1956 Aston Martin DB3S

This is a photograph that i took in the paddock at the British Empire Trophy Race meeting at Oulton Park in April 1958.

It's the 1956 Aston Martin DB3S of John Dalton which is chassis #DB3S/10, the last of the team cars to be built, and has the 2,992cc 6-cylinder inline Lagonda engine.

1959 Cooper Borgward

This is a photograph that I took at the British Empire Trophy meeting at Oulton Park in April 1959.

It’s the 1959 Cooper Borgward of the British Racing Partnership which was driven in the Formula 2 race at the meeting by George Wicken. The car number 2 in the background is the 1959 Lotus 15 of Team Lotus that was driven in the up to 1,500cc sports car race by Alan Stacey.

1958 Lotus 15

This is a photograph I took in the paddock at the British Empire Trophy meeting at Oulton Park in April 1958.

It’s the Lotus 15 of Pierre Bercham with a 1,475cc engine and was driven in the race by Roy Salvadori.

1955 Austin Healey 100S

This is a photograph that I took in the paddock at the British Empire Trophy meeting at Oulton Park in April 1956.

It's the 1955 Austin Healey 100S of John Dalton, a version of the Austin Healey 100 intended primarily for racing which gained the 'S' suffix after one of the cars won its class in the 1954 Sebring 12 Hour race. It has a tuned version of the Austin Healey 4-cylinder inline 2,660cc engine and only 50 examples of this car were produced, the majority of which were the same two-tone white and dark blue as John Dalton's car. The cars raced in three heats based on the engine size and there was a final in which the cars were handicapped according to the engine size. John Dalton failed to qualify from his heat and the race was won by Stirling Moss in a 1½ litre Cooper T39 Bobtail - the twisty Oulton Park circuit favouring the smaller engined cars.

Lotus Eleven Stanguellini

This is a photograph I took in the paddock at the British Empire Trophy meeting at Oulton Park in April 1957.

It's the Ecurie White Rose team's Lotus Eleven Le Mans of Alex McMillan which had a 1,096cc Stanguellini engine (the programme of the event says that it's a 'Lotus-Stranguellini'!). There were three heats based on engine sizes and he finished in 22nd place in the overall standings.

 

1957 Aston Martin DBR1

This is a photograph that I took in the paddock at Oulton Park at the British Empire Trophy meeting in April 1957.

It's the 1957 Aston Martin DBR1 with which Roy Salvadori finished in second place to Archie Scott Brown's Lister Jaguar. The DBR1 was developed by Aston Martin in an attempt to win the Le Mans 24 Hour Race, which they finally did in 1959. This car has the 6-cylinder inline 2,493cc engine to comply with the Le Mans then limit of 2½ litres, but it was later given a 2,992cc engine when the limit was raised to 3 litres.

1957 Lister Jaguar

I took this photograph in the paddock at Oulton Park at the 1957 British Empire Trophy meeting.

It's Archie Scott Brown's 1957 Lister Jaguar, the first Jaguar engined Lister, which was built before the FIA's Appendix C regulations required it to have headlights. Unlike the previous years' meetings which were run in 3 heats according to engine size with a handicap final the 1957 event just had three races based on engine size with the winner of the Trophy being the car that won its race in the shortest time. The 'Up to 1,200cc' race was won by Graham Hill in a Lotus Eleven while the '1,200cc to 2,000cc' race was won by Ron Flockhart, also in a Lotus Eleven but with a larger engine. The 'Over 2,000cc' race was won by Archie Scott Brown in this car and (naturally) he did it in the quickest time to win the Trophy. I came across a quote saying that drivers who raced against him were unanimous in saying that “… Archie spends less time travelling with all wheels pointing straight ahead than any other driver”.

1955 Austin Healey 100S

This is a photograph that I took in the paddock at the British Empire Trophy meeting at Oulton Park in April 1956.

It's the 1955 Austin Healey 100S of John Dalton, a version of the Austin Healey 100 intended primarily for racing which gained the 'S' suffix after one of the cars won its class in the 1954 Sebring 12 Hour race. It has a tuned version of the Austin Healey 4-cylinder inline 2,660cc engine and only 50 examples of this car were produced, the majority of which were the same two-tone white and dark blue as John Dalton's car. The cars raced in three heats based on the engine size and there was a final in which the cars were handicapped according to the engine size. John Dalton failed to qualify from his heat and the race was won by Stirling Moss in a 1½ litre Cooper T39 Bobtail - the twisty Oulton Park circuit favouring the smaller engined cars.

Ecurie Ecosse

I took this photograph in the paddock at Oulton Park at the British Empire Trophy Race meeting in April 1956.

The Ecurie Ecosse team had entered two Jaguar D-Types in the race to be driven by Ron Flockhart and Ninian Sanderson and here are some of the team at the side of one of the D-Types. On the left is Ron Flockhart in conversation with the founder of the team, David Murray, and next to David Murray is chief mechanic Wilkie Wilkinson. The British Empire Trophy Race was run as three preliminary heats (up to 1.5 litres, 1.6 to 2.7 litres and over 2.7 litres) and a final for the qualifying cars run as a handicap race. This proved very advantageous for the smaller capacity cars which finished in the first six places (Stirling Moss winning in a Cooper T39 Bobtail) with Ron Flockhart finishing in seventh place and Ninian Sanderson in ninth place. Three months later Ron Flockhart and Ninian Sanderson won the Le Mans 24 Hour Race in one of these Ecurie Ecosse cars.

1955 Aston Martin DB3S

I took this photograph in the paddock at the British Empire Trophy meeting at Oulton Park in April 1956.

It's the 1955 Aston Martin DB3S of Berwyn Baxter, chassis DB3S/101, and has the 6-cylinder inline 2,992cc Lagonda engine.

1955 Lotus Mk IX

This was one of the competitors at the British Empire Trophy meeting at Oulton Park in April 1956.

It's the 1955 Lotus Mk IX of Six Mile Stable and was driven by Tom Barnard. About 30 of these cars that were built between 1954 and 1955 and several different engines could be provided - 1½ litre MG and Connaught engines and 2 litre Bristol engines were used, but the one most commonly fitted, as in this car, was the 1,098cc Coventry Climax engine. At this British Empire Trophy meeting there were three heats for cars of different engine sizes with a final run on a handicap basis. Tom Barnard failed to qualify for the final, which was won by Stirling Moss in a 1½ litre Cooper T39 Mk II Climax.

Ecurie Ecosse 1956

I took these photographs at the British Empire Trophy meeting at Oulton Park in April 1956.

This is a 1956 'shortnose' Jaguar D-Type, chassis XKD561, one of two cars entered in the race by Ecurie Ecosse and has the 6-cylinder inline 3,441cc engine.

This is Ron Flockhart who drove the car in the photograph above. The race was run in the form of three heats, for cars up to 1500cc, 1501cc to 2700cc, and over 2700cc. There was then a final race over 25 laps run on a handicap basis with the smallest capacity cars getting a 40 second start, the next group 25 seconds, and those with the largest engines on scratch. Ron Flockhart finished in seventh place in the D-Type, the first finisher in the over 2700cc class, with the six cars in front of him all being from the up to 1500cc class. Stirling Moss won the race in a Cooper T39.

This is Ninian Sanderson who drove the other Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar D-Type in the race and finished in ninth place in the final. 

Three months later. in July of 1956, the Le Mans 24 hour race was won by an Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar D-Type driven by Ron Flockhart and Ninian Sanderson.

Archie Scott Brown

A couple of weeks ago I showed a photograph of Archie Scott Brown in a Lister Maserati that my brother had taken at the British Grand Prix meeting at Silverstone in 1956. Here's a photograph of Archie Scott Brown that I took in the Paddock at the British Empire Trophy meeting at Oulton Park in April 1956.

To me the British Empire Trophy and Archie Scott Brown are synonymous. The first race meeting I ever attended was the 1955 British Empire Trophy meeting at Oulton Park which was won by Archie Scott Brown in a Lister Bristol. At the following year's meeting, where the above photograph was taken, he drove the unsuccessful Lister Maserati and failed to finish the race. In 1957 Archie drove the first of the Lister Jaguars, winning the race again, and in 1958 he took his Lister Jaguar to third place behind the Aston Martin DBR2s of Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks. Sadly, this was to be the last time I saw him race at Oulton Park as he lost his life in a race at Spa-Francorchamps the following month.

Mike Hawthorn

This is a photograph taken at Oulton Park at, I think, the British Empire Trophy meeting in April 1956. Not a terribly good photograph, and taken with a Kodak Brownie 127.

It's Mike Hawthorn, destined to become England's first Formula 1 World Champion in 1958 at the wheel of a Ferrari Dino 246. At this British Empire Trophy race he drove a Lotus Eleven and finished in fourth place behind the winner Stirling Moss in a Cooper T39 Bobtail with Colin Chapman in a Lotus Eleven in second place and Roy Salvadori in a Cooper T39 Bobtail in third place.

Friday's Ferrari

On 21 August 2015 I showed a photograph of one of the two 1958 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa cars which took part in the British Empire Trophy race at Oulton Park in April 1958. Here's a photograph of the other one.

This was the one entered for Freddy Rousselle - the race was run as two heats and a final and Freddy Rousselle didn't manage in his heat to qualify the car for the final. World Sports Racing Prototypes says that this car is serial number 0736TR and that Alain de Changy's car at Oulton Park was 0724TR, but the www.barchetta.cc record shows that the car which finished sixth at Le Mans in 1958 (0736TR) didn't have the central red stripe (whereas 0724TR did), so it looks as if the World Sports Racing Prototype record is incorrect and the car above is 0724TR.

Friday's Ferrari

The entry list for the British Empire Trophy race at Oulton Park in April 1958 included two Ferrari 250 Testa Rossas from the Belgian racing team Ecurie Francorchamps, to be driven by Alain de Changy and Freddy Rousselle. Here's a photograph of one of them in the paddock before the race.

It's Alain de Changy's car, serial number 0724TR - the barchetta.cc record for that car doesn't show it to have been in that race, but it's shown in the World Sports Racing Prototypes record. This car finished ninth in the race, but Freddy Rousselle didn't manage to qualify his car into the final from its heat.

NB: (20 Nov 2015) It looks as if the WSPR record is incorrect, and this is in fact 0736TR
.

Friday's Ferrari

Here's another of the old photographs, this time from the British Empire Trophy meeting at Oulton Park in April 1956.

It's a 1954 Ferrari 735 S Monza, serial number 0444M 54 which was owned and raced by Herbert Mackay-Frazer and had a 4-cylinder 2942cc engine. Only three of this model were produced, and here's what auto.ferrari.com says about the 735 S.

Friday's Ferrari

I've mentioned before that the first race meeting I ever attended was the 1955 British Empire Trophy event at Oulton Park and in this race there were two Ferrari 750 Monzas, one driven by Mike Sparken and the other by Luigi Piotti. 

This Ferrari 750 Monza, which took part in the Louis Vuitton '50s Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1995 was entered by Tom Walduck and driven in the race by Kerry McSwan. It's serial number is 0504M and is the car which was driven by Mike Sparken in that 1955 race at Oulton Park.