20 replies to this topic

[Stephen W]

Anyone have a clue as to what the above car is? I suspect the venue is Wiscombe Park but even that is uncertain.

One for Bauble?

[Mistron]

I'm not sure about the car in the foreground, but has the red single seater at the back of the field ( the one with the 'stackpipe' V8) snapped in the middle??

[Stephen W]

I'm not sure about the car in the foreground, but has the red single seater at the back of the field ( the one with the 'stackpipe' V8) snapped in the middle??

No idea - your guess is as good as anyones!

[fuzzi]

Not much help, but it looks like the Frazer Nash based special that was for sale a month or so back on Pre-War Car

[Allan Lupton]

The car seems to be a Frazer Nash of some sort, but I can't say offhand. One for Dutchy I think.

Edited to say "snap", Julian!

Edited by Allan Lupton, 29 May 2011 - 16:23.

[David McKinney]

I'm not sure about the car in the foreground, but has the red single seater at the back of the field ( the one with the 'stackpipe' V8) snapped in the middle??

They used to run Daimler V8s with stack-pipes like that, and the head looks fat enough to be a Daimler

Does anyone know who ran a red Cooper-Daimler? Ted?

[Richard Young]

Didn't Wally Cuff have one in the West country ? Don't know about colour though. And, is that Ian Swift's Cooper-based Swift parked behind the mystery car ?

[Stephen W]

Didn't Wally Cuff have one in the West country ? Don't know about colour though. And, is that Ian Swift's Cooper-based Swift parked behind the mystery car ?

Wally Cuff did run a Daimler powered Cooper T52 in 1964 at Wiscombe and again in 1965.

The Ian Swift Cooper only became the Swift in 1966, I also seem to recall that it looked more Cooper-like at the front with a less truncated nose.

[David McKinney]

The best-known Cooper-Daimler was surely Peter Westbury's

Martin Brian also had one, but that was a much later model

[RS2000]

Pretty sure this is a Daimler V8 engine (at Trengwainton, August 1966).

[David Birchall]

Judging by the two tiered trailer in front of the Daimler engined device it would seem that this is a team effort with the red car behind-appears they have sequential numbers.
The bodywork is partially removed given the 'broken backed' look surely?

[Ted Walker]

I would say the car in the foreground is the Semmence Special, and yes its Wally Cuffs Daimler Majectic powered Cooper with Ian Swifts ex Camoradi Cooper Ford as well.

[Allan Lupton]

I would say the car in the foreground is the Semmence Special, and yes its Wally Cuffs Daimler Majectic powered Cooper with Ian Swifts ex Camoradi Cooper Ford as well.

It certainly looks quite a bit like the Semmence as per the only photo I've time to find (as at 1947 in Bolster's "Specials") and I wonder if it is during the time it had a post-war 2½ litre Lea-Francis engine. The logic of that is that its AC engine (which it had/has before and after the LeaF one) would have a right-hand exhaust, of which there's no sign, and the LeaF is t'other way about.

Edited by Allan Lupton, 31 May 2011 - 08:31.

[Bloggsworth]

Semmence Special..... So it's not that.

[Geoff E]

The mystery car seems not to have a straight front axle.

[Dutchy]

The car seems to be a Frazer Nash of some sort, but I can't say offhand. One for Dutchy I think.

Edited to say "snap", Julian!

I can't see the photo so can't help I'm afraid.

[Allan Lupton]

Semmence Special..... So it's not that.

That's what I was referring to - in its AC-engined days it had the RH exhaust, and the car in your photo looks very much like the 1947 one.

[Matt S]

I can't see the photo so can't help I'm afraid.

'Dutchy' would have got this straight away if he could see the photo, but as he can't I'll answer it! Its a GN special with a blown AC engine (don't know if it always had this though?) called 'Gnome', its recently changed hands and been entered for both VSCC race meetings so far this year but yet to appear, hopefully we will see it soon.

Edited by Matt S, 31 May 2011 - 15:30.

[fuzzi]

'Dutchy' would have got this straight away if he could see the photo, but as he can't I'll answer it! Its a GN special with a blown AC engine (don't know if it always had this though?) called 'Gnome', its recently changed hands and been entered for both VSCC race meetings so far this year but yet to appear, hopefully we will see it soon.

Ah, what it is to be young and your memory still working.

[Stephen W]

'Dutchy' would have got this straight away if he could see the photo, but as he can't I'll answer it! Its a GN special with a blown AC engine (don't know if it always had this though?) called 'Gnome', its recently changed hands and been entered for both VSCC race meetings so far this year but yet to appear, hopefully we will see it soon.

Thanks Matt. I bought the colour slide in a job-lot. This was the only one that I couldn't identify.

[Dutchy]

Matt kindly sent me the photo so I can confirm that it is my father's old GN/AC 'The GNome'.

The exhaust did indeed exit on the left as Pa wanted it to look the part with a straight exhaust running by the cockpit. This involved considerable amounts of flexi tubing running underneath the engine to achieve the desired effect! Bill Boddy was very rude about it, once naming it Holland's 'Earls Court Special'
It wasn't always blown as running the blower usually resulted in a rather short lived increase in performance so in the interests of reliability it often ran unblown.

I didn't remember it ever going to Wiscombe but the photo clearly shows it did but if it was 1966 I would not yet have been four years old at the time.

Edited by Dutchy, 01 June 2011 - 11:57.