1968 Lotus Elan

This was one of the competitors in the Richardson Hosken Classic Sports Car Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Summer Race Meeting at Oulton Park in July 1995.

It's Paul Dobson's 1968 Lotus Elan and has a 1,558cc 4-cylinder inline Lotus Ford twin cam engine.

1967 Lotus Elan

I took this photograph at the Northern Classic Car Show at the G-Mex Centre, Manchester in August 1991.

It's a 1967 Lotus Elan and was on the stand of 'Cars of Character', but the brochure of the event gives no information about the car, nor about 'Cars of Character'. The Lotus Elan was introduced in 1962 with a 4-cylinder inline Lotus Twin-Cam engine based on the 1,498cc Ford Kent engine, but after only 22 cars were built the engine size was increased to 1,558cc and the car redesignated the Lotus Elan 1600. At this Northern Classic Car Show the fibreglass body is raised up to show the steel backbone chassis which was likened to a double ended tuning fork.

 

1967 Lola T70 Aston Martin

This car competed in the Pre-'70 Le Mans Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994.

It's the 1967 Lola T70 Aston Martin of Ean Pugh who shared the driving in the race with Keith Norris. Two of these cars were built at the instigation of John Surtees.Team Surtees who entered them in the 1967 Le Mans 24 Hour Race, to be driven by John Surtees/David Hobbs and Peter de Klerk/Chris Irwin, but the first car only lasted 3 laps and the second retired after 25 laps. Ean Pugh's car is Lola T70 chassis SL73/101. The car in the background is the Lotus Elan GT of Don Hands and Peter Dixon, which also took part in that race.

1951 Jaguar XK120

This car took part in the HSCC Historic Road Sports Championship race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2004.

It's the 1951 Jaguar XK120 of Melvyn Floyd, originally built with a 6-cylinder inline 3,441cc engine, but having a 3.8 litre engine according to the programme of the event.

Here's the car at Foulstons chicane during the race leading the 1967 Ford Mustang of Adam Simmonds. He is followed by the 1973 Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV of Jonathan Hartop and (I think) the 1971 Lotus Elan of Richard Lawson.

Lotus Elan

This car competed in the HSCC Classic Sports Car Championship Race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1993.

It's the 1965 Lotus Elan of Luis Olive, with a 4 cylinder inline 1,594cc Lotus Twin-Cam engine based on the Ford Kent engine. The green and yellow of the car mirrors the colours of the official Lotus team in the 1960s.

Oulton Park Gold Cup Meeting 2012

Here's some of the action at Britten's chicane during Race 1 of the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2012 - the HSCC 70s Road Sport Championship.

Mark Brown (1976 TVR 3000M) leading Brian Jarvis (1979 Porsche 924)

Julian Barter (1979 TVR 3000M) leading Charles Barter (1971 Datsun 240Z)

Charles Barter (1971 Datsun 240Z) leading Oliver Ford (1972 Lotus Europa)

Phil Briggs (1979 Porsche 928) leading James Dean (1972 Lotus Europa)

Brian Rides (1973 Clan Crusader)

Mark Oldfield (1978 Lancia Monte Carlo) leading James Nairn (1975 Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV)

John Thomason (1970 Triumph GT6 MkIII) leading Steve Cooke (1978 TVR 3000M)

Howard Bentham (1970 Lotus Elan)

AC Cobra

This car took part in the Barley Construction Improved Road Sports Championship Race at the HSCC Summer Race meeting at Oulton Park in July 1992.

It's a 1966 AC Cobra, which should mean that it's a MkIII, and the programme of the event says that it has a 4727cc engine (289 cu in). It was driven in the race by Aidan Mills-Thomas.

Here's Aidan Mills-Thomas during the race leading the Ford Falcon of Julian Balme and the Lotus Elan S3 of Tim Wright at Foulstons chicane..

Knickerbrook, Oulton Park

On Monday I showed a photograph of a Bugatti near the Knickerbrook Corner at Oulton Park. I was a schoolboy of 13 when I first went to Oulton Park and was curious, as any schoolboy would be, about how the corner had come by this name.

This, courtesy of Google earth, is the Oulton Park circuit. Knickerbrook Corner is the one at the bottom of the picture in the middle. Above it is a narrow pond between Knickerbrook Corner and Cascades Corner. When the circuit was originally laid out in 1953 the loop between Cascades and Knickerbrook did not exist - the circuit carried straight on, though I'm not sure which side of the pond it ran so Knickerbrook Corner may have been some way to the left away from its current postion. The loop was added in 1954 and since then two chicanes have been introduced on the long straight from Shell Oils Corner at the extreme right to cut the speed of the cars (and motor bikes) before they get to Knickerbrook.

Here are three Lotus Elans during a race at the Gold Cup meeting in August 2012 exiting Hislop's Chicane and going towards Knickerbrook Corner. The cars are driven by Paul Tooms, Peter Shaw and Vicky Brooks.

Here, a lap or two later, are the Elans of Paul Tooms and Peter Shaw going round the Knickerbrook Corner.

This is the actual 'Knicker Brook' - the circuit is on the other side of the barrier and tyre wall you can see at the top of the photograph and it's the bottom side of the circuit as you see it in the top picture From here it flows underneath the circuit into the pond and from there underneath the circuit at Cascades and into Oulton Lake.

As to the story of how it got its name.......Well, I don't know if the story is true but it's said that it was given this name by 'Blaster' Bates, an explosives and demolition expert. He had been engaged to remove the stumps of some beech trees before the circuit was built. At the first explosion a courting couple were seen to run from the vicinity of the brook in a state of disarray and afterwards an item of ladies' underwear was found there, leading to the naming of the corner.