1983 Williams FW08C

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

It’s the 1983 Williams FW08C that was driven in the 1983 World Championship season by Keke Rosberg and Jacques Laffite. It was designed by Frank Dernie and had a 2,993cc Ford Cosworth DFV engine. The were 15 Grand Prix races that season and Keke Rosberg gained the only victory for the team in the Monaco Grand Prix, finishing the season in fifth place in the World Drivers’ Championship with 27 points. Jacques Lafite acquired 11 points to finish in eleventh place in the Championship and McLaren finished in fifth place in the World Constructors’ Championship.

1994 Williams FW16B

This is one of the several Williams Cars on display at the Donington Park Museum when I visited in September 2014.

It's a 1994 Williams FW16, the car with which Damon Hill finished in second place in the 1994 World Championship to Michael Schumacher's Benetton B194. The car was designed by Adrian Newey and has a 3,500cc Renault RS6 V10 engine. The previous year’s World Champion, Alain Prost, had retired at the end of the 1993 season so the number 1 (which was always given to the previous year’s Champion) wasn’t used and Ayrton Senna had moved to Williams from the McLaren team to take the number 2 car, so Damon Hill’s car was given the number 0. Ayrton Senna tragically lost his life in a crash in the early stages of the third race of the season, the San Marino Grand Prix, where Roland Ratzenberger had already suffered a fatal accident during practice. David Coulthard, and Nigel Mansell towards the end of the season, took over the number 2 Williams car and the three drivers managed to gain enough points for Williams to win the World Constructors’ Championship.

1911 Cottin et Desgouttes

I took this photograph on a visit to the Donington Park Museum in October 1989.

 

It's a 1911 Cottin et Desgouttes Grand Prix car that was driven by Georges Deydier in the French Grand Prix that year, but he failed to finish the race. It has a 10½ litre engine, and the history of the car is recounted here.

1935 Austin 7 Twin Cam

I took this photograph on a visit to the Donington Park Museum in September 2014.

It's one of the two remaining very successful Austin 7 single seater racing cars that were built in 1935, and the board next to the car reads as follows:

'1935

Austin 7 Twin Cam

 

These lovely little single seaters were Sir Herbert Austin’s reply

to the successful M.G. Midgets fielded by Sir William Morris in

the 1930s.

Designed by T. Murray-Jamieson, well known for his work on

super chargers, and assisted by W.V. Appleby & T. Brown, the

cars had a troubled debut in 1936, with most of the testing and

development carried out here at Donington Park.

With teething troubles rectified, these cars went from strength

to strength during the 1937/38/39 seasons. Usually driven by

L.P. Driscoll, C.L. Goodacre & “Bert” Hadley they competed in

everything from speed trials and hill climbs through to 500 mile

races at Brooklands. The two “twin cams” made many

appearances at Donington Park winning, along with numerous

sprints and handicap races, the Coronation Trophy here in 1937,

the British Empire Trophy race here in 1938 and the Imperial

Trophy at Crystal Palace in 1939.

Not only were these cars pretty to look at, the 747cc

Engine was an engineering masterpiece, very highly stressed

And reputedly capable of revving to 12,000 R.P.M.'

I understand that this car is now at the British Motor Museum at Gaydon.

1985 Toleman 185

I took this photograph at the Donington Park Museum in October 1989.

It's the 1985 Toleman TG185 that was driven by Teo Fabi and Piercarlo Ghinzani. The car was designed by Rory Byrne, very similar to the previous year's TG184 that had been driven by Ayrton Senna and powered by the same 4-cylinder inline Hart 415T 1,459cc turbocharged engine. The highlight of the season was Teo Fabi's pole position in the German Grand Prix, but he only managed two finishes, a 14th place in France and 12th in Italy, while Piercarlo Ghinzani failed to finish any of the five races in which he started. The team was bought out by Benetton at the end of the season. 

2004 BAR 060

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

It's the BAR-Honda 060 that Jenson Button and Takuma Sato drove in the 2004 season. The board at the side of the car reads like this:

2004     B.A.R.   060

The BAR 060 car was driven by Jenson Button in the

2004 Formula One Championship. This car helped bring

Jenson Button home third in the drivers’ series and take

BAR to second place in the manufacturers’

championship.

In the last weeks of 2001, Prodrive was brought in by

BAR to take over the management of the then

underperforming Formula One team.

As part of the agreement, a team of Prodrive

management, including chairman David Richards, was

seconded to the team. Prodrive restructured the BAR,

operation, gave it a distinct new identity and most

importantly, made the team truly competitive for the

first time in its short history.

By the end of 2004, the team was second only to Ferrari

In terms of performance and, off the track, was meeting

Its budget targets. As a result, its major shareholder

BAT was able to sell the business to Honda and

Prodrive’s task was completed.

Jenson Button had 4 second place and 6 third place finishes to finish with 85 points in third place in the World Drivers' Championship in 2004, while Takuma Sato had one third place and a number of minor points-scoring finishes to earn 34 points for eighth place. BAR-Honda ended up in second place in the World Constructors' Championship behind Ferrari.

1973 BRM P160E

I photographed this BRM 160E at the Donington Park Museum in September 2014.

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. The Donington Museum's car was BRM P160/10 and when the museum closed it was bought by Australian John Gale who set about a comprehensive restoration of the car which he has detailed in a very informative Blog.

1983 RAM March 01

This is one of the photographs I took at the Donington Park Museum in September 2014.

It's the 1983 RAM March 01 that the RAM team campaigned in the 1983 season and has a 2,993 cc V8 Ford Cosworth DFV engine. The board next to the car reads as follows:

1983 RAM Racing March

RAM Racing was a Formula One racing team which

competed during the racing seasons of 1976 to 1985.

The team entered other manufacturers’ chassis from

1976 to 1980, then ran March’s team from 1981 to

1983, only entering a car entirely their own in 1984 and

1985.

1983 saw the RAM name make itself onto the chassis

for the first time, with David Kelly’s RAM March 01

design. Salazar returned to drive the main entry, while a

second car for Jean-Louis Schlesser was fielded at the

French Grand Prix as a one-off. Salazar scored a 15th

place in the season opener, but the bulky car struggled

to qualify. Financial reasons saw the team skip the

Detroit Grand Prix, while they only made the Canadian

Grand Prix due to fielding local driver Jacques

Villeneuve Sr. and attracting some Canadian

Sponsorship. Kenny Acheson then took over for the rest

of the season, only qualifying once, at the season-

closing South African Grand Prix, where he took the

team's best result of the year, 12th and last.

1975 Brabham Cosworth BT44B

I took this photograph at the Donington Park Museum in October 1989.

This is the 1975 Brabham BT44B, designed by Gordon Murray and powered by the 2,993cc V8 Ford Cosworth DFV engine, with which the Brabham team contested the 1975 season. Carlos Reutemann won the German Grand Prix, and with two second place finishes, three third places and two fourth places he finished in third place in the World Drivers' Championship that was won by Niki Lauda. Carlos Pace won the Brazilian Grand Prix, and that and a series of minor placings gave him sixth place in the Championship. Brabham finished in second place to Ferrari in the World Constructors' Championship.

1992 McLaren MP4-7A

This is one of a large number of McLaren F1 cars that were exhibited at the Donington Park Museum before is closed in 2018, and I took this photograph on my last visit there in September 2014.

It's the 1992 McLaren MP4-7A that the McLaren team used in all but the first two races of the season, and was powered by the 3,493cc V12 Honda RA122E/B engine. It was driven by Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger, Senna winning three races, in Monaco, Hungary and Italy, and Berger two races, in Canada and Australia, Senna finishing in fourth place in the World Drivers' Championship with Berger in fifth place. Nigel Mansell won the World Drivers' Championship that year in his Williams FW14B and Williams won the World Constructors' Championship ahead of McLaren in second place.

1967 Matra MS5

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

It's the Matra MS5 with which Jacky Ickx won the 1967 European Formula 2 Championship and has a 1,598cc Ford Cosworth FVA engine. The board at the side of the car reads as follows:

'MATRA MS-05 1967

In the mid 1960’s Matra enjoyed considerable success in Formula 3 and Formula 2 racing with (especially) its MS5 monocoque-based car, winning the French and European Championships.

In 1967 Jacky Ickx famously amazed the Formula 1 establishment by clocking in the 3^rd fastest qualifying time of 8.14” on the German Nürburgring track, in the 1600cc MS5 Formula 2, which was allowed to enter alongside the 3000cc Formula 1 cars. In the race he failed to finish due to a broken suspension.

This car has been restored to a race condition by Hall and Hall, and is owned by a private collector who has loaned the car to Donington Collection.'