1963 Lotus 24

I took this photograph at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1999.

This car is leaving the pit lane during a practice session for the Maserati UK Race for Pre-1966 Grand Prix & Tasman Cars. The programme of the event says that it's the 1963 Lotus 24 of Jeremy Agace, although it doesn't look like one. I found an online Autosport Forum which says that it has a Lola body and it also has a 2 litre BRM engine.

1962 Lotus 24

This was one of the competitors in the Pre-1966 Grand Prix and Tasman Cars Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1998.

It's the 1962 Lotus 24 of Ric Weiland and has a 4-cylinder inline Coventry Climax 1½ litre engine. Both the Lotus 24 and Lotus 25 were designed for the 1962 racing season, the 25 was the works car and the 24 was mainly intended as a customer car. The works car used the Coventry Climax FWMV engine, as did some of the private entrants in the 24, but the 4 cylinder Coventry Climax FPF was also used in some of those cars. I don't think the Lotus team ever ran a 24 with the 4 cylinder engine, so the problem with the car in the photograph isn't that it's got a 4 cylinder engine, but that it's finished in the Team Lotus livery.

1962 Lotus 24

This is a photograph that I took at Aintree on the Friday practice day for the British Grand Prix in July 1962.

It's Trevor Taylor's Lotus 24 which was powered by the same 1,496cc Coventry Climax FWMV engine as the Lotus 25, but had a conventional spaceframe chassis instead of the Lotus 25's monocoque chassis. The Lotus 25 was to be run by the Lotus team and the Lotus 24 was intended to be a customer car although Trevor Taylor drove the Lotus 24 in five of the nine World Drivers' Championship races that season. He qualified in tenth place on the grid at Aintree and finished in eighth place in the race, and his only points scoring finish that season was in the Dutch Grand Prix when he finished in second place.

1962 Lotus 24

This is one of the photographs I took in the paddock at Aintree during practice for the British Grand Prix in July 1962.

It's Jack Brabham's 1962 Lotus 24 with a 1,496cc Coventry Climax V8 FWMV engine. Jack Brabham had left the Cooper team at the end of the previous season to design his own F1 car and in the 1962 season he competed with the Lotus 24 until the Brabham BT3 was available. It was hoped that he'd be able to drive the BT3 in the British Grand Prix, but it wasn't ready till the following race in Germany. At Aintree Jack Brabham qualified the car in ninth place on the grid and ended the race in fifth place. He was ninth in the World Drivers' Championship table that year, ending the season with fourth place finishes in the last two races with the Brabham BT3.

1962 Lotus 24

I took this photograph on the approach to Waterway corner at Aintree during the Friday practice session for the British Grand Prix in July 1962.

It's Innes Ireland in the UDT Laystall Racing Team's 1962 Lotus 24. The Lotus 24 was a spaceframe car offered to customers instead of the monocoque Lotus 25 used by the Lotus works team, and was powered by the Coventry Climax FWMV 1,496cc V8 engine. Innes Ireland qualified the car in third position on the grid, but because of some wear in the gearbox it was rebuilt overnight by the mechanics. During the warming-up lap before the race one of the selector forks in the gearbox broke and the mechanics quickly removed the top to remove the broken parts before the start leaving Innes Ireland with no second or third gear. When the flag fell he couldn't find any gear and sat on the grid as all the other cars dodged round him and went on their way. The car was then wheeled to the pits and the mechanics spent several laps getting the gearbox to work, Innes Ireland starting the race on lap 10 with only 1st, 4th and 5th gears but he soldiered round to finish in 16th and last place 14 laps behind the winner, Jim Clark.

1962 Lotus 24

I took this photograph on the start/finish straight at Aintree during practice for the 1962 British Grand Prix.

It's the UDT Laystall Racing Team's 1962 Lotus 24 driven by Masten Gregory and for this race it had the 4-cylinder inline 1,500cc Coventry Climax FPF engine, although for most of the races that year he drove it with a 1,498cc V8 BRM P56 engine. He qualified in fourteenth place on the grid and ended the race in seventh position, one lap behind the winner, Jim Clark in a Lotus 25. Masten Gregory didn't have a very successful season with the car, scoring a single point in the World Drivers' Championship with a sixth place in the USA Grand Prix.

1962 Lotus 24

I took this photograph in the paddock at Aintree during in July 1962 during practice for the British Grand Prix.

It's Jack Brabham's 1962 Lotus 24 with a 1,496cc Coventry Climax V8 engine. Jack Brabham had left the Cooper team at the end of the previous season to design his own F1 car and in the 1962 season he competed with the Lotus 24 until the Brabham BT3 was available. It was hoped that he'd be able to drive the BT3 in the British Grand Prix, but it wasn't ready till the following race in Germany. At Aintree Jack Brabham qualified the car in ninth place on the grid and ended the race in fifth place. He was ninth in the World Drivers' Championship table that year, ending the season with fourth place finishes in the last two races with the Brabham BT3.

 

1962 Lotus 24

I took this photograph in the paddock at Aintree on practice day for the Aintree 200 race in April 1962.

It's the 1962 Lotus 24 driven to pole position and to first place in the race by Jim Clark. The Lotus 24 was intended as a customer car to run alongside the Lotus 25 of Team Lotus and was used by the team in this race as the Lotus 25 was not yet ready. Both cars used the Coventry Climax FWMV 1,496cc V8 engine but the 25 had a monocoque chassis as opposed to the conventional spaceframe of the 24. The other Team Lotus car finished in fifth place in the race driven by Trevor Taylor. Jim Clark's car was chassis 948, which was apparently written-off in an accident at the Belgian Grand Prix later that year when being driven by Trevor Taylor.

Lotus 24

This car took part in the Pre '68 GP and Tasman Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 1996.

It's the 1962 Lotus 24 of Hall & Fowler and was driven in the race by Rick Hall. The Lotus 24 had a then standard spaceframe chassis and was intended as a customer car, while Team Lotus used the new monocoque Lotus 25. In effect, although Lotus team leader Jim Clark drove the Lotus 25 throughout the season his team mate Trevor Taylor mostly drove the Lotus 24. Both the 24 and 25 used the Coventry Climax FWMV 1,495cc V8 engine.

On 11 September 2016 I showed a couple of photographs of the Lotus 24, including one of Trevor Taylor's car in the paddock at the 1962 British Grand Prix at Aintree.

Lotus BRM

I took this photograph in the paddock on practice day for the British Grand Prix at Aintree in July 1962.

It's Wolfgang Seidel in his Lotus BRM, a 1962 Lotus 24, chassis #946, with a BRM P56 1½ litre V8 engine. An amateur driver, Wolfgang Seidel competed in Grand Prix racing between 1953 and 1962 without any notable success, this race at Aintree being his final drive. He qualified 21st and last on the grid and retired from the race on lap 11. He had some success in sports car racing, winning the Targa Florio with Edgar Barth in a Porsche 718 RSK in 1959, finishing in second place in the Reims 12 hour race with Phil Hill in a Ferrari 250 GT in 1957, and in third place in the Sebring 12 hour race with Harry Schell in a Porsche 718 RSK in 1958.

Lotus 24

This car competed in the Innes Ireland Trophy Race for Pre-1968 Grand Prix and Tasman Cars at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997.

It's Ric Weiland's 1962 Lotus 24, a car of conventional spaceframe design that was intended to be sold to private entrants whilst the Lotus team used the new monocoque Lotus 25. In effect Jim Clark drove a Lotus 25 but his team-mate Trevor Taylor used the Lotus 24 for most of the season.

This is Trevor Taylor in his Lotus 24 returning to the paddock on practice day for the British Grand Prix at Aintree in July 1962.

Lotus 24

Here are a couple of photographs I took during practice for the British Grand Prix at Aintree in July 1962.

This is Masten Gregory's Lotus 24 Climax, entered by the UDT Laystall Racing Team. He qualified in fourteenth place on the grid and ended the race in seventh position, one lap behind the winner.

Here's the car approaching Waterway corner during practice.

Jack Brabham

This is a photograph I took in the paddock during practice the day before the British Grand Prix at Aintree in 1962.

It's Jack Brabham in the Brabham Racing Organisation Lotus 24 preparing to go out on a practice run. He drove the Lotus in the early part of that season whilst he was waiting for his new Brabham BT3 to be ready - his team had hoped that he would be able to race the car in the British Grand Prix but in the event it wasn't ready until the following race, the German Grand Prix. At Aintree Jack qualified the Lotus in ninth place on the grid and ended the race in fifth place, a lap behind the winner Jim Clark in a Lotus 25.

Here's Jack Brabham approaching Waterway Corner during a practice run.

Aintree Motor Racing Circuit

The old motor racing circuit at Aintree was constructed round the Grand National course, crossing the horse race track at two points so that the motor racing track was partly on the inside of the Grand National course and partly on the outside. The British Grand Prix was run on this circuit five times, in 1955, 1957, 1959, 1961 and 1962, and I was fortunate enough to see all of these races as well as other events during this period such as the Aintree 200 and 100. Unfortunately in the 1950s I didn't have a camera capable of taking photographs of cars in action on the track and in the early 1960s I had a suitable camera, but not a telephoto lens. The following photographs, however show some features of the track.

This is a good picture of the pits at Aintree with some people watching the start of the 1962 Aintree 200 race. Between the pits and the line of people you may be able to make out some cars, Jim Clark in a Lotus 24 is on this side of the track leading the race (which he won) and beyond the Lotus are the number 11 and 12 BRM P57s of Graham Hill and Richie Ginther, both of whom retired. Just in front of the pit with the red 'Daily Mirror' banner is the Ferrari 156 'Sharknose' of Phil Hill who finished third.

The rest of these photographs are from the 1962 British Grand Prix, and the first one shows John Surtees in a Lola-Climax Mk4 returning to the paddock after a practice session. The paddock was in the centre of the circuit between the Start/Finish Straight and the Sefton Straight and access to the circuit was across the Grand National course using a line of duckboards. The mechanics sometimes found it difficult to push the cars along these duckboards to the pits and I remember at the practice for the 1961 Grand Prix, when Ferrari entered a team of four cars, one solitary mechanic was attempting to push the fourth car on his own. I gave him a hand in pushing the car to the pits, but have since regretted not taking the opportunity to get some photographs in the pit area. To get from the paddock to the stands on the other side of the Start/Finish Straight there was a similar line of duckboards across the Grand National course then a tunnel underneath the motor racing track.

John Surtees' car during practice just after the Start/Finish line. He finished second to Jim Clark's Lotus 25.

Phil Hill during practice in the Ferrari 156 on the Start/Finish Straight going towards the Waterway corner. He retired early in the race.

Masten Gregory, who finished seventh in a Lotus 24, signing autographs in the paddock. In the background you can see the cooling tower which was one of my enduring memories of the Aintree circuit. It apparently belonged to the power station for Courtaulds Polymer Plant and was demolished around 1969.

The favoured point from which to watch the races was Waterway, the first corner after the start. Motor racing at the time the Aintree circuit was in use was not as safety conscious as it is now and I've often told people about one feature of the track which seemed particularly dangerous even then. Just recently I've been wondering if my memory of it had become distorted by time but with the help of Google Street View I've been able to refresh my memory, and if anything it looks even worse now than I remember it. Melling Road cuts across the circuit at Melling Crossing and Anchor Crossing and had to be closed for the duration of race meetings, as still happens today for horse race meetings. The photograph below from Melling Road (courtesy of Google Street View) shows Anchor Bend, the second corner from the start, and you can see running alongside the track the concrete wall which I remember from when I used to go there.

The next photograph, from just a little further on, shows the view down the straight towards the Waterway corner and on the other side of the wall the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. You can see that there's no run-off area whatsoever - the wall runs alongside the edge of the track.

I remember on a couple of occasions seeing cars hit this wall, fortunately without injury to the drivers involved. The first one was in the Aintree International sports car race in September 1955 when Alfonso de Portago lost control of his Ferrari 750 Monza and went into the wall backwards. In the Aintree 200 race in April 1956 Horace Gould did exactly the same thing in his Maserati 250F. There was no such thing as a Safety Car in those days and when accidents such as this happened the marshals just dragged the car off the track and it was left there for the duration of the race. The spectators just stood behind a wooden fence about 3 feet high - there was no other barrier of any kind except perhaps (though I don't recall them there)  some straw bales. I also seem to recall (but can't find any confirmation of this) that on the inside of the track at Waterway, between the motor racing track and the boundary of the Grand National course, was a barbed wire fence!