1950s Sports Car Racing at Silverstone

This is a photograph that I took at Luffield Corner during the 1950s Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

The number 35 car is the 1960 Cooper Monaco of John Harper and it’s being closely followed by James Shead in his 1959 Lotus 15. Behind them are two Lister Jaguars, and the red number 10 in the background is Martin Stretton in Peter Scott’s 1955 Maserati 300S.

1959 Cooper Borgward

This is a photograph that I took at the British Empire Trophy meeting at Oulton Park in April 1959.

It’s the 1959 Cooper Borgward of the British Racing Partnership which was driven in the Formula 2 race at the meeting by George Wicken. The car number 2 in the background is the 1959 Lotus 15 of Team Lotus that was driven in the up to 1,500cc sports car race by Alan Stacey.

1958 Lotus 15

This is a photograph I took in the paddock at the British Empire Trophy meeting at Oulton Park in April 1958.

It’s the Lotus 15 of Pierre Bercham with a 1,475cc engine and was driven in the race by Roy Salvadori.

1959 Lotus 15

I took this photograph at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

1998 was the 50th anniversary of the first Lotus to be produced and this was one of several cars displayed by the Historic Lotus Register at the meeting. It's the Lotus 15 of Paul Samuels, one of 27 cars that were produced between 1958 and 1960. The 15 was a successor to the Lotus Mk X, developed from the Lotus Eleven but designed to accommodate engines from 1½ to 2½ litres. It was intended for International Sports Car racing, but though cars were entered in the 1958 and 1959 Le Mans 24 Hour race none of them managed to finish.

Lotus 15

I took this photograph on practice day for the British Grand Prix at Aintree in July 1959, and it's one of the cars that competed in the Sports Car support race.

It's the Lotus 15 of David Buxton, and is one of 27 cars that were produced between 1958 and 1960. The car was a successor to the Lotus Mk X, developed from the Lotus Eleven but designed to accommodate engines from 1½ to 2½ litres. It was intended for International Sports Car racing, but though cars were entered in the 1958 and 1959 Le Mans 24 Hour race none of them managed to finish.

1960 Lotus 15

This was one of the competitors in the BRDC Historic Sportscar Championship race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2002.

It's the 1960 Lotus 15 of David Heynes and has a 4-cylinder inline 1,960cc Coventry Climax FPF engine. The car was a successor to the Lotus Mk X, developed from the Lotus Eleven but designed to accommodate engines from 1½ to 2½ litres. It was intended for International Sports Car racing, but though cars were entered in the 1958 and 1959 Le Mans 24 Hour race none of them managed to finish.

1950s Sports Racing Cars

I took this photograph at Redgate Corner on the first lap of the 1950s Sports Racing Cars race at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in June 2008.

Leading is the 4.7 litre 1959 Lister Corvette of Jamie McIntyre followed by the 2 litre 1959 Lotus 15 of his brother Ewan McIntyre. The green car on the outside is the 5.4 litre 1952 Allard J2X Le Mans of Tom Walker ahead of the red 2 litre 1959 Cooper Monaco of Paul Woolley. The yellow car is the 1.2 litre Widi-Climax of Rupert Wood and behind that are two Cooper Monacos, neither of which are listed in the programme of the event for this race. The one on the left, however, looks like that of Mark Clubb who competed in the BRDC Historic Sports Car race the previous day in his 2 litre 1959 model, and the other one could be the 2 litre 1959 car of Graeme Dodd who also took part in that race. The car with the motorcycle mudguards on the extreme left of the picture is the 2 litre 1953 Cooper Bristol T24 of Peter Mann, driven by John Ure, and next to that another Lister, which looks like the 3.8 litre 1959 Lister Knobbly of Barry Wood.

Lotus 15

This car competed in the 1950s Sports Cars race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2007.

It's the 1958 Lotus 15 of Philip Walker. The Lotus 15 was a successor to the Lotus X, but was visually similar to, and developed from, the smaller Lotus Eleven, and was designed for the 4-cylinder inline Coventry Climax FPF engine which varied in capacity from 1½ to 2½ litres. Philip Walker's car had the 1,995cc engine.

I've previously shown photographs of the Lotus 15 on 28 May 2014 and 3 September 2017.

Cooper Monaco

This car competed in the BRDC Historic Sportscar Championship race at the HGPCA's Donington International Historic Grand Prix meeting at Donington Park in May 2004.

It's the 1959 Cooper Monaco T49 of Ted Williams, powered by a 2-litre Coventry Climax engine. The car was offered for auction in September 2013 by Bonhams, who provided this history of the car, chassis number 002.

The car is pictured here at McLeans Corner during the race behind the Cooper Monaco of John Harper, accompanied by the Lister Corvette of Julian Bronson and the Lotus 15 of Philip Walker. On 30 November 2016 I showed a photograph of Anthony Ditheridge's Cooper Monaco in the paddock at this event.

Lotus 15

I took this photograph at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1993.

It's Robert Brooks' 1959 1,960cc Lotus 15, a development of the smaller Lotus Eleven and designed to accommodate engines up to 2½ litres rather than the 1½ litres of the earlier car. It was produced from 1958 to 1960 but wasn't successful in endurance races, failing to finish the Le Mans 24 Hour race in both 1958 and 1959.

Friday's Ferrari

This is a group of cars I photographed in the paddock at Silverstone in July 1995 at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting preparing to join the circuit for the morning practice session.

They're going to take part in the practice for the Louis Vuitton '50s Sports Car Race and are being led out by the 1956 Ferrari 860 Monza (serial number 0602M) of Fritz Grashie. This is the car that finished in third place in the 1956 Mille Miglia driven by Luigi Musso, and finished second in the Nürburgring 1000km race the same year driven by Juan Manuel Fangio and Eugenio Castelotti.

You can see the race numbers of two other cars, number 40 being the 1959 Lotus 15 of Robert Brooks and 37 the 1956 Aston Martin DB3S of Dudley and Sally Mason-Styrron.

Lotus 15

The Spring Historic Race meeting at Oulton Park in May 1987 organised by the Historic Sports Car Club included a race for the Pre '60 Historic Sports Car Championship. One of the cars that took part was this 1959 Lotus 15.

The Lotus 15 was the successor to the Lotus X and you can read about the car in this Wikepedia article. According to the Historic Lotus Register 27 of these cars were built but details of the individual cars don't seem to be available.

The car's entrant is shown in the programme of the meeting as P.R.W. Hillingdon Motors and the driver as Peter Walker

Here's Peter Walker in the race just going into Lodge Corner