1938 ERA Parnell Challenger

I took this photograph at Druids Corner during one of the races at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Formula Vintage meeting at Oulton Park in May 2019.

It's Duncan Ricketts in the ERA Parnell Challenger which was conceived by Reg Parnell for the 1½ litre Formule Internationale which was expected to be introduced in 1941 - events in 1939 obviously stopped that from happening. It was apparently intended to be fitted with an MG engine, but its only appearance before the war was at Prescott in early 1939 when it had an ERA engine. After the war Reg Parnell fitted it with an 8-cylinder inline Delage engine, but lost interest in the project after acquiring a Maserati 4CL. It was driven by David Hampshire in a couple of events with the Delage engine in 1947 and more recently came into the ownership of Duncan Ricketts who restored the car with a supercharged 1,488cc ERA engine.

1938 ERA E-Type

This is a photograph I took in the paddock at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It's the 1938 ERA E-Type, chassis GP1, here with a 1,980cc supercharged engine but originally with a 1½ litre unit. This and its sister car, chassis GP2 were the only two E-Type ERAs built. Only one other ERA was built later and that was the  G-Type, designed after the Second World War to compete with a Bristol 2 litre engine as a Formula 2 car, but actually competed in the Formula 1 World Championship races in 1952 when they were run under Formula 2 rules. That car later became the basis for the Bristol 450 sports car that competed at Le Mans in 1953, 1954 and 1955.

 

It was owned by Duncan Ricketts but didn’t take part in this meeting, though Duncan drove Julian Mazjub’s 1938 Alfa Romeo 308C in the HGPCA Pre-1952 Grand Prix Car Race.

1938 ERA E-Type

This was one of the competitors in the Hawthorn Spanish Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2005.

It's Duncan Ricketts' 1938 ERA E-Type, chassis GP1, here with a 1,980cc supercharged engine but originally with a 1½ litre unit. This and its sister car, chassis GP2 were the only two E-Type ERAs built. Only one other ERA was built later and that was the  G-Type, designed after the Second World War to compete with a Bristol 2 litre engine as a Formula 2 car, but actually competed in the Formula 1 World Championship races in 1952 when they were run under Formula 2 rules. That car later became the basis for the Bristol 450 sports car that competed at Le Mans in 1953, 1954 and 1955.

1938 ERA Parnell Challenger

This car took part in one of the races at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Formula Vintage meeting at Oulton Park in May 2019.

It's Duncan Ricketts' 1938 ERA Parnell Challenger, a car that was conceived by Reg Parnell for the 1½ litre Formule Internationale which was expected to be introduced in 1941 - events in 1939 obviously stopped that from happening. It was apparently intended to be fitted with an MG engine, but its only appearance before the war was at Prescott in early 1939 when it had an ERA engine. After the war Reg Parnell fitted it with an 8-cylinder inline Delage engine, but lost interest in the project after acquiring a Maserati 4CL. It was driven by David Hampshire in a couple of events with the Delage engine in 1947 and more recently came into the ownership of Duncan Ricketts who restored the car with a supercharged 1,488cc ERA engine.

Here's Duncan Ricketts at Hislop's chicane during the morning practice session.....

.....and at Druids Corner during the race.

Maseratis and ERA

I took this photograph at Luffield corner during the Chopard HGPCA 100 Mile Grand Prix Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994.

Leading is Thomas Bscher's 1957 Maserati 250F V12, a car built with a 2,491cc V12 engine instead of the 250F's usual 6-cylinder inline 2,490 unit. It's chassis #2531 and is one of only 2 cars specifically built to take the V12 engine. The car at the rear is Jeffrey Pattinson's 1954 Maserati 250F, chassis #2508, originally owned and raced by Stirling Moss. The blue car appears to have a number 33 which was an ERA  driven by Duncan Ricketts, and although the programme of the event doesn't identify the four ERAs that appeared in this race, it appears to be R12B. The green car in the background is David Baldock's 1938/39 Alta which was driven by Paul Jaye.

1957 Cooper T41

This car competed in the Hawthorn Memorial and Spanish Trophies Race for Pre-1961 Racing Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in July 2015.

It's the 1957 Cooper T41 of Duncan Ricketts that was driven in the race by Matt Ricketts, and which the programme of the event says has a 1,220cc engine. The T41 was Cooper's first step in Formula 2 racing which only two years later led to Jack Brabham winning the World Championship in the 2½ litre Formula 1 Cooper Climax T51.

Here's Matt Ricketts at Lodge Corner during the race.

ERAs

I took this photograph at Foulstons chicane during the Richard Seaman Historic Memorial Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1993.

John Ure is leading in Peter Mann's 1936 ERA R9B closely followed by Duncan Ricketts in Sally Marsh's 1935 ERA R1B. Both cars have the 6-cylinder inline supercharged 1,488cc engine.

VSCC Racing

Race number 2 at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Hawthorn Memorial Trophies race meeting at Oulton Park in July 2015 had the grand title of 'Premier Cru Racing for Pre-1941 Standard and Modified Racing Cars - 20 Mins. Incorporating the Bruce Spollon Memorial, Ten Tenths Vintage Restorations Pre-War Continental Trophies'. Only six cars competed in that race, and I photographed each of them during the race at Druids Corner.

Nicholas Topliss in the 1935 ERA R4A

Paddins Dowling in the 1936 ERA R10B

Ben Fidler in the 1936 ERA AJM1

Duncan Ricketts in David Baldock's 1938/9 Alta 2 litre

Stephen Shoosmith in his 1931 Bugatti T51

Chris Hudson in his 1925 Bugatti T35B

1959 Tec-Mec F415

This car competed in the Hawthorn Memorial Race at the VSCC's Boulogne and Hawthorn Trophies race meeting at Oulton Park in June 2006.

Shown in the programme of the event as a Technica Mechanica it's better known as 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 Oulton Park meeting and raced it successfully before eventually passing the car on to Barry Wood.

Here's Barrie Baxter at Britten's chicane during the race followed by Duncan Ricketts in 'Mac' Hulbert's ERA R4D and Matt Gillies in Rodney Smith's ERA R3A. Behind them are the Kurtis Indy Roadster of Stuart Harper and the Cooper Bristol MkII of either Mary Grant-Jonkers or Paul Grant, who drove two identical cars in the race.

Alta 2-litre

This is one of the cars that took part in the race for Pre-1941 Standard & Modified Racing Cars at the VSCC's Hawthorn Memorial Trophies race meeting at Oulton Park in July 2015.

It's David Baldock's 1938/39 Alta 2-litre, which was driven in the race by Duncan Ricketts. The car has a supercharged twin cam straight-4 1,960cc engine and competed in pre-war voiturette and post-war Formula 2 races.

Here's Duncan Ricketts during the race at Druids Corner

I've featured this car previously, most recently on 23 October 2016

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Alfa Romeo 308

This car competed in the Pre '52 Grand Prix Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1995.

It's the 1937 Alfa Romeo 308 of Julian Majzub, driven in the race by Duncan Ricketts. The chassis of the Tipo 308 was developed from the 1935 Tipo C, and the engine from the supercharged straight-8 Tipo 8C 2900 enlarged to 2,991cc. The car was not a great success, unlike the Tipo 158 voiturette that followed it.

On 18 August 2015 I showed photographs that I took of this car at Silverstone in 1996.

ERA E-Type

This car competed in the Historic Seaman Trophy Race at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy meeting at Donington Park in June 2003.

It's Duncan Ricketts' 1938 ERA E-Type, chassis GP1, here with a 1,980cc supercharged engine but originally with a 1½ litre unit. This and its sister car, chassis GP2 were the only two E-Type ERAs built. Only one other ERA was built later and that was the  G-Type, designed after the Second World War to compete with a Bristol 2 litre engine as a Formula 2 car, but actually competed in the Formula 1 World Championship races in 1952 when they were run under Formula 2 rules. That car later became the basis for the Bristol 450 sports car that competed at Le Mans in 1953, 1954 and 1955.

I featured the ERA E-Type GP1 previously, on 21 June 2016.

ERA R4D

Here's a photograph taken in the paddock at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Donington Park in June 2003.

The car nearest the camera is Mac Hulbert's 1935 ERA R4D which took part in the Historic Seaman Trophy race, as did the car furthest away, the 1938 ERA E-Type GP1 of Duncan Ricketts. You can read the history of all the ERA cars here. The car in the middle is Chris Podger's 1930 Alvis Silver Eagle which competed in one of the handicap races at this meeting.

ERA

Here's a photograph of a car being made ready to run in the Historic Seaman Race at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in June 2008.

It's Duncan Ricketts' 1938 ERA E-Type, GP1, and behind it is the ERA R3A that Mark Gillies drove in the same race. You can read about the ERA cars on the ERA Club website.

Alfa Romeo 308

This car took part in the HGPCA Pre '52 GP Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 1996.

It's a 1937 Alfa Romeo 308 and was driven in the race by Duncan Ricketts. The 3 litre Alfa Romeo 308 was developed from the 8C, having the straight-8 engine from the 8C 2900, and was intended to challenge the Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union cars in the 1938 and 1939 seasons but didn't have much success, That didn't improve with the V12 engined 312 or the V16 engined 316, but Alfa Romeo finally came good with the 1½ litre supercharged straight-8 engined 158 and 159 models which made Guiseppe Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio champions in the first two years of the new World Championship for Drivers in 1950 and 1951.