1952 Connaught A-Type

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 1999.

It's the 1952 Connaught A-Type of David Wenman which has a 4-cylinder inline engine based on the 1,767cc Lea Francis unit with the capacity increased to 1,960cc in line with the then current Formula 2 regulations. It is chassis A4 and one of Connaught's works team cars in 1952, when it was usually driven by Dennis Poore, then in 1953 it went to the Écurie Belge team where the drivers were Johnny Claes and André Pilette. It was driven in this race at Silverstone by Barrie Williams.

1952 Jaguar C-Type

This car is pictured just after Lodge Corner in the Coys Race for Pre-1959 Drum Brake Sports Cars at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2002.

It's David Wenman in his 1952 Jaguar C-Type which is chassis XKC008 and has the 6-cylinder inline 3,442cc Jaguar XK6 engine that powered all the C-Types, and was originally owned by Leslie Johnson who drove it in the 1953 Mille Miglia but failed to finish the race. Peter Walker and Peter Whitehead won the 1951 Le Mans 24 Hour Race in a Jaguar C-Type, and Duncan Hamilton and Tony Rolt repeated that feat in 1953.

Connaught A-Type and ERA R12B

Here are two of David Wenman's cars which both took part in the Hawthorn Memorial Trophy race at the VSCC's meeting at Oulton Park in June 2006.

The yellow car is a 1952 Connaught A Type which has a 1,960cc 4-cylinder inline engine based on the 1,767cc Lea Francis unit. It was chassis A4 and one of Connaught's works team cars in 1952, when it was usually driven by Dennis Poore, then in 1953 it went to the Écurie Belge team where the drivers were Johnny Claes and André Pilette. The blue car is the 1936 ERA R12B, named Hanuman II, with the 6-cylinder inline 1,488cc supercharged ERA engine. Before the Second World War this was one of Siamese Prince Chula's White Mouse Racing stable cars and was driven by his cousin Prince Bira. There's quite an involved story about this car and ERA R12C which you can read about in this history of all the ERA cars. David Wenman drove the Connaught in the Hawthorn Memorial Trophy race,and the ERA was driven by Tony Stephens.

Maserati 250F

This car is being readied in the paddock to take part in the VSCC Flockhart Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2006.

It's a 1957 Maserati 250F, or at least it's a replica built by Cameron Millar in the early 1980s using many original parts. Cameron Millar acquired a genuine Maserati 250F in 1964 which he kept and raced for 8 years. During this time he purchased the remaining cars and spare parts belonging to the Scuderia Centro Sud who had competed with the cars in the 1950s, and also the chassis jigs from the Maserati factory. He then set about building a series of replicas, using these original parts where possible, that are indistinguishable from the genuine Maserati 250F to such an extent that they are allowed by the FIA to take part in historic racing events. There are 12 cars in all, built between 1970 and the early 1990s and given a chassis number prefixed by the letters 'CM'. This particular car is CM5 and was owned at the time of this Donington Park meeting by David Wenman, and driven in the race by Barrie Williams.

Alfa Romeo 8C-35

These photographs were taken at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2006.

This is the 1935 Alfa Romeo 8C-35 of Peter Greenfield that took part in two of the races at this meeting. The car is chassis 50013 and has a supercharged 3,822cc straight-eight engine. It was raced by the Scuderia Ferrari team, by Tazio Nuvolari amongst others, on behalf of Alfa Romeo in 1936, and by Hans Ruesch as a privateer in the latter part of 1936 and in the 1937 season. Hans Ruesch and his co-driver Richard Seaman won the 1936 Donington Grand Prix in this car.

At this 2004 Donington Park meeting the car competed in the Historic Seaman Trophy Race bearing the number 24 as in the above two photographs taken in the pit garage.

Later in the day the car took part in the Flockhart Trophy Race as a reserve entry bearing the number 20, presumably because a Cooper Bristol in the same race had already been allocated the number 24. In the above photograph Peter Greenfield is leading David Wenman in his 1952 Connaught A4 at McLean's Corner during this race.

50013 was owned by Dennis Poore after WW2 and was raced by him between 1947 and 1955, later ending up in the Donington Park Museum where I took photographs of the car in 1989.

Aston Martin DBR4

Two of these cars, originally known as the Aston Martin DBR4/250, took part in the Flockhart Trophy Race at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2006.

This is the 1960 Aston Martin DBR4 of David Wenman, and was driven in the race by John Clark. Originally with a 2,493cc straight-6 engine, the programme of the event gave the capacity of this car as 2,892cc.

On 2 August 2017 I showed a photograph of David Wenman's car at Donington Park in September 2004.

This is Hubert Fabri's car and the programme gives the engine capacity as 2,992cc, the car being powered by an Aston Martin DB3S sportscar engine. On 7 May 2016 I showed a photograph of this car at Donington Park in June 2008.

Jaguar

These cars took part in the Italy v Rest of the World Race for Pre 1959 Drum Brake Sports Cars at the Silverstone Historic Festival meeting in August 2001.

On the left is the 1952 Jaguar C-Type of David Wenman that was driven in the race by Tony Stephens. It's chassis XKC008 and has the 6-cylinder inline 3,442cc Jaguar XK6 engine that powered all the C-Types, and was originally owned by Leslie Johnson who drove it in the 1953 Mille Miglia but failed to finish the race. The car on the right is the 1954 Jaguar XK120 of George Holt, again with the 3,442cc XK6 engine.

Connaught A Type

This car competed in the Flockhart Trophy Race at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2006.

It's David Wenman's 1952 Connaught A type, with a 4-cylinder inline engine based on the 1,767cc Lea Francis engine with the capacity increased to 1,960cc in line with the then current Formula 2 regulations. It's chassis number A4, and was at one time campaigned by the Ecurie Belge team.

On 7 March 2017 I showed photographs of this car taken at Oulton Park in 2005.

Aston Martin DBR4

This car was amongst the competitors in the Ron Flockhart Memorial Trophy Race at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2004.

It's David Wenman's 1959 Aston Martin DBR4, driven in the race by Barrie Williams. Originally built as a 2½ litre Formula 1 car, the programme of this event showed it to then have an engine capacity of 2,892cc. Four of these cars were built and this one is chassis number 2.

Connaught A Type

This car competed for the Hawthorn Memorial Trophy in the Hawthorn Memorial and Spanish Trophies Race at the VSCC's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2005.

It's the 1960cc 1952 Connaught A Type of David Wenman, chassis number A4, that was raced by Dennis Poore in the 1952 season before being sold to the Ecurie Belge to be raced by Johnny Claes and André Pillette the following season.

Here's David Wenman approaching Druids Corner during the race.

Connaught A Type

I showed two photographs a couple of days ago of David Wenman's ERA R12B at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2002 and said that although the ERA wasn't listed in the programme of the event, he had entered two Connaught A Types in the HGPCA Pre-1961 Grand Prix Cars race. Here are photographs of one of those cars.

You can see ERA R12B alongside the Connaught, which was driven in the race by Barrie Williams.

ERA

I photographed this car in the paddock at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2002.

It's not listed in the programme of the event, but it's David Wenman's ERA R12B, known as 'Hanuman II' since it was rebuilt following a crash at Rheims (or Reims as it's usually known now) in 1939 when it was part of Prince Chula's White Mouse stable (and driven by Prince Bira). It's a bit of an involved story because there's also an ERA R12C, known as 'Hanuman', a car built by Bill Morris in 1982 from some of the wreckage of R12B, and you can read about it in this history of the ERA cars. I can't remember if the car above took part in the 2002 Gold Cup meeting, but David Wenman had two Connaught A Types in the HGPCA Pre-1961 Grand Prix Cars race.

Maserati 250F

Three Maserati 250Fs took part in the Flockhart Trophy race at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in June 2008 and here is David Wenman's 1957 model being prepared in the paddock prior to the race.

I've been through the list of Maserati 250F serial numbers in the barchetta.cc website but I can't see which of the cars this one is.

Here's the car, driven by Tony Stephens, in the pit lane going on a practice run

During the race here's Tony Stephens following Brandon Smith-Hilliard's 250F, also a 1957 model, at McLean's corner.