1954 Cooper MkVIII

This car is passing under the Clay Hill bridge just after the Knickerbrook corner during the  500cc Formula Three Cars race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1994.

It's the 1954 Cooper Mk VIII of Andrew Garner, one of the cars which dominated Formula 3 racing in the early postwar years. Many people found that the home-built cars with a 500cc motor cycle engine was an inexpensive way to compete in motor sport and Charles Cooper and his son John started to produce these cars in 1946, firstly for themselves but later making them for other people and eventually they formed the company that led to the Cooper Climax T51 with which Jack Brabham won the World Drivers' Championship in 1959.

1954 Cooper Mk VIII

This car competed in the 500cc Formula Three 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 the 1954 Cooper Mk VIII of Andrew Garner, one of the cars which dominated Formula 3 racing in the early postwar years. Many people found that the home-built cars with a 500cc motor cycle engine was an inexpensive way to compete in motor sport and Charles Cooper and his son John started to produce these cars in 1946, firstly for themselves but later making them for other people and eventually they formed the company that led to the Cooper Climax T51 with which Jack Brabham won the World Drivers' Championship in 1959.

1954 Cooper MkVIII

The Historic Sports Car Club’s meeting at Oulton Park in July 1992 included a Class for 1950s 500cc Formula 3 cars in the Monoposto Formula Junior Championship race which included this one that I photographed on the straight between Foulstons chicane and Knickerbrook.

It's the 1954 Cooper MkVIII of Andrew Garner, one of the 13 different 'Mark' numbers given to the Cooper 500cc machines between 1946 and 1959. The 500 Owners Association has a website which has lots of details of the 500cc Formula 3 cars including details of most of the marques that contested the races in that period.

500cc Formula 3 cars at Donington Park

I took this photograph at McLeans Corner during the 5 lap Scratch Race for Formula 3 Racing Cars at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

Leading is the 1952 Cooper Mk VI of George Shackleton with close behind on the right the 1954 Cooper Mk VIII of Nigel Challis. The red car, mostly hidden by George Shackleton's Cooper, is the 1955 Petty F3 car of David Lecoq, and behind that is the yellow 1952 Kieft CK52 of Rodney Delves. Bringing up the rear in this photograph is the blue 1955 Cousy No2 of John Jones. There's a thriving 500 Owners Association with details of lots of the cars that have competed in 500cc racing since it started in 1946.

On 16 February 2016 I showed photographs of several of the 500cc cars that I had taken in the paddock at this meeting.

500cc Formula 3 Cars

I've featured the 500cc Formula 3 cars of the 1950 twice before, at a 1982 Oulton Park meeting on 2 April 2013 and at a 2011 meeting at Donington Park on 11 August 2015. Here are photographs of some more of the 500cc cars at that Donington Park SeeRed meeting in May 2011.

Rodney Delves' 1952 Kieft CK52

Sir John Chisholm's 1952 Arnott 500

George Shackleton's 1952 Cooper Mk VI

Neil Hodges' 1954 Cooper Mk VIII

Xavier Kingsland's 1953 Staride Mk III

Frederick Harper's 1950 Cooper Mk IV

Mrs Shirley Monro's 1950/51 Cooper Mk IV

Mark Palmer's 1956 Wishart Mk II

Roy Hunt's 1953/54 Martin 500

David Whiteside's 1953 Cooper Mk VII

Vernon Williamson's 1950 JP Prototype

John Turner's 1955 Cooper Mk IX

Nigel Challis's 1954 Cooper Mk VIII

More details of the cars, and all aspects of 500cc Formula 3 racing can be found on the 500 Owners Association website.

500cc racing cars - Formula 3 of the 1950s

When I first started watching motor racing at Oulton Park and Aintree in the mid-1950s most meetings included in the support races an event for the 500cc Formula 3 cars. These usually produced close and exciting racing and even the star Grand Prix drivers would frequently take part in the races. This is what Wikipedia says about the Formula:

'History

A typical early car, the Effyh 500 (1947–1952) was built in Malmö, Sweden and was one of the more successful cars. It had a lightweight tube chassis, aluminium bodywork and was powered by a 500cc JAP engine.

Formula Three (adopted by the FIA in 1950) evolved from postwar auto racing, with lightweight tube-frame chassis powered by 500 cc motorcycle engines (notably Nortons and JAP speedway). The 500 cc formula originally evolved in 1946 from low-cost "special" racing organised by enthusiasts in Bristol, England, just before the Second World War; British motorsport after the war picked up slowly, partly due to petrol rationing which continued for a number of years and home-built 500 cc cars engines were intended to be accessible to the "impecunious enthusiast". The second post-war motor race in Britain was organised by the VSCC in July 1947 at RAF Gransden Lodge, 500cc cars being the only post-war class to run that day. Unfortunately the race was a complete flop, as three of the seven entrants were non-starters, and, of the four runners, all but one were out of it in the first lap, leaving Eric Brandon in his Cooper Prototype (T2) trailing round to a virtual walk-over at the unimpressive speed of 55.79 mph, though his best lap (which was the fastest recorded for any 500) was 65.38 mph.

Cooper came to dominate the formula with mass-produced cars, and the income this generated enabled the company to develop into the senior categories. Other notable marques included Kieft, JBS and Emeryson in England and Effyh, Monopoletta and Scampolo in Europe. John Cooper, along with most other 500 builders, decided to place the engine in the middle of the car, driving the rear wheels. This was mostly due to the practical limitations imposed by chain drive but it gave these cars exceptionally good handling characteristics which eventually led to the mid-engined revolution in single-seater racing.

The 500cc formula was the usual route into motor racing through the early and mid 1950s (and stars like Stirling Moss continued to enter selected F3 events even during their GP careers). Other notable 500 cc Formula 3 drivers include Stuart Lewis-Evans, Ivor Bueb, Jim Russell, Peter Collins, Don Parker, Ken Tyrrell, and Bernie Ecclestone.

From a statistical point of view, Don Parker was the most successful F3 driver. Although coming to motor racing late in life (at age 41 in 1949), he won a total of 126 F3 races altogether, and was described by Motor Sport magazine (in his 1998 obituary) as "the most successful Formula 3 driver in history." Although Stirling Moss was already a star by 1953, Parker beat him more than any other driver, and was Formula 3 Champion in 1952, again in 1953, and in 1954 he only lost the title by a half-point. He took the title for a third time in 1959.

In 1954, Parker took on a young man named Norman Graham Hill as his mechanic and general assistant, and gave him his first taste of competitive motorsport in a 500cc car at Brands Hatch. Some years later, now using his middle name of Graham, this young man twice became Formula 1 World Champion (1962 and 1968).

Don Parker retired shortly after the 1959 season, having chosen not to move to Formula 2 or Formula 1, and thereafter raced only occasionally. However, he maintained his enthusiasm for fast cars, and in 1961 Jaguar built him a specially modified high-performance Mark 2 3.8 litre saloon. This car was reputedly the fastest Mark 2 ever built, having been tested at 140 m.p.h. on the recently opened (but still unrestricted) M4 motorway.

500cc Formula Three declined at an international level during the late 1950s, although it continued at a national level into the early 60s, being eclipsed by Formula Junior for 1000 or 1100 cc cars (on a sliding scale of weights).'

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Races for the 500cc cars are often a feature at Vintage and Historic car meetings and here are some photographs which I took at the Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1982:

The 1954 Cooper Mk VIII of D Price

The 1951 Cooper Mk V of R Wright at Lodge Corner

The 1955 Cooper MK IX of J Turner, also at Lodge Corner. He seems to be taking an altogether more leisurely  approach than Mr Wright!