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libre race

Charterhall, 15 Aug 1953

ResultsLapsTime/Speed
1 Ken Wharton (4.5 F1) 1.5-litre BRM V16 Mk I 'P15' [No 1] - s/c V16
#35 A G B Owen (see note 1)
50 1h 12m 33.2s
82.7 mph
2 Tony Rolt (F2) 2-litre Connaught A [A3] - Lea-Francis 4
#38 R R C Walker
50 1h 13m 30.0s
3 Roy Salvadori (F2) 2-litre Connaught A [A1] - Lea-Francis 4
6 or 107 Connaught Engineering
48
4 Ninian Sanderson (F2) 2-litre Cooper-Bristol Mk I 'T20' [CB-6-52] - Bristol 6
#57 Ecurie Ecosse

5 Jock McBain (F2) 2-litre Cooper-Bristol Mk I 'T20' [CB-3-52] - Bristol 6
#55 Border Reivers

R Ron Flockhart (libre) 2-litre ERA D Type [R4D] - s/c 6
#94 (see note 2)
4 oil pressure
R John Coombs (F2) 2-litre Connaught A [A8] - Lea-Francis 4
6 or 107 Connaught Engineering

R Giuseppe Farina (4.5 F1) 4.5-litre Ferrari 375 Thin Wall Special [375-10] - V12
#93 G A Vandervell
ignition
R Stirling Moss (F2) 2-litre Cooper-Alta 'T24' [CB-10-53] - Alta 4
#97

R Roy Salvadori (F2) 2-litre Connaught A [A1] - Lea-Francis 4
#105 5 Connaught Engineering [ex-Lyons]
1 spin
R Tony Gaze (libre) 3-litre Maserati 8CM [3011] - s/c 8
#36 L W Boyce

UNK Jimmy Somervail (4.5 F1) 1.5-litre ERA B Type [R12B] - s/c 6
#54 Border Reivers (see note 3)

UNK Ottorino Volonterio (F2) 2-litre Maserati-Platé 4CLT-48 [1601] 4
#64 (see note 4)

DNS Reg Parnell (4.5 F1) 1.5-litre BRM V16 Mk I 'P15' [No 2] - s/c V16
#34 A G B Owen (see note 5)
Did not start
DNS Kenneth McAlpine (F2) 2-litre Connaught A [A1] - Lea-Francis 4
#106 6 Connaught Engineering
Did not start
  Bill Skelly (F2) 2-litre Frazer-Nash F2 [421 200 180S] - Bristol 6
#37
On entry list
  Peter Walker (libre) 2-litre Cooper Mk I 'T20' - ERA s/c 6
#40
On entry list
  Bob Dickson (4.5 F1) 2.9-litre Aston Martin DB3 [3] 6
#56 Border Reivers
On entry list
  TBA (F2) 2-litre Connaught A [A6] - Lea-Francis 4
#58 Ecurie Ecosse
On entry list
  Austen Nurse (F2) 2-litre HWM - Alta 4
#62
On entry list
  Geoff Richardson (libre) 1.8-litre RRA - ERA s/c 6
#63 (see note 6)
On entry list
  Alastair Birrell (4.5 F1) 1.5-litre ERA A Type [R1A] - s/c 6
#67 (see note 7)
On entry list
  Jack Walton (F2) 2-litre Cooper-Bristol Mk II 'T23' [CB-8-53] - Bristol 6
#68
On entry list
  Peter Bolton (F2) 2-litre Frazer-Nash Le Mans Replica [421 100 157] - Bristol 6
#69 J H Walton
On entry list
Qualifying
1 Giuseppe Farina (4.5 F1) 4.5-litre Ferrari 375 Thin Wall Special [375-10] - Ferrari V12 1'21.8
2 Ken Wharton (4.5 F1) 1.5-litre BRM V16 Mk I 'P15' [No 1] - BRM s/c V16 1'24.4
3 Ron Flockhart (libre) 2-litre ERA D Type [R4D] - ERA s/c 6 1'25.4

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 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.
  3. ERA B Type [R12B] (Jimmy Somervail): Built by White Mouse Stable in 1939 on a new factory B-Type chassis and using the mechanical parts from R12C. Raced by Bira 1946-47 as 'Hanuman II' then to David Hampshire and David Murray for 1949 and 1950. Through a chain of mainly Scottish owners and then to Sam Tingle in Rhodesia in 1957. Then via Allan Gillespie back to Britain for Bill Morris in 1962. Campaigned by Morris up to 1998 then to David Wenman in 1999. Retained 2007.
  4. Maserati-Platé 4CLT-48 [1601] (Ottorino Volonterio): To Enrico Platé for 1949 (dated 7 Mar 1949 in Maserati records) and driven by Emmanuel de Graffenried. Continued as de Graffenried's well-used car through 1950 and 1951. Probably one of two cars extensively rebuilt as Plate-Maseratis for 1952. Probably raced by Ottorino Volonterio in F2 in 1953. Sold with the sister car (probably 1598) by de Graffenried to 20th Century Fox for film work then sold again via Tom Carstens (Tacoma, WA). Subsequent history unknown.
  5. BRM V16 Mk I 'P15' [No 2] (Reg Parnell): Raced by Peter Walker 1950-51, Ken Wharton 1952-54, Gonzalez 1952-53, Moss and Reg Parnell 1952 and by Ron Flockhart once in 1954. Damaged during Wharton's win at Glover Trophy, Goodwood Apr 1954, stripped and scrapped.
  6. 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.
  7. ERA A Type [R1A] (Alastair Birrell): The original 1934 prototype, this car was driven by Mays, Cook, Seaman and others before the war. Later to John Heath (HW Motors) 1946, Reg Parnell's team 1947, David Hampshire 1948-51 and then to Alistair Birrell and Ron Flockhart in Scotland in 1952. Into historic racing when it was owned by Sandy Murray from 1959 to 1982 and frequently raced by Tony Merrick. Then through a further chain of owners until acquired by Dean Butler in 2005.

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.