1957 Maserati 250F

This is a photograph I took at Lodge Corner during the Cheshire Building Society's Allcomers' Race at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies Meeting at Oulton Park in June 1981.

It's Willie Green driving A P Bamford's 1957 Maserati 250F which is chassis #2534, a car that was supplied new to the American Temple Buell team in September 1958. This car was acquired by Anthony Bamford in 1972, and after restoration was raced in historic events by Willie Green. The car has the usual 6-cylinder inline 2,491cc Maserati 250F engine.

Friday's Ferrari

This was one of the competitors in the BRDC 60s GT Race at the Christie’s International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It’s the Ferrari 250 GTO of Sir Anthony Bamford, now Lord Bamford, and was driven in the race by Frank Sytner. It is a 1963 car, chassis #4399GT, that was rebodied at the end of 1963 with a 1964 series II body. This car was first owned by Colonel Ronnie Hoare of Maranello Concessionaires and raced by several drivers including Mike Parkes, Graham Hill and Innes Ireland, Graham Hill winning the 1963 Tourist Trophy race at Goodwood and Mike Parkes the 1964 Spa 500 km race. Innes Ireland and Tony Maggs finished in sixth place in the 1964 Le Mans 24 Hour race. It was bought by Anthony Bamford in 1969.

1956 Jaguar D-Type

This was one of the competitors in the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association Sports Car Race at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It's the 1956 Jaguar D-Type, chassis number XKD603, of Sir Anthony Bamford, said to be the most original of the long-nose Jaguars in existence. It started as a works car in 1956, but when Jaguar dropped out of racing the following year it was sold to Ecurie Ecosse, where it received its RSF 303 registration number. The car finished second in the 1957 Le Mans 24 Hour race when Ecurie Ecosse D-Types were first and second, and three more D-Types finished third, fourth and sixth. The car was driven in this Silverstone race by Frank Sytner.

1958 Lotus Eleven

This was one of the competitors in the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association Sports Car Race at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It's Peter Austin's 1958 Lotus Eleven, about 270 of which were built by the Lotus Company between 1956 and 1958. The Lotus Eleven was built with a variety of engines of different sizes from 750cc to 1500cc, and the programme of the event shows Peter Austin's car to have a 1,089cc engine. The red car at the side of the Lotus is Burkhard von Schenk's 1957 Maserati 300SI, and behind are the 1957 Jaguar D-Type of Sir Anthony Bamford (driven by Frank Sytner) and the 1957 Lotus Eleven of Malcolm Ricketts.

1956 Jaguar D-Type

I took this photograph at Luffield Corner during the HGPCA Sports Car Race at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

Leading are two former Ecurie Ecosse 1956 Jaguar D-Types, Frank Sytner driving Sir Anthony Bamford's car and John Harper driving that of Robert Brooks. Both cars have the 3,781cc straight-6 engine and are the cars that finished in second and first places respectively in the 1957 Le Mans 24 Hour race, Sytner's being chassis XKD603 and Harper's XKD606. Behind those two cars is the 1960 ex-Camoradi Maserati T61 of Lindsay Owen-Jones with a 2,890cc straight-4 engine. In the background approaching Priory Corner is Willie Green in Pete Waterman's 1958 Ferrari 250TR, chassis 0742TR.

Friday's Ferrari

Ferrari was the featured marque at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997, and as well as a special display of Ferraris in the paddock there were three races in the weekend programme set aside for Ferraris.

Here are two of the Ferrari 250 GTOs that were present that day, both owned by Anthony Bamford, then Sir Anthony and now Lord Bamford. The one on the left is a 1963 car, chassis #4399GT that was rebodied at the end of 1963 with a 1964 series II body. This car was first owned by Colonel Ronnie Hoare of Maranello Concessionaires and raced by several drivers including Mike Parkes, Graham Hill and Innes Ireland, Graham Hill winning the 1963 Tourist Trophy race at Goodwood and Mike Parkes the 1964 Spa 500 km race. Innes Ireland and Tony Maggs finished in sixth place in the 1964 Le Mans 24 Hour race. It was bought by Anthony Bamford in 1969 and at this Silverstone meeting it was driven by Frank Sytner in the Coys of Kensington Ferrari GT race. On the right is a 1962 car, chassis #3767GT that doesn't appear to have taken part in any of the races that weekend. It was originally owned by David Piper who raced the car in 1962 and early 1963, his best results being wins in the Kyalami 9 hour race and the Angola Grand Prix in late 1962. It then spent some years in the USA with various owners before returning to the UK and eventually being acquired by Anthony Bamford in 1974. Both cars are powered by the 2,953cc V12 engine designed by Gioacchino Colombo.

1932 Alfa Romeo 8C

This car took part in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race at the VSCC's meeting at Oulton Park in June 1981.

It's the 1932 Alfa Romeo 8C of Anthony Bamford which was driven in the race by Willie Green and has a 2.6 litre straight-8 engine.  The programme of the event says:

'Willie Green drives a very historic 8 cylinder 2600cc sports Alfa Romeo belonging to Anthony Bamford. This is the car well known in prewar speed trials when it was successfully driven by G. Bagratouni, an Italian then living in this country. Despite its heavier body by the Italian coachbuilders, Touring, AMO 999 may well be amongst the Monzas with Willie Green at the wheel'

This photograph wasn't taken during that race, though, but during an earlier handicap race - although it isn't shown in the entry list for that race in the programme of the event. The car following it is the 1933 Sunbeam Speed 20 of R.J.R. Sevier which has a 2.9 litre straight-6 engine. The photograph was taken at Foster's Corner on the short circuit at Oulton Park which omits the loop beween Cascades and Knickerbrook.

Maserati 250F

I took this photograph at Lodge Corner during the Cheshire Building Society's Allcomers' Race at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies Meeting at Oulton Park in June 1981.

It's Willie Green driving what the programme of the event says is A P Bamford's 1957 Maserati 250F, and it appears to be chassis #2534, a car that was supplied new to the American Temple Buell team in September 1958. This car was acquired by Anthony Bamford in 1972, and after restoration was raced in historic events by Willie Green. The car has the usual 6-cylinder inline 2½ litre Maserati 250F engine.

Ford GT40

I took this photograph at the HGPCA's International Historic Grand Prix meeting at Donington Park in May 2004.

According to the programme of the event car number 101 is a 1960 Ferrari 250GT SWB, to be driven in the 2¼ hour long Gentleman Drivers GT and Sports Endurance Race by Jeremy Agace and Bill Wykeham. The car above is obviously a Ford GT40, however, and there's no mention of it in the programme. It appears to be the 1965 GT40, chassis number P/1027 that was used as a camera car for the movie 'Grand Prix' and which thereafter remained in the USA until it was acquired in 2000 by Sir Anthony Bamford of JCB Excavators Ltd, whose colours it bears in this photograph.

Friday's Ferrari

Entered in the GT race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1993, this is a 1963 Ferrari 250GTO. The official Ferrari website says about the 250GTO:

The overall shape of the aluminium bodies designed and built by Scaglietti changed very little during the production period from 1962 to 1964, apart from a one-off example bodied in the style of the 330 LM Berlinetta. The last three cars in the series received Pininfarina-designed and Scaglietti-built bodies of a style very similar to that used on the mid-engine 250 LM sports racing car. Four earlier cars were also re-bodied in the later style during 1964. Although the overall body shape didn't alter to any great degree, the detail differences during the production run certainly did. The early cars in the series had a small elliptical radiator opening, bounded by rectangular driving lights, initially with brake cooling ducts under the nose, which then changed to vertical brake cooling slots in the nose alongside the driving lights, with the sidelights mounted below the Plexiglass shrouded headlights. The rear spoiler was bolted to the tail panel, and there were cabin exhaust air slots in the sail panels. The brake cooling ducts soon became circular, and the side lights moved to a semi-recessed location in the wing sides; a little while after these modifications the tail spoiler, still of the same profile, became an integral, riveted part of the body construction.

This is a 1963 model and is one of the cars that were re-bodied in 1964, its serial number being 4399GT and you can read the history of the car here. In 1993 the owner of the car was Sir Anthony Bamford and it was driven in the race by Frank Sytner.