1934 Alfa Romeo P3 and 1938 ERA E-Type GP2

This is a photograph that I took at Foulstons chicane during the Richard Seaman Historic Memorial Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s meeting at Oulton Park in June 1993.

Rodney Felton in his 1934 Alfa Romeo P3 is leading Gordon Chapman’s ERA E-Type GP2, which is being driven by Bill Morris.

1936 ERA R4A

This is one of the ten ERAs that competed in the Richard Seaman Historic Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s meeting at Oulton Park in June 1985.

It’s Sir John Venables-Llewellyn’s 1936 ERA R4A, the first ERA customer car and originally campaigned by Pat Fairfield. It has the 2 litre supercharged ERA engine.

1936 ERA R12B 'Hanuman II'

This car competed in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in June 1973.

It's the 1937 ERA R12B of Bill Morris which has a supercharged 6-cylinder inline1,488cc engine and was driven in the race by Tony Stephens.  Bill Morris owned two ERAs, R12B and R12C and the two cars have a strange history, R12B being a works car that was originally built in 1936 with a 2 litre engine as a B-type car, but in 1937 it was rebuilt to C-type specifications, thus becoming R12C, and given a 1½ litre engine. In 1938 it was sold to Prince Chula to become one of his White Mouse stable's trio of ERAs driven by Prince Bira, where it was given the name 'Hanuman'. In 1939 the car was badly damaged in a crash during practice at Reims and was rebuilt with a B-type frame, reverting to being R12B and the name changing to 'Hanuman II'. After passing through various hands after the Second World War it came to Bill Morris. Bill Morris had managed to acquire the rest of the wreckage left over from the 1939 crash and using the damaged chassis frame rebuilt the car to its 1939 C-type specifications by 1982. That car was now R12C, as if the 1939 accident had never happened, and was given the original car's name of 'Hanuman'.

1934 Bugatti Type 59

This car competed 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 1963.

It’s a 1934 Bugatti Type 59, chassis 59123, originally sold to Earl Howe who kept it in his racing stable until 1936 by which time it was rarely raced as he preferred to use the ERA that he had subsequently purchased. At the end of that season it was sold to South Africa, where it remained until 1962 when it returned to England and into the hands of W.A. F. 'Doc' Taylor, who had the car restored, and it was he who brought the car to this meeting at Oulton Park. The car was driven in the Historic Trophy race by Ronnie Symondson and the owner drove it in the Allcomers race. The car was built with a modified Type 54 chassis and had a supercharged Type 57 straight-8 engine of 3,257cc.

1931 Alfa Romeo 8C Monza

This is a photograph I took at Lodge Corner during the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton park in June 1981.

It's Rodney Felton in his 1931 Alfa Romeo 8C Monza which has an 8-cylinder inline 2,557cc supercharged engine.

1935 MG Q-type & 1933 MG J4

This is a photograph I took in the paddock of two cars that competed in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in June 1973.

Number 51 is Colvin Gunn's 1935 MG Q-type special of Colvin Gunn which has a 939cc supercharged engine and number 52 is the 1933 MG J4 of Colin Tieche which has a 746cc supercharged engine.

1927/39 ERA Delage

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

It's the 1927/39 ERA Delage of Ray Potter which is a 1927 Delage with a 1939 1,488cc supercharged ERA engine. The starting grid for the race had been decided before the programme of the event was printed as all the cars in the race are mentioned in the programme in grid order, which says this about the ERA Delage:

'Next in this row is Ray Potter's beautiful ERA-Delage, which has a twostage supercharged E-type ERA engine in a vintage G.P. Delage chassis, a very potent combination.'

1938 Alta and 1936 ERA

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

Leading is Paul Jaye in David Baldock's 2 litre Alta followed by what I think is Bruce Spollon's 1936 2 litre ERA R8C. The car in the distance seems to be the ERA R12C of Bill Morris, driven that day by Tony Stephens.

1936 ERA R8C

This is one of nine ERAs that took part in the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy Race for Historic Racing Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in August 1992.

It's the 1936 ERA R8C of Bruce Spollon with a supercharged 6-cylinder inline 1,988cc engine. The car was originally built for Earl Howe with a B-type chassis as R8B but was rebuilt to C-type specifications before the Second World War. It was drastically modified in the early post-war years with a D-type chassis and streamlined bodywork, but Bruce Spollon returned it to its pre-war specification after he had acquired the car in 1977.