1957 Maserati 250F

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 Neil Corner’s 1957 Maserati 250F which has a 6-cylinder inline 2,493cc engine. The car is chassis #2528 and was campaigned mainly by Jean Behra in the 1957 season, but also driven that year by Juan Fangio and Harry Schell. It has been owned and raced by the Corner family, Neil and his son Nigel, since 1972.

Friday's Ferrari

This is a photograph I took at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

The  two cars took part in the Magneti Marelli UK Race for Pre-1961 Grand Prix Cars and are setting out from the pit lane during a practice session. Leading is the 1954 Maserati 250F of Dieter Streve-Mülhens which has a 6-cylinder inline 2,490cc engine. It was originally chassis 2501 but with the Maserati team's habit of swapping chassis numbers around it was later 2526, then 2523, 2504 and back to 2523 again. Following it is the1960 Neil Corner’s Ferrari Dino 246 F1 car which escaped Ferrari's annual demolition of obsolete Grand Prix cars at the end of that season and was sold to New Zealander Pat Hoare. It's the car with which Phil Hill won the 1960 Italian Grand Prix but was modified for Tasman Series racing with the 2,417cc F1 engine replaced by a 2,953cc engine as used in the Ferrari 250 TR sports cars. The chassis number was changed from #0007 to #0788.

1930 Bugatti Type 35B

This is a photograph I took in the paddock at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1969.

It's Neil Corner in his 1930 Bugatti Type 35B which he drove in the Vintage Trophy Memorial Race that day. Poking its nose out behind the Bugatti is a 1967 Maserati Mistral Spyder.

1959 Aston Martin DBR4

I took this photograph on the straight between Esso Bend and Knickerbrook during the Allcomers Race for Historic Racing Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1971.

It's Neil Corner in his 1959 Aston Martin DBR4, chassis DBR4/4 - the last DBR4 built and which was never raced by the works team. The DBR4 is a car that was first built and tested in 1957 although it didn't make its Grand Prix debut until 1959. By that time the new generation of rear-engine cars had made the older front-engine cars uncompetitive and the best results it managed were Roy Salvadori's sixth place finishes in the British and Portuguese Grands Prix in 1959. The DBR4 was powered by a 6-cylinder inline 2,493cc engine, but Neil Corner's car has the 2,992cc DB3S engine.

Friday's Ferrari

The Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992 featured a special display of Ferraris in the paddock and track demonstrations of some of these cars by former Scuderia Ferrari drivers, and this is one of those cars during one of the demonstration runs.

It's Phil Hill in the 1960 Ferrari 246 Dino #007 of Neil Corner which was the last front engined car to win a Grand Prix race, Phil Hill driving it to victory in the Italian Grand Prix in the next to last race of the 1960 season. At the end of the that season the car was fitted with a 3 litre 250 TR V12 engine and sold to New Zealander Pat Hoare who campaigned the car there for two years before it was sold and drastically altered with a body resembling that of the 1964 Ferrari 250 GTO. In 1978 the car was acquired by Neil Corner who had it restored to its original specifications.

1932 Alfa Romeo P3

This was one of the competitors in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race and the Allcomers Scratch Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in June 1970.

It's the 1932 Alfa Romeo P3 of Neil Corner and was driven in both the races by Peter Waller. The car has a 2,905cc twin-supercharged straight-8 engine designed by Vittorio Jano. The P3 was introduced in 1932, and Tazio Nuvolari won two of the three races in the European Championship that season with his team mate Rudolf Caracciola winning the third race. The Alfa Romeo team was suffering financial problems and missed the early part of the 1933 season, but later in the year the cars were handed over to Scuderia Ferrari and won the last two European Championship races of the season. The first two races of the 1934 season were won by Alfa Romeo but the second race, the French Grand Prix, marked the entry of the Mercedes Benz and Auto Union cars into the fray, and these cars went on to dominate Grand Prix racing until the start of World War 2. The Alfa Romeo P3, however, had its swan song in the 1935 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, Tazio Nuvolari beating the 5-car Mercedes Benz and 4-car Auto Union teams.

1957 Maserai 250F

This car took part in the Allcomers Scratch Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1975.

It's the 1957 Maserati 250F of Neil Corner and has the 6-cylinder inline 2,490cc engine. It was campaigned mainly by Jean Behra in the 1957 season, but was also driven that year by Juan Fangio and Harry Schell, and is chassis #2528. This car has been owned and raced by the Corner family, Nigel and his father Neil, since 1972. Behind the Maserati is a Bugatti, possibly a Type 55?

Maserati 250F

I took this photograph in the paddock at Oulton Park at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies Meeting in June 1975.

Both 1957 Maserati 250Fs, number 3 being that of Patrick Lindsay, chassis #2527 and number 1 being the car of Neil Corner, chassis #2528. The Maserati 250F has a 6-cylinder inline 2,490cc engine and was developed from the earlier A6GCM car to run in Formula 1 World Championship races when the regulations allowed an engine capacity of 2½ litres from 1954. The Maserati 250F competed in every year of that 2½ litre Championship from the first race of 1954 to the last race of 1960 and Juan Fangio became World Champion in 1957 driving for the Maserati team.

Bugatti Type 59

This car competed in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1975.

It's Neil Corner's 1934 Bugatti Type 59, chassis 59123, a car formerly owned by Earl Howe. The car was built with a modified Type 54 chassis and had a supercharged Type 57 straight-8 engine of 3,257cc.

Friday's Ferrari

This car in the paddock at Oulton Park was one of the competitors in the Cheshire Building Society Allcomers race at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy meeting in July 1987.

It's Neil Corner's 1960 Ferrari Dino 246 F1 car which escaped Ferrari's annual demolition of obsolete Grand Prix cars at the end of that season and was sold to New Zealander Pat Hoare. It's the car with which Phil Hill won the 1960 Italian Grand Prix but was modified for Tasman Series racing with the 2½ litre F1 engine replaced by a 3 litre engine as used in the Ferrari 250 TR sports cars. The chassis number was changed from #0007 to #0788.

Maserati 250F

The SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005 produced probably the largest gathering of Maserati 250Fs that has ever been seen in this country - I understand that there were 24 in all. This is one of those cars, photographed at McLean's Corner during a track demonstration by a number of Italian cars.

It's Nigel Corner in the car that was campaigned mainly by Jean Behra in the 1957 season, but also driven that year by Juan Fangio and Harry Schell, and is chassis #2528. This car has been owned and raced by the Corner family, Nigel and his father Neil, since 1972, and it was they who commissioned the motoring journalist Ian Wagstaff to write a comprehensive history of the car.

Here's the car alongside several other Maserati 250Fs in a marquee in the paddock.

On 8 July 2016 I showed a photograph of 2528 alongside the Corner family's 1960 Ferrari Dino 246 F1 car at Silverstone in 1994.

Friday's Ferrari

This car competed in the Cheshire Building Society Allcomers Race at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987.

It's Neil Corner's 1960 Ferrari Dino 246, the last successful front-engined F1 car. It was originally chassis #0007, later renumbered #0788F, the car with which Phil Hill won the 1960 Italian Grand Prix. I've featured this car several times previously, most recently on 11 August 2017.

Friday's Ferrari

This car is taking part in the Cheshire Building Society Allcomers Race at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987.

It's Neil Corner in his 1960 Ferrari Dino 246 F1 car dropping down into the dip after Lodge Corner and heading towards Deer Leap. The car was originally chassis #0007, but renumbered to #0788F after it was fitted with a 3 litre engine for Tasman races in New Zealand in the hands of Pat Hoare. It was restored to its original condition when Neil Corner obtained the car in 1978, although the programme of this event showed it to have a 2,990cc engine instead of the 2,417cc engine originally fitted.

The 1958 Ferrari Dino 246 F1 was the last front-engined car to win the World Drivers Championship in the hands of Mike Hawthorn. Neil Corner's car was the last such car to win a World Championship race - the 1960 Italian Grand Prix which many of the top teams boycotted because it was run in the combined road and banked oval track at Monza which they considered to be dangerous. The Ferrari wan't the last front-engined car to compete in a World Championship race, however, as the last race of the 1960 season was the United States Grand Prix at Riverside which Enzo Ferrari decided not to contest. The only front-engined cars in that race were the Scarab of Chuck Daigh and the Maserati 250F of Bob Drake.

To be strictly accurate, the last front-engined car to compete in a World Championship race was the Ferguson P99 4-wheel drive car that competed in the 1961 British Grand Prix, but was disqualified for receiving a push-start after the engine had cut out at Bechers Bend.

Friday's Ferrari

This was one of the cars taking part in a parade feature at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994.

It's Neil Corner's 1960 Ferrari Dino 246 F1, chassis #0788F, a car that didn't compete in any of the races at the meeting, and which I featured on 8 July 2016.

Friday's Ferrari

This car competed in the Cheshire Building Society Allcomers race at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987.

It's Neil Corner's 1960 Ferrari Dino 246 F1 car, originally serial number 007 and now 0788F, The car is currently owned by Tony Smith.

Friday's Ferrari

Here's a photograph I took at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies Meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987.

It's Neil Corner's 1960 Ferrari Dino 246 F1 car, at that time in Tasman guise with a 3 litre V12 sports car engine in place of the original 2½ litre V6 engine. The car's serial number is 0788FT.

Friday's Ferrari

This car took part in the Cheshire Building Society Allcomers Race at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987.

It's the 1960 Ferrari Dino 246 F1 of Neil Corner, original serial number 0007, renumbered 0788FT in 1961 when used for Tasman racing, then back to 0788F when restored to original specification. Along with the Aston Martin DBR4 and Scarab F1 car this was one of the last of the front-engined Formula One cars, made obsolete by the rear-engined revolution started by Cooper a couple of years earlier.

Friday's Ferrari

The runners in the Cheshire Building Society Allcomers Race at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987 included the car shown below.

It's Neil Corner's 1960 Ferrari Dino 246 F1 car, serial number 0007, later renumbered 0788FT. The programme of the event said this about the car:

'Favourite for the race must be Neil Corner's Dino Ferrari, which won last year, and was also the winner of the Mike Hawthorn Trophy race at Silverstone last month. It is an unusual Dino as the works rebuilt it for Tasman racing, substituting a 3-litre V12 sports car engine in place of the 2½ litre V6.'

Ecurie Ecosse Transporter

In the paddock at Silverstone in July 2010 at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting was the Ecurie Ecosse Commer transporter which was used to carry the team's cars around for over 10 years from 1960. Here it's got one of the team's Jaguar D-types and the 1961 Le Mans Austin Healey Sprite on top, and there was room for a further car inside.

The transporter was later sold to Neil Corner and I remember seeing it several times bearing his name in the paddock at Oulton Park. I've featured the transporter previously in October 2013 with a photograph I took at Silverstone in 1995.