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A few Fifties Pics to Identify


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#1 Cirrus

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Posted 27 January 2004 - 19:11

Here are a few old pictures taken by my dad in years gone by. They probably won't be too testing for fifties aficionados


1. What is the car, venue and year? (This took DCN about three seconds at Laleham last Thursday) Who drove the car that day, and any idea who the guy in the dark jacket is?

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2. Three pictures taken at the same venue. Where is it, and who are the drivers and cars?

a)

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b)

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c)

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3. An easy one to finish (I think)- car, driver and venue?

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#2 Paul Taylor

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Posted 27 January 2004 - 19:33

I'm most likely wrong, but the first image reminds me of Brands Hatch...! And the next lot look like Silverstone, possibly.

#3 Tim Murray

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Posted 27 January 2004 - 19:38

2 (b) and © would be Mike Hawthorn (Cooper-Bristol) and Ken Wharton (BRM Type 15) at Boreham on 2 August 1952, I think.

#4 David McKinney

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Posted 27 January 2004 - 21:13

I'm sure Tim's right about Boreham
The F3 cars depicted at this meeting are a pair of Coopers (John Cooper and George Wicken), then a Kieft (William Webb?) obscuring an Emeryson (Paul Emery?)
The HWM and Alta(?) ones have got me stumped though
Is it Gregor Grant inspecting the HWM cockpit?

#5 Cirrus

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Posted 27 January 2004 - 21:42

Tim and David are right - it is Boreham, on a day that appeared to get progressively wetter, and Paul is correct in identifying Brands.

I think I should clarify that the HWM driver was not the guy pictured in the driver's seat.

The besuited chap is not Gregor Grant, but the car in the last picture is an Alta. (Actually, that last picture is a bit more difficult than I made out)

By the way, David did you spend much in Motor Books today?

#6 David McKinney

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Posted 28 January 2004 - 06:42

Not as much as I would have if they'd had both the MFQ videos I needed to complete my run :lol:

#7 Cirrus

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Posted 28 January 2004 - 17:13

Here's a picture of the HWM in picture 1 in action.

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#8 dolomite

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Posted 28 January 2004 - 17:36

#3 is Silverstone, is it not?

Here's another pic from Boreham (the lower one), which I posted in the Hawthorn thread a few days ago.

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#9 David McKinney

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Posted 28 January 2004 - 18:19

That HWM's getting to me now
Looks like Mike Hawthorn or Duncan Hamilton, both of whom raced HWMs - but not AFAIK at Brands Hatch
It has to be quite late, 'cos cars of that size didn't race at Brands till, IIRC, 1954
Maybe you're fooling us all, and it's an unofficial test run or demo?

#10 Doug Nye

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Posted 28 January 2004 - 19:07

Another picture of that HWM showed it no longer had a four-cylinder engine...

DCN

#11 Cirrus

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Posted 28 January 2004 - 19:10

David - you're correct on some counts. The picture was taken on Monday the 2nd August 1954, and it was Duncan Hamilton at the wheel. The event was the Daily Telegraph International Meeting at Brands. Here are a couple of fragments of the programme

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And here's the other picture in the paddock that Doug mentioned

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BTW Picture 3 is Silverstone, Dolomite, taken a couple of years earlier.

#12 David McKinney

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Posted 28 January 2004 - 21:35

I new the Jag-engined HWM had only raced a few times, but didn't realise that Brans race was one of them :|
Now, the Alta - would that be the 1951 International Trophy, with an RAF Squadron Leader at the helm?

#13 Cirrus

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Posted 28 January 2004 - 23:09

If my deductions are correct, I think it's a year later than that.

#14 Paul Taylor

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Posted 28 January 2004 - 23:50

Didn't it rain really hard during the 1951 International Trophy race? Or am I getting confused with something else? :confused:

#15 David McKinney

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Posted 29 January 2004 - 06:33

Originally posted by Cirrus
If my deductions are correct, I think it's a year later than that.

If it's Gaze, it's 1951
(He raced an HWM in 1952)
If it's not Gaze, I'm flummoxed, as no other Alta ran as No.6 in either the International Trophy or the British GP in 1952 or 1953. Mind you, the "crowd" in the grandstand suggests it could be a clubby. Or it could be the libre supporting race at the GP in one of those years

#16 dolomite

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Posted 29 January 2004 - 08:03

Originally posted by David McKinney

Mind you, the "crowd" in the grandstand suggests it could be a clubby. Or it could be the libre supporting race at the GP in one of those years


Or it could be taken during practice?

#17 Cirrus

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Posted 29 January 2004 - 08:51

I, too, thought picture 3 was Tony Gaze when I posted, but cross referencing photos and programmes, made me think it was the Libre race at the '52 British GP meeting. It may have been taken in practice (I'll ask), but another reason for the sparse crowd could have been the fact that the race was held at 3:55pm, when the GP itself had started at 11:45am (!). Silverstone traffic was probably at its worst in those days and maybe many people had beaten a hasty retreat.

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I could well be wrong though, as numbers appear to have been issued in line with the alphabetical order of the car make, so an Alta was probably quite often given number 6.

#18 David McKinney

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Posted 29 January 2004 - 10:12

Just to make my earlier posting clear - the F2 Alta of Sq/Ldr Gaze was No.6 in the 1951 International Trophy, and we now see that Gordon Watson, also F2 Alta, was No.6 in the 1952 GP libre race
Perhaps, looking at the picture again, that's not a typical Gaze posture, so I'll have ten bob on Watson