Friday's Ferrari

This car competed in the Shell Ferrari Historical Challenge race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997.

It's Peter Glaesel's 1953 Ferrari 375MM Spider and was driven in the race by Christian Glaesel. This car is chassis #0370AM and has the Aurelio Lampredi designed 4,494cc V12 engine. Its first race was for the Scuderia Ferrari at the 1954 Buenos Aires 1000km race which it won, driven by Giuseppe Farina and Umberto Maglioli. After that race it was acquired by Masten Gregory who had the car painted in the white and black colours seen above but then crashed the car in practice at Pebble Beach on his first appearance with it. When it had been rebuilt he raced it for the rest of the 1954 season, after which it went to his then brother-in-law Dale Duncan for the 1955 and 1956 seasons. It then had a series of different owners in the USA and after passing through the hands of Anthony Bamford and Nigel Moores in the UK in the 1970s it went to Gavin Bain in New Zealand before ending up with Peter Glaesel in 1994.

1974 March 74S & 1974 Chevron B31

I took this photograph at Lodge Corner during the HSCC 2 Litre Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Summer Race Meeting at Oulton Park in July 1992.

Number 52 is the 1974 March 74S of Gregory Hart and has a 1,975cc Ford Cosworth BD series engine. The number 33 car is the 1974 Chevron B31 of Gerard MacQuillan which has a 1,998cc BMW M12 engine.

1948 Gordini T15

This car took part in the Motor Sport HGPCA Pre '52 Grand Prix Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival Meeting at Silverstone in July 1995.

It's the 1948 Gordini T15 of John Foster, with a 1,430cc 4-cylinder inline Simca-based engine. The T15 took part in World Championship Grand Prix races from 1950 to 1953, with a supercharged engine in 1950 and 1951, and without the supercharger in 1952 and 1953 when races were run with the Formula 2 limit of 2 litres. In the 1952 and 1953 seasons the works Gordini team used the updated Gordini T16, but the T15 was still used by some private entrants.

1959 Gemini Mk II

I took this photograph at Redgate Corner during the Front-Engined Formula Junior Racing Cars race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2011.

Leading is Sir John Chisholm in his 1,071cc 1959 Gemini Mk2 and behind him is the 1,100cc 1960 Lola Mk2 of Simon Goodliff. Bringing up the rear are Peter St Barbe in his 1,086cc Elva 100 and Gordon Russell in P Barford's 1,098cc 1959 Gemini Mk2. Simon Goodliff's car has a 4-cylinder inline Ford Kent engine and the other three cars have 4-cylinder inline BMC A-series engines.

1914 Humber TT

This car competed in the Richard Seaman Memorial Vintage Trophy Race at the VSCC's meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987.

It's the 1914 Humber TT of Kenneth Neve and it's the only survivor of the three Humbers that took part in the Tourist Trophy race in the Isle of Man in that year. The car has a 4-cylinder inline 3,295cc engine.

1947 Thornycroft Sturdy Tower Wagon

I took this photograph at the Greater Manchester Transport Society's Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally at Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1993.

It's the Greater Manchester Transport Society's former Manchester Corporation Transport 1947 Thornycroft Sturdy Tower Wagon. It was used to access the overhead wires used by the tramcars and trolleybuses that were in constant need of maintenance and repair. I've not been able to find out much information about the vehicle except from the DVLA record that says it has a 5,400cc petrol engine.

1924 Mercedes Targa Florio

Cars from the Mercedes Benz Kompressor Club which caters for owners of the supercharged sports cars built between 1927 and 1934 were present at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994. Joining them was this earlier Mercedes car.

It's a 4-cylinder inline 2 litre Mercedes, one of three cars that contested the Targa Florio race in 1924. The race took part on the mountain roads near Palermo in Sicily over 4 laps of the 108 kilometre long circuit. The cars were driven by Christian Werner, Christian Lautenschlager and Alfred Neubauer who finished in first, tenth and fifteenth places respectively in the overall standings, and in the first three places in the 1,501 to 2,000cc class. Alfred Neubauer became the Mercedes Benz team leader from 1926 until racing ended in 1939 before the outbreak of war, and was team manager again in 1954 and 1955 when Mercedes Benz returned to racing for those two years.

The cars were painted red for this race instead of the German racing colour of white, and this was apparently because spectators in the wilds of the Sicilian countryside had a habit of cheering on the red Italian cars and obstructing the path, and even throwing stones at cars of a 'foreign' colour.