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Duncan Hamilton (racing Driver)
James Duncan Hamilton (30 April 1920 in Cork, County Cork, Ireland – 13 May 1994 in Sherborne, Dorset, England) was a British racing driver. He was famed for his colourful and extrovert personality, which often overshadowed his genuine talent. After fighting in, and surviving the Second World War, he took up motorsport. Although adept in single-seaters, sportscars was where he enjoyed most success, winning the 1953 24 Heures du Mans, two Coupe de Paris events, and the 12 heures internationals Reims race in 1956. He retired in 1958 and ran a garage in Bagshot, Surrey for many years. He died from lung cancer in 1994. Early years Born in County Cork, Hamilton was brought up in relative obscurity. Prior to his 20th birthday, Europe was already embroiled in the Second World War. As a result, he would spend the war years as part of the Fleet Air Arm flying Lysanders. After the war ended, he opened a car garage. During the years between the war ending and the start of the 1950s, ...
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Cork (city)
Cork ( , from , meaning 'marsh') is the second largest city in Ireland and third largest city by population on the island of Ireland. It is located in the south-west of Ireland, in the province of Munster. Following an extension to the city's boundary in 2019, its population is over 222,000. The city centre is an island positioned between two channels of the River Lee which meet downstream at the eastern end of the city centre, where the quays and docks along the river lead outwards towards Lough Mahon and Cork Harbour, one of the largest natural harbours in the world. Originally a monastic settlement, Cork was expanded by Viking invaders around 915. Its charter was granted by Prince John in 1185. Cork city was once fully walled, and the remnants of the old medieval town centre can be found around South and North Main streets. The city's cognomen of "the rebel city" originates in its support for the Yorkist cause in the Wars of the Roses. Corkonians sometimes refer to ...
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Bagshot
Bagshot is a town in the Surrey Heath borough of Surrey, England, approximately southwest of central London. In the past, Bagshot served as an important staging post between London, Southampton and the West Country, evidenced by the original coaching inns still present in the town today. Much of the land surrounding Bagshot is owned by the Ministry of Defence. The village is adjacent to junction 3 of the M3 motorway. Bagshot railway station is on the line between Ascot and Aldershot and train services are run by South Western Railway Bagshot is part of the civil parish of Windlesham, which has a population of 17,000 and also includes the neighbouring village of Lightwater. History The place-name 'Bagshot' is first attested in the Pipe Rolls of 1165, where it appears as ''Bagsheta''. It was the name of a wood, and may have meant 'Bacga's wood'. Recent excavations have shown that settlements of Bagshot date back as far as pre-Roman; before these excavations it was th ...
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1948 British Grand Prix
The Royal Automobile Club International Grand Prix was a motor race held on 2 October 1948, at Silverstone Airfield, Northamptonshire, UK. It is commonly cited as the first British Grand Prix of the modern era.''GrandPrix.com'' Held two years before the inauguration of the FIA World Championship of Drivers, the 65-lap race was run under the new Formula One regulations''Programme...'', p.10 which effectively replaced the pre-war Grand Prix motor racing standards.''GrandPrix.com'' Winner was the Italian Luigi Villoresi, in a Maserati 4CLT/48. A 13-lap 500 cc race, preceding the Grand Prix, was won by Spike Rhiando in a Cooper. Stirling Moss failed to finish after mechanical problems. The race meeting marked the opening of the Silverstone Circuit, although at the time the site was only on a one-year loan to the RAC from the Air Ministry, having been a bomber station during World War II. Background The Royal Automobile Club had previously run two International Grands Prix at ...
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Circuit Park Zandvoort
Circuit Zandvoort (), known for sponsorship reasons as CM.com Circuit Zandvoort, and previously known as Circuit Park Zandvoort until 2017, is a motorsport race track located in the dunes north of Zandvoort, the Netherlands, near the North Sea coast line. It returned to the Formula One calendar in 2021 as the location of the revived Dutch Grand Prix. History 1930s to mid 1980s There were plans for races at Zandvoort before World War II: the first street race was held on 3 June 1939. However, a permanent race track was not constructed until after the war, using communications roads built by the occupying German army. Contrary to popular belief John Hugenholtz cannot be credited with the design of the Zandvoort track, although he was involved as the chairman of the Nederlandse Automobiel Ren Club (Dutch Auto Racing Club) before becoming the first track director in 1949. Instead, it was 1927 Le Mans winner, S. C. H. "Sammy" Davis who was brought in as a track design advisor i ...
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Alta Car And Engineering Company
The Alta Car and Engineering Company was a British sports and racing car manufacturer, commonly known simply as Alta. Their cars contested five FIA World Championship races between 1950 and 1952, as well as Grand Prix events prior to this. They also supplied engines to a small number of other constructors, most notably the Connaught and HWM teams. Early history The company was founded by engineer Geoffrey Taylor (1903–1966) in Surbiton, Surrey, and produced its first automobile in 1929. Alta's first vehicle was a sports car powered by a 1.1L engine, featuring an aluminium block, wet liners, and shaft-driven twin overhead camshafts, which Taylor designed himself. It was offered in naturally aspirated or supercharged form giving . A choice of four speed non- synchromesh or pre-selector gearboxes was available. These were mounted on a low-slung chassis frame with open two- or four-seat bodies. Thirteen were made, of which five are thought to survive. This design, and ...
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BRDC International Trophy
The International Trophy is a prize awarded annually by the British Racing Drivers' Club to the winner of a motor race held at the Silverstone Circuit, England. For many years it formed the premier non-championship Formula One event in Britain, alongside the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch. The event was instituted by the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) in August 1949, sponsored by the Daily Express newspaper, for cars meeting contemporary Grand Prix motor racing regulations. The BRDC drew the name from that of an extinct event formerly held at the Brooklands circuit in the early 1930s. The first Silverstone event was noteworthy as it was the first to use the former airfield's perimeter roadways rather than the main runways; a circuit layout that persisted for over forty years. With the introduction of the new World Championship, in 1950 the International Trophy became a non-championship race held to Formula One rules. The 1950 event was again held in August, but from 19 ...
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English Racing Automobiles
English Racing Automobiles (ERA) was a British racing car manufacturer active from 1933 to 1954. Prewar history ERA was founded by Humphrey Cook, Raymond Mays, and Peter Berthon in November 1933 and established in Bourne, Lincolnshire, next to Eastgate House, the family home of Raymond Mays between Eastgate road and Spalding road. Their ambition was to manufacture and campaign a team of single seater racing cars capable of upholding British prestige in Continental European racing. With the cost of full Grand Prix racing prohibitive, they instead aimed ERA's efforts at the smaller voiturette—1500cc supercharged—class of motor racing, the Formula 2 equivalent of the day. Humphrey Cook financed the operation—using the wealth from the family drapery business, Cook, Son & Co., of St Paul's Churchyard, London. Berthon was responsible for the overall design of the cars, while Mays became its principal driver—having already successfully raced several other makes including Va ...
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Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, which became the FIA Formula One World Championship in 1981, has been one of the premier forms of racing around the world since its inaugural season in 1950. The word ''formula'' in the name refers to the set of rules to which all participants' cars must conform. A Formula One season consists of a series of races, known as ''Grands Prix'', which take place worldwide on both purpose-built circuits and closed public roads. A points system is used at Grands Prix to determine two annual World Championships: one for drivers, the other for constructors. Each driver must hold a valid Super Licence, the highest class of racing licence issued by the FIA. The races must run on tracks graded "1" (formerly "A"), the highest grade-rating issued ...
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Maserati 6CM
The Maserati 6CM is an Italian single-seater racing car, made by Maserati of Modena from 1936 to 1940 for the Voiturette racing class. Twenty-seven were built on the Maserati 4CM frame, with front suspension as on the Maserati V8RI, and had a successful racing career from 1936 to 1939. The 6CM was introduced to the world at the 1936 Milan Motor Show. Maserati spent much of its early years manufacturing cars for privateers in the racing field. The Maserati 6CM is no exception. Engine Specifics of the first chassis built: * inline-6 engine *two overhead valves per cylinder, mounted at 90 degrees *Roots type supercharger *Weber carburetor 55ASI * Scintilla ignition * Pirelli tyres The engine consists of six cylinders in-line, with two overhead valves per cylinder. Also, the car has a Scintilla ignition system as well as a single Roots-type supercharger and a Weber carburetor 55ASI. The 6CM has a four-speed gear box plus reverse and was capable of 155 bhp (brake horsepower ...
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Bugatti Type 35
The Bugatti Type 35 was the most successful of the Bugatti racing models. Its version of the Bugatti arch-shaped radiator that had evolved from the more architectural one of the Bugatti Type 13 Brescia, was to become the one that the marque is most known for though even in the ranks of the various Type 35s there were variations on the theme. The Type 35 was phenomenally successful, winning over 1,000 races in its time. It took the Grand Prix World Championship in 1926 after winning 351 races and setting 47 records in the two prior years. At its height, Type 35s averaged 14 race wins per week. Bugatti won the Targa Florio for five consecutive years, from 1925 through 1929, with the Type 35. Type 35 The original model, introduced at the Grand Prix of Lyon on August 3, 1924, used an evolution of the three-valve 2.0 L (1991 cc/121 in³) overhead cam straight-eight engine first seen on the Type 29. Bore was 60 mm and stroke was 88 mm as on many previ ...
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MG R-type
The MG R-type is a motor car that was produced by MG in 1935. It was designed for competition use and was a development of the Q-type. The car used a tuned short-stroke (73 mm) version of the bevel-gear driven overhead camshaft engine from the 1928 Morris Minor and Wolseley 10. This had already been highly tuned for use in the Q-type and was further modified, especially in the input area, to improve reliability. It was fitted with a Zoller supercharger and produced at 7200 rpm. The gearbox was a four-speed preselector type unit. At the rear the differential in its aluminium casing was fastened to the chassis and drove the wheels through short shafts with sliding splines and universal joints. The revolutionary Y-shaped steel chassis had a backbone that divided around the engine and gearbox, and was very light. The suspension was independent all round, making a first for MG and possibly the British motor industry, and used wishbones and longitudinal torsion bars a ...
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Westland Lysander
The Westland Lysander is a British army co-operation and liaison aircraft produced by Westland Aircraft that was used immediately before and during the Second World War. After becoming obsolete in the army co-operation role, the aircraft's short-field performance enabled clandestine missions using small, improvised airstrips behind enemy lines to place or recover agents, particularly in occupied France with the help of the French Resistance. Royal Air Force army co-operation aircraft were named after mythical or historical military leaders; in this case the Spartan admiral Lysander was chosen. Design and development In 1934 the Air Ministry issued Specification A.39/34 for an army co-operation aircraft to replace the Hawker Hector. Initially Hawker Aircraft, Avro and Bristol were invited to submit designs, but after some debate within the Ministry, a submission from Westland was invited as well. The Westland design, internally designated P. 8, was the work of Arthur ...
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