1950s Sports Car Racing at Oulton Park

I took this photograph at Britten's chicane during the AMOC '50s Sports Cars race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2015.

Leading is Tim Reid in his 1960 Lola MkI followed by Paul Kennelly in a 1950 Jaguar XK120. The next car is the 1955 Jaguar XK140 of Alexis de Beaumont then the 1955 Austin Healey 100M of Robert Rawe, and Mark Hoble's 1954 Triumph TR2.

Mainly Jaguars

I took this photograph at Britten's chicane on the first lap of the AMOC 50s Sports Cars and Verdenstein JEC XK Challenge Race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2015.

The leaders have already gone past, but at the head of this group is the Jaguar XK120 of Chris Keith-Lucas followed by the Jaguar XK120 of Darren McWhirter and the Austin Healey 100/4 of Martyn Corfield. The white car is the Jaguar XK120 of Andrew Wenman then the Jaguar XK150 of Andrew Moore and the Jaguar XK140 of Alexis De Beaumont.

1950s XK Jaguars

These cars all competed in the AMOC 50sSports Cars Race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2015.

This car is not listed in the programme of the event, but it's the Jaguar XK120 of Siamak Siassis and should have the 6-cylinder inline 3,442cc Jaguar XK6 engine. 12,055 of these cars were made between 1949 and 1954.

Another car not shown in the programme, this is the 1955 Jaguar XK140 of Alexis de Beaumont, chassis S804523, and has the 3,781cc version of the Jaguar XK6 engine. The Jaguar XK140 was produced between 1954 and 1957, and was only offered with the 3,442cc version of the engine, so the larger engine must be a subsequent replacement.

This is the 1959 Jaguar XK150 of Andrew Moore and has the 3,781cc version of the XK6 engine. The XK150 was produced from 1957 to 1961, initially with the 3,442cc engine, and the 3,781cc unit was offered as an alternative on the S and SE models from 1959.

This is the 3,781cc Jaguar XK6 engine of the 1951 Jaguar XK120 of Chris Keith-Lucas, the larger unit  replacing the original 3,442cc engine.

Jaguars

I took this photograph at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2002.

It's a line of Jaguars, three XK120 fixed head coupés and, second from the left, an XK150 drophead coupé. The Jaguar XK120 was introduced at the 1948 London Motor Show, the early cars having a wood-framed open two-seater body with aluminium panels, but replaced by an all-steel body early in 1950. All the XK120s had the 6-cylinder inline 3,442cc Jaguar XK6 engine. In 1954 the XK120 was succeeded by the XK140 which was outwardly very similar to the XK120, but had various improvements including the engine and dashboard being moved forward 3 inches to give the driver more legroom. The XK140 was then succeeded in 1957 by the XK150 which was rather more obviously different to the two earlier cars, having a one-piece windscreen, a wider grille and a straighter wing line from front to rear. It started production with the same 3,442cc engine, but from 1959 the 3,781cc engine became available as an alternative. Production of the XK150 ended in early 1961 with the introduction of the Jaguar E-Type.

Jaguar XK140

I photographed this car in the paddock at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2005.

It's the 3,442cc 1955 Jaguar XK140 of Trevor Groom and it competed in the Vredestein JEC Jaguar XK Championship Race at this meeting.

On 22 May 2018 I showed a photograph of another of Trevor Groom's Jaguar XK140s, taken in the scrutineering bay at the Gold Cup meeting of 2002 at Oulton Park

Scrutineering Bay

The first thing competitors have to do when they arrive at a circuit is to take their car to the scrutineering bay for it to be checked to ensure that it complies with all the relevant regulations and is in a safe condition to take part in the racing. I took this photograph at the scrutineering bay at Oulton Park at the Gold Cup meeting in August 2002.

Car number 28 (actually number 24 in the programme of the event) is the 1955 Jaguar XK140 of Trevor Groom, chassis number 804394. This car has the straight-6 DOHC 3,442cc XK6 engine whereas the car next to it, the 1951 Jaguar XK120 of Richard Hackett, has the larger 3,781cc version of that engine. The red car behind is the 1,995cc 1977 Lancia Beta Monte Carlo of Gordon Russell, and the car number 6 in the background waiting its turn to be checked is the 7,206cc Chrysler V8-engined 1970 Jensen Interceptor of John Gadbury.

Austin Healey 100/4

This car competed in the AMOC '50s Sports Cars race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in May 2015.

It's Martyn Corfield's 1954 Austin Healey 100/4 with a 2,660cc inline 4 cylinder engine, a replica of the car that Donald Healey took to the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1954 and with a team of drivers including Carroll Shelby set 83 National and International speed records. The effects of the Bonneville salt on the original car led to it being scrapped in 1957, and the creation of this replica started in 2007 using many of the modifications fitted to the Bonneville record car. Those 1954 record breaking efforts also led to the production of the racing version of the 100/4, the Austin Healey 100S which incorporated many of those modifications.

The two photographs above and below were taken at Old Hall Corner during the morning practice session.

This photograph and the one below were taken at Britten's chicane during the race. Here Martyn Corfield leads the 1952 Jaguar XK120 of Andrew Wenman, the 1959 Jaguar XK150 of Andrew Moore and the 1955 Jaguar XK140 of Alexis de Beaumont.

Later in the race Martyn Corfield leads the 1951 Jaguar XK120 of Chris Keith-Lucas and the 1959 Jaguar XK150 of Andrew Moore.

Jaguar XK

Here are three photographs of XK Jaguars taken at the 6th Cheshire Cats' Trophy Meeting at Oulton Park in April 1987.

This is the 1951 Jaguar XK120 of Brian Arculus that took part in the JDC Production Jaguar Challenge Race at this meeting. The chassis number of this car is 660575.

This is another XK120, that of Tony Hildebrand who drove the car in the Gordon Russell Furniture Inter-Marque Championship Race.

This is a Jaguar XK140, which didn't take part in any of the races but is here waiting to take part in a track parade by various Jaguars.

Jaguars

Here's a photograph taken at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2008 of four Jaguars parked in an appropriate chronological order.

From right to left there's an XK120, produced between 1948 and 1954, an XK140, produced between 1954 and 1957, an XK150, produced between 1957 and 1961, and an E-Type, produced between 1961 and 1975.

Jaguar

This is a photograph of a line of Jaguar E-types taken at The 6th Cheshire Cats' Trophy meeting organised by the Jaguar Drivers' Club at Oulton Park on 25th April 1987.

After the Second World War Jaguar had produced three sports car models prior to the E-type in 1961, the XK120 from 1948 to 1954, the XK140 from 1954 to 1957, and the XK150 between 1957 and 1961. Here are photographs of each of these models taken at the same Jaguar Drivers' Club meeting.

The Jaguar XK120

The Jaguar XK140

The Jaguar XK150