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.

1934 Alfa Romeo P3

This was one of the competitors in the Pre 1952 Grand Prix Cars Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It's Rodney Felton's 1934 Alfa Romeo P3 and was driven in the race by Sir John Venables-Llewelyn. The P3 was introduced in 1932 with a twin-supercharged 2,654cc straight-8 engine which by 1935 had been enlarged to 3,165cc. By then, with the exception of Tazio Nuvolari's victory in the German Grand Prix that year (with the engine further enlarged to 3,822cc), the car was unable to match the Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz cars. This car is chassis #50009 that was destroyed in an accident in 1949 but the remains were eventually reconstructed by Rodney Felton.

1934 Alfa Romeo P3

This was one of the competitors in the Pre 1952 Grand Prix Cars Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000.

It's Rodney Felton's 1934 Alfa Romeo P3 that was driven in the race by Sir John Venables-Llewelyn. The P3 was introduced in 1932 with a twin-supercharged 2,654cc straight-8 engine which by 1935 had been enlarged to 3,165cc. By then, with the exception of Tazio Nuvolari's victory in the German Grand Prix that year (with the engine further enlarged to 3,822cc), the car was unable to match the Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz cars. This car is chassis #50009 that was destroyed in an accident in 1949 but the remains were eventually reconstructed by Rodney Felton.

Alfa Romeo P3

This car took part in the Race for Pre 1952 Grand Prix Cars at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000.

It's Rodney Felton's 1934 Alfa Romeo P3 and was driven in the race by Sir John Venables-Llewelyn. The programme of the event said this about the car:

'Alfa Romeo are prominent too, indeed the redoubtable Sir John Venables-Llewelyn will be a contender for outright victory with Rodney Felton's gorgeous P3. The supercharged straight-eight machines were winners in the early '30s, driven by stars like Tazio Nuvolari and Achille Varzi.'

The Alfa Romeo P3 was introduced in 1932 with a twin-supercharged straight-8 engine, initially with a capacity of 2,654cc. In 1933 much of the European racing season was missed due to financial problems at Alfa Romeo, but the cars were eventually handed over to Enzo Ferrari whose Scuderia Ferrari ran the cars for the 1933-1935 seasons. By 1935 the P3s were outclassed by the Mercedes-Benz W25s and Auto Union B Types, but Tazio Nuvolari won a famous victory in the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring with a P3 bored out to 3,822cc.

ERA R4A

Today's photograph was taken at Oulton Park in July 1987 at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies Meeting. The programme of the event had this to say about these trophies:

The Richard Seaman Trophies

These were kindly presented to the Vintage Sports Car Club by George Monkhouse Esq, as a memorial to his friend that great British driver, R.J.B.Seaman. There are two Trophies and two races, one for pre-1931 Vintage Racing Cars, and the other for Historic Racing Cars made before 1940. In addition to the scratch races for the trophies each race will include a handicap.

The Historic Trophy race always includes a sprinkling of ERA cars; nine took part on this occasion, and this is one of them.

This is a 1935 ERA, R4A, at that time owned by Sir John Venables-Llewelyn, and was fitted with a 2 litre supercharged engine. The ERA Club has detailed records of all the ERA cars and this is a list of the owners of R4A since it was built:

R4A

P G Fairfield 1935 to 1937
N G Wilson 1937 to 1942
R Parnell 1942 to 1945
F R Gerard 1945 to 1955
J MacPhee 1955 to 1956
J de Villiers 1956 to 1957
J Shield 1957 to 1960
J de Villiers 1960 to 1961
B Sargeant 1961 to 1963
F P Brewer 1963 to 1966
Sir John Venables-Llewelyn 1966 to 1996
P A Mann & J Wildbolz 1996 to 1998
J Wildbolz 1998 to 2008
J-R Grellet 2008 to 2012
N J Topliss 2012 to date

There are also details of all the ERA cars on this site.

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