1960 Cooper Monaco

This is a photograph that I took at the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1986.

It's the 1960 Cooper Monaco of Sid Hoole which competed in the HSCC Pre ’60 Historic Sports Car Championship race and the programme of the event says it had a 2,500cc emgine. There were three versions of the Cooper Monaco, the T49 of 1959, the T57 of 1960 and the T61 of 1961, so this should be a  T57.

1950s Sports Car Racing at Silverstone

This is a photograph that I took at Luffield Corner during the 1950s Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

The number 35 car is the 1960 Cooper Monaco of John Harper and it’s being closely followed by James Shead in his 1959 Lotus 15. Behind them are two Lister Jaguars, and the red number 10 in the background is Martin Stretton in Peter Scott’s 1955 Maserati 300S.

Cooper Monaco

This is a photograph I took at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992

It's a Cooper Monaco but the programme of the event doesn't show it as appearing in the HGPCA Sports Car Race, the only Coopers being two Cooper Jaguars and two Cooper T39 Bobtails. There were three versions of the Cooper Monaco, the T49 of 1959, the T57 of 1960 and the T61 of 1961. These three cars look very similar, but I think that this one is a T49.

1959 Cooper Monaco

This is a photograph that I took at the Silverstone Historic Festival meeting in August 2001.

It's the 1959 Cooper T49 Monaco of Mark Clubb and has a 4-cylinder inline 1,990cc Coventry Climax engine. The name 'Monaco' was given to the car to mark Maurice Trintignant's win in the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix in a Cooper Climax T45. It was the successor to the smaller centre-seat Cooper T39 'Bobtail' that the company had produced since 1954. This car is chassis CM/6/59, the sixth of eight factory built cars and was sold to a customer in the USA. In 1979 the car was offered for sale and was bought by Stirling Moss and the following year he sold it as a restoration project to David Watson. David Watson commissioned Hall and Fowler to carry out the restoration and when it was finished he sold it to a US collector who kept the car until 1999 when it was acquired by Mark Clubb who kept the car until 2014.

1959 Cooper Monaco

This is a photograph that I took in the paddock at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2002.

It's the 1959 Cooper Monaco that Frank Sytner drove in the BRDC Historic Sportscar Championship race, and the photo was obviously taken early in the day as the race number (1) hadn't yet been painted on the car. The Cooper Monaco, also known as the T49, was powered by engines ranging from 1,100cc to 2,000cc and this one has a 4-cylinder inline 1,960cc Coventry Climax engine. The name 'Monaco' was given to the car to mark Maurice Trintignant's win in the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix in a Cooper Climax T45. It was the successor to the smaller centre-seat Cooper T39 'Bobtail' that the company had produced since 1954. This undated history of the car was produced by william i’anson ltd when the car came up for auction, presumably in 2020.

1963 Cooper Monaco King Cobra

This was one of the competitors in the one hour long World Sports Car Masters race at the Silverstone Classic meeting in July 2010.

It's the 1963 Cooper Monaco King Cobra of Keith Ahlers, a modified Cooper T61 Monaco chassis with an American V8 engine. The programme of the event doesn't give any details of the car except that it has a 4.7 litre engine, presumably a Ford 289 cu in V8 unit. It may be chassis CM/2/63.

1950s Sports Racing Cars

I took this photograph at Redgate Corner on the first lap of the 1950s Sports Racing Cars race at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in June 2008.

Leading is the 4.7 litre 1959 Lister Corvette of Jamie McIntyre followed by the 2 litre 1959 Lotus 15 of his brother Ewan McIntyre. The green car on the outside is the 5.4 litre 1952 Allard J2X Le Mans of Tom Walker ahead of the red 2 litre 1959 Cooper Monaco of Paul Woolley. The yellow car is the 1.2 litre Widi-Climax of Rupert Wood and behind that are two Cooper Monacos, neither of which are listed in the programme of the event for this race. The one on the left, however, looks like that of Mark Clubb who competed in the BRDC Historic Sports Car race the previous day in his 2 litre 1959 model, and the other one could be the 2 litre 1959 car of Graeme Dodd who also took part in that race. The car with the motorcycle mudguards on the extreme left of the picture is the 2 litre 1953 Cooper Bristol T24 of Peter Mann, driven by John Ure, and next to that another Lister, which looks like the 3.8 litre 1959 Lister Knobbly of Barry Wood.

Cooper Monaco

This car competed in the BRDC Historic Sportscar Championship race at the HGPCA's Donington International Historic Grand Prix meeting at Donington Park in May 2004.

It's the 1959 Cooper Monaco T49 of Ted Williams, powered by a 2-litre Coventry Climax engine. The car was offered for auction in September 2013 by Bonhams, who provided this history of the car, chassis number 002.

The car is pictured here at McLeans Corner during the race behind the Cooper Monaco of John Harper, accompanied by the Lister Corvette of Julian Bronson and the Lotus 15 of Philip Walker. On 30 November 2016 I showed a photograph of Anthony Ditheridge's Cooper Monaco in the paddock at this event.

Cooper Monaco

I photographed this car in the pit lane during a practice session at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park on June 2008.

It's the 1959 Cooper T49 Monaco that was driven in the one hour long BRDC Historic Sportscars race by Mark Clubb and Martin Stretton. I've seen the name 'Monaco' for this car ascribed to both Maurice Trintignant's win in the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix in a Cooper Climax T45 and Jack Brabham's victory in the same race the following year in a Cooper Climax T51, but since the Cooper Monaco was announced in November 1958 the Maurice Trintignant win seems to be the most likely source. It was the successor to the smaller centre-seat Cooper T39 'Bobtail' that the company had produced since 1954. A variety of engines were used in the Monaco, mainly Climax and Maserati, ranging from 1½ litres up to 2½ litres, and this particular car has a 2 litre unit. It's probably the car detailed in this racecarsdirect.com feature.

Cooper Monaco

I took this photograph at the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association's Donington International Grand Prix meeting in May 2004.

Both cars belong to Anthony Ditheridge, and number 20 is a 1959 Cooper Monaco T49 which the programme of the event says has a 1960cc engine. The car was named the 'Monaco' by Charles and John Cooper after Jack Brabham's victory in the 1959 Monaco Grand Prix. Car number 8 is a 1958 Cooper T45, also with a 1960cc engine according to the programme. The T45 was developed for Formula 2 racing and  it would have originally had a 1½ litre engine.

Lola T70 Spyder

Here's a car that took part in the 1 hour long Sports Racing Masters race at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2006.

It's the 5.7 litre Chevrolet-engined 1964 Lola T70 Spyder shared by Chris Chiles jnr and Paul Ingram. Developed for Can-Am racing, the Lola T70 won the first series in 1966 in the hands of John Surtees.

Here's the car at Redgate corner during the race leading the 1963 Cooper Monaco T49 of Ted Williams & Chris Clarkson.

Allard J2X Le Mans

The entry list for the Hawthorn International Trophy race at the Vintage Sports Car Club meeting at Oulton Park in June 2008 included the car shown below.

It's a 1952 Allard J2X Le Mans. The Allard J2 had motor cycle style mudguards and the J2X was introduced to comply with 1952 FIA regulations which said that cars must have all-enveloping bodywork.

Here's the owner of the car, Tom Walker, leading the Cooper Monaco T49 of Paul Woolley and the Lister Knobbly of Barry Wood at Britten's chicane during the race.