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.

Cosworth 4WD F1 Prototype

From 1961 to 1965 the capacity limit for Formula 1 engines had been limited to 1½ litres, but in 1966 that limit was increased to 3 litres giving the potential for a massive increase in power. This was realised in the 1967 season with the introduction of the Cosworth DFV engine but the downside was that cars were finding it increasingly difficult to transfer this power to the road, particularly in wet conditions. Several teams tried their hand at building four-wheel drive cars to improve the grip, and they were joined by Frank Costin and Keith Duckworth, the men behind the Cosworth engine.

This car, photographed in the Donington Park museum in September 2014, is the Cosworth 4WD F1 prototype which was hampered by a variety of teething problems. In the meantime the F1 teams also had problems with their 4WD cars, and Colin Chapman's experiments with wings on his Lotus cars, soon taken up by other teams, and also advances in tyre technology solved the grip problem to a large extent and the 4WD revolution never took hold. Keith Duckworth shelved the Cosworth 4WD project without the car having turned a wheel in anger.

Friday's Ferrari

This is a model I don't think I've featured before, photographed at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017.

It's a 1994 Ferrari 456 GT, with a 5,474cc V12 engine at the front which has twin overhead camshafts on each bank, and two valves per cylinder. This car followed the Ferrari 412 and was in production from 1992 to 2003, being replaced by the 612 Scaglietti.

Aston Martin Ulster

This is a photograph that I took at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1975.

If memory serves me right the photograph was taken on the inside of the circuit near to Knickerbrook where there was an access road to the circuit. The car is Derrick Edwards' 4-cylinder inline 1,495cc 1935 Aston Martin Ulster which he raced in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race that day. I know that one of the people in the car is A C (Bert) Bertelli who was Technical Director of Aston Martin from 1926 to 1937 and who designed the Ulster and other Aston Martins during that time. According to the programme of the event Italy's Count Giovanni Lurani (known as 'Johnny'), who was a prolific racing driver in the pre-war years, was due to be at Oulton Park that day and the programme says:

'....we are hoping he may do a demonstration lap in the actual 1½ litre Ulster Aston Martin which, 40 years ago, he drove to a class win and third place overall with his co-driver Gildo Strazza in the Targa Abruzzo 24 hour race over the historic Pescara circuit. This car is the well known one raced in VSCC events today by Derrick Edwards and Judy Hogg.'

I don't recall if Johnny Lurani was driving it that day - the only note I've made is that A C Bertelli was in the car.

McDowell Ford Track Racer

This car competed in the Seaman Trophy Race for Vintage Racing Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2011.

It's Graham Paddick's McDowell Ford Track Racer, which the programme of the event says is a 1930 car with a 3,400cc engine, but apart from that I can't find any information about the car.

Volvo P1800

This car was one of the exhibits at the Footman James Classic Car Show Manchester at EventCity in September 2017.

It was said to be the car that was used in the TV series 'The Saint' where it was driven by the star of the series, Simon Templar, in real life the actor Roger Moore. Several of these cars were apparently used in the filming of the series, each of which displayed the registration number ST1 - the legal number of this particular one is 71 DXC. It's a 1962 Volvo P1800 with a 4-cylinder inline 1,778cc engine.

The underside of the boot lid has the signatures of various people connected with 'The Saint' and the Volvo P1800.

Lotus 24

This car took part in the Pre '68 GP and Tasman Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 1996.

It's the 1962 Lotus 24 of Hall & Fowler and was driven in the race by Rick Hall. The Lotus 24 had a then standard spaceframe chassis and was intended as a customer car, while Team Lotus used the new monocoque Lotus 25. In effect, although Lotus team leader Jim Clark drove the Lotus 25 throughout the season his team mate Trevor Taylor mostly drove the Lotus 24. Both the 24 and 25 used the Coventry Climax FWMV 1,495cc V8 engine.

On 11 September 2016 I showed a couple of photographs of the Lotus 24, including one of Trevor Taylor's car in the paddock at the 1962 British Grand Prix at Aintree.