MG Project EXF

This is one of the cars that was in the MG Car Club display at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It's the MG Project EXF, an MGF which was specially prepared to take part in the Speedweek festivities at Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, in August 1997 during which a top speed of 217.4mph was achieved.

Ford Model Y

Here are a couple of photographs I took in Ashton-under-Lyne in March 1987 at a car show organised, I think, by the Tame Valley Vintage and Classic Car Club.

It's a Ford Model Y, a car that was built between 1932 and 1937. It had a 933cc engine of 8hp and was the major competitor of the Austin 7.

Bugatti Type 13 Brescia

This photograph was taken at Donington Park at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting organised by the Vintage Sports Car Club in May 2001.

It's a Bugatti Type 13, also known as the Bugatti Brescia after the car finished in the first four places in the 1921 Brescia Grand Prix. It's not got a race number, but only two of these cars are shown in the programme of the event, the 1923 model of Chris Hudson and the 1925 one of David Marsh, and of those it's most likely to be Chris Hudson's car (look at the name on the vehicle parked next to the Bugatti).

AC Cobra

This car took part in the Barley Construction Improved Road Sports Championship Race at the HSCC Summer Race meeting at Oulton Park in July 1992.

It's a 1966 AC Cobra, which should mean that it's a MkIII, and the programme of the event says that it has a 4727cc engine (289 cu in). It was driven in the race by Aidan Mills-Thomas.

Here's Aidan Mills-Thomas during the race leading the Ford Falcon of Julian Balme and the Lotus Elan S3 of Tim Wright at Foulstons chicane..

Friday's Ferrari

This car took part in the Coys of Kensington GT Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994.

It's a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO which was driven in the race by the then owner, Lindsay Owen-Jones. The serial number of the car is 3413GT.

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.

Foden S39

This is a photograph taken in September 1995 as the vehicles entered the display area in Heaton Park, Manchester, at the Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally organised by the Greater Manchester Transport Society.

It's a 1971 Foden S39 - there's no mention of it in the programme of the event but I understand that it is kept at Bury Transport Museum.

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Vincent Egli

The Silverstone Historic Festival meeting in August 2001 included a race for motor cycles, The Mike Hailwood Memorial Trophy Race. Here is one of the participants:

It's a 1972 Vincent Egli of 1272cc capacity, and was ridden in the race by Roy Robertson.

Ford Sudbury Racer

I photographed this car in the Exchange Station car park in Manchester at the start of the Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1991 organised by the Lancashire Automobile Club.

It's listed in the programme of the event as a Ford Sudbury Racer, and this is what the note about it in the programme said:

14          1916 Ford Sudbury Racer

              4 cylinder  2.9 litres

              (Simon Timperley, Hollingworth)

As far as is known, this is the only Sudbury in

the UK. And this Blackpool run is Simon's first

as an entrant.

As far as I'm aware the only Ford built in 1916 was the Model T and the way the programme note is worded implies that there are more of these cars in existence, but I can't find any mention of the Sudbury anywhere. Racing versions of the Model T seem to be known as 'Ford Speedsters' or 'Fronty Fords'.

Mercedes Benz W125

Following my recent post about the Mercedes Benz W125 replica in the Donington Collection here are some photographs of the W125 that Mercedes Benz sent from their museum in 2007 to give demonstration runs round Donington Park at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting that year. I showed one photograph of the car there in a post about Mercedes Benz on 3 April 2012.

Used during the 1937 season, the car won 4 out of the 5 Grands Prix in the European Championship series (the German, Monaco, Swiss & Italian races) losing out only at the Belgian Grand Prix to the Auto Union C-types.

Three of the four races were won by Rudolf Caracciola, the Monaco Grand Prix being won by Manfred von Brauchitsch.

The car has a 5.6 litre supercharged straight-8 engine

Tony Dron rounding McLeans Corner during a demonstration run

Morris L type Commercial

This is a photograph of one of the commercial vehicles at the Pallot Museum in Jersey.

The only information about it at the museum is the notice in the windscreen which states that it's a 1925 Morris L type Commercial of 11.9 hp with a load capacity of 12 cwt, but I've been able to glean the following information from the Morris Register.

First produced in 1925 as a 12cwt payload van, a truck bodied variant was introduced in 1927 and both van and truck were produced until 1930. Mechanically the L type was very similar to the T “Tonner”. The vehicle used the same engine as the contemporary Morris Cowley car, a 1548cc 4-cylinder side valve 11.9hp Hotchkiss type with a 3 Speed gear box and magneto ignition with a clutch consisting of a cork insert between metal. Both the van and the truck had a 9ft 6in wheelbase chassis and a load capacity of 12cwt.

Eclipse of the Sun

After all the build-up to the solar eclipse today I thought when looking at the forecast of cloud cover in this part of the world that we weren't going to see anything much. At the start it was fairly clear but the cloud started moving in as it progressed and this is one of the photographs I managed to take when the cloud wasn't too dense:

This was an earlier effort, using a reversed pair of binoculars to project an image onto the back of a large white envelope:

Friday's Ferrari

The Historic Car Championship Race at the Aston Martin Owners Club Autumn Historic Car Races at Oulton Park in September 1992 included classes for pre-war single-seaters, post-war front and rear engined single-seaters and post-war sports cars. One car entered in the latter class was the one shown below.

It's a 1954 Ferrari 750 Monza, chassis number 0470MD. Looking at the photographs I took at this meeting it looks as if it was a particularly overcast and dismal day.

The Ferrari was driven in the race by Paul Alexander of London

McLaren M6BGT

This car was in the paddock at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 1996.

The 'Q' at the start of the registration number tells you that the car has undergone some radical change - the DVLA guide on vehicle registration says:

'12. 'Q' registration numbers

DVLA issues ‘Q’ registration numbers to vehicles whose age or identity is in doubt.

If this happens, any original vehicle registration number will become invalid and you mustn’t display it again.

To get a ‘Q’ registration number, your vehicle has to pass a type approval process.'

The car is a 1968 McLaren M6BGT which was built for Andreas Mohringer by Northdown Racing from a McLaren M6B chassis [no. M6B 5005] - the M6B being the version of the M6A Can-Am car for sale to customers.

ERA E-Type GP2

Motor racing is best enjoyed on a sunny day, or at least one that is dry, and the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting in August 1992 at Oulton Park took place on a day that was mostly sunny although it did have spells of rain. Here's a photograph taken in the paddock during one of those rainy periods.

It's the 1938 ERA E-Type GP2, owned at that time by Gordon Chapman, which took part in the first of the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies races that day, the one for Pre-war Historic Racing Cars (the other one is for Vintage Racing Cars). It was driven in that race, and in the later Allcomers Invitation Race, by Bill Morris. I was intrigued by the reflection in the puddle of water, and below is what the reflection looks like if you turn the picture upside-down.

White Weit Rhino

I saw this on a building at the corner of Clarendon Street and Clark Way in Hyde.

It's above the doorway of Monaghan House, a building occupied by an Advertising Agency, Rhino Design Ltd. It has the wide-lipped mouth of the 'White' Rhino (or 'Weit' Rhino, describing its wide mouth), though to be accurate it should be coloured grey. The mouth is this shape as the 'White' Rhino eats grass and this shape is most suited to grazing, whereas the 'Black' Rhino has a hooked mouth as it is a browser, eating leaves from shrubs and trees.

Boeing 777

These photographs, taken at 10.46am on 10 March 2015, are of Pakistan International Airlines Flight PK721 passing over Hyde as it prepared to land at Manchester Airport.

It's a Boeing 777-240LR flying from Lahore to Manchester

The dark lines running up this photograph are the branches of a tree in the garden of the house next door.

The aircraft registration number is AP-BGZ

This PIA livery was introduced in 2010 and is detailed here.

Mercedes Benz W125

This is one of the cars in the Donington Collection which I photographed when I visited the museum at Donington Park in September last year.

This car certainly looks like a 1937 Mercedes Benz W125 and by all accounts it sounds and smells like a Mercedes Benz W125, but in fact it was specially built for the Donington Collection from original working drawings as the board in front of the car explains:

    Replica of 1937 W125 Grand Prix Car

It was long coveted by the Donington Grand Prix Collection founder and owner,

Tom Wheatcroft, to own a Mercedes W125 Grand Prix car. However, a lack of

availability and sky high prices stopped this from becoming a reality. Never one to

miss an opportunity (even though he was already in his 80's!), Tom and his son

Kevin embarked on a project to reconstruct this legendary Grand Prix car.

In order to set the project in motion, Kevin Wheatcroft spent a considerable

amount of money and many hours scouring the world for parts. During this

exhaustive search, he stumbled across a complete set of working drawings. The

drawings were in the process of being carefully restored and redrawn, when an

opportunity arose to borrow an original untouched example of a 1937 Grand Prix

Mercedes W125 – this was through the kind co-operation of the Schlumpf

Collection (Cité de l'Automobile).

Over the next year, the car was painstakingly measured and data collected –

a tireless effort to ensure all details of the car were accurately recorded. An

interesting fact was that the car borrowed was in fact the 1937 Donington Grand

Prix car, driven by Hermann Lang – his name and race number still being written

on the underside of the seat cushion. This car had the benefit of never being

touched and therefore completely original. The project was further enhanced by

the generosity of Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula 1 Supremo, in that he allowed

access to his original restored example, the only one in private hands.

With this wealth of data and information, thousands of photographs and original

engineering notes, the long task of producing a replica began (Tom and Kevin, no

strangers to exceptional recreations, had previously built the Bugatti Royale,

where over 100,000 manhours went into producing the patterns, jigs, drawings

and build programme).

The result of such dedication is this truly wonderful replica, which exudes all the

charisma, sound, sight and smell of the original machine. It was just possible for

the late Tom Wheatcroft to hear and smell the car start for the first time, before

he sadly passed away. It was left to his son, Kevin, to prove the car for the first

time, thundering round Donington Park, imagining the echoes of a yesteryear…

The only thing it seems to lack is the Mercedes Benz badge above the radiator grille

Speedway: Belle Vue Aces v Poole (12 June 1976)

Heat 1: Malcolm Simmons (white) & Paul Tyrer (blue)

Heat 2: Kristian Praestbro (blue), Colin Gooddy (yellow/black) & Les Collins (red)

Heat 2: Les Collins

Heat 3: Russ Hodgson (red), Pete Smith (white) & Neil Middleditch (yellow/black)

Heat 3: Russ Hodgson

Heat 4: Peter Collins (red), Christer Sjosten (white) & Colin Gooddy (yellow/black)

Heat 5: Chris Morton (blue) & Malcolm Simmons (white)

Match Result: Belle Vue Aces 43 Poole 35

Friday's Ferrari

The Shell Ferrari Historical Challenge race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997 included the car shown below.

It's a 1955 Ferrari 750 Monza, serial number 0504M, driven in the race that day by Kerry McSwan. I've previously shown a photograph of this car at the 1995 Silverstone meeting, and it was driven by Mike Sparken at the first race meeting I ever attended, the 1955 British Empire Trophy race at Oulton Park.

Invicta

This car was amongst the cars being displayed by the auctioneers Coys at the Silverstone Historic Tribute meeting in June 2004.

It's a 1932 Invicta S type, but I can't find out anything more about the car apart from this snippet from the 2010 Le Mans Classic race......

67 Plateau 1

Roland D'Ieteren   Jean-Jacques Lalmand   Nicolas D'Ieteren

1932 Invicta S-type, GP 613 (GB) Dark Blue, L6 / 4.500 cc

......and a photograph of the car in this report of the Flying Scotsman Rally of 2014.

AEC Renown

This is one of the many buses present in Heaton Park, Manchester at the Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally in September 1996 organised by the Greater Manchester Transport Society.

It's a 1965 AEC Renown, a former Leigh Corporation bus and entered in the rally by the Greater Manchester Transport Society. The programme of the event says this about the vehicle:

A.E.C. Renown, East Lancs Body, 1965                                                                                                                                           PTC 114C
Leigh 15
Entered by                                                           Greater Manchester Transport Society
The A.E.C. Renown chassis was designed to be of very low height to allow the bus to pass under low bridges, but at the same time, retain the normal seating arrangement rather than the long bench seats traditionally found on the upper saloon of low height buses. By the time the vehicle was withdrawn in 1978, it was one of the last A.E.C. vehicles in the fleet of Greater Manchester Transport.

Many years ago I lived in Leigh, just off Plank Lane in fact, and on my way home from work in Manchester it was one of these buses that took me on my last leg of the journey from Leigh town centre.

Lola T90

The Oulton Park Gold Cup meeting in August 2008 featured a celebration of 50 years of Lola Cars which included a display of various models, some of which took part in a parade of the track during the meeting. One of the cars on display was the one pictured below.

The programme of the event doesn't mention this car, but it's a Lola T90 bearing the number 24 which was the number of Graham Hill's Lola T90 Red Ball Special when he won the 1966 Indianapolis 500 race. Photographs of Graham Hill's car, however, show the front part of the nose to be painted yellow with a gold stripe running up the centre of the car. The car shown here resembles Jackie Stewart's similar Lola T90 (designated the Bowes Seal Fast Special) which was number 43 and finished in 6th place

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