and named 'Hanuman', it's here being driven at Lodge Corner by Bill Morris and trying to pass Rodney Felton in a 1934 Alfa Romeo P3.

Lastly, again at Lodge Corner, we have Anthony Mayman in R4D, a 1936 car with 2 litre supercharged engine.

I've shown photographs previously of two other ERAs taking part at this meeting: on 3 May 2015 I featured R4A, and on 30 April 2017 it was R8C.

You can read the history of all the ERAs, including the confusion about the identity of R12B here.

Alfa Romeo P3

This car contested the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy Race for Historic Racing Cars at Oulton Park in June 1993.

It's Rodney Felton's 1934 Alfa Romeo P3 (chassis #50009) with a 3.2 litre straight eight engine and designed by Vittorio Jano, who 20 years later , in 1954, designed the V8 2½ litre Lancia D50. On 27 April 2016 I showed photographs of an Alfa Romeo P3, probably the same car, at the VSCC's meeting at Oulton Park in 2005. Behind Rodney Felton's car here is the 1936 ERA R11B of Martin Morris.

Alfa Romeo P3

This car took part in one of the races at the VSCC's Boulogne and Hawthorn Trophies Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 2005.

It's Roger Saul's 1934 Alfa Romeo P3. It was with an Alfa Romeo P3 that Tazio Nuvolari had what was probably his finest victory, in the 1935 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring when he beat the teams of 4 Mercedes-Benz W25s and 4 Auto Union B types to win by over 2 minutes.

Here's Roger Saul at Britten's chicane during his race.

Friday's Ferrari

This is a photograph of a Ferrari in the pit garage at Donington Park at the SeeRed meeting promoted by the Vintage Sports Car Club in September 2006.

It's a 1960 Ferrari Dino 246 F1 car, serial number 0788F (previously numbered 0007) which was owned at that time by Tony Smith and took part in the VSCC Flockhart Trophy race at this meeting. The car on the left is another of Tony Smith's cars, a 1934 Alfa Romeo Tipo B (P3), serial number 50007, which was campaigned by Scuderia Ferrari when it was the acting racing team of Alfa Romeo. At this meeting the Alfa Romeo competed in the VSCC Historic Seaman Trophy race.