Footnotes

• Powered mainly by JAP and Manx Norton motorcycle engines, Cooper’s innovative rear-engined racing cars dominated the 500cc Formula 3 scene in the 1950s, providing many future stars, most notably Stirling Moss, with their first taste of ‘real’ motor racing. Chassis number ‘1456’ was originally owned by Peter Proctor between 1956 and 1959, and was next sold to a Mr Baxter of Harrogate who used it twice and then stored it until 1989. The car was rediscovered by Cedric Brierly, subsequently passing through a number of hands before being sold to Grant Wilson in 1994. Unused since 1960, it was totally rebuilt by Charlie Smith and Grant Wilson before being purchased by Edward Bradley in 1995. After its Manx Norton engine blew up at the 1999 Goodwood Revival Meeting, the car remained off the track until purchased by the vendors in December 1999. The vendors are leading specialists in the rebuilding of Vincent motorcycle engines and the remanufacture of Vincent parts, so it was decided to replace the Norton engine with a race-developed Vincent Comet engine and repaint the car in its original green-with-white-stripe livery (Peter Proctor had repainted it maroon in 1959). Although the JAP engine was supplanted by the Manx Norton engine in the 1950s, the Vincent motor’s association with Formula 3 goes back even further. New Zealander Colin Strang, first really successful builder of a 500cc racing car in 1946, used the Vincent engine with outstanding success, frequently outpacing the Coopers in the Formula’s early years. Driven by James Culver, ‘1456’ has won many races and the 500 Owners Association Historic Circuit Championship for the past five years, outperforming the predominantly Manx-engined opposition while demonstrating outstanding reliability: a remarkable run of 40 races without a single failure was ended only by a relatively trivial broken rocker arm. We are advised that the engine has been rebuilt with a new cylinder and piston, and that the car is offered with FIA papers. Competitive, relatively cheap to run and enjoying excellent engine spares availability, ‘1456’ wants only for a competent new owner to resume its winning ways.