1959 Lola FJ

This is a photograph that I took at Lodge Corner during the Lenham Storage Formula Junior Championship race at the HSCC Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1987.

It’s David Grant in his 1959 Lola FJ which has a 4-cylinder inline Ford Kent 1,098cc engine. Formula Junior was introduced in 1959 as a class of racing where younger drivers could be introduced to single-seater racing. It ended when Formula 2 and Formula 3 were re-introduced to the racing scene for the 1964 season. Formula Junior has continued to be featured at historic racing events.

1961 Cooper T61

This is a photograph that I took at Druids Corner at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2018.

It's Stuart Tizzard in his 1961 Cooper T56 during the Saturday Qualifying for the HSCC/FJHRA Formula Junior Rear Engine race. The T56 was the second Formula Junior car produced by Cooper and was originally provided with a 994cc BMC engine but Stuart Tizzard’s car has a 1,098cc Ford Cosworth engine.

1959 Lola MkII FJ

I took this photograph on the approach to Druids Corner during the Lenham Storage Formula Junior Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1986. 

It's Tony Steele in his 1959 Lola MkII Formula Junior car which appears to have a 4-cylinder online Ford Kent 1,098cc engine. Formula Junior was introduced in 1959 as a class of racing where younger drivers could be introduced to single-seater racing. It ended when Formula 2 and Formula 3 were re-introduced to the racing scene for the 1964 season and Formula Junior has continued to be featured at historic racing events.

1960 Lola MkII FJ

This car competed in the Formula Junior Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Summer Race Meeting at Oulton Park in July 1992.

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It's the 1960 Lola MkII Formula Junior car of Tony Steele and appears to have a 4-cylinder online Ford Kent 1,098cc engine. Formula Junior was introduced in 1959 as a class of racing where younger drivers could be introduced to single-seater racing. It ended when Formula 2 and Formula 3 were re-introduced to the racing scene for the 1964 season and Formula Junior has continued to be featured at historic racing events.

1960 North Star Mk1

This car took part in the HSCC/FJHRA Silverline Historic Formula Junior Rear Engine race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2018.

It's the 1960 North Star Mk1 of Martin McHugh and has a 4-cylinder inline 1,098cc Ford engine. Formula Junior racing was initiated in 1958 by Giovanni Lurani as an affordable introduction to single seater racing and was initially dominated by the Fiat-engined Italian cars, particularly Stanguellini. British interest remained for some time with the 500cc Formula 3 class of racing, but when they turned their attention to Formula Junior cars such as Elva and Lola started to make an impression, and when Cooper and Lotus introduced their mid-engined cars they became the ones to beat. The North Star cars apparently had some success in club and national events.

Here's the car at Druids Corner during the Saturday practice session.

1960 Condor SII

This is a photograph I took at Lodge Corner during the qualifying session for the HSCC/FJHRA Silverline Historic Formula Junior Front Engine race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2018.

It's the 1960 Condor SII of Alex Morton, who has his hand raised to warn drivers of any following cars that he is about to go into the pit lane. The only information about the car in the programme of the event is that it had a 1,098cc engine.

Formula Junior Cars

These three cars took part in the HSCC/FJHRA Historic Formula Junior Race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2008.

Number 78 is the 1963 Brabham BT6 of Hong Kong driver Mark Amez-Droz which is possibly chassis FJ-11-63. Number 79 is the 1963 Lotus 27 of Swiss driver Urs Eberhardt and probably chassis 27/JM/14. Car number 5 is the 1963 Lola Mk5A of Swiss driver Philipp Buhofer.

1959 Elva 100 FJ

I took this photograph at Lodge Corner during the AMOC Miller Oils Historic Formula Junior Championship race at the Aston Martin Owners Club meeting at Oulton Park in May 2002.

It's Bernard Brock in his 1959 Elva 100 FJ which has a 1,098cc BMC A series engine. Initially successful, the front-engined Lola was overshadowed by the Cooper and Lotus rear-engined cars in the 1960 season.

1959 PM Poggi FJ

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 May 2011. 

It's the 1959 PM Poggi of Michael Waller and has a 4-cylinder inline 1,089cc Fiat engine. Built in Modena by Eugenio Poggi with some input from Alberto Massimino, who had previously worked for Stanguellini, only a handful of these cars were produced.

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.

1959 OSCA FJ

I photographed this car preparing to leave the paddock for a qualifying session for the Formula Junior race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2007.

It's the 1959 OSCA FJ car of Tony Pickering, powered - as were most Italian FJ cars - by a Fiat 1,098cc engine. Formula Junior racing was initiated in 1958 by Giovanni Lurani as an affordable introduction to single seater racing and was initially dominated by the Fiat-engined Italian cars, particularly Stanguellini. British interest remained for some time with the 500cc Formula 3 class of racing, but when they turned their attention to Formula Junior cars such as Elva and Lola started to make an impression, and when Cooper and Lotus introduced their mid-engined cars they became the ones to beat.

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.

Mallock U2 Mk2

This car took part in the race for Front-Engined Formula Junior Racing Cars at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

It's the 1960 Mallock U2 Mk 2 of Brian Mitcham, one of the two original U2s built by Major Arthur Mallock. After building a series of specials based on the Austin 7, Arthur Mallock produced the U2 Mk1 with a Ford 1,172cc engine for 1172 Formula racing. The U2 followed, two cars being produced with 1,098cc Ford engines for Formula Junior racing and then a further ten cars for 1172 Formula and Clubmans as well as for Formula Junior racing.

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.

Cooper T56

This was one of the competitors in the Millers Oils/AMOC Historic Formula Junior race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulon Park in August 2004.

It's the 1961 Cooper T56 car of Peter Jackson, and is pictured here at Lodge Corner during the race. The Cooper T56 was the second Formula Junior car produced by Cooper and was originally provided with a 994cc BMC engine. This particular car is chassis FJ/21/61 and was originally a Cooper works car, but was later sold to French driver Robert Bouharde, whose livery it still bears, and was later fitted with a 1,098cc Ford Cosworth engine.

Stanguellini FJ

I took this photograph at the HGPCA's International Historic Grand Prix meeting at Donington Park in May 2004.

The car didn't compete in any of the races at the meeting - there were none for which it was eligible - but it's a Stanguellini Formula Junior car from the late 1950s. Formula Junior was conceived in 1958 as a class of racing which would form a relatively inexpensive entry level class for drivers to take their first steps to a racing career. The engine, transmission and brakes of the car had to be sourced from production cars with a 1,000cc limit on cars weighing 360kg and 1,100cc for 400kg cars. Italian cars mostly using the Fiat 1,100cc engine were the most successful in the first two years as the British manufacturers still concentrated on the 500cc Formula 3 series. Cooper, Lotus and others soon started to produce mid-engined Formula Junior cars though, and by 1960 British cars were picking up most of the victories.

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.

Italian Formula Junior Cars

I showed some photographs on 31 October 2015 of several British Formula Junior cars at an HSCC meeting at Oulton Park in 1986. Here are a couple of photographs of Italian Formula Junior cars at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2007.

The red car is Tony Pickering's 1959 OSCA FJ and the blue car is Antony Childe-Freeman's 1959 Volpini FJ.

This is Gordon Wright's 1958 Stanguellini FJ.