1953 Cooper Bristol MkII

This car competed in the Cheshire Building Society Allcomers' Race at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1981.

It's Roddy MacPherson's 1953 Cooper Bristol MkII which has a 1971cc 6-cylinder inline Bristol engine that was derived from the pre-war BMW 328 unit. The Cooper Car Company had been started in 1946 by father and son Charles & John Cooper when the new Formula 3 class of racing for 500cc cars was introduced as a relatively simple and cheap way to go motor racing and they built a car powered by a 500cc motor cycle engine, usually a Norton or a JAP. Cooper later entered the Formula 2 class by putting a 1,100cc JAP engine into one of these cars, way below the 2 litre limit allowed, but even with the lack of power the car was still reasonably competitive because of its light weight. When the World Championship was run under Formula 2 regulations in 1952 because of a dearth of the larger-engined Formula 1 cars Cooper designed a car to compete at that level. The 1,971 Bristol engine was chosen, but the Cooper Bristol MkI (later designated the T20) could not really compete with the Ferraris and Maseratis in World Championship races and was much more successful in minor British events. In 1953 the MkII (later T23) car was introduced, having a tubular frame chassis instead of the box section frame of the earlier car and the drive train was altered to lower the driver's seat. Although a better car it wasn't much more successful than the MkI, and the following season when the new 2½ litre Formula 1 regulations came into force the car was rendered obsolete. They still soldiered on for a few years, mainly in minor British events, and then became regulars in the historic racing scene, where they're still to be seen to this day.

Here's Roddy MacPherson rounding Lodge Corner during the race.

1953 Cooper Bristol MkII

This car took part in the Cheshire Building Society Allcomers Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies Meeting at Oulton Park in June 1984.

It's the 1953 Cooper Bristol MkII of Roddy MacPherson with a 1971cc 6-cylinder inline Bristol engine that was derived from the pre-war BMW 328 unit. Father and son Charles & John Cooper had started the Cooper Car Company in 1946, and at first specialised in building cars for the new 500cc class of racing that British enthusiasts had started as a simple and economical way to go motor racing after the war. This developed into the International Formula 3 class in 1950, and Cooper then ventured into the Formula 2 class by putting a 1,100cc JAP engine into one of these cars, way below the 2 litre limit allowed, but even with the lack of power the car was still reasonably competitive because of its light weight. When the World Championship was run under Formula 2 regulations in 1952 because of a dearth of the larger-engined Formula 1 cars Cooper decided to design a car to compete at that level. The 1,971 Bristol engine was chosen, but the Cooper Bristol MkI (later designated the T20) could not really compete with the Ferraris and Maseratis in World Championship races and was much more successful in minor British events. In 1953 the MkII (later T23) car was introduced, having a tubular frame chassis instead of the box section frame of the earlier car and the drive train was altered to lower the driver's seat. Although a better car it wasn't much more successful than the MkI, and the following season when the new 2½ litre Formula 1 regulations came into force the car was rendered obsolete. They still soldiered on for a few years, mainly in minor British events, and then became regulars in the historic racing scene, where they're still to be seen to this day.

Here's Roddy MacPherson at Deer Leap, just after Lodge Corner, during the race. Strange how the front of the car is sharp and in focus but the driver and rear of the car are blurred. I'm sure there must be some scientific reason for that.

Lotus, ERA, Cooper Bristol

The VSCC's Richard Seaman Trophies Meeting at Oulton Park in June 1982 was run on the short circuit which leaves the main circuit just after the Cascades corner, and rejoins it just before Knickerbrook. This photograph was taken during the Cheshire Building Society Allcomers Race at Fosters corner which is between Cascades and Knickerbrook.

In the lead here is Bruce Halford in a 1959 Lotus 16 with a 2,495cc straight-4 Coventry Climax FPF engine. Bruce Halford raced in Formula One from 1956 to 1960, firstly with a Maserati 250F, then a Lotus 16 in 1959 and with Cooper T45 and T51 in 1960. In the mid-1970s he bought this Lotus 16 and competed at Historic meetings for several years. Behind the Lotus is the 1936 ERA R5B 'Remus' of the Hon. Patrick Lindsay with the Straight-6 1,982cc supercharged version of the ERA engine. I showed a photograph of this car, and other ERAs competing at this meeting, on 29 October 2012. Bringing up the rear is Roddy MacPherson in a 1,971cc straight-6 Bristol engined Cooper MkII (or T23). On 30 April 2014 I showed photographs that I had taken at this meeting of three Cooper Bristols, including one of this car.

Monza Lister Jaguar

The Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1999 included The Maserati UK Race for Pre-1961 Grand Prix Cars, and the programme of the event had this to say about the car pictured below:

'Brian Lister made his name building sports racing cars in Cambridge, several of which will be out in the BRDC '50s events, but his one-off offset single-seater, built for Ecurie Ecosse to run in the Race of Two Worlds at Monza, is out with Ric Weiland driving.'

The Race of Two Worlds was conceived as an annual exhibition event to be run on the banked oval at Monza and contested by two teams of cars from the USA (USAC cars as in the Indianapolis 500 race) and from Europe (F1 World Championship cars). Because of safety concerns and costs (and a lack of enthusiasm amongst the European F1 teams) the event only lasted for two years, 1957 and 1958, being won by the American cars on both occasions. Ecurie Ecosse entered a team of three Jaguar D-types in the 1957 race, and in 1958 two Jaguar D-types and this single seat Lister Jaguar built especially for the race and consequently known as the Lister Jaguar Monzanapolis. The aluminium body of the car was unpainted for the race, but at some time since then was painted this Ecurie Ecosse blue. It has more recently been returned to the original unpainted finish. Behind the Lister is the 1953 Cooper Bristol MkII of Oliver Robinson and Roddy MacPherson.