1925 Sunbeam Tiger

I took this photograph during the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy Race for Vintage Racing Cars at the VSCC's meeting at Oulton Park in June 1993.

It's Vijay Mallya coming up to Lodge Corner in his 1925 Sunbeam Tiger, and behind him David Biggins in the 1926/23 Vauxhall 14/40 Rowley Special with a 30/98 engine. The Sunbeam Tiger has a supercharged 3,976cc V12 engine formed from two of the Grand Prix Sunbeam's 6-cylinder 2 litre engines in a V formation mated to a single crankshaft and a note in the programme of the event about the car reads as follows:

'The most powerful car in today's race is the 4 litre supercharged V12 Sunbeam Tiger of Vijay Mallya, another favourite for a win, though a first appearance at Oulton Park, we think, for Vijay himself. The Sunbeam took the Land Speed Record on Southport sands at 152.33 mph in 1926 driven by Seagrave and broke the Brooklands Outer Circuit record in 1929 at 137.58 mph driven by Kaye Don. Seagrave also led the free formula Spanish GP at San Sebastian with the car for four laps later in 1926 after which the tubular front axle broke in the middle due to inaccurate boring-out and Seagrave slid to a rather uncomfortable halt. The car has twice been a winner of the Vintage Seaman Trophy at Oulton Park when entered by Sir Ralph Millais and driven by George Burton in 1965 and by Neil Corner in 1970.'

1913/18 Vauxhall A/D Type Viper Special

This car competed in the 5 lap race for Edwardian Racing Cars at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2007.

It's a Vauxhall A/D Type Viper Special, entered for the race by Mrs A Crehan and driven by Michael Crehan. The car was built by David Biggins on a 1913 Vauxhall A Type chassis and has a 1918 11,778cc Hispano Suiza HS-8 V8 aero engine that was built under licence as a Wolseley Viper engine by Wolseley Motors during World War 1.

Nazzaro Targa Florio

This is one of the cars that took part in the VSCC Edwardian Cars Race at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2007.

It's David Biggins' 1912/13 Nazzaro Targa Florio, a 4.4 litre car produced by the Nazzaro & C. Fabbrica di Automobili in Turin. Felice Nazzaro was an Italian racing driver, competing from 1900 to 1923, mainly in Fiats but also in the cars bearing his own name. Only three of his cars are known to still exist and you can read about these cars in Paul Markham's excellent blog here.