Ford GT40

This is a photograph of a Ford GT40 in Gulf Oil Racing colours taken at the Silverstone Historic Festival meeting in August 2001. The Ford GT40 MkI won the Le Mans 24 Hour race in 1968 and 1969 entered by the John Wyer Automotive Engineering Team. The MkII version entered by Shelby-American Inc had won the 1966 race and the Mk IV version entered by the same team won the 1967 race.

Henry Ford II, in an effort to win the Le Mans race for Ford, had attempted in 1963 to buy the Ferrari racing team and after being rebuffed by Enzo Ferrari was determined to develop a Ford car to take on and beat Ferrari. The manufacturer Ford eventually chose to develop what became the GT40 was the British Lola firm who were already using a Ford V8 engine in their mid-engined Lola Mk6, and it was from this car that the GT40 was created. The original Lola Mk6 also appeared at this Silverstone meeting and here are two photographs of the car which I took that day.

Coventry Cathedral and Sir Jacob Epstein

On 30 July 1994 when returning home from Silverstone along the M6 it was raining, althought the sun was shining to my left, and I remember admiring a vivid and perfect semi-circle of a rainbow to the right. Then the rain became heavier and quickly became a torrential downpour. Unusually for me, I did the sensible thing and left the motorway at the (fortunately) nearby exit and Coventry being close by I decided to have a drive round there till the rain had eased off. The rain soon stopped though and the sun came out so I thought I'd try to find the Cathedral and maybe take a few photographs. The photographs below are of two works at the Cathedral by Sir Jacob Epstein.

'St Michael and the Devil' commissioned in 1957 and mounted in June 1960, just under a year after Epstein's death. It weighs 4 tons and is just over 19 feet in height.

'Ecce Homo' which stands in the ruins of the old Cathedral. This work was executed in 1934/35 and depicts Christ standing before Pontius Pilate. It was donated by Epstein's widow after his death.

Thanks to Ecclesiart and The National Archives for details of the statues.

Friday's Ferrari

Today there's two examples of the Ferrari F40 photographed in the Ferrari Owners Club area at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997. This 2.9 litre V8 mid-engined car was produced from 1987 to 1992,  replacing the the 288 GTO and in turn being replaced by the F50.

Northern Classic Car Show

The early Northern Classic Car Shows were held in the old Belle Vue exhibition halls and the brochure for the 5th show in September 1986 had this to say:

'Volvo Owners Club

Special Feature

As the winners of the stand competition at last year's show we are proud to have been invited to stage the Feature Stand this year. Volvo concessionaires have loaned three cars from their collection:- 1928 PV4 'Jakob' - this was the covered version of Volvo's first car; 1935 PV36 'Carioca' - Volvo's first streamlined car named after a latin-american dance of the period; 1947 PV444A - the model that made Volvo famous all over the world.'

1928 PV4 'Jakob'

1935 PV36 'Carioca'

1947 PV444A

RAFA Woodford Air Show 24 June 1995

One of the display teams at the 1995 Woodford Air Show was the French Patrouille Ecco team, according to the programme of the event 'France's premier civil display team'. Here's three photographs of their display. According to the Wikipedia entry they are Swiss-built Pilatus PC-7 aircraft.

Friday's Ferrari

Today's photograph is another one taken at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997. It's a Vignale-bodied Ferrari 166MM Spyder. serial number 0314M, which competed in the 1954 Mille Miglia.

Sand Racing - Guernsey 23 June 2012

On our holiday in Guernsey in June this year we went to Vazon Beach to watch some motor cycle sand racing. I've not seen this before, but it's similar to speedway racing in that the races are four laps of an oval track about 400 yards round. The racing had already started when we got there and I didn't see any programmes for sale, so I don't know the names of the riders who appear in my photographs. The meeting was apparently organised by the Guernsey Motor Cycle & Car Club.

As in speedway, the sidecar races were run in a clockwise direction as the sidecars are on the left-hand side of the motorbike.

I love the opposite-lock cornering of the sidecar outfits