1952 Cooper Bristol

This was one of the competitors in the Maserati UK Race for Pre 1961 Grand Prix Cars at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000.

It’s the 1952 Cooper Bristol MkI of Proby Cautley. The Cooper Bristol had a 1971cc 6-cylinder inline Bristol engine that was derived from the pre-war BMW 328 unit. Father and son Charles & John Cooper had started the Cooper Car Company in 1946, and at first specialised in building cars for the new 500cc class of racing that British enthusiasts had started as a simple and economical way to go motor racing after the war. This developed into the International Formula 3 class in 1950, and Cooper then ventured into the Formula 2 class by putting a 1,100cc JAP engine into one of these cars, way below the 2 litre limit allowed, but even with the lack of power the car was still reasonably competitive because of its light weight. When the World Championship was run under Formula 2 regulations in 1952 because of a dearth of the larger-engined Formula 1 cars Cooper decided to design a car to compete at that level. The 1,971cc Bristol engine was chosen, but the Cooper Bristol MkI (later designated the T20) could not really compete with the Ferraris and Maseratis in World Championship races and was much more successful in minor British events. In 1953 the MkII (later T23) car was introduced, having a tubular frame chassis instead of the box section frame of the earlier car and the drive train was altered to lower the driver's seat. Although a better car it wasn't much more successful than the MkI, and the following season when the new 2½ litre Formula 1 regulations came into force the car was rendered obsolete. They still soldiered on for a few years, mainly in minor British events, and then became regulars in the historic racing scene, where they're still to be seen to this day.

Cooper Bristol

The Cooper Bristol was the car with which 1958 World Champion Mike Hawthorn made his name in the 1952 season, and which alongside HWM and Connaught carried the British flag in the 1952 and 1953 seasons when the World Championship was run to Formula 2 regulations. The engines were Bristol-built derivatives of the 1,971cc BMW 328's straight-6 engines that powered all Bristol cars until 1961. Ten examples of the Cooper Bristol were entered in the Twelve Lap Scratch Race for Post War Racing Cars at the VSCC's meeting at Oulton Park in August 1996, and three of those cars are pictured below.

This is the 1952 model of Proby Cautley, a Mark I car. The Mark I car was later designated Type 20.

This is the 1953 car of Roderick MacPherson, a Mark II car, later called a Type 23.

This car shown at Lodge Corner during the race is the 1952 T20 Mark I car of Spencer Flack.

On 17 July 2016 I showed a photograph of four Cooper Bristols at Silverstone in 1996 which included two of the cars shown above.

Cooper Bristol

Here's a group of cars lined up in the paddock at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 1996.

On the front row are four Cooper Bristols; the two cars nearest the camera are the 1952 models of Proby Cautley and Spencer Flack, and behind that the 1953 cars of Bob Gilbert and Graham Burrows. The red car behind them all is the 1952 Frazer Nash of Peter Mann. Whilst generally being known as the Cooper Bristol because of the Bristol engine, it's also known as the Cooper T20.