1970 Lotus 72

This is a photograph that I took at Deer Leap during the HSCC Pre ’71 Single Seater Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club’s Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1987.

It’s the 1970 Lotus 72 entered by Haslemere Sports Cars and driven by Mary Foulston. It is chassis 72/R4 and belonged to the then owner of the Oulton Park racing circuit (and Brands Hatch and Snetterton), John Foulston. The Lotus 72 was designed by Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe and had the Ford Cosworth DFV 2,993cc V8 engine. Jochen Rindt won the World Driver's Championship in 1970 with the Lotus 72  as did Emerson Fittipaldi  in 1972, Lotus winning the World Constructor's Championship in 1970, 1972 and 1973.

1960 Cooper Monaco

This is a photograph that I took at the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1986.

It's the 1960 Cooper Monaco of Sid Hoole which competed in the HSCC Pre ’60 Historic Sports Car Championship race and the programme of the event says it had a 2,500cc emgine. There were three versions of the Cooper Monaco, the T49 of 1959, the T57 of 1960 and the T61 of 1961, so this should be a  T57.

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.

1962 Brabham BT2

 

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

It’s the 1962 Brabham BT2 of Mike Harrison which has a 1,098cc Ford Cosworth engine. Jack Brabham and Ron Tauranac founded the MRD, or Motor Racing Developments team in 1961 and produced one car, the MRD1, latter changing the name of the team to ‘Brabham’ (and that car to ‘BT1’) when it was pointed out that the French pronunciation of MRD was a rather rude word. Eleven examples of the BT2 were  built.

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.

1959/60 Lola MkII FJ

This car competed in the Lenham Storage Formula Junior Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1987.

It's the 1959/60 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.

1987 Maserati Biturbo

This is a car that I photographed in the paddock at the Historic Sports Car Club’s Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1987.

It’s a 1987 Maserati Biturbo, a car that was produced between 1981 and 1994, but the early cars had a reputation for poor quality and reliability. There were three different sized twin-turbocharged V6 engines offered at 2.2, 2.5 and 2.8 litres, and this car had the 2,491cc unit. The DVLA record says it has been untaxed since December 1994.

1962 Aston Martin DB4

This is a photograph that I took at the Historic Sports Car Club’s Spring meeting at Oulton Park in May 1986.

It’s a 1962 Aston Martin DB4 and has a 6-cylinder inline 3,670cc engine. The DB4 was in production from 1958 to 1963 and 1,110 examples of the basic DB4 were built together with 75 DB4 GTs and 19 DB4 GT Zagatos.

1959 Lister Jaguar

I took this photograph at Lodge Corner during the HSCC Pre ’60 Historic Sports Car Championship race at the HSCC Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1987.

It's a 3.8 litre Lister Jaguar driven by Aidan Mills-Thomas and has the 'knobbly' body which featured on the early Lister Jaguars. The car was apparently severely damaged at one point, to the extent that it's registration number (WTM 446) and chassis number (BHL126) were transferred to another Lister Jaguar. This change of identity was subsequently disputed, and the result was an extremely expensive court case in which the judge finally decided that it was not his place to decide such a matter.

1965 Brabham BT14

The H.SCC Spring Historic Race meeting at Oulton Park in May 1986 included a race which included a class for Formula 1 Cars (1961 – 1965).

This car competed in that race and it's John Jarvis's 1965 Brabham BT14 with a 1,500cc engine according to the programme of the event. The BT14 was designed for the then popular Formula Libre racing but was raced in period, and since, with a variety of mainly Ford engines in different racing categories, even with a 1½ litre engine in Formula One races during 1965.

1963 Lotus 22

This car competed in The Lenham Storage Formula Junior Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1987.

It's Brian Horwood's 1963 Lotus 22 with what the programme of the event says is a 1,000cc engine. The Lotus 22 was developed from the Lotus 20 and was primarily intended for Formula Junior racing, 77 cars being produced between 1962 and 1965.

1957 Austin Healey 100/6

This car took part in The HSCC Pre '60 Historic Sports Car Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1986.

It's Peter Riley's 1957 Austin Healey 100/6 with what the programme of the event says was a 2,912cc engine - presumably the one that powered the Austin Healey 3000.  The Austin Healey 100/6 was a replacement for the Austin Healey 100 (or 100/4) and was  produced from 1956 to 1959. It had a six-cylinder inline engine with a capacity of 2,639cc. 

1985 AC 3000ME

I spotted this car when walking from Lodge Corner towards the paddock at Oulton Park during the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring Historic Race Meeting in May 1987.

It's a 1985 AC 3000ME and has a 2,994cc V6 Ford Essex engine. The prototype was introduced by AC at the 1973 London Motor Show as the AC 3000, but only went on sale in 1978 - though the first customer cars were not delivered till 1979. Sales were poor and only 76 vehicles had been built when production was halted by AC in 1984. The car and the AC name were licensed to a company called AC (Scotland) plc but only 30 cars had been built when that company went into receivership in 1985.

1954 Austin Healey 100

This car took part in the HSCC Pre '60 Historic Sports Car Championship  race at the HSCC Spring Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1986.

It's Andrew Usher's 1954 Austin Healey 100. Two versions of the Austin Healey 100 were produced from 1953 to 1956, the BN1 from 1953 to 1955 and the BN2 from 1955 to 1956, the main difference being that the BN2 had a four-speed gearbox instead of the three-speed of the BN1. Both the BN1 and BN2 were powered by the 2,660cc 4-cylinder inline engine of the unsuccessful Austin A90 Atlantic. Logically Andrew Usher's car should be a BN1 model, but the two-tone paintwork was only introduced with the BN2.

1958 MGA Prototype

This car competed in the HSCC Pre '60 Historic Sports Car Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1987.

It was entered by Smith & Latimer Ltd and driven by Colin Pearcy, and it's a 1958 MGA Twin Cam Prototype. The MGA Twin Cam had a 1,588cc engine, but the programme of this event shows the engine capacity as 1,800cc.

1970 Royale RP4

This was one of the competitors in the HSCC 2 Litre Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring meeting at Oulton Park in May 1987.

It's Richard Brightman's 1970 Royale RP4, a car that was built to compete in the Formula F100 class of racing. Formula F100 was set up in 1970 as a sports car equivalent of the single seater Formula Ford, the cars being powered by 1,300cc engines - usually BMC or Ford Kent. Formula F100 wasn't a success, only lasting for two years, but Royale RP4s won the Championship in both years, with Ray Allen in 1970 and Tom Pryce in 1971.

1970 Chevron B16

This is a photograph I took in the paddock at the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1986.

It's the 1970 Chevron B16 of Richard Budge but it didn't take part in any of the races at this meeting, though Richard Budge drove his Chevron B6 in the HSCC Atlantic Computers 2 Litre GT Championship race. The B16 was designed by Derek Bennett to compete in the European 2 litre Championship series which it won by one point from Lola in 1970. It was raced with Ford Cosworth and BMW engines, and also with Mazda Rotary engines. Richard Budge’s car has a 1,800 cc mid-mounted Ford Cosworth FVC four-cylinder engine.

1965 Landar R6

This car competed in the HSCC Atlantic Computers 2 Litre GT Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring Race meeting at Oulton Park in May 1986.

Two brothers, Peter and Clive Radnall came up with the idea of putting a tuned Mini engine in the rear of a lightweight race car and the first of these vehicles was named the Landar R1. A series of cars followed culminating in the Landar R6 and the above car, driven by Alan Dignan at Oulton Park, is the last of ten such cars built by the brothers. According to a previous owner, Graham Nevill, it had a 1,275cc Mini engine with an Arden 8-port crossflow head. When the Radnall brothers ceased production of the cars the moulds were sold in the USA and it is thought that more of the cars were built there.

1971 March 712

I took this photograph at the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1987.

Its Trevor Needham in his 1971 March 712 pictured at Lodge Corner during the HSCC Pre '71 Single Seater Championship race. The March 712 was the car favoured by several teams in the European Formula Two Championship in the 1971 season, which was won by Ronnie Peterson in a March Engineering 712 powered by a 4-cylinder inline 1,598cc Cosworth engine.

 

1971 Surtees TS9B

This was one of the competitors in the HSCC Pre '71 Single Seater Championship Race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1987.

It's the 1971 Surtees TS9B of Brian Tyler that was raced by the Surtees team in the 1971 and 1972 seasons, being uprated from a TS9 to a TS9B before the start of the 1972 season. The Surtees TS9 was powered by the 2,993cc Ford Cosworth DFV V8 engine and was not particularly successful, the best result being Mike Hailwood's second place in the 1972 Italian Grand Prix.