Jaguar D-Type

This car was one of the entries in the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association Sports Car Race at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It's the Jaguar D-Type of Christopher Mann, chassis XKD558, which the programme of the event says was a 1955 model and had a 3,800cc engine, presumably the 3,781cc 6-cylinder inline XK6 engine released in 1958 and which were fitted in some D-Types in place of the original 3,441cc engine. The DVLA record shows the car as a 1956 model and says it now has a 3.4 litre engine. The car was originally supplied to a buyer in Canada. later moving to the USA where it suffered two accidents, being rebuilt after the first one with a 7 litre Ford V8 engine and being virtually written off in the second crash. It was eventually rebuilt and after owners in France, and then the USA again, it found its way to Christopher Mann in the UK.

Here's the car approaching Brooklands corner during a practice session at the Silverstone meeting.

Vauxhall Viper Special

This car competed in two scratch races at the VSCC's Hawthorn Memorial Trophies Race Meeting at Oulton Park in June 2008.

It's the 1913/18 Vauxhall Viper Special of Tony Lees, and is pictured here at Britten's chicane during the first of those races. The car was built by David Biggins on a 1913 Vauxhall A-Type chassis and has a 1918 Wolseley Viper 11.8 litre V8 aero engine, which was a Hispano Suiza HS-8 unit built under licence by Wolseley Motors during World War I. The Vauxhall is being followed by the 1931 Invicta S Type of Trevor Swete and the 1935 Riley Nine 12/4 Special of Richard Brightman.

On 20 May 2013 I showed a photograph of this car in the paddock at Donington Park in 2006.

Hudson Super 6

This car is pictured coming up to the start line in the Exchange Station car park in Manchester at the start of the Lancashire Automobile Car Club's annual Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in May 1992.

It's a 1918 Hudson Super 6 and the only information about it in the programme of the event is that it was entered for the run by William West of Blackpool, Fylde. The Hudson Super 6 was produced by the Hudson Motor Car Company between 1915 and 1929 and has a 6-cylinder inline 4,736cc (289 cu in) engine producing 76 hp.

1909 FL Sports Special

This was one of several Edwardian racing cars that collected marshals from their posts around the circuits at the start of the lunch break at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005 and returned them to their posts later.

I've not been able to find out a lot information about the car, and much of it is contradictory. The FL car was originally built by Henri de la Fresnaye of Levallois-Perret, to the north-west of Paris, from 1908 to 1909, and in 1910 production was taken over by Société Générale des Voitures Automobiles Otto of Paris. Presumably the FL name comes from Fresnaye and Levallois-Perret. The first FL car was a 4-cylinder 2,010cc model and in 1911 a larger model was introduced with a 6-cylinder 3,015cc engine. The DVLA record says that FL 290 is a 1909 car but has a 3 litre engine, and all the photographs I've seen of this actual car say that it has a 5 litre unit. There was no race for Edwardian cars so this car didn't compete at the meeting and wasn't listed in the programme, but it had taken part in a commemorative run during the morning about which the programme said this:

THE PIONEER SPIRIT LIVES ON

The commemorative Grand Prix Run is for cars built from 1906 to '14.

The road event will run over approximately 30 miles. The first car will be

flagged away from the Donington Collection at 9.30am on Sunday.

Look out for these cars on track during the lunch break as they circulate 

to collect marshals from their posts.

Friday's Ferrari

Ferrari uses the Corse Clienti Ferrari Racing Days meetings at various circuits to allow a group of specially selected customers to test limited edition cars developed exclusively for the track and to provide feedback on the performance of the cars to Corse Clienti engineers, thus helping Ferrari to develop its cars for the future. The Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017 included a series of test sessions involving the Ferrari FXX-K, the 'K' referring to the KERS kinetic energy recovery system with which the car is equipped. Here's one of the cars pictured at Club Corner during one of the sessions.

This is USA driver James Weiland in his Ferrari FXX-K, which is based on the LaFerrari. The car has a 6,262cc V12 engine that develops 848 hp, to which the 140kW electric motor adds 188 hp.

MG-Lola EX257

This was amongst a display of Lola cars at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2008 which celebrated 50 years of Lola Cars.

It's a 2001 MG-Lola EX257 which is powered by the 4-cylinder inline 1,995cc XP20 engine and appears to be chassis HU-03, a car that competed in the Le Mans 24 Hours race in 2001 and 2002, retiring on both occasions.

On 5 October 2015 I showed photographs of another MG-Lola EX257 that was present at this meeting and took part in a parade of Lola cars on the track.

Maserati T61

I photographed this car in the pit lane at Donington Park during a practice session at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2004.

It's the 1959 Maserati T61 of Carlo Vögele which took part in two rounds of the Shell Ferrari Maserati Historic Challenge series. The car is chassis #2454 and has a twin overhead camshaft 4-cylinder inline 2,890cc engine, and you can read about it here.

On 25 November 2016 I showed a photograph taken during one of the races showing the car at McLean's Corner.