1930 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport

This was one of the entrants in the Lancashire Automobile Club's annual Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1990. 

Its the 1930 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport of Malcolm Hoyle and is pictured in the Exchange Station car park in Manchester making its way to the start line. This is the short note about the car in the programme of the event:

 

130.     1930 Alfa Romeo Gran Sport

             Reg: FM 8774  6 cylinder  1750cc

             (Malcolm Hoyle, Huddersfield)

The Alfa Romeo 6C was designed by Vittorio Jano in the late 1920s and was in production with several engine sizes ranging from 1½ to 3 litres until 1954. The 6C 1750 Gran Sport had a 6-cylinder inline 1,752cc engine and 257 examples were built between 1930 and 1933.

1955 Martin F3

This car took part in the 500cc Formula 3 race that ran alongside the Historic Formula Junior Championship race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1992.

It's the 1955 Martin F3 car of Reg Hargrave, but there's no other information about the car in the programme of the event. The website of the 500 Owners Association, however, tells you about Ray Martin and his cars, as well as many of the other marques that took part in this class of racing.

Manchester Metrolink Trams

 I took this photograph recently at Salford Quays close to Media City.

It's a tram on the Manchester Metrolink Ashton to Eccles route passing the Harbour City tramway stop on The Quays.

Friday's Ferrari

I photographed this car at the Ferrari Racing Days meeting at Silverstone in September 2017.

It's a 3,496cc V8 1999 FerrariF355 Spider, a car that was produced from 1995 to 1999 when it was superseded by the F360. It was the first Ferrari to take its model number from the engine capacity in litres (3.5) and the number of valves per cylinder (5) - hence 355. The general numbering system at this time was the capacity in litres plus number of cylinders - as in the 3.4 litre V8 Ferrari 348 that preceded the F355. In the 1950s and 60s the usual numbering convention was the cubic centimetre capacity of one cylinder - so all the V12 3 litre cars were 250, as in 250 GTO, and the 4-cylinder 3 litre cars were 750, as in 750 Monza.

1913 Singer

This car took part in a 4-Lap Handicap Race for Edwardian Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in August 1992.

It's the 1913 Singer 10 of  Barry Clarke that was driven in the race by Mrs J Tomlinson. A note in the programme of the event says:

'Jane Tomlinson drives Barry Clarke's little 1913 10hp Singer of the type, which in racing form, was persuaded to lap Brooklands at 73.56 mph in 1914. Lionel Martin, who later formed Aston Martin, "won the glorious scrap for cycle-cars, motor-bicycles and light cars", to quote Bill Boddy's tome The Brooklands Motor Course. Martin was racing his modified Singer 10 at the postponed Inter-Varsity meeting at Brooklands.'

2004 BAR 060

This is a photograph I took at the Donington Park Museum in September 2014.

It's the BAR-Honda 060 that Jenson Button and Takuma Sato drove in the 2004 season. The board at the side of the car reads like this:

2004     B.A.R.   060

The BAR 060 car was driven by Jenson Button in the

2004 Formula One Championship. This car helped bring

Jenson Button home third in the drivers’ series and take

BAR to second place in the manufacturers’

championship.

In the last weeks of 2001, Prodrive was brought in by

BAR to take over the management of the then

underperforming Formula One team.

As part of the agreement, a team of Prodrive

management, including chairman David Richards, was

seconded to the team. Prodrive restructured the BAR,

operation, gave it a distinct new identity and most

importantly, made the team truly competitive for the

first time in its short history.

By the end of 2004, the team was second only to Ferrari

In terms of performance and, off the track, was meeting

Its budget targets. As a result, its major shareholder

BAT was able to sell the business to Honda and

Prodrive’s task was completed.

Jenson Button had 4 second place and 6 third place finishes to finish with 85 points in third place in the World Drivers' Championship in 2004, while Takuma Sato had one third place and a number of minor points-scoring finishes to earn 34 points for eighth place. BAR-Honda ended up in second place in the World Constructors' Championship behind Ferrari.

1968 BRM P133

This was one of the competitors in the F.O.R.C.E. Pre-1972 Classic Grand Prix Cars Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1999.

It's the 3 litre V12 1968 BRM P133 of Ean Pugh - at least that's what it says in the programme of the event. The P133 was produced in Bourne by BRM following the design of Len Terry's P126 which was built by his own Transatlantic Automotive Consultants company. There is some suggestion that the car pictured above is actually a P126. Only two examples of the P133 were built, the second of which was written off in an accident at the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix by Pedro Rodriguez. The remaining P133 was driven in the 1968 season by Pedro Rodriguez, and by Jackie Oliver in the first part of the 1969 season. A second BRM P133 entered by Robs Lamplough took part in this race at Silverstone, and that one appears to be the surviving BRM P133/01.