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.

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.

Jaguar XKSS

This is a photograph I took at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1993.

It's a Jaguar XKSS, though whether it's an original one or a replica I don't know. The original XKSS cars were produced in 1957 when Jaguar converted 25 unsold D-Types into road cars, although 9 of these cars were destroyed in a fire at the Browns Lane factory before they left the production line. In 2016 Jaguar announced a new production run of 9 cars to replace the ones destroyed in the fire.

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.

1956 Lotus Eleven Le Mans

This car competed in the Historic Car Championship Race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1993.

It's the 1956 Lotus Eleven Le Mans of Andrew Wilkinson, which the programme of the event says has a 1,500cc engine. The Lotus Eleven was a completely new car, unlike the previous production Lotuses, the Mk VIII, Mk IX and Mk X which were all based on the Lotus Mk VI. The Eleven had a steel tubular space-frame with stressed aluminium panels, and the aerodynamic body was designed by Frank Costin and was hinged at both ends to give complete access to the engine and other mechanical parts. The car was mainly designed to run in the 1,100cc class of racing, but other engines of up to 2½ litres were also used. The Lotus Eleven Le Mans differed from the standard Lotus Eleven in that it had a wider chassis frame in order to provide Le Mans regulation-width seats, and cockpit and footwell minimum dimensions, but the overall width of the bodywork was no different to the standard car.

1954 Cooper Mk VIII

This car competed in the 500cc Formula Three Cars class in 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 1954 Cooper Mk VIII of Andrew Garner, one of the cars which dominated Formula 3 racing in the early postwar years. Many people found that the home-built cars with a 500cc motor cycle engine was an inexpensive way to compete in motor sport and Charles Cooper and his son John started to produce these cars in 1946, firstly for themselves but later making them for other people and eventually they formed the company that led to the Cooper Climax T51 with which Jack Brabham won the World Drivers' Championship in 1959.

1960 Aston Martin DB4

This is one of the competitors in the MG Car Club/AMOC Thoroughbred & Classic Sports Car Championship Race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1993.

It's the 1960 Aston Martin DB4 of Tony Smith and is pictured at Lodge Corner during the race. The DB4 was produced from 1958 to 1963 and had a 6-cylinder inline 3,670cc engine - though the programme of the event says this car has a 4.2 litre engine.

1952 Connaught A-Type

This was one of the competitors in the Historic Car Championship Race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Parkin September 1992.

It's Tony Smith's 1952 Connaught A-Type, chassis A8. The car was designed and built by Connaught Engineering's Rodney Clarke and Mike Oliver with a 1,960cc engine based on the Lea Francis 4-cylinder 1,767cc unit, and competed in 1952 and 1953 Grand Prix races which were run under the 2-litre capacity formula. A8 was part of the Connaught Works team in 1953, being mainly driven by John Coombes, Stirling Moss and Prince Bira.

1972 Aston Martin V8

I took this photograph at Foulstons chicane during the Inter-Marque Championship Race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1993.

It's Gerry Marshall in his highly modified 1972 Aston Martin V8 with the 5,240cc engine. The car following him is Bob Watson's 1990 Porsche RSR.

1957 Lotus Eleven Le Mans

This was one of the competitors in the Classic Car Invitation Race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1992.

It's the 1957 Lotus Eleven Le Mans of Richard Utley and has a 4-cylinder inline Coventry Climax engine. The Lotus Eleven was primarily designed to compete in the 1,100cc class of racing, but competed with a variety of engines ranging from 750cc to 1,500cc. The Lotus Eleven Le Mans differed from the standard Lotus Eleven in that it had a wider chassis frame in order to provide Le Mans regulation-width seats, and cockpit and footwell minimum dimensions, but the overall width of the bodywork was no different to the standard car.

1964 Aston Martin DB5

This car took part in the Post-War Aston Martins race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1993.

It's the Aston Martin DB5 of Stephen Wakefield, originally with a 6-cylinder inline 4 litre engine that has been increased to 4.2 litres.

1960 Aston Martin DB4

This car took part in the AMOC Thoroughbred & Classic Sports Car Championship Race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1993.

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 4½ litre engine.

1959 Maserati T61

This car took part in a Classic Car Invitation Race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1992.

It's the 1959 Maserati T61 'Birdcage' of Jeffrey Pattinson and is chassis 2453 which was totally wrecked in an accident at Daytona in late 1959 but the remains were used to re-create the car in the early 1990s.

1955 Aston Martin DB3S

This car took part in one of the races at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1992.

It's the 1955 Aston Martin DB3S of Tony Smith and has the 2,922cc 6-cylinder inline Lagonda engine designed by W O Bentley who moved to Lagonda after his Bentley car company had been taken over by Rolls Royce. This is one of Aston Martin's DB3S customer cars and is chassis DB3S/103, one of three cars originally acquired by the Kangaroo Stable, a group of Australian drivers who came to England in 1955 to race in Europe. The Kangaroo Stable was set up by Tony Gaze, an ex-World War 2 fighter pilot, and included David McKay, Tom Sulman and Jack Brabham. Sports car racing was much restricted in Europe after the Le Mans tragedy in 1955 and the Kangaroo Stable disbanded towards the end of the year. DB3S/103 went to Australia and passed through various hands before returning to the UK and being acquired by Frank Sytner in the mid-1980s, then to Tony Smith in 1991.

Here's Tony Smith at Lodge Corner during the race.

1956 Lotus Eleven

This car took part in the Historic Car Championship Race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1992.

It's the 1956 Lotus Eleven of Roger Biss pictured here in the paddock at what was possibly the wettest meeting I've ever attended. The Lotus Eleven was a completely new car, unlike the previous production Lotuses, the Mk VIII, Mk IX and Mk X which were all based on the Lotus Mk VI. The Eleven had a steel tubular space-frame with stressed aluminium panels, and the aerodynamic body was designed by Frank Costin and was hinged at both ends to give complete access to the engine and other mechanical parts. The car was mainly designed to run in the 1,100cc class of racing, but other engines of up to 2½ litres were also used. Roger Biss's car had a 1,098cc Coventry Climax FWA engine.

Jaguar D-Type

I photographed this car at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1993 where it was listed in the programme as taking part in just one race - the Historic Car Championship which was race number 7.

It's the 1955 Jaguar D-Type of Paul Burdell, chassis XKD512 with the 3.8 litre version of the straight-6 engine and is bearing the number 88 that it was allocated in race 7 - but note that the number 8's are not identical

This is a photograph I took at Foulston's chicane during race number 2, the HSCC Classic Sports Car Championship race bearing the number 8 which it had presumably been allocated as a late entrant in that race.

Later in the day it showed the race number 88 for race number 7, but with identical number 8's. I can only assume that it was wearing the odd '8' on the first photograph because it was on its way to or from the scrutineering bay where it would presumably have to show the numbers it was to wear in the two races, and the odd '8' was a temporary one that could be removed for the benefit of the scrutineers.

Aston Martin DB3S

This car took part in two races at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1993.

It's a 2,992cc straight-6 1954 Aston Martin DB3S, chassis DB3S/7, which originally had a coupe body. After an accident in the 1954 Le Mans 24 Hour race it was rebuilt with an open body and remained part of the Aston Martin works team for the 1955 and 1956 seasons, the nose being rebuilt as seen here before the start of the 1956 season. It was driven at this meeting by Simon Draper.

Here's Simon Draper at Foulstons chicane during the first of his races.

On 9 February 2015 I showed a photograph showing the four cars of the Aston Martin team, including DB3S/7, at the Daily Herald International Trophy meeting at Oulton Park in 1956.

Jaguar E-Type Lightweight

This car competed in two races at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1993.

Described in the programme of the event as Allen Lloyd's 4.2 litre 1964 Jaguar E-Type, it has the looks of one of the 12 Lightweight competition models built in the 1960s, but I can't find anything to confirm that this is a genuine Lightweight. Eighteen chassis numbers were set aside in 1963 for the Lightweight models, but only 12 were built - the six additional cars were eventually built in 2014-15.

Here's the car at what was then Foulston's chicane (now Britten's) in the Inter-Marque Championship Race.....

.....and here later in the day at Lodge Corner in the MG Car Club/AMOC Thoroughbred & Classic Sports Car Championship Race. Allen Lloyd was at one time President of the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust.

Friday's Ferrari

This car took part in the Cottage Furniture Inter-Marque Championship Race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1992.

It's described in the programme of the event as a 1982 Ferrari Boxer, entered  and driven in the race by Michael Millard of Birmingham. Its correct designation is a Ferrari 512BBi with a 4,943cc flat-12 engine and is the last of the flat-12 engined cars, 1,007 being produced between 1981 and 1984. It's pictured here during the race at what looks to be the approach to Lodge Corner.

Although not displayed on the car, the programme says that the registration number of the car is J7648, meaning that the car is registered in Jersey.

Lotus Elan

This car competed in the HSCC Classic Sports Car Championship Race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Autumn Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1993.

It's the 1965 Lotus Elan of Luis Olive, with a 4 cylinder inline 1,594cc Lotus Twin-Cam engine based on the Ford Kent engine. The green and yellow of the car mirrors the colours of the official Lotus team in the 1960s.