1949 Talbot Lago T26C

This was one of the competitors in the Cheshire Building Society's Allcomers Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987.

It's the 1949 Talbot Lago 26C of Colin Crabbe, chassis 110008. The Grand Prix regulations for 1946 to 1949, and for 1950 and 1951 after the World Drivers' Championship was introduced, stipulated a maximum capacity of 4½ litres for unsupercharged engine and 1½ litres for those with superchargers.

1937 Mercedes Benz W125

This is a photograph that I took at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1971.

I was walking through the muddy paddock when Colin Crabbe came past me in his 1937 Mercedes Benz W125 on his way to take part in a practice session. As a photograph it’s terrible, mostly blurred except for the driver and rear end of the car – but I like it.

1937 Mercedes-Benz W125

This is a photograph that I took in the paddock at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1972. 

It's the 5,663cc straight-8 supercharged 1937 Mercedes-Benz W125 with which Colin Crabbe took part in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race and which he won later that day. Rescued by Colin Crabbe from East Germany in the 1960s, it's the only Mercedes-Benz W125 in private hands and was subsequently owned by Neil Corner and Bernie Ecclestone.

1937 Mercedes-Benz W125

I took this photograph at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1971.

It's Colin Crabbe driving the 5,663cc straight-8 supercharged 1937 Mercedes-Benz W125 out of the paddock to take part in a practice session for the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race which he won later that day. Rescued by Colin Crabbe from East Germany in the 1960s, it's the only Mercedes-Benz W125 in private hands and was subsequently owned by Neil Corner and Bernie Ecclestone. A note in the programme had this to say about the car (after discussing the expected duel between the ERAs of Martin Morris and Neil Corner):

 

'Also on the front row will be one of the fabulous 1937 Grand Prix Mercedes of 5.6 litres, the most powerful Grand Prix car ever built with an engine capable of giving over 600 bhp, perhaps double that of a 2 litre ERA. The driver is Colin Crabbe, whose brave bid to bring one of these formidable cars back into racing after a lapse of over 30 years will be watched with interest.'

Mercedes-Benz W125

These photographs were taken at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1971.

It's the 5,663cc straight-8 supercharged 1937 Mercedes-Benz W125 of Colin Crabbe in which he won the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race that day. Rescued by Colin Crabbe from East Germany in the 1960s, it's the only Mercedes-Benz W125 in private hands and was subsequently owned by Neil Corner and Bernie Ecclestone. A note in the programme had this to say about the car (after discussing the expected duel between the ERAs of Martin Morris and Neil Corner):

'Also on the front row will be one of the fabulous 1937 Grand Prix Mercedes of 5.6 litres, the most powerful Grand Prix car ever built with an engine capable of giving over 600 bhp, perhaps double that of a 2 litre ERA. The driver is Colin Crabbe, whose brave bid to bring one of these formidable cars back into racing after a lapse of over 30 years will be watched with interest.'

Here's Colin Crabbe just past Old Hall Corner during the race.

Talbot Lago T26C

The entry list for the 12 Lap Allcomers Scratch Race at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987 included three of the 1940s 4½ litre straight-6 Talbot Lago T26C cars, and I took photographs of all three.

The Talbot Lago T26C was produced from 1948 to 1950 and this is Richard Pilkington's 1950 model, chassis 100057, a car that could be used for Grand Prix racing but also due to its offset driving position, with motorcycle mudguards and rudimentary lighting equipment it could be used in Sports Car racing. One such car, driven by father and son Louis and Jean-Louis Rosier, won the 1950 Le Mans 24 Hour race. On 21 September 2017 I showed a photograph of this car at Donington Park in 2006.

This is Colin Crabbe's 1949 model, probably chassis 110008. The Grand Prix regulations for 1946 to 1949, and for 1950 and 1951 after the World Drivers' Championship was introduced, stipulated a maximum capacity of 4½ litres for unsupercharged engine and 1½ litres for those with superchargers.

This is Kerry Wilson's car, described in the programme of the event as a 1945 model - presumably a misprint as the T26C didn't make an appearance till 1948.

Kerry Wilson being pushed from the paddock to the pits prior to a practice session.

Kerry Wilson at Lodge Corner during the race.

Early Memories and Mercedes Benz

I think it was the cutaway drawings of racing cars in The Eagle comic from 1950 onwards which first got me interested in motor racing. I remember later reading stories of the Mercedes Benz and Auto Union cars of the 1930s - the 'Silver Arrows' - and thinking how I'd have loved to have seen these cars in action.

In 1958, when I was 16 years old, Mercedes Benz sent 2 cars, a W125 of 1937 and a W154 of 1939 (at that time generally referred to as a W163) to the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy meeting at Oulton Park for Peter Collins and Tony Brooks to give demonstration runs. It was a time when car ownership wasn't as widespread as it is today and the only way to get to Oulton Park from where I lived (Denton, near Manchester) was to get a train from Manchester to Crewe, another train from Crewe to Beeston Castle, and then walk about 5 miles from there to the circuit. The only alternative was to do the whole journey (about 35 miles) by bicycle which I did quite a few times as a teenager, but on this occasion I chose the train and the walk. I did use my bike though to go to Manchester of the Friday afternoon after school as the cars were on display in the showroom of a Mercedes Benz dealer in Manchester.

Some 12 years later, in 1970, and then again in 1971, a W125 which had been discovered in (I think) East Germany by Colin Crabbe actually took part in the Richard Seaman Trophy race and in fact won on both occasions. The two photographs below are of the car at each of these meetings.

More recently, in 2007, Mercedes Benz sent a W125 to Donington Park, now the venue for the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy races and it gave a demonstration run driven by Tony Dron, seen below at McLeans corner.

For the 2008 meeting Mercedes Benz sent over to Donington Park one of the W154/163 cars which was again demonstrated by Tony Dron and the photograph below shows the car in the paddock with the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy just in front of the windscreen.

The Auto Unions are another story and I'll come to that some other time.