1936 ERA R12B

This is a photograph that I took in the paddock at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1972.

It's the 1936 ERA R12B of Bill Morris and David Kergon which has a supercharged 6-cylinder inline 1,488cc engine and was driven in the race by David Kergon.  Bill Morris owned two ERAs, R12B and R12C and the two cars have a strange history, R12B being a works car that was originally built in 1936 with a 2 litre engine as a B-type car, but in 1937 it was rebuilt to C-type specifications, thus becoming R12C, and given a 1½ litre engine. In 1938 it was sold to Prince Chula to become one of his White Mouse stable's trio of ERAs driven by Prince Bira, where it was given the name 'Hanuman'. In 1939 the car was badly damaged in a crash during practice at Reims and was rebuilt with a B-type frame, reverting to being R12B and the name changing to 'Hanuman II'. After passing through various hands after the Second World War it came to Bill Morris. Bill Morris had managed to acquire the rest of the wreckage left over from the 1939 crash and using the damaged chassis frame rebuilt the car to its 1939 C-type specifications by 1982. That car was now R12C, as if the 1939 accident had never happened, and was given the original car's name of 'Hanuman'.

1908 Napier 60hp

I took this photograph in the paddock at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987.

It’s Trevor Tarring's 1908 60hp competition Napier with a 6-cylinder 11.6 litre engine. The car didn’t take part in any of the races at this meeting, but Trevor drove a 1932 Frazer Nash Exeter in one of the races whilst his daughter Emma competed in two races in a 1928 Frazer Nash Supersports. The blue car behind the Napier is the 1936 ERA R12B ‘Hanuman II’ of Bill Morris.

1936 ERA R12B

This car competed in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in June 1993.

It's a 1936 ERA which the programme of the events says was R12C and was to be driven by Tony Stephens, but it appears to be R12B - both cars at that time being owned by Bill Morris. The two cars have a strange history, R12B being a works car that was originally built in 1936 with a 2 litre engine as a B-type car, but in 1937 it was rebuilt to C-type specifications, thus becoming R12C, and given a 1½ litre engine. In 1938 it was sold to Prince Chula to become one of his White Mouse stable's trio of ERAs driven by Prince Bira, where it was given the name 'Hanuman'. In 1939 the car was badly damaged in a crash during practice at Reims and was rebuilt with a B-type frame, reverting to being R12B and the name changing to 'Hanuman II'. After passing through various hands after the Second World War it came to Bill Morris. Bill Morris had managed to acquire the rest of the wreckage left over from the 1939 crash and using the damaged chassis frame rebuilt the car to its 1939 C-type specifications by 1982. That car was now R12C, as if the 1939 accident had never happened, and was given the original car's name of 'Hanuman'. The obvious visual difference between the two cars is that R12B has a yellow chassis and R12C's is blue. (NB: I've now been told that in 1993 R12C did have a yellow chassis, so it is indeed R12C)

This is the car at what was then Foulstons chicane during the race.

1936 ERA R12B

This car, together with seven other ERAs competed in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in June 1981.

It's the 1936 ERA R12B of Bill Morris, previously one of the White Mouse stable's trio of ERAs driven by Prince Bira, where it was given the name 'Hanuman'. It was originally built with a 2 litre engine as a B-type car, but in 1937 it was rebuilt to C-type specifications, thus becoming R12C, and given a 1½ litre engine. In 1939 the car was badly damaged in a crash during practice at Reims and was rebuilt with a B-type frame, reverting to being R12B and the name changing to 'Hanuman II'. After passing through various hands after the Second World War it came to Bill Morris. Bill Morris had managed to acquire the rest of the wreckage left over from the 1939 crash and using the damaged chassis frame rebuilt the car to its 1939 C-type specifications by 1982. That car was now R12C, as if the 1939 accident had never happened, and was given the original car's name of 'Hanuman'.

The blue car with a number 5 behind 'Hanuman II' is the ERA R5B ('Remus', another ex-White Mouse stable car) driven that day by the Hon.Patrick Lindsay.

1936 Maserati 6CM

This is one of three examples of the Maserati 6CM that took part in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy race at the VSCC's meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987.

It's Gunnar Elmgren's 1936 model with a 1,493cc supercharged 6-cylinder inline engine. Gunnar Elmgren became President of the FIA Historic Motorsport Commission in his later years. Behind the Maserati is the 1936 ERA R12B of Bill Morris, one of the ERAs at one time run by Prince Chula's White Mouse Racing stable and driven by Prince Bira and was given the name Hanuman II. The ERA has a 1,482cc supercharged 6-cylinder inline engine.

ERA

I photographed this car in the paddock at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2002.

It's not listed in the programme of the event, but it's David Wenman's ERA R12B, known as 'Hanuman II' since it was rebuilt following a crash at Rheims (or Reims as it's usually known now) in 1939 when it was part of Prince Chula's White Mouse stable (and driven by Prince Bira). It's a bit of an involved story because there's also an ERA R12C, known as 'Hanuman', a car built by Bill Morris in 1982 from some of the wreckage of R12B, and you can read about it in this history of the ERA cars. I can't remember if the car above took part in the 2002 Gold Cup meeting, but David Wenman had two Connaught A Types in the HGPCA Pre-1961 Grand Prix Cars race.