Maserati 300S

I took this photograph in the paddock at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1995.

It's a Maserati 300S but didn't take part in any of the races that day, nor is it mentioned in the programme of the event and may well be a replica. The Maserati 300S has a 2,991cc 6-cylinder inline engine that was based on the 2½ litre unit of the 250F Grand Prix car with a longer stroke, and took part in the World Sportscar Championship between 1955 and 1957.

Friday's Ferrari

This car competed in the Shell Ferrari Historical Challenge race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It’s a 1956 Ferrari 860 Monza which has a Lampredi designed 3,432cc 4-cylinder inline engine and, in conjunction with the 290MM, was victorious in the 1956 World Sportscar Championship, winning three of the five races on the calendar, the 12 hours of Sebring, the Mille Miglia, and the Swedish Grand Prix. This car, #0604M, won the Sebring race that year driven by Juan Manuel Fangio and Eugenio Castellotti. At this Silverstone meeting the car was driven by the then owner Nicolaus Springer. and a later owner of the car was Chris Evans.

1994 Williams FW16

This car was on display in the paddock at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994.

It's a 1994 Williams FW16, the type of car with which Damon Hill finished in second place in the 1994 World Championship to Michael Schumacher's Benetton B194. Williams won the Constructors' Championship though, thanks to the efforts of David Coulthard and Nigel Mansell. Damon Hill won six of the sixteen races that season in the 3½ litre V10 Renault-engined car, and Nigel Mansell won the final race in Australia.

1960 Scarab F1

I took this photograph at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000.

It's a Scarab F1 car which was built by American Lance Reventlow's Reventlow Automobiles Inc to contest the 1960 Formula 1 racing season. Like the Aston Martin DBR4 it was virtually obsolete before it turned a wheel in anger - in the 1959 season, and again in 1960 the old front-engined cars were dominated by the rear-engined ones, and the old 2½ litre Formula was due to be replaced by a new 1½ litre limit in 1961. The car had a 2,441cc 4-cylinder inline engine designed for Scarab by Leo Goossen, formerly of Offenhauser, and only started in two races in 1960, both Lance Reventlow and Chuck Daigh retiring from the French Grand Prix, and the single entry in the USA Grand Prix finished in 10th place driven by Chuck Daigh. At this Silverstone meeting the car was driven by Don Orosco in the Maserati UK Race for Pre 1961 Grand Prix Cars.

1953 Cooper Bristol Mk II

This is a photograph that I took at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000.

It's the 1953 Cooper Bristol of Gregor Fisken and was driven in the Pre 1961 Grand Prix Cars race by Peter Bradfield. It is powered by a 1,971cc straight-6 Bristol engine based on the one in the pre-war BMW 328. The original Cooper Bristol was designed as a Formula 2 car, but found itself involved in Grand Prix racing in 1952 and 1953 when the World Championship was run to Formula 2 regulations. Gregor Fisken's car appears to be the ex-Ecurie Ecosse Cooper Bristol MkII (later called the T23) but it should have an air scoop running up the bonnet of the car.

1972 BRM P160E

The 50th Anniversary of the BRM was marked at the Coys International  Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1999 by a display of many of the cars, some of which took part in track parades. This is the 1972 BRM P160E which was driven in the track parades by Jean-Pierre Beltoise.

BRM had introduced the P160 in 1971 and it had a relatively successful season, winning two Grands Prix and finishing in second place in the World Constructors' Championship. The car struggled the following season, however, and despite several updates couldn't match the Lotus 72 and when its successor the BRM P180 proved to be uncompetitive the P160 was updated yet again to produce the 160E. The P160E made its debut in the Spanish Grand Prix in April 1972, and despite Jean-Pierre Beltoise winning the Monaco Grand Prix BRM only finished in seventh place in the World Constructors' Championship. The team fared no better in 1973, again finishing in seventh place in the World Constructors' Championship with a solitary fourth place finish by Jean-Pierre Beltoise being its best points-scoring finish. In 1974 Jean-Pierre Beltoise finished in fifth place in the first Grand Prix, in Argentina, but after the Brazilian Grand Prix he completed the season in the P201, though the team used the P160E in several more races that year.

Pre-1952 Grand Prix Cars at Silverstone

This is a photograph that I took at Luffield Corner during the Pre-1952 Grand Prix Cars Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

Leading is the 1932 Alfa Romeo Monza of Terry Cohn with Tony Bianchi’s 1948 Talbot Lago T26C on the outside and the 1939 Maserati 4CL of Norbert Schmitz-Koep at the rear.

Fifty years of the Formula One World Championship at Silverstone in July 2000

The Coys International Historical Festival meeting of July 2000 marked 50 years of the Formula 1 World Championship for Drivers with a display of cars covering that period, and this is a photograph that I took inside one of the marquees where the cars were displayed.

From the far end the cars here are:

 

1995 Benetton B195

1997 Stewart SF01

2000 Jaguar R1

2000 Jordan EJ10

1998 McLaren MP4/13

And a little bit of the 1950 Alfa Romeo 158

Cooper T45/51

This car took part in the Pre-1966 Grand Prix Cars Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It's the 1958 Cooper T45/51 of Rod Jolley which has a 4-cylinder inline 2,495cc Coventry Climax FPF engine. It is a 1958 T45 model uprated to the specifications of the 1959 T51, and is chassis #F2-23A-58.

1959 Maserati T61

This was one of the competitors in the 1950s Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It’s Alan Minshaw’s 1959 Maserati T61, generally known as a Maserati Birdcage on account of its space frame chassis and which has a 4-cylinder inline 2,850cc engine. It's chassis #2453, which was totally wrecked in an accident at Daytona in late 1959 but the remains were used to re-create the car in the early 1990s.

1956 Maserati 250S

This is a photograph that I took at Luffield Corner during the Classic Car Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994.

It's Jeremy Agace in his 1956 Maserati 250S which started off life as the 1,484cc 4-cylinder Maserati 150S of Argentinian Alejandro De Tomaso with the chassis number 1660. In 1957 it was converted to a Maserati 250S with a 2,489cc 4-cylinder engine and given a new chassis number 2411.

1955 Lancia D50

The Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000 celebrated 50 years of Formula One, the World Drivers' Championship having started in 1950, and the first race of that Championship was run at Silverstone on 13th May of that year. At the July 2000 meeting at Silverstone there was a representative display of cars covering that 50 year period, and the car below was one of those taking part.

It's a re-creation of the Lancia D50 that competed in the Championship in 1954 and 1955 and It has a reproduction chassis with an original offset 2,488cc V8 engine and transmission salvaged from Enzo Ferrari's 'scrapyard'. This car was owned by Robin Lodge, and was entered in the Maserati UK Race for Pre 1961 Grand Prix Cars, but Robin Lodge had taken the precaution of also entering his 1959 Ferrari 246 Dino for that race, both numbered 42, in case the Lancia was not allowed to take part because of a doubt about its eligibility. In the end the car was allowed to race and was driven by Robin Lodge - the Ferrari also  took part in the race, renumbered as 54 and was driven by Willie Green.

1959 Tec-Mec F415

This car competed in the Maserati UK Race for Pre 1961 Grand Prix Cars at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000.

Shown in the programme of the event as a TecMec it's the 1959 Tec-Mec F415 designed by Valerio Colotti as a lightweight version of the Maserati 250F. Colotti was employed by Maserati and was working on the design when Maserati pulled out of racing at the end of the 1958 season. He set up his own company, Studio Tecnica Meccanica, and Italian racing driver Giorgio Scarlatti encouraged him to continue with this work and bought shares in the company. American Gordon Pennington then persuaded Scarlatti to sell him the shares and arranged for Camoradi's Lucky Casner to run the team for what had now become Tec-Mec Automobili. When finished the car was entered for the 1959 US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen and Brazilian driver Fritz d'Orey was chosen to drive it. The car had clearly not gone through sufficient testing and Fritz d'Orey only qualified it in seventeenth place. It only lasted for six laps in the race before it retired with a serious oil leak and that turned out to be the only World Championship appearance by the car. It lingered in a Miami garage until 1967 when it was acquired by Tom Wheatcroft who brought the car back into working order and it was in his museum at Donington Park for many years. It was eventually sold to Barrie Baxter, who drove the car at this Silverstone meeting, and he raced it successfully before eventually passing the car on to Barry Wood.

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.

1935 Alfa Romeo 8C-35

This is one of the cars that competed in the HGPCA Pre '52 GP Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It's the 1935 Alfa Romeo 8C-35 of Paul Grist and has an 8-cylinder 3,822cc engine with twin overhead camshafts. It was built to challenge the Mercedes Benz and Auto Union cars but rarely managed to get the better of them. The Alfa Romeo 8C-35 was introduced when the Tipo B Monoposto – or P3 as it is more popularly known – became overdue for replacement.  The P3 had itself been derived from the Monza and had flown the Alfa flag with great success between 1932 and 1935. The 8C-35 never beat the German cars in a top level Grand Prix but did succeed in doing so in a number of smaller races, in the hands of Tazio Nuvolari.

Mercedes Benz Kompressor Club

Several members of Germany's Mercedes Benz Kompressor Club for vehicles produced between 1927 and 1934 attended the Coys International Historic Festival Meeting with their cars in July 1994 and took part in a demonstration run around the circuit. This is a photograph that I took at Luffield Corner during the demonstration run.

The programme of the event had this note about the Kompressor Club:

1960 Elva 200

This was one of the cars entered for the Coys of Kensington Formula Junior Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000.

It’s the 1960 Elva 200 of Grant Stephen and has a 1,098cc BMC Cosworth engine.

1957 Maserati 300S

This car competed in the 1950s Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It’s Burkhard von Schenk’s 1957 Maserati 300S, a model that was built from 1955 to 1959 to compete in the 3-litre class of the World Sportscar Championship. The Maserati 300S has a 6-cylinder inline 2,991cc engine and Burkhard von Schenk’s car is chassis #3082.

1955 Aston Martin DB3S

This car competed in the 1950s Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000.

It’s the 1955 Aston Martin DB3S of USA driver John Romano  and has the 6-cylinder inline 2,922cc Lagonda engine. It is chassis DB3S/113, a customer car which was originally supplied as a fixed head coupé. The original body was retained after it was rebuilt as an open car.

1958 BRM P25

The Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998 celebrated the 50th anniversary of racing at the Silverstone circuit with a display of cars representing each of the years from 1948 to 1997, and this is the car that represented 1957.

It's the 1958 BRM P25 of Steve O’Rourke and is a car that was said to be the fastest of the 1954-1960 Formula 1 era, partly due to the oversquare (102.87 mm bore x 74.93 mm stroke) 2,491cc engine allowing for larger valves to be fitted. The car was plagued with reliability problems, however, and the only Grand Prix win was Jo Bonnier's victory in the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix. Behind it is the Ferrari 500TRC of Modi Enav which represented 1958.