1935 Lagonda Rapier

This is a photograph that I took at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987.

It’s the 1935 Lagonda Rapier of I.Rowe which the programme of the event says had a 1,100 cc engine. 470 of these cars were built by between 1934 and 1935 and a further 46 by Rapier Cars who took over the rights to make the Rapier after the Lagonda company failed in 1935. It was originally made with a 4-cylinder inline 1,104cc engine which was later reduced to 1,084cc to allow it to compete in the 1,100cc racing class.

Lagonda Rapiers

These two cars competed in one of the races at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 2002.

They are both Lagonda Rapiers, the one on the left being the 1936 car of Piers Leigh and the one on the right the 1935 car of John Waterson. 470 of these cars were built by between 1934 and 1935 and a further 46 by Rapier Cars who took over the rights to make the Rapier after the Lagonda company failed in 1935. It was originally made with a 4-cylinder inline 1,104cc engine which was later reduced to 1,084cc to allow it to compete in the 1,100cc racing class. The programme of the event says that Piers Leigh's car had a 1,098cc engine and John Waterson's a capacity of 1,450cc.

1934 Lagonda Rapier

This car took part in three of the short distance scratch and handicap races at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987.

It's the 1934 Lagonda Rapier of Len Thompson with what the programme of the event says is a 1,498cc engine, though the original Lagonda Rapier had a 4-cylinder 1,104cc engine.

Close Racing

This is a photograph I took on the first lap of a scratch race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in June 2006.

The red car in the lead is David Fletcher-Jones in his 1934/35 Lagonda Rapier followed by Thomas Hardman in a 1929/27 Austin 7 B&Q Special. I'm not sure about the following car, but it may be the 1935 Lagonda Rapier of John Boyes. The next two cars are the 1936 Frazer Nash of Geraint Lewis and the 1924/27 Invicta 3/4.5 litre of Trevor Swete.

Take the Family

I took this photograph on The Avenue, the straight between Old Hall Corner and Cascades during the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in June 1974.

I usually went to race meetings on my own which gave me freedom to wander round the paddock or to outflung corners of the circuit to take photographs without taking the risk of boring the rest of my family who don't share my enthusiasm for the sport. Other people obviously had no problems with taking all the family along. The nearest of the red cars here is David Fletcher-Jones in his 1934/5 1,086cc Lagonda Rapier while the car just disappearing from the shot seems to be Colin Warrington's 1931/4 Appleton Special, a Maserati 8C chassis with a supercharged 1½ litre Riley engine.

1934 Lagonda Rapier Special

This car competed in a handicap race and a scratch race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in August 1996.

It's the 1934 Lagonda Rapier Special of Len Thompson which the programme of the event says had a 1,468cc engine, though the car was originally built with a 4-cylinder 1,104cc engine.

1934 Lagonda Rapier

This was one of the participants in a Vintage and Historic Vehicle Display & Run organised by the Saddleworth Museum in June 1988.

It's a 1934 Lagonda Rapier and has a 4-cylinder 1,250cc engine with twin overhead camshafts. The Rapier was in production from 1934 to 1938.

Lagonda Rapier

You can always rely on seeing a few Lagonda Rapiers at any VSCC meeting and I photographed these three at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011 where they took part in some of the Handicap and Scratch races.

This is the 1934 car of Julian Grimwade with what the programme of the event says is a 1,460cc engine, though the original Lagonda Rapier had a 1.1 litre unit.

This is Douglas Martin's 1935 model, and this has a 1,086cc engine.

This is the 1935 Eccles Rapier Special of Tim Metcalfe, built by Roy Eccles, and has a 1,087cc supercharged engine.