Porsche 904/6

This is a car which took part in the 2¼ hour long Gentleman Drivers GT and Sports Endurance Race at the Donington International Historic Grand Prix meeting in May 2004 at Donington Park.

It's a 1964 Porsche 904/6 owned by Burkhard von Schenk and carries his customary black and white chequered marking on the nose of the car. The original 904 used the 1996cc flat-four Porsche engine but a limited number of cars were produced using a variant of the 911's flat-six engine of the same capacity.

Burkhard von Schenk drove the car in the race at this meeting with Gregor Fisken as his co-driver.

Friday's Ferrari

This is a group of cars I photographed in the paddock at Silverstone in July 1995 at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting preparing to join the circuit for the morning practice session.

They're going to take part in the practice for the Louis Vuitton '50s Sports Car Race and are being led out by the 1956 Ferrari 860 Monza (serial number 0602M) of Fritz Grashie. This is the car that finished in third place in the 1956 Mille Miglia driven by Luigi Musso, and finished second in the Nürburgring 1000km race the same year driven by Juan Manuel Fangio and Eugenio Castelotti.

You can see the race numbers of two other cars, number 40 being the 1959 Lotus 15 of Robert Brooks and 37 the 1956 Aston Martin DB3S of Dudley and Sally Mason-Styrron.

Emirates Airbus A380

The Emirates airline has three daily services between Dubai and Manchester and has been using an Airbus A380 for one of these since 2010. In February this year the Boeing 777 on the evening flight was also replaced by an Airbus A380. Here are some photographs of the evening flight passing over Hyde just before 7.30pm on 14th April 2015.

It's Emirates flight EK19 from Dubai

An Airbus A380-861

The registration number is A6-EDU

Aircraft land at Manchester Airport about 3 minutes after passing over our house

Fordson E83W

This is a photograph I took at Heaton Park, Manchester, in September 1995 at the Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally organised by the Greater Manchester Transport Society, and once again it's one that isn't included in the list of vehicles shown in the programme of the event.

It's a 1953 Fordson E83W 10cwt van, powered by the 1172cc engine which it shared with the smaller models in the Ford car range produced at that time.

Renault 8 Gordini

When I was much younger, probably in the late 1950s, one of the cars I coveted was the little-known Gordini-tuned Renault Dauphine. The photograph below shows its successor, the Renault 8 Gordini, produced between 1964 and 1970.

The photograph was taken at the Renault Owners Club stand at the G-Mex Exhibition Centre, Manchester, at the Northern Classic Car Show in August 1994.

Rolls Royce 20hp

In May 1987 the starting point of the Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run was the Exchange Station car park in Manchester. This photograph shows one of the entrants before the start of the run, a 1928 Rolls Royce 20hp Barker Limousine.

 The only information about the car given in the programme of the event is this:

135     1928 Rolls Royce Barker Limousine

           Reg: XV 8026 6 cylinder 20 hp

           (Gerald Morris, Bury, Lancashire)

Behind the car and to the right you can see the ventilation tower of Strangeways Prison.

Teddy

About three weeks ago I was walking home from Hyde town centre up Henry Street when I spotted this at the compound at the corner of Henry Street and Syddall Street:

I didn't know if Ted was trying to climb in or out of the compound......

......but a few days later I walked past again and found this:

So it looks as if he was climbing in and looks quite happy now relaxing in his new home.