BMW Isetta

In June 1987 the Saddleworth Museum arranged a Vintage & Historic Vehicle Display & Run that started in Greenfield and ended in Uppermill. I took this photograph of one if the entrants at the King George V Playing Fields in Uppermill.

It's a 1959 BMW Isetta with a single-cylinder four-stroke 295cc engine. The car was introduced by Iso in 1953 with a 236cc two-stroke engine and cars were soon being built on license in several different countries, including Germany where the BMW Isetta became the best known of the Isetta vehicles. BMW uprated the engine to 295cc, and in 1957 Isetta of Great Britain started producing the car under license in Brighton. The whole of the front of the car  hinges outward, meaning that the steering wheel, which is attached to the door, has to be on the hinged side, so this is a left-hand drive car and is probably one of the German BMW Isettas.

On 15 June 2015 I showed a photograph of a BMW Isetta at the Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally at Heaton Par, Manchester in September 1998.

Porsche 356

I photographed these cars at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies Meeting at Donington Park in May 2001.

They're both Porsches, and the nearest car, registration TSY 157, didn't take part in the racing that day. It's a Porsche 356 and the DVLA record tells me that it's a 1960 model, with a 1.6 litre engine. The car on the far side, registration UUL 442, is also a Porsche 356, a 1957/58 model of 1.6 litres, and it competed in the 2¼ hour long Gentlemen Drivers Race for Pre 1966 GT Cars and Pre 1963 Sports Cars driven by Jeff Moyes and Adam Richardson. This car was apparently once owned by Jim Clark who made his racing debut in it, and also used it as his daily transport.

Chevron B19

This car took part in the HSCC Atlantic Computers Historic GT Championship race at the HSCC's Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1986.

It's the North Downs Instruments 1971 Chevron B19 and was driven in the race by Tony Gordon. The Chevron B19 was designed to run in the European 2-litre Sports Car Championship and was powered by a 1,790cc 4-cylinder inline Cosworth FVC engine.

Porsche Carrera 6

This car competed in the Pre-1972 Le Mans Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It's the 1,991cc flat-6 1966 Porsche Carrera 6 of Julian Majzub, also known as the Porsche 906. The earlier Porsche 904 with a flat-4 1,966 engine was too heavy and underpowered to compete with the Ferrari Dino 206 SP so the 906 was designed with a lighter chassis and body, and the six-cylinder engine was also lighter as well as being more powerful. These new cars took Porsche to 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th places in the Le Mans 24 Hour race behind three Ford GT40 Mk II cars with engines 3½ times their size.

I've featured the Carrera 6 four times previously, on 24 February 2015, 26 October 2015, 2 May 2017 and 10 January 2018.

Bedford OB Duple Vista

This was one of the vehicles taking part in the Greater Manchester Transport Society's Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally at Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1993.

Not listed in the programme of the event, it's a 29 seater 1949 Bedford OB Duple Vista apparently provided new to McKinlays of Prestonpans in 1949 where it had the registration number SS 7376. Later it was with Tours (Isle of Man) where it was given the number 1949 MN and was then acquired by East Yorkshire Motor Services where it was again re-registered as KSU 381. I've also seen a photograph of the vehicle in Shetland taken in 1973 when it was with Sandwick Transport, and still had the original SS 7376 registration number. I believe it again has this original number, though it retains the East Yorkshire livery.

Donington Park Museum

The Donington Park museum, generally accepted as the world's greatest motor sport museum, closed its doors for the last time in November 2018. I've visited the place several times and remember that in the early years there were two or three cars on the roof of the Coppice Cafe which was near the entrance door as you went in. This is a photograph I took of one of those cars on a visit in May 1986.

This is a 1972 BRM P180 designed by Tony Southgate and with a 2,998cc BRM V12 engine. It's one of two cars built and this one is chassis P180/01. This site gives the full racing history of both the P180s.

On 14 June 2016 I showed a photograph of this car at Silverstone in July 1999 in a display marking a tribute to BRM.

Friday's Ferrari

This car was tucked away in a corner of the paddock at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2018.

This is a 2010 Ferrari California which has a retractable hard top and is the first front-engined Ferrari to have a V8 engine. It's a Ferrari F135 engine with a capacity of 4,297cc incorporating twin overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder. The original Ferrari California was one of the 250 series of cars, the Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder that was produced between 1957 and 1963, in LWB then SWB form, and was designed to appeal to the North American market. A 365 California was produced between 1966 and 1967 with a 4,390cc engine based on the 330's 4 litre unit, but only 14 of this model were built. The most recent California is the one shown above which was produced from 2008 and updated to the Ferrari California 30 in 2012. In 2014 the Ferrari California T was introduced with a twin-turbo 3,855cc V8 engine.

  

On 25 May 2018 I showed photographs of a Ferrari California that I took at Silverstone in September 2017.