1951 Cooper Mk V

This was one of the competitors in the Scratch Race for 500cc Racing Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1981.

It's the 1951 Cooper Mk V of R.F.H.Wright with a 4998cc engine. After the Second World War motor racing in the UK was slow to re-start, partly because of petrol rationing and the cost of running a suitable car. Home-built ‘specials’ powered by 500cc motorcycle were created to provide a reasonably cheap way means of getting involved in the sport. John Cooper and Eric Brandon, with the assistance of John’s father Charles, decided in 1946 to build two cars, and in 1947 in the second post-war race meeting to be held Eric Brandon won the first race to feature 500cc cars. In 1950 this 500cc class of racing was adopted by the FIA as a new Formula 3, and John and Charles Cooper went on to build a series of these 500cc cars, eventually graduating to Formula 2, then Formula 1 culminating in Jack Brabham winning the World Drivers’ Championship in 1959 and 1960 in the 2½ litre Cooper Climax. There's a 500 Owners Association for all 500cc Formula Three enthusiasts, with lots of information about the different marques that took part.

1951 Cooper

This car competed in the 500cc Formula 3 Cars Class in the Historic Formula Junior Championship race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1992.

It's shown in the programme of the event simply as a 1951 Cooper with a 500cc engine and if it's a 1951 car it should be a Cooper Mk V. It's obviously been considerably modified and even has wire wheels instead of the alloy wheels that most of Cooper's 500cc cars had, and I've not been able to find photographs on the internet of any car that resembles this one.. The driver was a Shirley Dickson of Chichester, and again a search of the internet has revealed nothing.

Cooper Mk V

This car took part in the Historic Formula Racing Cars Pre '65 Single Seat Championship race at the HSCC's Summer Race Meeting at Oulton Park in July 1995.

It's the 1952 Cooper Mk V of Ian Scott which competed in the Formula 3 races of the 1950s where engines were limited to 500cc. The programme of the event says that this car's capacity was 499cc and I noted at the time that it's a JAP engine, but it doesn't say so in the programme.

There's a 500 Owners Association for owners of these cars and their website has details of all the cars that took part in this class of racing, including the Cooper Mk V.