1954 Maserati 250F

I took this photograph at Luffield corner during the Corporate Jets Historic Grand Prix Car Race at the Christie’s International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It’s the 1955 Maserati 250F of Jeffrey Pattinson and has a 6-cylinder inline 2,490cc engine. The chassis number is 2508 and it was originally owned and raced by Stirling Moss.

1950 Cooper MkIV

This is a photograph I took in the paddock at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1992.

The cars are waiting to take to the track for the morning practice session for the Historic Formula Junior Race. Number 53 is the 1950 Cooper MkIV of Bill Needham which competed in the 500cc Formula three cars class as did the car to the left which is Roy Hunt's 1952 Jason F3. On the right is the 1961/62 Lotus 20/22 of Denis Chorley which was in the class for Rear Engined Formula Junior Cars.

1934 MG K3

This car competed in three races at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in August 1992.

It's the 1934 MG K3 Magnette of Philip Walker. The original K type Magnette, the K1, had a 6-cylinder inline 1,087cc engine and was available as a 4-seat open tourer or a 4-door saloon. The K2 was an open 2-seater with a shorter chassis, and could have the same engine as the K1 or a larger 1,271cc version of that engine. The K3 was a racing variant using the shorter chassis and a supercharged 1,087cc engine. Only 33 of the K3 model were made, many of which have not survived, and a number of replicas have been made using the K1 or K3 cars. Philip Walker's car may be one of those, and the programme of this Oulton Park event shows it to have a 1,408cc supercharged engine.

1956 Cooper T39

This car competed in the HGPCA Sports Car Race at the Christie’s International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It's the 1956 Cooper T39 of John Beasley, more commonly known as the Cooper Bobtail because of the truncated tail of the car which was aerodynamically effective, but which John Cooper claimed to have been shortened so that it would fit inside the works transporter. The car was used in the 1,100cc and 1,500cc classes of sportscar racing and this car has a 4-cylinder inline 1,460cc Coventry Climax engine. It was reputedly the road-holding characteristics of this car that led John Cooper to produce first the rear-engined 1½ litre Formula 2 car and then the 2½ litre Formula 1 car that gave Jack Brabham the World Drivers' Championship in 1959 and 1960. Cooper's successes led all the other teams to adopt the rear-engine layout, and the last Formula 1 Grand Prix to be won by a front-engined car was Ferrari's victory in the 1960 Italian Grand Prix.

Maserati 450S

This is a photograph I took at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It's not mentioned in the programme of the event and as far as I can recall there was nothing on display saying anything about the car, but it appears to be a replica of a Maserati 450S. It's similar to the 300S but has a bulge on the hood to accommodate the V8 engine. The DVLA record unfortunately no longer recognises the registration number VNT450. Later in the day I took a photograph of what I assumed was the same car as it drove past me in the paddock:

It's a different car though, as it doesn't have a registration number on the nose of the car and has louvres in the bodywork behind the front wheel.

But there was a genuine Maserati 450S at the meeting which competed in the 1950s Sports Car race - that of Thomas Bscher which I featured on 28 July 2015.

1966 Jaguar XJ13

I took this photograph in the paddock at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

There are now several replicas around and the first was built by Proteus in the early 1990s, but I think that this is the original 1966 Jaguar XJ13, the prototype of a car intended to contest the Le Mans 24 Hour race, and has a 4,991cc V12 engine. By the time the car was ready to be introduced, however, it had already been made obsolete by the Ford GT40 and this and the fact that the regulations were soon to be changed to limit engine capacities to 3 litres meant that it was never actually raced. The car was mothballed until it was brought out in 1971 to publicise the launch of the Series 3 Jaguar E-Type which was powered by Jaguar's first production V12 engine. Jaguar test driver Norman Dewis was taking the car on a high speed run on the MIRA test track when a type burst and the car was severely damaged in the resulting crash, although Norman Dewis luckily escaped unharmed. The car was eventually rebuilt in 1973 and is now part of the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust Collection.

1967 Ferrari 330P4

I took this photograph at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992 where there was a special display of Ferraris in the paddock numbered 1 to 32, and a page in the programme of the event gave details of each of the cars.

This is what the note in the programme said about the car:

'24  330 P4

Mid-engined V12; 4 litres; 450bhp at 8000; Twin ohc per bank; 3 valves per cylinder; Lucas fuel injection; all round independent suspension, double wishbones/coil springs. Final development of the 330 P series cars. Intended for use by the works teams they entered racing in the Daytona Continental 24 Hour race on February 4/5 1967. The two that were entered came 1st and 2nd. They proved to be the mainstay of the Ferrari effort in prototype racing that year but it was close run with Ferrari scoring 34 points to the 32 gathered by Porsche.'

The car was apparently built by David Piper using an engine and a collection of other parts sold to him by Enzo Ferrari together with a set of plans for the Ferrari 330P4 chassis, and he was allowed to give it the chassis number 900. It apparently has the body from 330P4 chassis 0860.

1957 Maserati 250S

This is a photograph that I took at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1992.

It's Robin Lodge's 1957 Maserati 250S which he drove in the Classic Car Invitation Race. The Prototype of the 250S sports cars of 1954-56 used the earlier sports A6GCS chassis fitted with a 6 cylinder 250F 2.5 litre engine giving 230 bhp instead of the 240-270 bhp of the Grand Prix 250F engines as it ran on petrol instead of alcohol. The developed 250S cars were converted from the left hand drive of the A6GCS to right hand drive and these, in turn, were developed into the 300S Maseratis by an increase in stroke, giving 245 bhp. There was a second coming of the 250S in the period 1957-1959, having a 196 bhp 4 cylinder engine in a shorter wheelbase chassis resulting in a lighter car. Only two cars were originally built with a 2½ litre engine, Robin Lodge's car (chassis #2432) and chassis #2431.

Friday's Ferrari

This is a photograph that I took at Luffield Corner during the HGPCA Sports Car Race at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

The yellow car is the 1957 Ferrari 500 TRC of David Cottingham which has a twin overhead camshaft 4-cylinder inline 1,984cc engine derived from the 1953 Formula 2 unit designed by Aurelio Lampredi and a body designed and built by Scaglietti. The 500TRC was an updated version of the 500TR, the first to have the 'Testa Rossa' red camshaft covers, modified to comply with the 1957 Appendix C Regulations, and it was a 'customer' car, never being raced by Scuderia Ferrari. David Cottingham's car is chassis #0682MDTR that was first owned by Ecurie Nationale Belge (also known as Equipe National Belge) which was formed by a merger of Ecurie Belge and Ecurie Francorchamps. It finished in seventh place in the 1957 Le Mans 24 hour race in the hands of Lucien Bianchi and Georges Harris, winning the 2 litre class. The green car at the side of the Ferrari is a 1957 Lotus Eleven, probably that of Carol Spagg, while behind are the red 1954 Austin Healey 100M of Bill Clegg and the 1952 Jaguar C-Type of Hugh Taylor.

1913 Monarch

The Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy meeting at Oulton Park in August 1992 included a short handicap race for Edwardian Cars - only 4 laps long in deference to the age of the cars. This is one of the cars during the race on the approach to Lodge Corner.

It's Mark Walker's 8,237cc 1913 Monarch, and the programme of the event had this note about the car:

 

'The 4-lap Handicap for Edwardian Cars features Mark Walker's 1913 Monarch which caused a sensation at Mallory Park last month! Having built the car, Walker made a winning debut but had to battle wheel to wheel with Roger Firth in the 1913 Theophile Schneider.

Monarch was a short-lived marque which built cars designed by Robert Hupp (late of Hupmobile) in Detroit from 1913 to 1916. Into the chassis, which Mark bought in the US, he put an OX5 Curtiss V8 aero-engine of 8.2 litre capacity. This was also acquired in the US and was originally fitted to Curtiss JN4 or 'Jenny' training aircraft, as well as to the British DH6, during the First World War. Plain to see are the exposed rockers, each operating both an exhaust and an inlet valve per cylinder, as on the four-pushrod Salmsons and the Fiat with which Nazzaro won the 1907 French Grand Prix. Walker completed the car with a Panhard-Levassor gearbox and other parts, such as the radiator, sourced from the Beaulieu Autojumble.

'

1969 Lola T142

This is a photograph that I took on the approach to Lodge Corner during the HSCC Historic Formula Racing Car Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Summer Race Meeting at Oulton Park in July 1992.

It's the 1969 Lola T142 of Nick Buttress and is thought to be chassis SL142/37. Formula 5000 was introduced in 1968 as an open-wheel single seater Formula for cars with a maximum capacity of 5,000cc, and most cars had American V8 engines of that size with Chevrolet being the most favoured unit.

Friday's Ferrari

I took this photograph at Luffield Corner during 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 Dino196S 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. It was driven in the race by Spencer Martin.

45596 Bahamas

I took this photograph at a railway exhibition at the Longsight locomotive shed in Manchester in April 1992.

It's the former LMS locomotive 45596 'Bahamas', one of the Jubilee Class engines which were named after former Commonwealth states and countries of the British Empire, British admirals, British naval commanders, and finally, ships in the British Navy named after characters from Greek Mythology. It is now based at the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway.

1957 Maserati 450S

I took this photograph at Luffield corner during the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association Sports Car Race at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It's Thomas Bscher in his 1957 Maserati 450S, and as with many Maseratis it's a bit of a conundrum. It seems to be either chassis 4505 or 4506 and originally had a 4½ litre V8 engine. The barchetta.cc history of 4505 says that it was renumbered to 4506 in 1957 and sold to John Edgar in June of that year. In July 1958 John Edgar had a 6.3 litre Pontiac engine installed in the car, but about 12 months later this was replaced with a 5.7 litre Maserati V8 unit. In 1980 when in the ownership of Peter Kaus a 6.2 litre Maserati marine engine was fitted and the car was acquired by Thomas Bscher around 1990. The programme of this Silverstone meeting showed the engine capacity to be 5,600cc.

1954 Maserati 250F

I took this photograph at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It's the ex-Gilby Engineering Company's 1954 Maserati 250F, with the replacement chassis #2507/2 given to the car after an accident at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in 1954 and it has the 6-cylinder inline 2,491cc Maserati engine. The car was owned by Robin Lodge and was driven by him in the Corporate Jets Historic Grand Prix Car Race.

1960 Aston Martin DB4

This car took part in the MG Car Club Chapman Warren Classic Road Sports Championship Race and the Post-War Aston Martins Race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1992.

It's the 1960 Aston Martin DB4 of Simon Draper, one of 1,185 that were produced between 1958 and 1963, together with 19 of the DB4GT Zagato models. The body of the DB4 was designed by Carrozzerie Touring of Milan and it had the 6-cylinder inline 3,670cc engine created by Tadek Marek, although according to the programme of the event Simon Draper's car has a 4.2 litre engine.

1938 ERA E-Type GP2

This car took part in the Historic Memorial Trophy Race and the Allcomers Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in August 1992.

It's Gordon Chapman's 1938 ERA E-Type, GP2 which was the last ERA to be built and didn't make its racing debut till after the Second World War. It has a supercharged 6-cylinder inline 1,488cc ERA engine and was driven that day by Bill Morris. A note about the car in the programme of the event reads as follows:

 

'Bill Morris is down to drive an example of the last ERA pre-war design. Entered by Gordon Chapman, the 1938 E-Type - chassis number GP2 - was not raced until after the war. GP1, incidentally, did run in 1939. The 1.5 litre E-Type had a rather similar career to the post-war V16 BRM car: it showed promise, but recorded few hard results. Lighter, lower and more modern-looking than the previous ERA chassis, the E-Type differed from the earlier cars in having a synchromesh gearbox (instead of a pre-selector) and de Dion rear suspension.'

1959 Lotus Elite

This was one of the competitors in the HSCC Classic Sports Car Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Summer Race Meeting at Oulton Park in July 1992.

It's the 1959 Lotus Elite of George Hadfield which has a 4-cylinder inline 1,216cc Coventry Climax FWE engine. Over 1,000 of these cars were built between 1957 and 1962.

Friday's Ferrari

This car took part in the HGPCA Sports Car Race at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It's described in the programme of the event as a 1958 Ferrari 250TR, but has had a chequered history, being built in 1956 as a Ferrari 290 MM with chassis #0606 and a 3,491cc V12 engine. As a Scuderia Ferrari car it won the 1956 Swedish Grand Prix in the hands of Maurice Trintignant and Phil Hill, then in the 1957 season was raced by the Ecurie Nationale Belge. At the end of the season it returned to the Ferrari factory and was loaned out during 1958, then in 1959 it was converted to Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa specifications with a 2,953cc V12 engine. It was sold as a Ferrari 250 TR to Brazilian Jean Luis Lacerda Soares who raced the car in 1960, but in 1962 Fernando Moriera borrowed it to race at Interlagos and the front half of the car was totally wrecked in an accident during the race that killed the driver. The less damaged rear part of the car was used to create an Corvette V8 engined special which was used through the 1960s after which the engine was removed and the rest of the car was untouched until the mid 1980s when it was brought to the UK. The new owner, Paolo Sebastiani was under the impression that he had the remains of a Testa Rossa #0726 and had the remains reconstructed as that car, which is how it appeared at this Silverstone race where it was driven by Paolo Sebastiani. It was then sold in the 1990s to a John Godfrey who did some detailed research and found that the remains were of the 290MM, #0606, and when John Godfrey later died the current owner bought the car from his estate and commissioned Neil Twyman to return it to the same specification it was when it last left the Ferrari factory in 1959.

Friday's Ferrari

The Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992 featured a special display of Ferraris in the paddock and demonstration runs of various Ferraris during the meeting and this is one of the photographs  that I took of the display.

The car on the left of the picture with the display number 10 is the 1950 Ferrari 166/195 MM Touring Barchetta that the factory brought up to 195, and later to 212 specifications. Owned by Dudley Mason-Styrron it is chassis #0040M. The note about the car in the programme of the event says this:

 

'166/195 Barchetta

Front engined V12; 2.3 litres; 160-180 bhp at 7000rpm; ifs/double wishbones/transverse leaf springs. Rigid rear axle/semi-elliptic leaf springs. The dual model designation reflects the fact that it started out as a 2-litre car in the 166 series and finished up with a 2.4 litre engine from the 195 series. The 'Barchetta' - literally 'little boat' body is by Touring. It ran in the 1950 Mille Miglia, 4th overall (G.Bracco/U.Maglioli) and finished 12th overall. 5th in class (Luigi Villoresi) in the Targa Florio that year.'

 

The only information in the programme about the car in the centre with the display number 30 is that it's a Ferrari F1 Dino. It was the last front engined car to win a Grand Prix race, Phil Hill driving it to victory in the Italian Grand Prix in the next to last race of the 1960 season. At the end of the that season the car was fitted with a 3 litre 250 TR V12 engine and sold to New Zealander Pat Hoare who campaigned the car there for two years before it was sold and drastically altered with a body resembling that of the 1964 Ferrari 250 GTO. In 1978 the car was acquired by Neil Corner who had it restored to its original specifications. Here at Silverstone it was driven by Phil Hill in demonstration runs during this meeting. 

 

The car on the right with the display number 11 is a 1967 Ferrari 246 FL which was driven in the demonstration runs by John Surtees and the note in the programme says this about it:

 

'Ferrari 246 FL

Mid-engined V6; 2.4 litres, 300 bhp at 8900 rpm; twin ohc per bank. Lucas fuel injection. All round independent suspension. This car started life with a 2-litre engine as one of the Dino 166 F2's built to meet the 1967 F2 regulations which required engines based on production units. It was used by such by the works until it became one of two cars which fitted with a 2.4-litre engine were prepared by Ferrari to run in the 1969 Tasman series of races in New Zealand/Australia. Its principal driver in the series was Derek Bell.'