2003 McLaren MP4/17D

This is a photograph that I took at the Donington Park museum in September 2014.

It’s a 2003 McLaren MP4/17D. a car that competed in the Formula One World Championship races in 2003. It had a 2,998cc Mercedes-Benz V10 engine and was driven by David Coulthard and and Kimi Räikkönen. They each won one race – Coulthard the  Australian GP and Räikkönen the Malaysian GP - and Räikkönen ended the season with 91 points and second place to Michael Schumacher in the Drivers’ World Championship while Coulthard had 51 points in seventh place. McLaren finished in third place in the Constructors’ Championship.

1959 Cooper-Climax T51

This is a photograph that I took at the Donington Park Museum in September 2014.

It's a 1959 Cooper-Climax T51 and the book 'Great Racing Cars of the Donington Collection has this note about it:

 

The works cars of Brabham and Salvadori began running 2.2-litre Climax engines and Leonard Lee of the Coventry company authorized development of full 2½-litre units for 1959. With 2,495cc, and 240bhp the Cooper-Climax T51s were on a power-to-weight par with the front-engined opposition, and Jack Brabham and Bruce McLaren – his youthful New Zealand team-mate – proved them totally competitive. Brabham won the Monaco and British GPs, and when his car ran out of fuel while leading the United States GP at Sebring, McLaren took over to score a victory which assured Brabham and Cooper-Climax of the World Championship titles.

 

There’s also this note about the T51 in the Donington Collection:

 

Cooper-Climax T51

Chassis unnumbered – Collection property – believe to be works No. 2 car, as driven by Bruce McLaren in 1959. To Collection from the late Jo Siffert’s collection of racing cars, Fribourg, Switzerland.

Jaguar F1 Cars

This is a photograph that I took at the Donington Park Museum in September 2014 and shows the Jaguar cars that competed in Formula One racing from 2000 to 2002, each with a 3 litre V10 Ford Cosworth engine, after Ford had  taken over the Stewart Racing Team in 1999.

On the left is the Jaguar R1 with which the team competed in the 2000 Formula One season but which proved largely disappointing, despite flashes of promise. It generally proved difficult to drive and suffered from an unreliable gearbox. Eddie Irvine, the 1999 championship runner-up could only score 4 points, placing the team ninth overall in the Constructors’ Championship. The R1 was the last F1 car that Johnny Herbert raced, the experienced Englishman retiring at the end of the season. It was also the car in which Luciano Burti made his race debut.

 

On the right is the 2001 Jaguar R2 which was driven for the whole of that season by Eddie Irvine with Luciano Burti driving the second car in the first four races and Pedro de la Rosa taking over that car for the remainder of the season. Eddie Irvine posted the best result for the team with a third place in the Monaco Grand Prix.

 

In the middle is the 2002 Jaguar R3 driven by Eddie Irvine and Pedro de la Rosa, the best finish being third place for Eddie Irvine in the Italian Grand Prix. This particular car was De la Rosa’s regular car during 2002 and was later used in tests in the Pininfarina wind tunnel. The colours show the air pressure around the car – blue for low, green for neutral, and red for high pressure, which created the downforce to keep the car on the road.

Friday's Ferrari

The SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005 included 'A Demonstration of Italian Racing Cars' which consisted of some laps of the track by a variety of Maseratis, Ferraris and a Lancia D50. This is one of the Ferraris that took part in the demonstration.

It's Nick Mason's 1978 Ferrari 312 T3, chassis number 034 and the car Gilles Villeneuve drove for most of the 1978 racing season.

2000 Audi R8

In May 2001 Audi brought an Auto Union C-Type and a D-Type to the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Donington Park, together with several other cars and motorcycles. This was one of the other cars which they brought, pictured  on the stretch between the Old Hairpin and McLean's Corner during a demonstration run that day.

It’s the 2000 Audi R8, developed from the previous year's R8R and powered by the same 3.6 litre V8 engine. The R8 competed in the Le Mans 24 Hour race six times, from 2000 to 2005, winning on 5 occasions (finishing in the first three places in 2000) and being beaten only in 2003 - by the Bentley Speed 8.

1991 Williams FW14

This is a photograph that I took on a visit to the Donington Park Museum in September 2014.

It's the 1991 Williams FW14 that was designed by Adrian Newey with a 3,493cc Renault V10 engine. It was driven by Nigel Mansell and Riccardo Patrese in the 1991 season, Mansell finishing in second place in the Drivers' Championship to Ayrton Senna and Patrese in third place with Williams in second place in the Constructors' Championship. With minor alterations the FW14B was almost unbeatable in 1992 with Mansell winning nine races and Patrese's sole victory and a string of second places gave him second place in the Drivers' Championship.

1944 Volkswagen Kübelwagen Type 82

I took this photograph at the Donington Park museum in September 2014 in the area set aside for Tom Wheatcroft’s son Kevin’s collection of World War II military vehicles.

It’s a 1944 Volkswagen Kübelwagen Type 82, over 50,000 of which were built between 1940 and 1945.

 

AI tells me that the military vehicles were moved into private storage when the museum closed down in 2018.

1948 Maserati 4CLT

This is a photograph that I took in the Donington Park Museum in March 1996.

It's a Maserati 4CLT which was a development of the pre-War 4CL and has a 4-cylinder inline 1,491cc supercharged engine. The first 4CLT was produced in 1947 and the 1948 variant made its debut at the San Remo Grand Prix, winning the race in the hands of Alberto Ascari. The 4CLT has ever since been known as the 'San Remo'. After spending some time trying to find this car's chassis number I eventually came across this site  which says it's #1607 and gave this information:

'Maserati 4CLT-48 [1607]: To Enrico Platé for 1949 (dated 14 Nov 1949 in Maserati records) and raced by Bira up to Geneva 1950. Car fitted with a 4450cc OSCA V12 engine for Bira for the 1951 season. The OSCA was taken to Australia in 1955 by Bira as a spare car to his 250F and sold there to Alf Harvey who raced it from 1955 to 1959. The car then went to the UK for historic racing and was bought by Tom Wheatcroft in 1971. Subsequently in the Donington Museum.'

Lotus Exige

This is a photograph that I took as I was leaving the Donington Park circuit at the end of the SeeRed meeting in May 2011.

It’s probably a Lotus Exige a car which was produced by Lotus from 2000 to 2021 with various different engines, but since the DVLA says that the vehicle details for P3 SKE could not be found I’m unable to give a more precise definition.

1954 BRM P30

This is a photograph that I took at the Donington Park Museum in October 1989 when the Collection was not displayed as well as in later days.

It's the 1954 BRM P30, V16 Mk2 No2, alternatively known as V16/05. This car competed in Formula Libre races for a few years, and the only time I saw one in competitive action was in the Formula Libre race at the 1955 Aintree 200 meeting when Peter Collins won the race in this car. The Mk2 is a shortened and lighter version of the original V16 BRM P15 but has the same 1,496cc V16 supercharged engine which was claimed to produce 600bhp at 12,000rpm. The car was owned by Nick Mason before joining the Donington Collection, then by Bernie Ecclestone who bought the whole collection when the Donington museum closed. All of Bernie Ecclestone’s cars were later acquired by Mark Mateschitz.

1957 Cooper Mk XI

This is a photograph that I took at McLeans Corner during the Scratch Race for Formula 3 (500cc) Racing Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

Leading is Nigel Ashman in a 1957 Cooper Mk XI, closely followed by Richard Ellingworth’s 1954 Kieft F3.

Maseratis

The featured marque at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005 was Maserati with particular emphasis on the 250F and twelve of these cars are listed in the Celebration Maserati Invitation Race with a further four being shown as static display or track demonstration cars. This is a photograph that I took at McLean’s corner during that race.

Leading is Klaus Edel in the ex-Gilby Engineering Company's Maserati 250F, with the replacement chassis #2507/2 given to the car after an accident at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in 1954. Behind it is the 1934 Maserati 8CM, chassis #3009, of Sean Danaher and the car in the background seems to be Stefan Rettenmaier's 1956 Maserati 250F, chassis #2520.

1957 Vanwall 'Streamliner'

I took this photograph at the Donington Park museum in September 2014.

It's the 1957 Vanwall F1 car with the streamlined body that never actually raced. The Vanwall of 1956-58 was designed by Colin Chapman and the body by Frank Costin, and it used the Vanwall engine designed by Norton engineer Leo Kuzmicki which was basically an enlarged version of four single-cylinder 498cc Norton engines joined together. The streamlined body was taken to the high-speed Reims circuit (a triangular five-mile road circuit with just two sharp corners and a couple of long sweeping curves) in July of 1957 for the non-championship Reims Grand Prix for evaluation. Regular drivers Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks were unavailable and Roy Salvadori and Stuart Lewis-Evans were drafted in for the race. Both drivers tried the streamlined car in practice, but it proved no faster than the normal one, which both drivers preferred to use in the race.

Friday's Ferrari

This is a photograph that I took  during the HGPCA Race for Pre-1961 Grand Prix Cars at the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association's meeting at Donington Park in May 2004.

It's Alexander Boswell's in his 1952/55 Ferrari 625, originally a Ferrari 500, chassis #0482, built as a 4-cylinder 2 litre Formula 2 car and used in World Championship races in 1952 and 1953 when they were run to Formula 2 regulations. The new Formula 1 regulations specifying a 2½ litre engine came into force in 1954 and this car was given a 2½ litre unit to convert it to a Ferrari 625. It later had a 4-cylinder 3-litre Ferrari 735 engine installed and was raced in Australia by Peter Whitehead.

1958 Lister Monza Jaguar

This car took part in the Flockhart Trophy Race at Donington Park at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting in June 2008.

It's the 1958 Lister MonzaJaguar of Rod Jolley with a 6-cylinder inline 3,781cc Jaguar engine that was built for Ecurie Ecosse to run in the Race of Two Worlds at Monza. The Race of Two Worlds was conceived as an annual exhibition event to be run on the banked oval at Monza and contested by two teams of cars from the USA (USAC cars as in the Indianapolis 500 race) and from Europe (F1 World Championship cars). Because of safety concerns and costs (and a lack of enthusiasm amongst the European F1 teams) the event only lasted for two years, 1957 and 1958, being won by the American cars on both occasions. Ecurie Ecosse entered a team of three Jaguar D-types in the 1957 race, and in 1958 two Jaguar D-types and this single seat Lister Jaguar built especially for the race and consequently known as the Lister Jaguar Monzanapolis. The building was completed in the paddock at Monza leaving insufficient time to paint the aluminium body of the car before the race, but it was later painted Ecurie Ecosse blue. It was subsequently  returned to the original unpainted finish.

1953/4 Maserati A6GCM

This is a photograph that I took at McLeans Corner during the HGPCA's International Historic Grand Prix meeting at Donington Park in May 2004.

It's David Bennett's 1953/4  Maserati A6GCM. The car is finished in the Siamese colours of Prince Bira who competed in a Maserati A6GCM in the 1954 season. This is a car that that started off life in 1953 as a Maserati A6GCM, chassis number 2044 with a 6-cylinder inline 1,979cc engine, but was converted to a 250F in 1954 with a 6-cylinder inline 2,493cc engine and given the chassis number 2504. Later that year after an accident the chassis 2504 was switched with that of 2509.  Though it's shown in the programme of the event as a Maserati A6GCM it also says that it had a 2,493cc engine, so I suppose it should really have been called a 250F.

1959 Cooper-Climax T51

This is a photograph that I took at the Donington Park Museum in October 1989.

It's a 1959 Cooper-Climax T51 and the book 'Great Racing Cars of the Donington Collection has this note about it:

The works cars of Brabham and Salvadori began running 2.2-litre Climax engines and Leonard Lee of the Coventry company authorized development of full 2½-litre units for 1959. With 2,495cc, and 240bhp the Cooper-Climax T51s were on a power-to-weight par with the front-engined opposition, and Jack Brabham and Bruce McLaren – his youthful New Zealand team-mate – proved them totally competitive. Brabham won the Monaco and British GPs, and when his car ran out of fuel while leading the United States GP at Sebring, McLaren took over to score a victory which assured Brabham and Cooper-Climax of the World Championship titles.

 

There’s also this note about the T51 in the Donington Collection:

 

Cooper-Climax T51

Chassis unnumbered – Collection property – believe to be works No. 2 car, as driven by Bruce McLaren in 1959. To Collection from the late Jo Siffert’s collection of racing cars, Fribourg, Switzerland.

1956 Gordini T16

This is a photograph that I took during the HGPCA Race for Pre-1961 Grand Prix Cars at the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association race meeting at Donington Park in May 2004.

It’s the 1956 Gordini T16 of Belgian driver Marc Valvekens which has a six-cylinder inline 2½ litre engine. Amédée Gordini competed in Grand Prix racing between 1950 and 1956, and also in sports car racing, with cars bearing the Gordini name and later became a performance tuner of Renault and Alpine cars. Gordini is now a division of Renault Sport.

1972 BRM P180

This is a photograph that I took at the Donington Park Museum in September 2014.

It's a 1972 BRM P180, a car that was designed by Tony Southgate and had a 2,998cc V12 BRM P142 engine. The car was hardly used, BRM preferring the earlier P160 and the only race finish by the P180 was Jean-Pierre Beltoise's eighth place in the Italian Grand Prix.

2004 Williams FW26

This is one of the Williams F1 cars that were in the Donington Park Museum on the last time I went there in September 2014.

It's a Williams FW26 which was campaigned by the Williams team in the 2004 season. The car was designed by Patrick Head, Gavin Fisher and Antonia Terzi, and had a 2,998cc V10 BMW engine. It was driven by Juan Pablo Montoya in all 18 races while the driving of the second car was shared by Ralf Schumacher, Antonio Pizzonia and Marc Gené. Juan Pablo Montoya finished in fifth place in the World Drivers' Championship winning the last race of the season, the Brazilian Grand Prix, while Ralf Schumacher had a second place finish in the Japanese Grand Prix to end up in ninth place in the Championship. Williams finished in fourth place in the World Constructors' Championship. The car pictured has the narrower nose that was used towards the end of the season.