1953 HWM Jaguar

This was one of the competitors in the 1950s Sports Racing Cars race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in  May 2005.

It's Dr Michael 'Spike' Milligan's 1953 HWM Jaguar and has the 3,442cc straight-6 Jaguar engine that powered the Jaguar XK models, and also the C-Type and D-Type. John Abecassis and John Heath had built and raced their Formula 2 HWM cars since 1950 and in 1953 built their first sports car on a Formula 2 chassis. The team remained involved in sports car racing till 1956 when John Heath was killed during that year's Mille Miglia race.

1914 Crossley

I took this photograph before the start of the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1975.

I no longer have the programme of the event, but it's a 1914 Crossley Staff Car and the 1990 programme of the run gave this information about it:

'1914 Crossley

Reg: NA 557  4 cylinder  20 hp

(G.D.Moores, Denton, Manchester)

This Royal Flying Corps staff car is one of only

two known to exist in Britain. Originally built in

Manchester, it spent much of its life in India,

and returned to the UK in 1969. It has twin-tyred

rear wheels and has been a class winner many

 times on this Run.'

Ecurie Ecosse

I took this photograph in the paddock at Oulton Park at the British Empire Trophy Race meeting in April 1956.

The Ecurie Ecosse team had entered two Jaguar D-Types in the race to be driven by Ron Flockhart and Ninian Sanderson and here are some of the team at the side of one of the D-Types. On the left is Ron Flockhart in conversation with the founder of the team, David Murray, and next to David Murray is chief mechanic Wilkie Wilkinson. The British Empire Trophy Race was run as three preliminary heats (up to 1.5 litres, 1.6 to 2.7 litres and over 2.7 litres) and a final for the qualifying cars run as a handicap race. This proved very advantageous for the smaller capacity cars which finished in the first six places (Stirling Moss winning in a Cooper T39 Bobtail) with Ron Flockhart finishing in seventh place and Ninian Sanderson in ninth place. Three months later Ron Flockhart and Ninian Sanderson won the Le Mans 24 Hour Race in one of these Ecurie Ecosse cars.

1914 Sunbeam Tourist Trophy

This car was part of a collection of older vehicles in the paddock at the Silverstone Classic meeting in July 2010.

Sunbeam

It's a 1914 Sunbeam Tourist Trophy, one of three cars that Louis Coatalen entered for the 600-mile, two-day 1914 Isle of Man TT race. The car was not designed by Louis Coatalen, but he borrowed a 1913 Peugeot and copied it, the only significant difference being an increase in engine capacity to 3,255cc to bring it close to the 3.3 litres allowed by the rules. Two of the cars dropped out of the race but the third car, driven by Kenelm Lee Guinness, went on to win at 56.44 mph from two of the Minervas. His race time was a formidable 10 hr 37 min 49 sec.

Alfa Romeo Junior Zagato

I took this photograph at the Northern Classic Car Show at Belle Vue, Manchester in September 1985

It's an Alfa Romeo Junior Zagato and I don't have any details of the car, but the 'L' at the end of the registration number indicates that it was registered between 1 August 1972 and 31 July 1973. It's a left-hand drive car though, so could have been manufactured earlier than that and imported to this country at a later date. Two versions of the Junior Zagato were produced, both with a 4-cylinder inline engine. From 1969 to 1972 the car had a 1,290cc Twin Cam engine, then in 1972 the 1600 Junior Zagato was introduced with a 1,570cc Twin Cam engine. Production of that car ended in 1975.

1958 Peerless

This car competed in the Equipe Pre-63 race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in 2019 and is pictured at the Knickerbrook chicane during the morning practice session.

It's the 1958 Peerless of Dan and Lucas Smith and is here leading the 1962 Jaguar E-Type of Paul Kennelly. The Peerless was based on the running gear of the Triumph TR3 with the 4-cylinder inline 2,138cc engine and about 325 were produced between 1957 and 1960.

1959 Ferrari Dino 196S

This was one of the competitors 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 1959 Ferrari Dino 196S of Kerry Manolas which has a 1,984cc V6 engine and is chassis #0776S. It's the only example of this model produced and was originally owned by Luigi Chinetti, for whom the Rodriguez brothers Pedro and Ricardo drove the car in the 12 Hours of Sebring Race, the Targa Florio and the Nürburgring 1000km Race in 1960. They were 7th in the Targa Florio but failed to finish the other two races.