Two debutants at Silverstone

Frank Sytner unveiled his latest Cooper at Silverstone, the rare 1963 Cooper Monaco-Chevrolet. This is one of eight chassis shipped to the USA in 1963, six of which were given Ford engines.

Sytner’s car and one other were fitted with 5.7-litre Chevrolet units, and this one was raced by many drivers including A J Foyt. Although always rapid, it never achieved any significant results. It was raced until 1965 and then converted into a road-legal car in 1966.

Since then, it has undergone a complete restoration and had its first race for 36 years at Silverstone last month. Sytner plans to take the car to Laguna Seca next year.

The Silverstone Historic Festival also featured the second UK race for the unique Brabham BT31 Tasman. The 2.5-litre Repco V8-engined car was built around a BT23 F2 chassis for Jack Brabham to race in the 1969 Tasman series. After just two races, it was sold to Bib Stilwell and remained in Australia until 2000, when new owner Geremy Thomas brought it back to the UK.