Tag Archives: Trust

Worth Travelling 200 miles To Hear – Autumn Classic Castle Combe Preview

Next Saturday Castle Combe will be marking the 60th Anniversary of it’s one and only International Formula One race that was won by Harry Schell driving a Vanwall with some of the cars that took part in that race present for a fantastic selection of displays, demonstrations and and most importantly races.

The track will also be celebrating the 60th Anniversary since the last in period Formula 500 F3 race was run at the track.

Blue Bird Sunbeam 350hp, Don Wales, Pendine Sands

The National Motor Museum will be bringing along a mouth watering selection of vehicles including Sir Malcolm Campbell’s Blue Bird Sunbeam V12 which 90 years ago became the first car to set a World Land Speed Record of over 150 mph, seen above with his grandson Don Wales at the wheel earlier this year, the NMM will also be bringing along the 1955 Connaught Type B Tony Brooks drove at Castle Combe in 1955 prior to winning the 1955 Syracuse Grand Prix and a 1966 Lotus 49 chassis R3.

Other exhibits and vehicles to look out for will be Nick Mason’s 1957 Maserati 250F, of the type Bristols Horace Gould drove to second place at Castle Combe in 1955, and the Pink Floyd drummers distinctive 1953 Ferrari 250MM.

Gordon Keeble, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe,

Expect to see many motor clubs in attendance with pre 1970’s vehicles, a rare Gordon Keeble is seen on the Bristol Pegasus Motor Clubs stand last year, this year their stand will feature a couple of Abarth’s from Tony Castle Millers Middle Barton Garage.

Owners clubs confirmed this year will represent Alvis, Bristol celebrating 60 years since the marques last 1-2-3 class victory at Le Mans, Gordon Keeble, Lotus, Marcos and Reliant.

Cooper Mk X, Steve Jones, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe

60 years after the very last all 500 F3 race run at Castle Combe in period, the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club will again be sponsoring the BAC MSC Challenge Trophy, won last year by Steve Jones driving the #74 Cooper Mk X after a close race with the pursuing George Shackleton driving a slightly older Cooper Mk 8.

Look out for some rare cars to take part in the races like Richard Bishop Miller’s successful in period Revis and other on display only including the locally built 1950 Milli Union and the Swedish built Effly the owners of these cars all have wonderful stores to tell about them.

Volvo 122, Gavin Watson, Oulton Park

New for this year at the Autumn Classic meeting will be the Terry Sanger Trophy for pre 1966 Saloons like the Lotus Cortina of the type the much missed Terry drove back in the day and the Volvo 122 seen above driven Gavin Watson seen at Oulton Park last year.

Terry drove some incredible machinery including a Ford GT40 V8 powered Cortina with outsize wheels and the 1971 Harrier F5000 car which he designed and built, the latter will be present next as a static display next Saturday, other races will be for fifties sports cars, VSCC pre war sports cars, look out for the ever entertaining Patrick Blakeney Edwards in his Fraser Nash, the ever popular Healey Challenge, Formula Junior and Historic Aston Martin’s in which Nick Mason’s daughters Holly and Chloe driving a pair of Aston Martin Ulsters were stars last year.

05-Jaguar D-type_1947sc

The life and times of two time Le Mans winner Ivor Beub will also be celebrated at the event Ivor born in East Ham but later resident from nearby Cheltenham won Le Mans driving Jaguar D types in 1955 with Mike Hawthorn and 1957 with Ron Flockhart, cars present in the ‘Danco Dream Garage’ that Ivor drove will include a 1955 Cooper T39 Bobtail sports car 1959 Cooper T51 formula two car along with some of the cars already mentioned.

Other cars present in the dream garage will include event sponsor Bristol Forklifts Julian Bronson’s Scarab which has been rendered hors d’combat after it’s recent outing at Goodwood Revival, also lookout for Andy Wallace in the The Norman Dewis Trophy race for pre ’66 Jaguars, last year the 1988 Le Mans winner drove a Jaguar D-type, at Oulton Park Andy was seen at the wheel of a rather more pedestrian but equally effective class winning Mk 1.

BRM Type 15, Doug Hill, BRM Day, Bourne,

Finally the piece de resistance of the day, and worth making a 400 mile round trip to hear in my opinion will be the National Motor Museum’s BRM Type 15, the sound of which is quite unlike any other you will hear in motor racing and will be demonstrated on the track where such a machine was last raced in anger in a Formula Libre event at Castle Combe 60 years ago.

Castle Combes charity of the day will be the National Motor Museum Trust’s BRM Preservation Appeal which will go toward’s keeping the Type 15 in full running order.

Full details of the action packed Autumn Classic day can be found on this link where tickets can also be purchased online, for those who want a sneak preview of the racing action there is usually a test day for competitors on the Thursday before the event.

Hope to see you there.

Thanks for joining me on this “Worth Travelling 200 Miles For” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a hot Mercury Convertible. Don’t forget to come back now !

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3 litre / 183 cui U16 – Bugatti Type 45 R #47153

When visiting the museum at the Bugatti Trust a couple of years ago I was most impressed by a cutaway aero engine Ettore Bugatti designed in 1916 that featured two pairs of four cylinder motors joined to two longitudinal crankshafts that were themselves geared to a single central propeller shaft to make a U16 motor.

Bugatti T 45, Goodwood Festival of Speed

In 1929 when looking to replace his successful Type 35’s Ettore revisited the idea of building U16 motors by connecting parallel pairs of his existing single overhead cam 8 cylinder motors to a single prop shaft.

Bugatti T 45, Goodwood Festival of Speed

In all he built 5 U16’s with motor sizes of 3.8 litres / 231 cui and and 3 litres / 183 cui. The larger motor was intended for the Type 45 of which one #47156 was fitted with the only 3.8 litre motor #1.

Bugatti T 45, Goodwood Festival of Speed

This car appears to have been made obsolete before it ever driven in anger by the late adoption of a fuel consumption formula which was unfavourable to the the large displacement motor.

Bugatti T 45, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The single T45 that was completed was used in hllclimbs and speed events and now sits in the Schlumpf collection along side a 3 litre U16 T47 chassis #47156 fitted with motor #3, the 3 litre U16 motor #2 is also believed to be with the Schlumpf collection now also known as the Cité de l’Automobile.

Bugatti T 45, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The two remaining 3 litre 183 cui U16 motors #4 and #5 have both been reported in a Dutch court case to have been fitted to Replica / Recreation chassis and I believe the car seen here is 45R #47153.

Bugatti T 45, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The Dutch court hearing in 2011 records that #47153, has also been incorrectly identified as #47157 by some sources on the web and that “”Overall this car is in all respects a wonderfully faithful reproduction of the one and only factory-built Bugatti Type 45 (…)”, albeit with a smaller engine capacity than the original.

Thanks for joining me on this “3 litre / 183 cui U16” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be revisiting Sherborne Castle. Don’t forget to come back now !

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2011 GALPOT Review #1 – Motor Museums

In the week leading up to the season of Goodwill I thought it might be interesting to review some of the places and events I have been privileged to visit in 2011.

Prodrive P2, Prodrive Museum

In March I joined fellow members of the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club for a visit to the Prodrive factory & Museum, the Museum is packed with a fabulous selection of vehicles from Prodrives successful history including Rally Cars, Racing Cars and this one off Prodrive P2.

GAZ M13 Chaika, Haynes IMM

Next I made the first of several visits to the Haynes International Motor Museum which probably houses one of the worlds largest collection of red cars, of many makes including the obvious ALFA Romeo, Ferrari, and Lambourghini, outside of Italy. The car that really struck a chord for me however was this GAZ M13 Chaika from the Soviet Union.

Plymouth Fury, Atwell Wilson MM

On my way back from London in June I found time to visit the wonderful Atwell Wilson Motor Museum which houses some real gems including a prototype CVT Mini, and many cars which can be hired for weddings including this Plymouth Fury. I particularly like the collection of every day cars from my youth including the much maligned Austin Maxi, Twin Cam Morris Marina and Opel Manta. The Atwell Wilson is running a raffle for a Triumph Dolomite in 2012 a ticket for which including entrance fee and a cup of excellent tea will probably leave you change from a tenner !

Hill GH2, Donington Park Museum

If Grand Prix Cars and open wheelers are your thing then you’ll feel like a kid in a toy shop when you visit Donington Park Museum which has an amazing collection of Grand Prix cars from 1950 to the present day, and a few more besides. One car I was particularly thrilled to see was the Hill GH2 built for 1976 which only completed a single test session before Team Founder Graham Hill, driver Tony Brise, designer Andy Smallman, team manager Ray Brimble along with mechanics Tony Alcock and Terry Richards perished in Graham’s aeroplane when it came down in heavy fog on the 29th November 1975.

Wolf / Fittipaldi, Cotswold Motor Museum

One of the surprises of the year was finding a Formula One car at the Cotswold Motor Museum, which has a fine selection of vehicles including Veteran, Vintage and Classic. The exact identity of the Wolf / Fittipaldi, which could do with a bit of TLC, has yet to be positively established, but none the less a wonderful find amongst a quirky selection of vehicles.

Bugatti T37A, Bugatti Trust

Finally the smallest museum I visited this year was the Bugatti Trust situated right next to the Prescott Hillclimb course. Housing just three full size vehicles, they were of the highest quality and well worth the price of admission alone, what really struck me and my companion on the day Tim was how unbelievably knowledgeable and friendly the trusts Chairman Hugh Conway and his staff were about the cars and the many other exhibits of Bugattibilia including a cutaway vertical 16 aero engine, drawings of the Bugatti train, model LSR car and a giraffe by Rembrandt Bugatti. Be warned the enthusiasm at the Bugatti trust is infectious.

Thanks for joining me on this Museum edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil psycho on tyres’ if you have a favorite Motor Museum you’d like to see a blog about in the new year why not drop me a line info(at)psychoontyres.co.uk. ?

I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I will be reviewing some of the Concours d’Elegance events covered on GALPOT during 2011. Don’t forget to come back now !

PS Don’t forget …

Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz

Automobiliart, Paul Chenard

December 26th – January 2nd

Win a set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards

Sports-GT cars set, Paul Chenard

Set 1 Sports & GT Cars

Phil Hill, Sharknose Ferrari Set, Paul Chenard

Set 2 Phil Hill World Drivers Championship 50th Anniversary Edition

1934 GP Season Card set, Paul Chenard

Set 3 1934 Season

1950s Grand Prix Engines

Set 4 Grand Prix Engines of the 1950’s

or

Mike Hawtorns racecars Card set, Paul Chenard

Set 5 Mike Hawthorn’s Race Cars

The Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will comprise 8 categories.

Overall winner chooses one set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards from the five sets shown above.

The cards measure 15.24cm x 11.43cm, come in packs of 12 with 3 copies of 4 designs in each set, plus A6 envelopes.

Which set will you choose ?

The free to enter Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will run from December 26th – January 2nd Entries close January 8th 2012, Winner announced January 16th 2012.

Full details on December 26th at GALPOT.

Looking for Automotive Seasonal Gift Idea’s? Visit Automobiliart Now !

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Perfect Car For A Wedding #5 – Vauxhall 14/6

Vauxhall 14/6, Arwell Wilson MM

Todays perfect car for a wedding is a 1934 Vauxhall 14/6 seen here at the Atwell Willson Motor Museum in Calne.

Vauxhall 14/6, Arwell Wilson MM

Vauxhall Motors Ltd was founded in 1857 to manufacture pump and marine engines, in 1903 Vauxhall also began manufacturing motor cars.

Vauxhall 14/6, Arwell Wilson MM

In 1925 the brand was taken over by General Motors who still own it today. Since the late 1970’s all new Vauxhalls have in essence been badge engineered Opel’s designed in Germany.

Vauxhall 14/6, Arwell Wilson MM

The name of the 14/6 derives from the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) taxable horsepower rating which gave HMRC (Her Majesties Revenue and Customs) in the UK a method of collecting road taxes.

RAC h.p. = D²*n/2.5 where D is the diameter of the cylinder bore in inches and n is the number of cylinders.

Vauxhall 14/6, Arwell Wilson MM

Like all tax laws this one ended up distorting the market place, in this instance by halting the development of efficient over spare cylinders because the tax laws favoured inefficient narrow bore cylinders with long strokes until the UK taxation structure was rethought in the 1940’s.

Vauxhall 14/6, Arwell Wilson MM

Up until WW2 most signals from one driver to another were given by hand, trafficators to indicate when a turning maneuver was about to commence, such as these were optional extra’s and were found on new cars until the early 1960’s.

Vauxhall 14/6, Arwell Wilson MM

Distinctive sculpted chrome bonnet details like these were in evidence on some Vauxhall models like the Velox until 1957.

Vauxhall 14/6, Arwell Wilson MM

This particular car is available for hire from the Atwell Wilson Motor Museum Trust.

The museum is holding a classic festival this weekend, I hope to pop by on Sunday.

Wishing all those tying the knot today best wishes.

Thanks for joining me on the RAC taxable horsepower edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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