1953 Cooper Bristol

This was one of the competitors in the race for Pre-1959 Front Engined Racing Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies Meeting at Oulton Park in June 1993.

It's the 1953 Cooper Bristol T23 (or MkII) of Raymond Wilkinson and is powered by a 1,971cc straight-6 Bristol engine based on the one in the pre-war BMW 328. The original Cooper Bristol was designed as a Formula 2 car, but found itself involved in Grand Prix racing in 1952 and 1953 when the World Championship was run to Formula 2 regulations.

The car on the left is the 1952/57 HWM Jaguar of Kirk Rylands and the car number 18 in the background is the 1936 ERA R14B of Donald Day.

1936/37 ERA R14B

I took this photograph at Foulstons chicane during the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in June 1993.

It's Donald Day's 1936/37 ERA R14B, originally built for pre-war voiturette racing with a supercharged 1½ litre straight-6 engine based on the one that powered the Riley 9, but later changed for a 2 litre supercharged engine. It was one of eight ERA cars that took part in this race.

Silverstone 1994

I took this photograph at Luffield Corner during the Chopard HGPCA 100 Mile Grand Prix Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994.

The car on the left is the 1938 ERA R14B of Donald Day which has the 6-cylinder inline supercharged 2 litre engine - usually 1,980cc, but shown in the programme of the event as 2,044cc. The number 14 on the right is Allan Miles in a 1957 Cooper T41, probably chassis F2-2-57, with a 1,498cc Coventry Climax engine and behind him is the 1953 Cooper Bristol T23 - originally known as the Cooper Bristol MkII - of John Beasley which has a 1,971cc 6-cylinder inline Bristol engine.

ERA

I took this photograph at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy meeting at Oulton Park in August 1992.

It's Bill Morris in the Allcomers Race in Gordon Chapman's 1938 ERA E-Type GP2 closely followed by Donald Day in his 1937/36 ERA R14B. The E-Type has a supercharged 1,496cc 6-cylinder inline engine, whilst Donald Day's car has a similar supercharged engine of 2,044cc. The photograph was taken on the entry to Lodge Corner.

ERA R14B

This was one of the competitors in the Historic Trophy Race at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1982.

It's Donald Day's 1937/36 ERA R14B, originally built for pre-war voiturette racing with a supercharged 1½ litre straight-6 engine based on the one that powered the Riley 9, but later changed for a 2 litre supercharged engine. The programme of the event said this about the 11 ERAs that contested this race:

'All being well one foresees a closely fought struggle for the lead in this race between the Hon. Patrick Lindsay's 2 litre ERA Remus, second in the Historic Race at Monaco last month and the first prewar car to finish, Martin Morris's R11B, which he calls Humphrey, Donald Day's R14B, the last B-type ERA made, and R4D, the highly developed ex-Raymond Mays car belonging to Anthony Bamford and driven by Willie Green. Donald is ex-Navy and Willie is fairly outspoken, so what they call their cars is probably not printable.

Sir John Venables-Llewelyn, whose early car R4A also has a 2 litre engine like the above, should go equally well when its engine is properly run in, which it patently wasn't at Donington last month. Patrick Lindsay in  Remus and Martin Morris in Humphrey have each won the Historic Seaman Trophy seven times in the past.

Of the 1½ litre ERAs of Messrs Morris, Marsh, Mann, Classic, Spollon and Tony Stephens, the last three have the possibly doubtful advantage of independent front suspension, not that this is intended as a criticism of the cars the majority of spectators have turned up in today. Bill Morris caused a sensation in the Historic Race at Monaco by stopping in the Casino Square during the race, getting out and borrowing a tool from one of the firemen, mending his car, and then getting in again after starting his engine by swinging the starting handle.'

NB: The 1½ litre cars listed above were respectively R12B, R1B, R9B, R2A, R8C and R12C.

I've previously shown photographs of R14B on 22 May 2016 and 20 September 2016.

ERAs

Two photographs here that I took at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Donington Park in May 2001.

This is the 1938/37 ERA R14B of Donald Day and was driven at Donington Park by Julian Bronson. Originally powered by a 1½ litre supercharged engine but now with a 2 litre unit - the programme of the Donington Park event said that its capacity was 2,044cc.

This is the engine of yet another of the 9 ERAs (plus an ERA Delage and ERA Riley) that competed for the Seaman Historic Trophy, and it's Peter Mann's 1936 ERA R9B, driven at Donington by John Ure. This car was also originally fitted with a 1½ litre supercharged engine and still has the same engine, 1,488cc according to the Donington Park programme.

ERA R14B

This is one of the 9 ERAs (including the E-Type GP2) that competed in the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy Race for Historic Racing Cars at the VSCC's meeting at Oulton Park in August 1992.

It's Donald Day's 1937/36 2 litre ERA R14B, a car that was once owned by Reg Parnell, and also Bob Gerard who drove it in in four British Grands Prix between 1948 and 1951.

ERAs at Silverstone

The Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998 included a race billed as the HGPCA Pre-1952 Grand Prix Car Race which included amongst the entry list eight ERAs. Here are three photographs showing four of those cars.

This is the 1936 ERA B Type of Ludovic Lindsay who drove the car in the race. The car is R5B 'Remus' and is one of those formerly driven by Prince Bira of Siam - you can see the Siamese colours on the rear of the car.

This is the 1937 C Type of Bill Morris and was driven by him in the race. It is designated R12C and is known as 'Hanuman', but has a confusing history and I've somewhat condensed the story of the car(s) told  in members.madasafish.com to produce the following:

ERA R12B 'Hanuman / Hanuman II'

R12B was a 1936 works car with a 2 litre engine and in the works black colour scheme. Raymond Mays successfully hill climbed R12B at Shelsley Walsh and raced at Brooklands.

1937 The works rebuilt R12B to C-type specification with a 1.5 litre engine and a long-range fuel tank. 1938 The works sold R12B/C to Prince Chula for Bira to drive. R12B/C was painted with a light blue body and yellow chassis and wheels of the 'White Mouse' stable and made the national racing colours of Siam (Thailand). In the tradition of 'White Mouse' cars, following R2B 'Romulus' and R5B 'Remus' R12C was named 'Hanuman'

1939 saw Bira race R12B/C to win the Nuffield Trophy at Donington Park. Somewhat less successfully Bira crashed R12B/C at in practice for the Coupe de la Commission Sportive at Rheims, France. Bira suffered only minor injuries but the car was badly damaged. NOW THIS IS WHERE THINGS GET A BIT TRICKY! As happens with many well raced cars repair and modification keeps cars on the track but complicates their history. R12B had been modified to C-type spec. and was now repaired with the only available chassis frame (a B-type, probably from R8B left over from its rebuild up to C-type spec.) so that the cars code letter reverted to 'R12B' and its name was moved on to 'Hanuman II'. The spare parts from sorting out the mess were set aside – see R12C 'Hanuman', below, for what happened to them.

ERA R12C 'Hanuman'

1982 - Respected car restorer and ERA expert W.R.G. 'Bill' Morris rebuilt the wreckage left over from the R12B/C 'Hanuman' crash and rebuild (see R12B Hanuman / Hanuman II', above). The project used the original mangled chassis frame from R12B/C, other R12B/C parts and other period parts with any gaps filled by remanufactured parts.

The result was 'R12C – Hanuman' a C-type ERA as if the 1939 Rheims accident had not happened.  As at the time Bill Morris owned both 'R12B – Hanuman II' and 'R12C – Hanuman' the question of whether one or the other or both or neither was 'genuine' was a matter he would have had to fight out with himself !

Here are three of the ERAs at Luffield Corner during the race. Number 44 on the outside is R12C 'Hanuman' driven by Bill Morris, number 16 at the front is the 1937 B Type R14B of Donald Day driven by Goff Tidball and the light green car bringing up the rear is the 1934 A Type R1A of E Dean Butler driven by Martin Walford.

A full list of all the ERA cars and their various owners is shown on the ERA Club website.