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Showing posts with label Tony Brooks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tony Brooks. Show all posts

Tuesday, 19 March 2024

BRM 50th Anniversary 1999

The 50th Anniversary of the BRM was marked at the Coys International  Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1999 by a display of many of the cars, some of which took part in track parades.
This is a photograph I took during one of these parades when I was stuck in the middle of the Silverstone paddock overlooking the Abbey curve. Not a terribly good photograph, but the pale green BRM V16 was being driven by Argentinian driver José Froilán González who drove the V16 car in a few non-Championship races in 1952 and 1953.The car in front of the BRM V16 looks to be the 1968 BRM P133 which was driven in the display by Reine Wisell, whilst the BRM P25 at the rear seems to have Tony Brooks at the wheel.

Tuesday, 23 February 2021

Tony Brooks

The Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000 celebrated 50 years of the Formula One World Drivers' Championship with the first race on 13 May 1950 at Silverstone. There was a display in the paddock of many of the cars that competed during those 50 years, some of which took part in track demonstrations during the weekend of the meeting. I took this photograph in the marquee in the paddock that housed the cars.
It's Tony Brooks sitting in the Connaught B Type, possibly reminiscing about his win in the Syracuse Grand Prix in 1955 in one of these cars. The car he is sitting in is chassis B4, originally owned and raced by Rob Walker's racing team and owned in 2000 by, I think, Tony Smith. The car in which Tony Brooks won the Syracuse Grand Prix was chassis B1, and like all the Connaught B Types had a 4-cylinder inline 2,470cc Alta engine. The photograph below shows Tony Brooks leaving the pit lane in the car on one of the demonstration runs.


Thursday, 8 November 2018

Vanwall

I took this photograph during practice day for the British Grand Prix at Aintree in July 1959.
It's the 'T' car driven in practice by Vanwall driver Tony Brooks. After fielding a full team in every race in the 1958 season Vanwall won the inaugural World Constructors' Championship, Stirling Moss narrowly finished in second place behind Mike Hawthorn in the World Drivers' Championship and Tony Brooks finished in third place. Tony Vandervell's health had been failing and the death of Stuart Lewis-Evans in the last race of that season in Morocco dealt a blow to the team from which they never recovered. The British Grand Prix was the only race they contested in 1959, and the only reason that the now Ferrari team driver Tony Brooks was able to drive the car was that Ferrari didn't compete in this race, giving the reason that strikes in Italy meant they weren't able to get their cars to Aintree. Tony Brooks was released from his Ferrari contract for this race, allowing him to drive the Vanwall, but he retired after 13 laps with ignition problems. Vanwall's last World Championship race, and the only one they contested in 1960, was the French Grand Prix at Reims where Tony Brooks lasted only 7 laps before retiring.

Monday, 8 October 2018

Tony Brooks

I took this photograph on practice day for the British Grand Prix at Aintree in July 1957.
On the left is Tony Brooks who shared the winning drive in the Grand Prix with Stirling Moss in a Vanwall. Tony Brooks, who was barely fit enough to take part in the race having injured himself in a crash at Le Mans only 4 weeks previously, took third place on the grid with team mate Stirling Moss in pole position. Moss led the race from the start with Behra's Maserati 250F second and Brooks third, but Moss's car suffered a misfire and Brooks was called into the pits to swap cars with Moss. Stirling Moss went on to win the race, due in no small part to the clutch on Behra's car exploding when he looked certain to win, and Mike Hawthorn, then in second place, suffered a puncture when he ran over bits of the debris. Tony Brooks in Moss's car eventually suffered an engine failure and he didn't finish the race.
The person to whom Tony Brooks is talking in this photograph is Alf Francis, who was mechanic to Stirling Moss in the early 1950s, and in 1957 was with Rob Walker's team whose Cooper Climax T43 was driven in this race by Jack Brabham. Tony Brooks also drove for Rob Walker in some F2 races and non-championship F1 races that season.

Saturday, 24 December 2016

Connaught B-Type

I've shown photographs previously of some of the cars that took part in a parade at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000 to mark 50 years of the World Championship for Drivers, and here's another one.
It's a 1955 Connaught B-Type driven by Tony Brooks, who won the Syracuse Grand Prix that year in one of these cars. This one is in the colours of Rob Walker's racing team which entered one of these cars in a few British non-Championship F1 races in 1956, in which it was driven by Reg Parnell. On 27 December 2014 I showed photographs of (presumably) this car at a 1987 meeting at Oulton Park.

Thursday, 28 July 2016

Mercedes Benz W125 & W154 at Oulton Park

On 3 April 2012 I showed photographs of the Mercedes Benz W125 that Colin Crabbe took to Oulton Park in 1970 and 1971, and I referred to the fact that in June 1958 Mercedes Benz had taken a W125 and also a W154 to the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park to be driven in demonstration runs by Peter Collins and Tony Brooks. Here are photographs of those cars I took that day returning to the paddock after one of those runs.
The 1937 Mercedes Benz W125
The 1939 Mercedes Benz W154 (sometimes called the W163)

Sunday, 14 February 2016

Connaught

Finance was always a problem for Rodney Clarke's Connaught racing team and only two years after making history when Tony Brooks won the 1955 Syracuse Grand Prix in a Connaught B Type the team was disbanded when the money ran out.
Here's Rodney Clarke at the Oulton Park Gold Cup meeting in September 1955, just a month before the Syracuse race, in the Connaught B Type, chassis B1, which Tony Brooks drove in that race. In the Gold Cup race the car was driven by Reg Parnell. who finished in fourth place.

Thursday, 26 March 2015

Vanwall

Here's another of the old Kodak Brownie 127 photographs, this one taken during practice for the British Grand Prix at Aintree in July 1959.
It's a Vanwall - Tony Brooks drove the only Vanwall entered in the race and the 'T' on this car shows that it's the training or practice car. The access to the racing circuit is behind the car, so presumably it's being wheeled back into the paddock by two mechanics after a practice run. The Vanwall retired after 13 laps with ignition problems and the race was eventually won by Jack Brabham in a Cooper-Climax T51.

Monday, 9 February 2015

Aston Martin DB3S

This is another of those old 1950s photographs, this time from the Daily Herald International Trophy meeting at Oulton Park on 18 August 1956.
Aston Martin entered a team of four of the DB3S models and No. 8 is the car with which Stirling Moss won the race, here being topped-up with fuel prior to the race. Immediately behind it (No. 10) is Reg Parnell's car which finished third, and beyond that No. 12 is the car with which Roy Salvadori finished fourth. To the right, seen through the bars of the gate is the No. 14 car of Tony Brooks which finished in second place. The car driven by Stirling Moss was chassis number DB3S/9, Parnell's was DB3S/7, Salvadori's DB3S/6, and that of Tony Brooks DB3S/8.

Friday, 11 April 2014

Friday's Ferrari

On 1 June 2012 I featured a 1954 Ferrari 625 which appeared at the SeeRed meetings at Donington Park in 2004 and 2007. The photographs below show another (or possible the same) Ferrari 625 at the Coys International Historic Festival Meeting at Silverstone in July 2000.

The car was entered and driven by Flavien Marçais in what was billed as the 'Maserati UK Race for Pre 1961 Grand Prix Cars' which accounts for the 'Maserati' sticker below the Ferrari badge on this photograph. In a track demonstration of various F1 cars during an interval between races the car was driven by ex-Ferrari driver Tony Brooks shown below leaving the pit lane to start the demonstration run.