1955 Lancia D50

This car took part in 'A Demonstration of Italian Racing Cars' at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005.

It's a 1955 2½ litre V8 Lancia D50 recreation, at that time owned by Tom Wheatcroft and kept in his museum at Donington Park. Following the withdrawal of the Lancia team from racing at the end of the 1955 season all the D50 cars and spares were handed over to Ferrari with the exception of one car which went to the Fiat Museum and one which went to the Biscaretti Museum. Ferrari raced the cars as Lancia-Ferraris in the 1956 season with some modifications and Juan Fangio won the World Championship that season. For the 1957 season the cars were modified to such an extent that it was redesignated as a Ferrari 801, but didn't enjoy any great success. At the end of the 1957 season with the introduction of the Ferrari 246 F1 car (with which Mike Hawthorn won the 1958 World Championship title) the cars were broken up and the parts stored at the Ferrari factory. From the 1990s these parts have been used to recreate, I understand, seven examples of the car, including one to the specification of the 1956 Lancia-Ferrari. In this photograph the car is being driven in one of the demonstration runs by Kevin Wheatcroft, Tom Wheatcroft's son.

Maserati 8CM

Three weeks ago I featured a 1955 Lancia D50 recreation and showed a photograph of the car being driven in a demonstration at the 2005 SeeRed meeting at Donington Park by Kevin Wheatcroft. Here's another photograph from that demonstration run.

The car on the right is Kevin Wheatcroft again in the Lancia, but leading is his father, the late Tom Wheatcroft, the man who resurrected the Donington Park circuit in the 1970s and founded the Donington Grand Prix Collection museum. Tom is driving the museum's 1934 Maserati 8CM, chassis #3018, that was driven by Tazio Nuvolari in the 1934 racing season. The 8CM had a supercharged 2,991cc straight-8 engine but after some success in the 1933 season it was outclassed by the Alfa Romeo, Mercedes Benz and Auto Union cars in 1934.

Lancia D50

Not a competitor at this meeting, but one of the participants in A Demonstration of Italian Racing Cars at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005.

It's a 1955 2½ litre V8 Lancia D50 recreation, at that time owned by Tom Wheatcroft and kept in his museum at Donington Park.

Following the withdrawal of the Lancia team from racing at the end of the 1955 season all the D50 cars and spares were handed over to Ferrari with the exception of one car which went to the Fiat Museum and one which went to the Biscaretti Museum.

Ferrari raced the cars as Lancia-Ferraris in the 1956 season with some modifications and Juan Fangio won the World Championship that season. For the 1957 season the cars were modified to such an extent that it was redesignated as a Ferrari 801, but didn't enjoy any great success.

At the end of the 1957 season with the introduction of the Ferrari 246 F1 car (with which Mike Hawthorn won the 1958 World Championship title) the cars were broken up and the parts stored at the Ferrari factory.

From the 1990s these parts have been used to recreate, I understand, seven examples of the car, including one to the specification of the 1956 Lancia-Ferrari.

Here's the car during one of the demonstration runs being driven by Kevin Wheatcroft, Tom Wheatcroft's son.

On 2 January 2013 I showed photographs of the original Lancia D50 from the Fiat Museum which was part of a display at Silverstone in 1998.