1959 Gemini Mk2

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

It's the 1959 Gemini Mk2 of David Noble and has a 1,098cc engine. About thirty Gemini Mk 2s were built, four powered by Ford Cosworths and all others by BMC A Series engines.

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.

Hawthorn Memorial & Spanish Trophies Race 2015

The Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in July 2015 included the Hawthorn Memorial & Spanish Trophies Race for Pre-1961 Racing Cars and here are some of the cars which took part in that race.

This is the start of the race, viewed from near to Lodge Corner, the last corner on the circuit. The green seating you can see on the left of the photograph is the grandstand at Old Hall Corner - the first corner on the circuit.

The remaining photographs were taken at Lodge Corner, and this is the 4.2 litre 1957 Kurtis Indy-Roadster, entered by Stuart Harper and driven by Frederick Harper, that I featured on 1 December 2014.

This is the 2 litre supercharged 1935 ERA R4A of Nicholas Topliss, and on 3 May 2015 I showed a photograph of this car at Oulton Park in 1987 when it was owned by Sir John Venables-Llewelyn.

Another ERA, this time the 1½ litre supercharged 1936 ERA R10B of Paddins Dowling, which I've not featured before, and the ERA Club records its previous ownership as follows:

R10B     

P N Whitehead      1936       to            1952

R D P Wilkinson   1952       to            1957

J A Williamson      1957       to            1976

J E Finn                 1976       to            1980

N B Mason            1980       to            2005

P P Dowling           2005       to            date

Not shown in the programme of the event, but it's the 1,098cc 1959 Formula Junior Gemini Mk2 of Graham Barron.

This is the 1½ litre supercharged 1935 MG Bellevue Special of Thomas Hardman. On 8 October 2015 I showed a photograph of this car (and other MGs) in the paddock at this meeting. Bonhams recorded its history when the car was put up for auction in 2014.

Robert Longdon's 1960 1,098cc Formula Junior Lola Mk2

William Grimshaw's 1,086cc 1959 Formula Junior Moorland Mk2, which I featured with other Formula Junior cars on 26 March 2017.

The 747cc 1932 Austin 7 Special of Christian Pedersen. When I've seen this car previously it was painted green, but now only the bonnet cover remains green.

Matt Ricketts in father Duncan's 1957 Cooper T41. 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. The programme of the event says that Duncan Ricketts' car has an engine capacity of 1,220cc which seems strange as is doesn't fit any racing Formula that I'm familiar with.

Historic Formula Junior Championship

Here are some cars lining up in the marshalling area in the paddock ready to take to the track for a practice session for the Historic Formula Junior Championship race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting in September 1992

The race included classes for rear-engined Formula Junior cars, front-engined Formula Junior cars, 500cc Formula Three cars and Historic Formula Three (1964 to 1970) cars. The four cars here are, from the top, David Noble's 1959 Gemini Mk2 and Tony Steele's 1959 Lola Mk2, both of which were in the front-engined Farmula Junior class, then Robert Baker-Carr's 1967 Brabham BT21B and Ray Harper's 1965 Merlyn Mk 9, which were both in the Historic Formula Three class.

Formula Junior Racing

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 and here are some of the cars which contested the Lenham Storage Formula Junior Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1986.

The 1960 Elva FJ of David Jordan

Mike Murphy's car, shown in the programme of the event as a 1961 Lotus 20/22

Josie Tolhurst's 1960 Lola FJ Mk2

The 1959 Lola FJ Mk2 of Tony Steele

David Grant's 1959 Elva FJ

The British Women Racing Drivers' Club's 1960 Gemini Mk2, driven by Viv Ayres

The 1961 Gemini Mk3A of Bill Burrows

The 1961 Lotus 22 of Fred Edwards