Tag Archives: VSCC Spring Start

2014 Highlights – Motor Racing

45 years after I was taken to my first motor race meeting in the middle of Africa it is hard to believe that one of my greatest joy’s is getting up in the middle of the night and heading to the next one.

M4 East Bound

This year I managed to get to at an average of one meeting month from March through to October.

Gould GR55, Colin Calder, Great Western Sprint, Castle Combe,

For the last couple of seasons my motor racing year has got underway in March marshaling at the Bristol Motor Clubs Great Western Sprint, this year my duties in the pit lane were over for the top ten run off, above Colin Calder made his 15 hour trip from Scotland worthwhile by grinding out the fastest time of the day narrowly pipping his daughter heather by just over 1/10 of a second.

Lola, Goodliff, Elva, Woodhouse, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

The VSCC Spring Start meeting at Silverstone saw the start of the 80th Anniversary of ERA celebrtions, top race of the day was the Formula Junior event which saw a race long scrap twixt the red 1960 Lola Mk2 of Simon Goodliff and the 1959 Elva 100 driven by Mark Woodhouse fall in Simon’s favour.

Ocon, Verstappen, Dallara F312, Silverstone

2014 was Max Verstappen’s first season in car racing, in his third car race ever, above, he is seen overtaking Esteban Ocon on his way to second place in the 3rd European Formula Three championship of the season run at the Silverstone 6 Hours meeting. Even then he probably would have found it unlikely to believe that aged seventeen years and one hundred and sixty-six days old he is set to become the youngest driver ever to start a Formula One Grand Prix when making his 33rd race car start driving a Torro Rosso in the 2015 Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne next season.

Benhard / Webber / Hartley, Porsche 919 Hybrid, 6 Hours of Silverstone

The 6 Hours of Silverstone meeting was my second visit to Silverstone in 8 days. Timo Benhard Mark Webber and Brandon Hartley in the #20 Porsche 919 Hybrid above started the event in 6th place and survived to finish 3rd. At the end of the season Mark Webber became world news and ended up in hospital after crashing his 919 Hybrid with in half an hour of the finish of the race run in São Paulo an event which completely eclipsed the fact that #14 Porsche 919 Hybrid team mates Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb went on to score the teams first World Endurance Championship race win since returning to top level endurance racing at the start of the year.

Maserati MC12 Goodwood Cent 100, Michael Bartels, Goodwood Festival of Speed

At the end of June I popped over to Goodwood for the Festival of Speed where Sebastian Loeb driving his 2013 Pikes Peak winning Peugeot 208 was tipped to make an attempt on the Goodwood Hillclimb course record set by ‘Quick Nick’ Heidfeld driving a Formula One McLaren Mercedes in 1999. Dark horse for the Goodwood Hillclimb turned out to be Michael Bartles driving the specially liveried Maserati MC12 ‘Goodwood Cent 100’ which finished just over a second down on Loeb who missed taking the outright record thanks to the gearing being short on top speed.

Lotus Cortina, Shedden, Meaden, Silverstone Classic,

Gordon Shedden and Richard Meaden provided the tyre smoking dice of the day driving their Lotus Cortina’s on the Super Saturday morning of the Silverstone Classic meeting. Richard Meaden seen following above won with team mate Grant Tromans after Gordon’s car over heated during the mandatory pit stop in the Sir John Whitmore Trophy.

07 14 07 26 Lola T70 Voyazides Hadfield_2455sc

Having already won the Mustang Celebration trophy during the afternoon of the Super Saturday Silverstone Classic meeting Leo Voyazides swapped his Ford Falcon for his Lola T70 Coupé and won the FIA Historic Masters Sports Cars race with Simon Hadfield after Martin O’Connel’s 2 litre/122 cui Chevron B19 mysteriously went off road with out injury to the driver.

Mallock Mk 9, Michael Mallock, Oulton Park,

Over the August Bank Holiday weekend I managed to get up to Oulton Park for the Gold Cup meeting, while the day was fairly wet and miserable the racing was hot from beginning to end. Michael Mallock achieved the rare feet of not only winning a race in a car, #9 Mallock Mk 9 Formula Ford, bearing his family name but also beating a field of rear engined Formula Ford cars with the only vehicle carrying it’s engine in front of the driver.

Plymouth Satellite, Cheng Lim, Brighton Speed Trials,

Having encouraged readers to help save Brighton Speed Trials at the beginning of the year I managed to make my way down to Sussex for the saved event in September. Slowest car in the event but none the less entertaining was Cheng Lim’s Plymouth Satellite.

BY-Pod, Chipping Sodbury School, Renishaw Castle Combe Heat 2014

Counting as one of the most awesome vehicles I have seen all season is Chipping Sodbury Schools BY-Pod electric vehicle taking part in the Renishaw Castle Combe Heat 2014 of the Greenpower Challenge. I left the meeting with my spirits for the future of motorsport in what ever form it might take thoroughly uplifted.

Cooper Mk X, Steve Jones, Cooper Mk XI, George Shackleton, BAC MSC Challenge Trophy, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe,

One of the many highlights of the third Autumn Classic meeting run at Castle Combe was the dice between the Cooper 500 Formula 3 cars of Steve Jones and George Shackleton for the BAC MSC Challenge Trophy, Steve claimed the spoils in his slightly older #74 Mark X. Next year among the many attractions of the 4th Autumn Classic at Castle Combe on October 3rd will be one of the BRM V16’s which for my money would be worth the price of entry if nothing else showed up.

Thanks for joining me on this “2014 Highlights” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for Americana Thursday. Don’t forget to come back now !

King Of Brighton & The Hills – ERA R4D

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For reasons that are not yet entirely clear to me today’s featured car ERA R4D began life with the out of sequence identifier R4B apparently a year before R3B had been built.

R4B was a works apple green race car completed for Raymond Mays use in 1935. It is said to have used all three ERA engine sizes, 1.1, 1.5 and 2 litre, according to the demands of the regulations of the event’s it competed in.

ERA R4D, Goodwood Revival,

This chassis was shared by Raymond Mays and E Von Delius in the 1935 German Grand Prix, it started 9th but retired at half distance with low oil pressure.

R4B was predominantly used by Raymond for sprints and hill climbing and in 1936, mid way through the season R4B and the other works cars were all painted black.

ERA R4D, HGPCA Test Day, Silverstone,

No definitive reason is known for the change of colour, which coincidentally or not first appeared after the death of Marcel Lehoux at Deauville while driving R3B, the only pre war ERA not to have survived.

It is known that Raymond Mays had a Riley and Bentley painted black with silver / chrome wheels and that he detested green the British National racing colour in any shade.

ERA R4D, Mac Hulbert, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone,

It has also been pointed out that Dick Seaman’s successful R1B was painted black in 1935 and maybe after a run of bad luck the decision was taken to use Seaman’s preferred colour.

In 1937 R4B was upgraded to C specification with independent front suspension using torsion bars designed at great expense to ERA by Dr Ferdinand Porsche.

ERA R4D, Goodwood Revival,

R8B and R12B were also to receive this upgrade but R12C was converted back to B Spec after an accident in 1939.

Raymond Mays drove R4C to victory in the 1937 Picardy Grand Prix and in 1937 repeated the feat in 1938 when R4C was upgraded to R4D spec with a lighter fully box framed chassis.

ERA R4D, Goodwood Revival,

Arthur Johnson drove R4D in 1939 prior to Raymond Mays buying the car from the works to continue it’s development privately.

Raymond Mays continued to drive R4D winning the two British Hillclimb Championships in 1947 and ’48 and four Brighton Speed Trials, before selling her to Ron Flockhart in 1953.

Flockhart continued where May’s had left off by setting a record at the Bo’ness hillclimb.

In 1954 Ken Wharton bought R4D and won the RAC British Hill Climb Championship, he nearly repeated the feat in 1955, using R4D and a Cooper 500 Formula 3 car, but the title was awarded to new comer Tony Marsh after he and Wharton finished the championship on level points.

Wharton added three more wins at the Brighton Speed Trials to bring R4D’s total to seven, R4D is still the single most successful vehicle to compete in the event.

Today R4D is owned by Mac Hulbert and is seen with Julian Bronson at the wheel during the VSCC Spring Start Meeting earlier this year.

My thanks to Adam Wragg at facebook, Fuzzi and Vitesse2 at The Nostalgia Forum for informing why the works ERA were painted black in 1936.

Thanks for joining me on this “King Of Brighton” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for Maserati Monday. Don’t forget to come back now !

Unfinished Prototype – Bugatti 73C #73005

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Having lost control of his factory in Alsace to occupying German forces in the 1939/45 war Ettoire Bugatti spent the duration making plans for a new post war facility in Paris and a Type 73 which was to be built in it.