What a great idea. I will have to build a beer holder like that for my car !
What a great idea. I will have to build a beer holder like that for my car !
Here's another version of the Whenuapai track that was used in 1998.
Just having a break from several exhausting sessions, stripping, cleaning, scanning, listing, researching slides.
From the archives, past and recent.
A random dive landed on 'Begg', so a selection of six.
Mallory Park - looks like a young David Oxton at the pit counter. (This pic may have been published before on here.) July 8th 1973 - David's hair style hasn't really changed...
Last edited by ERC; 04-15-2017 at 02:47 AM.
back to the old slides.
1983 I believe.
Andy Culpin is currently finishing another E Type Jaguar, which hopefully will be seen on track, as it is not a concours build.
Not sure of the year for this - but the number plate should really be 'SS', not 'MG'! If anyone can confirm the year, as usual, it will be a great help. Ellerslie of course.
Last edited by ERC; 04-16-2017 at 02:22 AM.
April 17th 1930 was the birthday of one Donald "Chris" Barber. As many will know from some of my previous posts, I am a huge fan of the Chris Barber Jazz band and try to see them on every visit to the UK. As it is Chris's 87th birthday today - and he is still blowing that trombone so well - I though I'd pay a tribute in pictures.
Sadly, I don't have an original pic of him racing that first customer Lotus Elite, which was recently sold after restoration, at auction, for a record breaking £106,000. (See the Lost Lotus on YouTube.)
However, I did do a painting of him racing the Elite at the 1962 NSCC Mallory Park International meeting, where he made it to the GT final, ahead of the team Elite car of John Wagstaffe. I presented the painting to him, on stage May 2004, in Nottinghamshire, a few days before he celebrated 50 years of leading that band.
Several of the band were keen motorsport enthusiasts and this is his ex-road manager of 25 years, Richard Oliver who used to race an MG Midget. He tells the story of Dr Jonathon Palmer, borrowing the gearbox from his Ford Transit van at the track, when his Marcos V6 had a gearbox failure. Hopefully, we'll catch up with Chris and Richard in May.
Under the John Major government, Chris was awarded the OBE (though quite why he hasn't been knighted is a bit of a surprise). He is a huge Mercedes fan these days and has a penchant for Brabus modified cars.
This would have been a more appropriate plate than CB 23, but Les leston beat him to it!
Tony Herbert's well known Elite.
The winner of the all Lotus race at the Donington reopening in 1977. Brian Cocks borrowed my oil cooler for the race!
Last edited by ERC; 04-17-2017 at 01:53 AM.
Some (not all) of the following slides in the next post or two were in the reject pile but have been 'rescued'. Image quality might not always be as good as I would like, but cropping has made a semi worthwhile image.
The number plate shows this to be 1968 - or maybe later, but I must have been suitably impressed to have taken a pic. These were rare in the UK at that time. Taken at Southall, probably outside John Pearce wheels from memory.
Definitely Mallory Park in winter and it might have been a rallycross event of some sort about 1980/81.
I had several attempts at guessing the identity of this car. Amazing what Google finds. I eventually came across an in-car video (obviously not from 1971 when this was taken). Cooper Jaguar - Lotus behind. These relatively low volume sports cars are amongst my favourites. I could have dug out the programme, but why not enjoy the technology?
Morris Oxford at Western Springs
Back to Cadwell Park, maybe 1980 and no race programme - which is a shame.
Last edited by ERC; 04-22-2017 at 12:46 AM.
Mick Hill's VW - a handful in the dry so goodness knows how it went in the wet - NSCC Croft 1977.
Riverhead October 1990- I think! I also have pics of the MG car Club at Riverhead around that time, and the date therefore might refer to the MG event. If anyone can date these two, as usual, it would be a great help.
The Adrian Whapham March 722-1, now owned by David Heron - who sold his Swift to James Watson.
Geoff Byman's Mini again, doing battle with Don Hardman's crossflow Mini - both these guys were previously sprint regulars.
Last edited by ERC; 04-24-2017 at 02:59 AM.
These are great shots, thanks very much for posting them up.
Ray, Perhaps I had a distant connection to the Mick Hill Super V W.
Mick Hill's fabulous 1976 'VW Beetle' Super Saloon, which is sometimes said to have been based on a Trojan T101, was actually built from the front suspension and the whole rear end of a T102 but not using the chassis itself.
Hyndman hanging around the assembly of the first Trojan T 102. Oct. 1973
A new UK website for Super Saloons and Modsports, which I have been able to contribute to, with one or two photographs (initially spotted on here!), has this page devoted to Mick Hill.
http://www.modbase.info/#/mick-hill/4592548015
Could be 1993? Nigel Arkell leading I presume, Owen Evans.
Not the best of photographs (from the reject pile), but published because I like the car! Iso Grifo, Shelsey Walsh, 1967. A visit back to Shelsey and Prescott with a long lens and a digital camera could be worthwhile.
That TVR again. Scanned to pass on to the new owner. Mallory Park 1970.
Same meeting. John Absalom's Ginetta. Ginetta G4's were quite popular in Modsports at that time.
One of the most successful car/driver combinations for many, many years. The Hon. Pat Lindsay and 'Remus', Donington, April 1979. The lack of foliage on the Donington trees is another aid to dating photographs, though I do have a programme for this event.
Left over from the 'Specials' set. The TS Special at Hampton Downs, January 2010 - digital not film. Ernie's 'Old Yeller' in the background.
Last edited by ERC; 04-26-2017 at 02:42 AM.
The new owner of the Zephyr Corvette replica will be enjoying these 2 new pix
I hate to be a pedant but I think the red car in post #1512 is a Bizzarinni rather than an Iso Grifo
Bruce- Where do you think this pic has been taken?
also the right front guard he is leaning on seems to be a brighter red than the rest of the car.
Last edited by John McKechnie; 04-26-2017 at 09:41 AM.
You might well be right!!! (I hadn't checked the programme - sheer laziness - as I have scanned more than I have researched and checked at the moment.) No need for apologies as I am more than happy to have things corrected.
I seem to have spent a lot of time recently doing date corrections particularly. It is a massive jigsaw puzzle at times and just one piece of extra information can compete a hazy picture, so I have to backtrack. I usually rely far too much on memory - dangerous at my age. With one or two non-car slides checked, dates have often been confirmed, but I think Kodak's film coding was probably in batches, which may mean two or three films purchased together, may have been taken consecutively, but also, maybe two or three years apart. Such fun...
Roger - (or anyone else for that matter) we usually head for the Porana Rd garden centre for coffee - except Thursdays, around 11am. Just ask any of the staff if I'm around and they'll point you in the right direction!
Last edited by ERC; 04-26-2017 at 09:36 AM.
Ray, slightly OT, but I am going to Donington on Sunday for the Classic meeting. Where is your favourite spectator/photo spot?
Also driving at Prescott in May, and Shelsley "Classic Nostalgia" in July
John - the #1511 post was at scrutineering for Ardmore, January 1989. A trick of the light with the red wing!
Rhys - I'm afraid that Donington has effectively been ruined with the fencing from a paying spectator/photographer's perspective - and I'm a bit rusty on what spectator access is these days, but I'd suggest that corner 1 (Redgate) from the outside gives a view of the start/finish line and the sweep through Craner Curves.
From there, you can walk clockwise round the circuit to Coppice. When I last went, the weather was dreadful, but there was a track crossing around the start line area and I managed to poke a camera through a gap in the fencing at the last corner, as there was no-one else around vying for a spot!
You could also get a reasonable view of the Craner Curves from the inside. I think there has been a fair bit of tree felling in recent years, so there might be more good viewing from the inside around Starkey's Bridge.
What date is your Prescott as we may well try for that, though it is a fair distance away for us?
We may also revisit the Coventry Transport Museum, midweek between May 18th and June 1st and would welcome a peek behind the scenes in the storage area if that can be arranged!
Someone asked at an MGCC dinner/club meeting last night what I did with so many pics - knowing that family wasn't at all interested, so I told them about 'The Roaring Season', so we might get a few more viewers/contributors.
Last edited by ERC; 04-27-2017 at 01:32 AM.