Friday's Ferrari

The SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2005 included a 'Demonstration of Italian Racing Cars' and included amongst them was the car pictured below.

It's Uwe Meissner's 1997 Ferrari F310B, a car that was driven by Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine in the 1997 season. Ferrari finished second to Williams in the Constructors' Championship and Schumacher finished second in the Drivers' Championship, but his record for the season was expunged because he deliberately drove into Jacques Villeneuve's car as the Williams driver was overtaking him in the final race of the season, the European Grand Prix in Jerez. Eddie Irvine finished in seventh place in the Drivers' Championship which was won by Jacques Villeneuve. Uwe Meissner's car is chassis number 172.

Crosslé

This car was one of the competitors in the HSCC Historic Formula Racing Car Championship at the HSCC's Summer Race Meeting at Oulton Park in July 1992.

It's Bill Gowdy's 1970 Crosslé 18F, a car built by John Crosslé of Northern Ireland to compete in Formula B racing using a 1600cc Ford engine. The car behind it is Arnie Black's Crosslé 19F which was a Formula 2 car developed from the 18F,

Alfa Romeo

These three cars took part in the Pre-War Sports Car Team Relay Race at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2004.

All three cars were entered by William Ainscough, two to be driven by James Baxter and Roger Lucas. From the left they are a 1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza, a 1931 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Le Mans and a 1931 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Spider. You can read about the Alfa Romeo 8C here.

Willys Knight

This is one of the cars just coming up to the start line in the Exchange Station car park in Manchester in the Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in May 1992.

It's a Willys Knight 65 Tourer, a car built by the Willys Overland Company and powered by a 3 litre 4-cylinder Knight sleeve valve engine. The only information about it in the programme of the event is that it was entered for the run by Charles B Gill of Colne, Lancashire.

Porsche RSK

This car competed in the 'Classic Car' Sports Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994.

This is Wessel von Loringhoven's 1959 Porsche 718 RSK.

Better known as just a Porsche RSK, it was a development of the Porsche 550A and because of the short wheelbase was named the RennSportKurz, or RSK.

Some of the RSKs were converted to single-seat Formula 2 Porsche 718s, which in 1961 became Formula 1 cars - later superseded by the Porsche 804.

Jaguar XK

Here are three photographs of XK Jaguars taken at the 6th Cheshire Cats' Trophy Meeting at Oulton Park in April 1987.

This is the 1951 Jaguar XK120 of Brian Arculus that took part in the JDC Production Jaguar Challenge Race at this meeting. The chassis number of this car is 660575.

This is another XK120, that of Tony Hildebrand who drove the car in the Gordon Russell Furniture Inter-Marque Championship Race.

This is a Jaguar XK140, which didn't take part in any of the races but is here waiting to take part in a track parade by various Jaguars.

SS Jaguar 100

This car competed in the Brooklands & Goddard Trophy Race at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Donington Park in June 2003.

It's Martin Redmond's 1935/38 SS Jaguar 100, driven in the race by Gordon Riseley. 198 examples of the SS100 were produced with a 2½ litre engine and 116 with a 3½ litre unit, and according to the programme of the event this car was one of the 3½ litre models. Originally founded as SS Cars Ltd, the 'Jaguar' was added with the introduction of the 100 model. In 1945 the 'SS' was dropped because of the obvious Nazi connotations.

Friday's Ferrari

Here's a rather special car I saw recently parked at the Holiday Inn Express at Salford Quays.

It's a Ferrari 458 Speciale - a car that Ferrari say is 'the most high performance Ferrari V8 ever'.

The colour scheme on this car is reminiscent of that used by the American Tony Parravano on his team of mainly Ferraris and Maseratis in the 1950s.

Maserati 300S

This is a photograph my brother took at the British Grand Prix meeting at Silverstone in July 1956.

It was taken during practice and shows Stirling Moss at the wheel of the Maserati 300S with which he won the sports car race at that meeting. In those days it wasn't unusual for drivers taking part in the Grand Prix to take part in one or more of the support races that day. I've not been able to ascertain the chassis number of this car, but the most likely candidates seem to be 3055 and 3059.

Marcos GT Fastback

This car competed in the HSCC John Lelliott Post-Historic Road Sports Championship race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's Historic Car Races meeting at Oulton Park in September 1986.

It's David Chaney's 1963 Marcos GT Fastback. Eighteen of these cars were produced using Ford engines, and the programme of the Oulton Park event states that this car has a 1,650cc engine. The website of the Marcos Owners Club has details of all the Marcos models.

ERAs

Two photographs here that I took at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Donington Park in May 2001.

This is the 1938/37 ERA R14B of Donald Day and was driven at Donington Park by Julian Bronson. Originally powered by a 1½ litre supercharged engine but now with a 2 litre unit - the programme of the Donington Park event said that its capacity was 2,044cc.

This is the engine of yet another of the 9 ERAs (plus an ERA Delage and ERA Riley) that competed for the Seaman Historic Trophy, and it's Peter Mann's 1936 ERA R9B, driven at Donington by John Ure. This car was also originally fitted with a 1½ litre supercharged engine and still has the same engine, 1,488cc according to the Donington Park programme.

Abarth Simca 1300

I took this photograph at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It's a 1961 Abarth Simca 1300, a rear-engined car based on the Simca 1000 but with a 4-cylinder 1288cc engine.

Renault Alpine

Here's a car I photographed at the HSCC's Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1986,

It's Sam Thomasson's 1969 Renault Alpine A110, a car that was powered by a variety of engines, and the programme of the event shows the engine capacity as 1565cc, so it presumably had the Renault 16 engine. I remember the Renault Alpine at that time as being a successful rally car.

BRM P67

This is one of the cars in the Donington Collection that I photographed on my last visit in September 2014.

It's the 1964 BRM P67 and was BRM's attempt to build a competitive four-wheel drive F1 car, as did several other teams in the 1960s. It only made one racing appearance, in practice for the 1964 British Grand Prix, but after qualifying in last position the car was withdrawn from the race. The project was then shelved as BRM concentrated their efforts on developing the H16 engine, although the P67 had some success in hillclimbs in the hands of David Good and Peter Lawson, the latter winning the British hillclimb championship in 1968 with the car.

Friday's Ferrari

This car was in the Ferrari Owners Club area at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It's Fred Lindkvist's 1957 Ferrari 250 GT LWB Berlinetta TdF, chassis number 0781GT. There are 4 versions of the TdF, defined by the number of louvres in the sail panel behind the door windows: no louvres, 14 louvres, 3 louvres and 1 louvre. This car is one of the 3 louvre models.

Vauxhall Firenza Droop Snoot

This car was on the Droop Snoot Group's stand at the Northern Classic Car Show at G-Mex, Manchester in August 1992,

It's a Vauxhall Firenza Droop Snoot, 204 of which were built in the mid-1970s. The brochure of the event had this entry for the Droop Snoot Group:

Droop Snoot Group

The Droop Snoot Group was formed in 1980 to ensure the future health of the last of the true Vauxhalls, namely the high performance Firenza, HS/HSR Chevettes, the rare Magnum Sporthatch, Chevettes, Magnums and Vivas. Most of these fine cars were powered by the 'Slant Four' OHC engine, which in its sportier guise gave Vauxhall great motorsport success in the '70s and '80s. The club meetings are held regularly throughout the year including racing circuits, motor/classic shows, treasure hunts. We have a quarterly magazine with pages full of information on the cars, members letters and reports and a sale and wanted page. It is mailed free to all members. The current membership fee is £18.00 per annum and when joining you will receive an information pack.

The group is still flourishing, and I notice that the membership fee is now £25.00 per annum, only increased by £7.00 in 24 years - I call that good value!

Two Maseratis

I took these photographs at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1982.

Number 31 is the 1939 Maserati 4CL of Dan Margulies and 25 is the 1954 Maserati 250F of David Sankey.

The Maserati 4CL is chassis number 1582, and I have come across this brief history of the car:

Maserati 4CL [1582] (Toni Branca): Delivered 31 July 1946 to Guido Barbieri from Reggio Emilia, and raced in the 1946 Turin and Milan GPs. It is possible that the chassis was then used by Barbieri in his 1.5 litre Maserati 6C Sports Special, which first appeared in October 1946. The car reappeared in normal 4CL form in 1949 in the hands of Swiss Anton Branca, who raced it throughout 1949 and 1950. The car then passed through a variety of Swiss owners’ hands, at one stage fitted with a Ford V8 engine, before being campaigned in historic racing by Dan Margulies for more than 20 years, and being owned most recently by Klaus Edel and then Oliver Maierhofer. The car was for sale in early 2007.

Here's David Sankey at Knicker Brook in the Maserati 250F which is chassis number 2513, and you can read some of its history here.

Mors Le Sanglier

This was one of the entrants in the Edwardian Race at the SeeRed meeting at Doningtom Park in June 2008.

It's William Way's Mors Le Sanglier, a 1907 French Mors chassis fitted with a 1915 8.2 litre V8 Curtiss aero engine.

Here's William Way during his race leading the 1913/18 Vauxhall Viper of Tony Lees.

By the following lap the Vauhall had passed the Mors.

Cars Around Hyde

Here are some photographs of cars that I've seen around Hyde recently that are a bit different than the modern ones that I usually see.

This is, I think, a late 1940s Standard 12 or 14 - they apparently share the same body with either a 12hp or 14hp engine.

I caught this car leaving a Shell filling station. It's an Alvis TD21, and I've been able to ascertain that it's a 1961 car, the chassis number being 26643.

This is a 1980/81 Volkswagen Golf GLS Mk1 Cabriolet

Another one seen at the Shell filling station was this Rolls Royce, I think a Silver Spirit from the 1990s.

Lastly one that isn't an old vehicle, but an unusual one for the streets of Hyde.

They're a common enough sight on motorways or the major roads of the country, but I can't say that I've ever seen an Eddie Stobart truck on the back roads of Hyde before. This Scania G410 was making an early morning delivery to a Tesco Express store in the Gee Cross area of Hyde. With a few exceptions all Eddie Stobart vehicles are given female names, and this one is 'Fleur' - you can see the name on the front of the vehicle just below 'Scania'. The fleet number is L7702.

Lotus 24

This car competed in the Innes Ireland Trophy Race for Pre-1968 Grand Prix and Tasman Cars at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997.

It's Ric Weiland's 1962 Lotus 24, a car of conventional spaceframe design that was intended to be sold to private entrants whilst the Lotus team used the new monocoque Lotus 25. In effect Jim Clark drove a Lotus 25 but his team-mate Trevor Taylor used the Lotus 24 for most of the season.

This is Trevor Taylor in his Lotus 24 returning to the paddock on practice day for the British Grand Prix at Aintree in July 1962.

Jaguar C-type

The Aston Martin Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 2002 organised by the Aston Martin Owners Club included a race which included a class for 1950s sports cars, and the car pictured below took part in that race.

It's Ben Cussons' 1952 Jaguar C-type, chassis number XKC021. According to a record of the Jaguar C-type production the early history of the car is as follows:

XKC 021: Sold to Bill Holt and raced at Goodwood Sept meeting, raced by Holt in 1953 and Mike Connell without success David Boston and  Dick Protheroe shared it in 1955 then owned by various including Michael Richardson, lent to Bill MacKay  who raced in the Scottish speed championship events. Bought by John Hallihan then shipped to Australia for restoration early 1966.

Friday's Ferrari

This is another Ferrari that was present at the Motorsport Seafront Sunday event in St Peter Port, Guernsey when we visited in July.

It's a Ferrari 458 Italia, and you can read here what the official Ferrari website has to say about the car.

Crowded Paddock

This is a photograph I took in the paddock at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2007.

There's a preponderance of British Racing Green, and even the blue car nearest the camera is a British car - it's the 1955 Cooper T39 Bobtail of Adrian van der Kroft that I featured on 11 July 2016. Adrian van der Kroft is also the owner of car number 38, a 1952 HWM F2 car fitted with a Jaguar engine. There are 5 Cooper Bristols - those of David White, Patrick Walker, Nigel Bancroft and Geoffrey O'Connell lined up together at the rear, and the one with the red nose is Paul Grant's. Number 49 is the 1954 HWM Jaguar of Michael Steele, 27 is Ian Nuthall's 1952 Alta F2, and numbers 10 and 7 are Nick Wigley's 1954 Connaught B type and 1959 Cooper T51 respectively.

Buses

I took this photograph at the Heaton Park, Manchester at the Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally in September 1995.

From the left there's a 1964 AEC Routemaster in the livery of Clydeside Scottish Omnibuses Ltd, a 1963 Manchester Corporation Daimler CVG6K, a 1958 Manchester Corporation Leyland Titan PD2/34, a 1957 Lancashire United Transport Guy Arab IV and the corner of a 1968 Leyland Atlantean PDR1/1 in SELNEC livery.

Here's a view I took later looking down on the five vehicles, The Leyland Atlantean (HVM901F) isn't listed in the programme of the event, which has this to say about the other four:

M20          AEC Routemaster, Park Royal H64R, 1964                    ALD913B

                    London Transport RM1913

                    Entered by     Messrs Bentley, Cannon & Worsnop, Halifax

                    This vehicle is presented in the livery of Clydesdale Scottish, with whom it saw

                    service for three years following withdrawal by London Transport in 1986.

                    Purchased for preservation in 1991.

L15            Daimler CVG6K, Netro-Cammell H65R, 1963               4632VM

                    Manchester 4632

                    Entered by     D.J.Talbot, Eccles

                    This vehicle was one of the last Daimler buses purchased by Manchester

                    Corporation and was withdrawn in 1978 and was secured for preservation

                    after an extended life,

L13            Leyland PD2/34, Burlingham H64R, 1958                     TNA520

                    Entered by     J.Crankshaw, Meltham, Huddersfield

                    This vehicle is unusual in that it originally entered service with a fully

                    automatic gearbox. It was later converted to semi-automatic, which is

                    itself unusual.

L14            Guy Arab IV, Northern Counties, 1957                            116JTD

                    Lancashire United Transport 21

                    Entered by     J.Crankshaw, Meltham, Huddersfield

                    A representative of the many similar vehicles which performed yeoman

                    service for the company.

This is another view of the five buses that I've cropped from another photograph.

Alfa Romeo 4C

Here's another car that was on one of the trade displays at the Val Des Terres hillclimb in Guernsey that we recently attended.

It's an Alfa Romeo 4C

The original concept car was introduced at the 2011 Geneva Motor show and production started in 2013.

Maserati Tipo 63

This car competed in the Visage Pre '72 Le Mans Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 1996.

It's Edmond Pery's 1961 Maserati Tipo 63, a rear-engined car based on the Tipo 60 and 61 'Birdcage' Maseratis and fitted with a V12 3-litre engine developed from the 250F V12 2½ litre unit. Seven examples of the Tipo 63 were built and there's a brief history of the cars on this Maserati website.