1933 Alvis Special

This car competed in one of the handicap races at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1984.

It's Robert Dean's Alvis Special, based on a 1933 Alvis Speed 20 and the programme of the event says that it had a 2,369cc engine. The Speed 20 was produced from 1932 to 1936 and 1,165 were made in that period.

1950 Talbot Lago T26 GS

This car took part in the Cheshire Building Society Allcomers Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1981.

It’s Richard Pilkington's 1950 4,482cc straight-6 Talbot Lago T26 GS with the offset driving position which meant it could compete in Grand Prix or Sports Car races. It's chassis #110057 and is the car with which Louis Rosier and Juan Manuel Fangio took part in the 1951 Le Mans 24 Hour race, retiring after 9 hours. It was then given an all-enveloping sports car body and ended up in the hands of Georges Grignard in 1953, but after an accident at Montlhéry in 1954 in which his co-driver Guy Mairesse was killed, Grignard locked the wrecked car away in his garage. Richard Pilkington bought the wreckage in 1958 and after racing the car in its sports car form for some years he eventually restored it to its original cycle-wing body form, racing it at historic race meetings in both sports car and vintage GP races.

1952/54 Maserati A6GCM/250F

This car took part in the Allcomers Scratch Race for Historic Racing Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1969.

It's the  Maserati of Dan Margulies, originally a 1952 A6GCM serial number 2038 with a 6-cylinder 1,987cc engine that was a works car in 1952 and acquired the following season by Swiss driver Baron Emanuel (better known as 'Toulo') de Graffenried. Early in 1954 the car was given a 6-cylinder 2,490cc Maserati 250F engine and a new identity as chassis 2510. Toulo de Graffenried raced the car in 1954 before selling it to Australian Reg Hunt who took it 'down under' and raced it in Australia and New Zealand before selling it to Kevin Neal when he acquired Maserati 250F chassis 2516. In 1965 2038/2510 went to the UK and was campaigned by Colin Crabbe and Dan Margulies, and later went to Ray Fielding before ending up in a private Swiss collection.

1958 Devin SS

This car appeared at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1993, taking part in the Twelve Lap 1950's Sports Car Race.

It's Ron Gammons' 1958 5,424cc V8 Devin, and a note about the car in the programme of the event says this about it:

 

‘Fancied runners in the race are Frank Sytner's 1957 D-type Jaguar, American Stephen Griswold's 1958 Lister Chevrolet and Ron Gammons' 1958 Devin. The latter has a chassis designed and built in Belfast by Irishman Malcolm MacGregor, with a glass-fibre body designed and built by American Bill Devin in California and a V8 engine by Chevrolet of Detroit. Only about 15 were made.’

 

You can read the story of Bill Devin's cars here.

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.

1933 Frazer Nash TT Replica

This car took part in two races at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987.

It's the 1933 Frazer Nash TT Replica of J Sharpe which the programme of the event says has a 1,498cc engine, presumably the 4-cylinder inline Meadows unit. The TT Replica was based on the cars that contested the 1931 Tourist Trophy Race, though none of the three cars entered actually finished the event.

1925 AC/GN Cognac Special

This car competed in the Richard Seaman Memorial Vintage Trophy Race and the Historic Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in June 1984. It is pictured here on the approach to Lodge Corner during one of these races.

It's the 1925 AC/GN Cognac of Ron Footitt which is one of several Specials that were constructed in the 1920s and 30s using the chassis of a GN Cyclecar and either an AC or a Frazer Nash engine. The car was built by a Mr S.A.Cohen and 'Cognac' is an acronym composed from the maker’s name –  Cohen, the fact that it had a GN chassis and an AC engine that gives CO-GN-AC.

1926 Bugatti Type 35B

This was one of the cars that took part in the Richard Seaman Memorial Vintage Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in June 1972.

It's the 1926 Bugatti Type 35B of Bernard Kane, chassis 4696 that was once owned by Sir Malcolm Campbell. It has the 8-cylinder inline 2,262cc supercharged engine.

1954 Aston Martin DB3S

I took this photograph in the paddock at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1970.

It's a 1954 Aston Martin DB3S, registration number 63 EMU which is chassis DB3S/7, one of the Aston Martin Works Cars. In 1970 this car was owned by Patrick Lindsay who drove his ERA R5B 'Remus' at this meeting.

Cooper Jaguar T38

I took this photograph at the entry to Lodge Corner during the twelve lap 1950's Sports Car Race at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies race meeting at Oulton Park in June 1993.

It's the 6-cylinder inline 3,781cc 1955 Cooper Jaguar T38 of John Pearson, chassis CJ-3-55, one of three cars built by Cooper for endurance sports car racing. One of the cars competed in the 1955 Le Mans 24 Hour race, but retired after 4 hours with an oil leak.

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.

'

1937 Delahaye 135

This car is listed in the programme of the event as competing in three scratch races at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in July 1987.

The only information about it in the programme is that it was the 1937 Delahaye of R.W.S. Matthews and has a 3557cc engine. The Delahaye 135 was produced from 1935 to 1954 with a 6-cylinder inline engine, initially of 3,227cc, later increased to 3,557cc. I have been unable to find out any further information about Mr Matthews except that his first name is Robert.

1989 Audi 90 Quattro IMSA GTO

This is one of the cars that Audi took along to the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Donington Park in May 2001, together with the Auto Union C-Type and D-Type pre-war Grand Prix cars. The car is seen at Coppice Corner during one of the demonstration runs.

It's the 1989 Audi 90 Quattro IMSA GTO that took part in the North American IMSA GTO Championship in that year and was driven by Hurley Haywood, Hans-Joachim Stuck, Scott Goodyear and Walter Röhrl.

1954 Cooper MkVIII

This car is passing under the Clay Hill bridge just after the Knickerbrook corner during the  500cc Formula Three Cars race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1994.

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.

1959 Lotus 16

I took this photo at Lodge Corner in the Cheshire Building Society's Allcomers' Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in Jun 1981.

It’s Bruce Halford in his 1959 Lotus 16 which has a 2,495cc straight-4 Coventry Climax FPF engine. Bruce Halford raced in Formula One from 1956 to 1960, firstly with a Maserati 250F, then a Lotus 16 in 1959 and with Cooper T45 and T51 in 1960. In the mid-1970s he bought this Lotus 16 and competed at Historic meetings himself for several years. The Lotus 16 was raced by Team Lotus, and private entrants, from 1958 to 1960 with little success in World Championship races. Colin Chapman had to wait until the Monaco Grand Prix of 1960 for his first Lotus victory, achieved by Stirling Moss in Rob Walker's Lotus 18.

1927/39 ERA Delage

This car took part in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in June 1973.

It's Ray Potter's ERA Delage which appeared alongside ten ERAs in the 29 car field for this race. The car had a 6-cylinder 1,488cc ERA engine with two-stage Roots supercharging, and the programme of the event said this about the it:

 

'Ray Potter's ERA-Delage has the engine from one of the ill-fated E-type ERAs in a 1927 GP Delage chassis.'

 

The Delage was one of Albert Lory's 1927 Delage 15 S8 cars which had dominated the 1927 season, winning all four of the European Grand Prix races.

1952 Cooper Bristol

This car is making its way through a typically wet Oulton Park paddock to take part in a practice session for the Allcomers Race for Historic Racing Cars at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Trophies Meeting at Oulton Park in June 1971.

It's the 1952 Cooper Bristol MkI of John Roberts which has 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 1,971 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.

1936 ERA R7B

This is a photograph I took at The Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1969.

It's the 1936 ERA R7B of Dudley Gahagan and has the 6-cylinder inline supercharged 1,980cc ERA engine. This car was originally built for Arthur Dobson with the 1,488cc engine and was owned by Dudley Gahagan from 1960 to 1998. It has since been returned to its original colour of white with a chrome plated radiator.

1924 Bugatti T35B

This is a photograph I took in the paddock at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1961.

As usual with these older photographs any note I made about it has long ago disappeared but it's a Bugatti, and although you can't read the number on the tail of the car the only Bugatti listed in the programme that it seems to match is the number 52 on John Horton's 1924 Bugatti T35B. The programme says that it's a 2 litre car which would have the 8-cylinder inline 1,992cc engine.

1929/36 Riley Special

I took this photograph at Lodge Corner during a Four Lap Scratch Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1993.

I didn't make a note of which car it was at the time, as usual relying on identifying it later from the programme of the event. It's obviously a Riley Special, but there were five of these in the race and you can't make out the car number in this photo. It looks like the number is on the scuttle and tail of the car though and the only car which matches the bits of number you can see is 47 which was the 1929/36 Riley Special of F C Roberts which was driven in the race by D M Robinson. That would seem to be a 1929 Riley Brooklands with the 4-cylinder inline 1,496cc engine from a 1936 Riley 12/4.