Hastings Trophy Race

Castle Combe, 3 Oct 1953

Notes on the cars:

1. BRM V16 Mk I 'P15' [No 1] (Ken Wharton): Raced by Ray Sommer 1950, Reg Parnell 1950-53, Fangio 1952-53 and Gonzalez 1952. Retired after the 1953 season but retained by Owen Organisation as an exhibition car. Bought by Dan Marguiles for a Greek consortium at Christie's Motorfair auction in October 1981. Subsquently sold to the National Motor Museum Trust. Retained 2007.
2. ERA A Type [R4A] (Bob Gerard): Pat Fairfield's customer A Type then via Norman Wilson to reg Parnell in 1942 and Bob Gerard as a hillclimb car in 1945 to Rhodesian owners in the 1950s. Returned to the UK in the mid-1960s and raced in historic events with 2-litre engine by Peter Brewer 1954-65 and Sir John Venables-Llewellyn 1967-93. Via another UK owner to Jöst Wildbolz (Switzerland) in 1999. Retained 2007.
3. ERA C Type [R8C] (Graham Whitehead): Built in 1938 using mechanical parts from R8B and raced by Earl Howe 1938 and until a crash in the 1939 International Trophy. Then to Reg Parnell for 1946, Cuth Harrison from 1947 to 1951, Brian Shawe-Taylor 1951 and 1952; then a chain of other owners until acquired in 1977 by Bruce Spollon. Rebuilt to correct C-type specs and raced from 1981 to 2003.
4. RRA (Geoff Richardson): Built by Geoff Richardson using mechanical parts of an ex-works Riley raced before the war by Percy Maclure, in a new Richardson-built frame. Raced initially with the engine from the White Riley, and sometimes therefore called the ERA-Riley. Richardson continued to race the car, mainly in small English events, until 1955, replacing the engine with a 2.5 Riley in 1954 and a 2.0 Alta in 1955. The car was then dismantled but reassembled by Keith Knight, still with Alta engine, in 1965. Retained by Knight into this century.
5. Maserati 4CL [1585] (Roland Dutt): Delivered on 30 Apr 1947 to Enrico Plate's team and driven by a variety of drivers from 1947 to 1949, including Emmanuel de Graffenried. Sold to Joe Fry for 1950, but passed after Fry's death in July 1950 to Duncan Hamilton and Philip Fotheringham-Parker who campaigned it in British races until then of the F1 formula in 1951. Campaigned widely in UK historic racing events by several British owners until passing to the current owner, Oliver Maierhofer (Germany) On display at Tubingen Motor Museum in 2007.
6. ERA D Type [R4D] (Ron Flockhart): The sole D-Type, built in 1938 using mechanical parts from R4C and raced by factory drivers Mays and Dobson 1938-39. Sold to Mays when he left the team and raced by him until 1950. Then via Ron Flockhart, Ken Wharton and a chain of other owners into historic racing in 1966. Via further UK and Indian owners to Mac Hulbert in 2001.

Sources

Note that the identification of individual cars in these results is based on the material presented elsewhere in this site and may in some cases contradict the organisers' published results.

All comments, clarifications, corrections and additions are most welcome. Please email Allen (allen@oldracingcars.com) if you can help in any way with our research.