500cc Formula 3 cars at Donington Park

I took this photograph at McLeans Corner during the 5 lap Scratch Race for Formula 3 Racing Cars at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

Leading is the 1952 Cooper Mk VI of George Shackleton with close behind on the right the 1954 Cooper Mk VIII of Nigel Challis. The red car, mostly hidden by George Shackleton's Cooper, is the 1955 Petty F3 car of David Lecoq, and behind that is the yellow 1952 Kieft CK52 of Rodney Delves. Bringing up the rear in this photograph is the blue 1955 Cousy No2 of John Jones. There's a thriving 500 Owners Association with details of lots of the cars that have competed in 500cc racing since it started in 1946.

On 16 February 2016 I showed photographs of several of the 500cc cars that I had taken in the paddock at this meeting.

Cooper Mk V

This car took part in the Historic Formula Racing Cars Pre '65 Single Seat Championship race at the HSCC's Summer Race Meeting at Oulton Park in July 1995.

It's the 1952 Cooper Mk V of Ian Scott which competed in the Formula 3 races of the 1950s where engines were limited to 500cc. The programme of the event says that this car's capacity was 499cc and I noted at the time that it's a JAP engine, but it doesn't say so in the programme.

There's a 500 Owners Association for owners of these cars and their website has details of all the cars that took part in this class of racing, including the Cooper Mk V.

Kieft CK52

This car competed in the 500cc Formula 3 Class in the AMOC Miller Oils Historic Formula Junior Championship race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 2002.

It's Rod Delves' 1952 Kieft CK52 Formula 3 car, with a 498cc Manx Norton engine. This Formula started soon after the Second World War as an inexpensive way to go motor racing with a simple chassis powered by a 500cc motor cycle engine, typically Norton or JAP. It produced a whole range of home-made 'Specials' and also limited production runs by the likes of Cyril Kieft and Charles & John Cooper - the latter going on to greater things with their Formula 1 cars. There's a 500 Owners Association for enthusiasts and owners of these cars.

I've shown photographs of the Kieft F3 car previously, on 16 February 2016, 23 March 2016, 27 June 2016 and 25 October 2017.

Cooper MkI T4

After they had produced their first 500cc racing car Charles and John Cooper toyed with the idea of producing a small sports car based on a similar chassis and in 1947 built one car using a twin-cylinder Triumph motor cycle engine. The project was never pursued, partly because the Triumph engine lacked the power required, but also because of the need to devote more time to developing the race cars. This 1947 Cooper MkI T4 was part of the display of 500cc cars at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

This article by the 500 Owners Association tells you something about the car.