Aston Martin DB3S

This is a photograph I took at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994.

It's three of the Aston Martin DB3S cars that competed in the Classic Car Sports Car Race and all have the 6-cylinder inline 2,922cc Lagonda engine.  Number 29 is the 1955 car of Hubert Fabri, one of the DB3S customer cars, chassis DB3S/102, and was originally one of three cars provided for Australian Tony Gaze's Kangaroo Stable. Next to it is the car driven by Sally Mason-Styrron in the race which is chassis DB3S/9, a 1956 Works car raced by the Aston Martin team in 1956 and 1957. At the end of the 1957 it was sold to Australian David McKay. The red car on the right is Valentine Lindsay's 1955 customer car, chassis DB3S/110.

 

Friday's Ferrari

This car took part in the Shell Ferrari Historical Challenge race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It's the 1950 Ferrari 166/195 MM Touring Barchetta of Dudley & Sally Mason-Styrron, which was driven in the race by Sally, and is chassis #0040M. A note in the programme of this event in 1992 says this about the car:

'166/195 Barchetta

Front engined V12; 2.3 litres; 160-180 bhp at 7000rpm; ifs/double wishbones/transverse leaf springs. Rigid rear axle/semi-elliptic leaf springs. The dual model designation reflects the fact that it started out as a 2-litre car in the 166 series and finished up with a 2.4 litre engine from the 195 series. The 'Barchetta' - literally 'little boat' body is by Touring. It ran in the 1950 Mille Miglia, 4th overall (G.Bracco/U.Maglioli) and finished 12th overall. 5th in class (Luigi Villoresi) in the Targa Florio that year.'

1955 Maserati 300S

This car competed in the Louis Vuitton 1950s Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 1996.

It's the 1955 Maserati 300S of Dudley and Sally Mason-Styrron and was driven in the race by Sally Mason-Styrron. The 300S was produced by Maserati from 1955 to 1959 to contend the World Sportscar Championship and had a straight-6 engine based on the 250F Grand Prix car's 2½ litre unit, but with a longer stroke to bring the capacity up to 2,992cc and this car is chassis 3055.

Friday's Ferrari

Another look at a Ferrari that I've featured a couple of times previously, this time pictured at Silverstone in July 1997 at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting.

It's Dudley Mason-Styrron's Ferrari 166 MM Touring Barchetta, driven in the Shell Ferrari Historic Challenge race by Sally Mason-Styrron. The programme of the event shows it as a 1954 car, but it's shown in www.barchetta.cc's history of the car, serial number 0040M, as having been built in 1950. It does say, however, that it was 'brought up to 195 specification and then 212 by factory', so it's possible that one of these modifications may have caused it to be redesignated as a 1954 car.

Friday's Ferrari

This is a group of cars I photographed in the paddock at Silverstone in July 1995 at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting preparing to join the circuit for the morning practice session.

They're going to take part in the practice for the Louis Vuitton '50s Sports Car Race and are being led out by the 1956 Ferrari 860 Monza (serial number 0602M) of Fritz Grashie. This is the car that finished in third place in the 1956 Mille Miglia driven by Luigi Musso, and finished second in the Nürburgring 1000km race the same year driven by Juan Manuel Fangio and Eugenio Castelotti.

You can see the race numbers of two other cars, number 40 being the 1959 Lotus 15 of Robert Brooks and 37 the 1956 Aston Martin DB3S of Dudley and Sally Mason-Styrron.

Friday's Ferrari

This is the 1950 Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta of Sally Mason-Styrron seen at the Silverstone Historic Festival meeting in August 2001. Why the number plate is upside down I don't know. At one time the model number Ferrari gave to his cars was the displacement of one of the cylinders so as the car originally had a 12 cylinder engine of 1995cc capacity it was given the designation 166. At some stage, however, it's apparently had a new engine fitted, the programme of the meeting showing the capacity as 2300cc. The bodywork was a revolutionary shape at that time and it was likened by one observer to a 'little boat', or 'barchetta' and the name stuck. The serial number of the car is 0040M.