My Favourite E.R.A

Of all the classic and vintage cars I enjoy watching and reading about, the marque I most covet is E.R.A or English Racing Automobiles. Founded in  1933 by Raymond Mays in a workshop build among the orchard of the Mays family estate at Eastgate House in Bourne, Lincolnshire. Replaced after the Second World War by B.R.M (British Racing Motors) who won the 1962 World Championship, E.R.A still live on as one of the most iconic and successful racing car manufacturers in historic and pre-war racing.

Compiled by R.M. Clarke and published by Brooklands Books to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the E.R.A name, ‘E.R.A Gold Portfolio 1934 -1964’ is one of the collectors items of E.R.A history and information. But if you wish to buy a copy, be prepared to pay good money for it!

One other source of excellent information about E.R.A, is the E.R.A Club website which you can find at www.eraclub.co.uk The website lists all the cars that E.R.A produced and an up-to-date list of the owners and later racing history of each car.

I think that if you were to speak to anyone who’s been around the historic racing scene for any length of time and you were to ask them which car they would most like to own or drive, I think the first car to come from their lips would be R4D, the most famous and most successful car in historic racing.

R4D took E.R.A founder Raymond Mays to the 1947 and 1948 British Hill Climb Championship title, the first 2 years the championship was officially run. Mays and R4D took numerous F.T.D’s (Fastest Time of Day) at Shelsley Walsh then in 1954, R4D was piloted to the B.H.C.C title again in the hands of Ken Wharton, the last of his 4 consecutive titles. Wharton’s second and third titles were helped along with the aid of R11B, running it alongside his Mk4 Cooper J.A.P.

Now in the ownership of Mac Hulbert who purchased R4D in 2000, and in Hulbert’s hands the car won the Historic Grand Prix of Monaco for Pre 59 cars and holds numerous records around the UK including the per-war record at Shelsley Walsh.

An extract from the Bourne website reads :-

RAYMOND MAYS (1899-1980) achieved fame in the world of international motor racing, on and off the track. After a successful  career as a driver, he opened workshops in Bourne where he developed the BRM, the revolutionary car that eventually became the first all-British model to win the world championship in 1962. Mays, who lived at Eastgate House in Bourne all his life,  was honoured with a CBE in 1978 for his services to motor racing.

R4D isn’t the only well known E.R.A, they all are in one way or another, but I can sight several other cars that hold a special interest. R2B (pictured right) and R5B, nicknamed “Romulus” and Remus” respectively by The White Mouse racing team. R2B was bought by Prince Chula as a 21st birthday present for his cousin Prince Bira. The Royal pair from Saim (Thailand) raced the cars as a highly successful and professional amateur team boss and driver. When the team added R5B to the stable, the cars were then given the names of the Roman Twins.

Both cars were painted in “Bira” blue with yellow chassis’ and wheels to match the newly derived racing colours of their country, although the yellow chassis and wheel colour was only added to R2B at the start of the 1939 racing season.

In 1938 R12B/C “Hannuman” was bought by Prince Bira after being successfully raced and hill climbed by Raymond Mays. The car was again painted in the “Bira” blue and yellow of Siam. Bira raced the car successfully until a crash at the at the practice for the 1939 Coupe de la Commission Sportive at Rheims, France. Bira wasn’t seriously injured but the car was badly damaged. Now with all the modifications to races cars, it keeps them on track, but complicate the histories, so makes things a bit tricky. R12B (now owned by Bill Morris) had been modified to C-type spec and was repaired with the only available chassis, a left over B-type from R8B’s modification to C-type spec. This meant the car was reverted back to the R12B code and renamed “Hanuman II”. Since 1977, B. Spollan has been in ownership of “R12B” and competes regularly at V.S.C.C events as well as at Shelsley Walsh.

It’s always a pleasure to see any of the E.R.A cars come out to play at a hill climb like Shelsley Walsh or a circuit like Silverstone (for the Classic meeting) and if you get the chance to watch them race, then I implore you to do so and even better, go and have a look around one in the paddock of Shelsley Walsh or Prescot hill climb during the V.S.C.C meetings.