1956 Lotus Eleven

This is a photograph that I took at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2005.

It's the 1956 Lotus Eleven of Neil Davies that competed in the BRDC Historic Sportscar Championship race and which the programme of the event says has a 1,480cc engine. The Lotus Eleven was designed by Colin Chapman and the aerodynamic body by Frank Costin and was intended to compete in the 1,100cc sports car class. A Lotus Eleven with a 1,098cc Coventry Climax engine driven by Reg Bicknell and Peter Jopp finished in seventh place in the 1956 Le Mans 24 Hour Race, winning the 1,100cc class. The Lotus Eleven was raced with various other engine sizes up to 1,500cc, and for the 1957 Le Mans 24 Hour Race Coventry Climax produced the 744cc FWC engine that enabled the Lotus Eleven of Cliff Allison and Keith Hall to win the 750cc class, and also the Index of Performance. 

The number 22 car in the background is Bernard Brock’s Formula Junior 1959 Elva 100.

Formula Junior Racing

This is a photograph that I took at Redgate Corner during the Front-engined Formula Junior Racing Cars race at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

Brian Mitcham in his 1960 Mallock U2 Mk2 is leading the 1959 Elva 100 of Mark Woodhouse which is being driven by his son, Jack Woodhouse.

Formula Junior

Two Formula Junior cars at Redgate Corner during the Front-engined Formula Junior Racing Cars race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

Leading is Peter St Barbe in his 1959 1,086cc Elva 100 closely followed by Gordon Russell in Pat Barford's 1959 1,098cc Gemini Mk II.

Formula Junior

I took this photograph at Redgate Corner on the first lap of the Formula Junior race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2007.

Number 12 leading this group is the 1960 Alexis Mk 2 of Stuart Roach and closely behind him is the 1960 Lola Mk 2 of Robin Longdon. There's another car behind the Lola that I can't identify, and following that is the red 1960 Terrier Mk IV of Derek Walker. On the outside is the 1959 Elva 100 of Mark Woodhouse ahead of the 1960 Elva 100 of Crispian Besley. Bringing up the rear are the red car, the 1960 Lola Mk 2 of Brendan Roberts, and two cars I can't positively identify but may be the 1959 Moorland Mk 1 of Bill Grimshaw and the 1959 Lola Mk 2 of John Truslove.

1959 Gemini Mk II

I took this photograph at Redgate Corner during the Front-Engined Formula Junior Racing Cars race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2011.

Leading is Sir John Chisholm in his 1,071cc 1959 Gemini Mk2 and behind him is the 1,100cc 1960 Lola Mk2 of Simon Goodliff. Bringing up the rear are Peter St Barbe in his 1,086cc Elva 100 and Gordon Russell in P Barford's 1,098cc 1959 Gemini Mk2. Simon Goodliff's car has a 4-cylinder inline Ford Kent engine and the other three cars have 4-cylinder inline BMC A-series engines.

Formula Junior

I photographed these cars at Redgate corner on the first lap of the Formula Junior race at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2007.

On the left the yellow car, number 20, is the 1960 Elva 100 of Geoff O'Nion which is being followed by the number 99 1960 Elva 100 of Peter Lavender. On the right the red 1960 OSCA (21) of Peter Mullen is alongside the 1960 Elva 100 (23) of David Watts and behind him is another 1960 Elva 100, the number 226 of Roger Dexter. I can't identify the car behind the OSCA, but the blue car behind that group is the 1958 Stanguellini (116) of Gordon Wright. The three cars bringing up the rear on the left are Bill Grimshaw in his 1959 Moorland Mk1 (29) Stephen Bulling in the red 1959 Sadler (118) and the blue 1959 Volpini (10) of Antony Childe-Freeman. All the cars bar one have 1.1 litre engines, the exception being the Sadler's which is only 1 litre.

Elva 100

This car took part in the Miller Oils/AMOC Historic Formula Junior race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2004.

It's the 1959 Elva 100 FJ of Robin Lackford, seen here during the race at Lodge Corner. The front-engined Elva 100 was produced in 1959 and 1960 with a 948cc BMC 'A' series engine, but during the 1960 season the car was unable to match the rear-engined Cooper and Lotus cars and by the end of that season Frank Nichols had replaced it with the rear-engined Elva 200. Robin Lackford's car has a 998cc engine, presumably the BMC 'A' series with the same stroke as the 948cc engine, but with a larger bore, that was introduced in 1962.

Formula Junior

These three cars participated in the Formula Junior Class in the Hawthorn Spanish and Hawthorn Memorial Trophies race at the VSCC's meeting at Oulton Park in June 2008.

William Grimshaw's 1959 Moorland Mk1, the winner of Britain's first ever Formula Junior race, at Brands Hatch in August 1959 in the hands of Ian Raby.

This is the 1959 Stanguellini of Gordon Wright. Powered by the Fiat 1100cc engine, the Stanguellini was the car to beat in Formula Junior racing until the British teams started to develop their mid-engined cars.

Geoff O'Nion's 1959 Elva 100, another Formula Junior car that had some early successes before the advent of the mid-engined cars.

Cooper Bristol

This car took part in the Hawthorn Memorial Trophy race at the Hawthorn Memorial Trophies Race Meeting organised by the VSCC at Oulton Park in June 2008.

It's a 1952 Cooper Bristol MkI - later known as the T20 - and was driven at this meeting by the owner Barry Wood.

Ecurie Ecosse are best known for their efforts in sports car racing, particularly their winning performances with Jaguar D-Types at Le Mans in 1956 and 1957, but they took part in the British Grand Prix from 1952 to 1954 with two cars, including this Cooper Bristol which was driven in the 1952 British Grand Prix by the founder of Ecurie Ecosse, David Murray.

Here's Barry Wood at Britten's chicane leading Pete Candy in the 1936 Riley Super Rat Special and Geoff O'Nion in his 1959 Elva 100.