1923 Vauxhall Rowley Special

This car competed in the Boulogne Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s meeting at Oulton Park in May 2005.

It's the 1923 Vauxhall Rowley Special of Geoffrey O’Connell, a car that was built in 1978 with a 14-40 chassis and a 30-98 engine by John Rowley and Julian Ghosh. The car then had the registration number DS 7502 and was driven in VSCC races by Julian Ghosh, who later became President of the VSCC. In the early 1980's the car's chassis was shortened and a different engine fitted, and in the late 1980s the car passed to James Warne then soon afterwards to David Biggins. David Biggins competed with the car for about 15 years and it has had a few different owners since then, including one in Northern Ireland where it acquired a GIG 8664 registration number. The programme of the event says that its engine capacity is 4,224cc, presumably the Vauxhall OE engine.

1926 Vauxhall Rowley Special

This car was in the paddock at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Hawthorn Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in July 2015.

It's the 1926 Vauxhall Rowley Special, a car that was built in 1978 with a 14-40 chassis and a 30-98 engine by John Rowley and Julian Ghosh. The car then had the registration number DS 7502 and was driven in VSCC races by Julian Ghosh, who later became President of the VSCC. In the early 1980's the car's chassis was shortened and a different engine fitted, and in the late 1980s the car passed to James Warne then soon afterwards to David Biggins. David Biggins competed with the car for about 15 years and it has had a few different owners since then, including one in Northern Ireland where it acquired the GIG 8664 registration number. According to the DVLA record the car has the 4,224cc Vauxhall OE engine.

1925 Sunbeam Tiger

I took this photograph during the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy Race for Vintage Racing Cars at the VSCC's meeting at Oulton Park in June 1993.

It's Vijay Mallya coming up to Lodge Corner in his 1925 Sunbeam Tiger, and behind him David Biggins in the 1926/23 Vauxhall 14/40 Rowley Special with a 30/98 engine. The Sunbeam Tiger has a supercharged 3,976cc V12 engine formed from two of the Grand Prix Sunbeam's 6-cylinder 2 litre engines in a V formation mated to a single crankshaft and a note in the programme of the event about the car reads as follows:

'The most powerful car in today's race is the 4 litre supercharged V12 Sunbeam Tiger of Vijay Mallya, another favourite for a win, though a first appearance at Oulton Park, we think, for Vijay himself. The Sunbeam took the Land Speed Record on Southport sands at 152.33 mph in 1926 driven by Seagrave and broke the Brooklands Outer Circuit record in 1929 at 137.58 mph driven by Kaye Don. Seagrave also led the free formula Spanish GP at San Sebastian with the car for four laps later in 1926 after which the tubular front axle broke in the middle due to inaccurate boring-out and Seagrave slid to a rather uncomfortable halt. The car has twice been a winner of the Vintage Seaman Trophy at Oulton Park when entered by Sir Ralph Millais and driven by George Burton in 1965 and by Neil Corner in 1970.'