English Racing Automobiles Ltd., Bourne, Lincolnshire UK. 1934 - 1945

English Racing Automobiles Ltd., Dunstable, Bedfordshire UK 1946 - 1952

The marque ERA was formed in 1934 with the intention of building racing cars to bring prestige back to the UK at a time when motor racing was dominated in Europe by the major German and Italian manufacturers with government support. It was only due to the enthusiasm of Raymond Mays and Peter Berthon and the finance provided by Humphrey Cook that the project became a reality.

Raymond Mays had been a successful amateur competitor since his student days at Cambridge starting with a Hillman Speed Model, and graduating to a short chassis Brescia Bugatti in 1922. He was very successful with this car and was provided with a second, works, car by Ettore Bugatti with sponsorship from Messrs G H Mumm the champagne house. The cars were called "Cordon Rouge" and "Cordon Bleu" as was the Champagne. It was one of the earliest sponsorship deals in British motor racing circles at a time when the sport was almost entirely for wealthy amateurs. Mays drove for AC Cars in 1925, was loaned the Targa Florio Mercedes in 1927 and in 1929 he acquired the old 1922 TT Vauxhall which was converted to supercharging by Amhust Villiers and renamed the "Villiers Supercharge". It was at about this time that he met Berthon Villiers and Cook and the Villiers Supercharge and White Invicta which followed it, were both sold to Humphrey Cook. The successes in hillclimbs and racing were encouraging and for the 1933 season Mays had the White Riley prepared with the assistance of Peter Berthon and Victor Riley. This car was based on the 1.5-litre high camshaft Riley engine with a new crankshaft in stronger main bearings and a supercharger all designed by Murray Jamieson. It was the White Riley that was really the prototype for the ERA.

Raymond Mays' family were grain merchants in Lincolnshire with a substantial property at Bourne and it was there that the ERA factory was established. The plan was to compete in the "voiturette" class (up to 1.5-litres) as Grand Prix was far outside their means.

The first ERAs were based on a conventional chassis frame designed with assistance from Reid Railton. The engine was almost identical to that from the White Riley and used the twin camshafts mounted high on either side of the cylinder block and operating the inclined valves by means of short push rods. The crankshaft had been substantially strengthened and special connecting rods made to suit. There was a Murray Jamieson Rootes-type supercharger and the engine ran on Methanol fuel. This drove through a four speed epicyclic pre-selector Wilson gearbox to a live rear axle. There was no clutch and first gear relied on the bands in the gearbox. The engine capacity was usually 1.5-litres giving about 150bhp at 6,500 rpm, but 1.1-litre and 2-litre options were also available.

The whole project was unusual for the time because the cars were available for private purchase at £1,500 each but after a slow start 17 cars were sold.

The first outing for the "A" type was in 1934 at Mannin Beg on the Isle of Man but it was withdrawn during practice. It failed to finish in the British Empire Trophy race at Brooklands, but redeemed itself by winning the Nuffield Trophy race at Donington for Raymond Mays. In the meantime Humphrey Cook had won a handicap race at Brooklands with an 1,100cc model and Raymond Mays had entered an 1,100cc and 2,000cc cars for Shelsley Walsh winning both classes and making fastest time of the day in 44 seconds.

1935 started badly with a failure in the International Trophy at Brooklands, but from then on success was more usual. At Shelsley Walsh Mays won the 1,500 class with the first ever climb in under 40 seconds and broke the hill record in the 2-litre car with a climb in 39.6 seconds.

This year they were successful on the Isle of Man with an 1,100cc car driven by Pat Fairfield (there was a ban on 1,500cc supercharged cars that year) and he also won the Nuffield Trophy at Donington with 1.5-litres.

By now the cars had been developed into the "B" type with a stiffer chassis and were performing well enough to attract buyers. Although some cars were entered by the factory most of them were private entrants. Pat Fairfield, from South Africa, was one of the first followed by, Rose-Richards, Dick Seaman and Prince Bira of Siam.

Four cars were entered for the voiturette race at the Eifelrennen on the Nurburgring circuit in Germany and gave a very good account of themselves. Raymond Mays won the race at an average speed of 68.99 mph, with Rose-Richards 3^rd, Dick Seaman 4^th and Humphrey Cook 5^th.

Pat Fairfield was 1^st at Dieppe followed by Prince Bira and Dick Seaman won the Coppa Acerbo, Prix de Berne and also in Czechoslovakia at Masaryk. In addition he made 2^nd fastest time at Gross Glockner and Freiberg hillclimbs.

1936 saw the ERAs winning again and the faster cars were now fitted with Zoller superchargers which increased the power output. In the British Empire Trophy race Pat Fairfield was beaten into 2^nd place by Bira, driving his 3-litre Maserati, before taking his ERA home to South Africa where achieved a 2^nd and a 3^rd before setting sail for America. He was placed 5^th at the Roossevelt Raceway meeting behind the Grand Prix Alfa Romeos and a Bugatti, but ahead of all the American cars. Bira won the International Trophy race just ahead of Raymond Mays and Reggie Tongue won at Cork. In the Nuffield Trophy ERAs filled the first 3 places driven by Charles Martin, Arthur Dobson and Peter Whitehead whilst Mays made fastest time of the day at both Shelsley Walsh hillclimb meetings. The Isle of Man meeting attracted ten ERAs for the 1,500cc race, three of which were entered by the works. The number of entries may have had something to do with it being the race with the highest prize money in the UK that year. The race was won by the amazing 1.5-litre Grand Prix Delage of 1926 which Dick Seaman had resurrected earlier in the season. The Press made much of this "old car" winning a major race, but it had cost Delage about 1 million francs (about £10,000) when new, whereas the ERAs only cost £1,800 in 1936. Bira was only 77 seconds behind the Delage, in second place, and ERAs filled the next 4 places. They were victorious at Monaco with a win by Bira followed by Lehoux and Embiricos and after the race Humphrey Cook gave a dinner party for Bira and the ERA team at the Hotel St. Quentin. They only managed a third place at the Eifelrennen, Bira again, but were the first three cars home at Péronne, Bira, Fairfield and Earl Howe. The Coppa Acerbo was not a success but they were 2^nd and 3^rd at Berne.

!937 was probably the best year for ERA. The works cars were revised to become "C" types with Porsche type double trailing arm front suspension and hydraulic brakes. The engines were tuned to give more power and the race results were impressive:-

Crystal Palace 1^st & 2^nd Fairfield & Dobson Coronation Trophy

Brooklands 1^st Bira Campbell Trophy

Isle of Man 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th & 5^th Bira, Mays, Fairfield, (RAC International Tongue & Whitehead. ) Light Car Race

Donington 1^st, 2^nd & 3^rd Fairfield, Dobson, Mays Nuffield Trophy

Crystal Palace 1^st & 2^nd Bira, Connell London Grand Prix

Brooklands 1^st & 4^th Mays & Dobson International Trophy

Brooklands 1^st & 3^rd Dobson & Whitehead Brooklands 200

Phoenix Park 1^st & 3^rd Mays & Cotton Dublin

Crystal Palace 1^st & 2^nd Bira & Dobson Imperial Trophy

Brooklands 1^st Mays Siam Trophy

South Africa 1^st Fairfield South African GP

South Africa 3^rd Earl Howe Grosvenor

Turin 1^st & 3^rd Bjørnstadt & Tongue Valentino 1,500cc

AVUS 1^st Martin Avusrennen

Péronne 1^st Mays GP de Picardie

Albi 1^st, 2^nd & 3^rd Mays, Martin & Tongue GP de L'Albigeois

Berne 1^st, 2^nd & 3^rd Dobson, Mays & Bira Preis von Berne

Brno 2^nd & 4^th Martin & Bira Masaryk 1,500cc

In 1938, although ERAs continued to be successful in the UK, their domination of the voiturette class abroad was overtaken by Maserati. The cost of running the works, and full racing programme, was beginning to become a problem for Humphrey Cook who had already spent over £200,000 supporting the venture and money was short. The results were as follows:-

Brooklands 2^nd Bira Road Handicap

Crystal Palace 1^st & 3^rd Bira & Dobson Coronation Trophy

Donington 2^nd & 3^rd Bira & Cotton/Wilkinson Brit. EmpireTrophy

Cork 1^st, 2^nd & 4th Bira, Dobson & Wilson Motor Derby

Crystal Palace 2^nd Bira Sydenham Trophy

Brooklands 1^st & 6^th Cotton & Bira 2^nd Whitsun H'cap

Brooklands 3^rd & 4^th Bira & Dobson Whitsun H'cap

Crystal Palace 1^st & 2^nd Bira & Dobson London Grand Prix

Donington 1^st Bira Nuffield Trophy

Brooklands 1^st & 3^rd Wakefield & Howe Brooklands 200

Brooklands 1^st, 2^nd & 3^rd Bira, Mays & Aitken BRDC Road Race

Brooklands 1^st, 2^nd & 3^rd Mays, Wakefield & Dobson Dunlop Jubilee

Crystal Palace 2^nd, 4^th & 6^th Bira, Rolt & Wakefield Imperial Trophy

South Africa 1^st Howe Grosvenor GP

Australia 1^st Whitehead Australian GP

Péronne 1^st Mays G P de Picardie

At Shelsley Walsh hillclimb Raymond Mays once again lowered the hill record to 37.86 seconds and at Prescott, the new hill owned by the Bugatti Owners Club, Ansell recorded 48.91 to make fastest time of the day.

1939 saw the withdrawal of funding from Humphrey Cook and so the ERA Club was formed with a subscription fund to help maintain the works at Bourne. Unfortunately this did not bring in sufficient money and the works was closed after the disappointing 5^th place in the International Trophy at Brooklands. As usual the private entrants gave support with Bira winning the Sydenham Trophy at Crystal Palace. In the Nuffield Trophy at Donington Bira won again followed by Mays, Whitehead and Ansell. Mays now became a privateer himself and won the Campbell Trophy at Brooklands on the 7^th August, with Bira 2^nd in his Maserati and Aitken was 3^rd in an ERA. The following day Mays set the Campbell circuit lap record at 77.79 mph.

Before closing the works at Bourne ERA had been developing the "E" type. The engine had a shorter stroke and larger bore (63mm x 80mm) whilst remaining a 1.5-litre and with the Zoller supercharger it was claimed to give 260bhp. The heavy Wilson, pre-selector, gearbox was replaced by a conventional one with 4-speed synchromesh. The chassis was similar to the "C" type with Porsche front suspension and hydraulic brakes but the rear axle was now a De Dion type. The body was more streamlined and the complete car was lighter at 1,456lb. It only made one appearance before the war, at Albi, where it was crashed by Dobson after showing promise.

After the war ERA Ltd. was relocated at a new factory on the main A5 road at Dunstable in Bedfordshire. The pre-war cars continued to feature in the hands of private entrants. Mays retired at the Grand Prix des Nations in Geneva in 1946 (Bira was 6^th), but was fastest man of the day at Shelsley Walsh as usual! Bira, whose cars had been stored at Rock in Cornwall, won the Ulster Trophy at Ballyclare and Bob Gerrard was 3^rd. Gerrard had acquired two cars, one for circuit racing and one, on which he lowered the front, for sprints and hillclimbs. His record of major events was as follows:-

1947 1948

Ulster Trophy 1^st British Grand Prix 3^rd

British Empire Trophy 1^st

Reims 3^rd 1949

Spa 4^th British Empire Trophy 1^st

Prescott Hillclimb twice Ftd.

1950

British Empire Trophy 1^st

Ulster Trophy 2nd

Other drivers were successful too and Ansell won the British Empire Trophy in 1948 with Hampshire & Brooke 2^nd and 3^rd. Harrison was 3^rd behind Gerrard in the 1950 Ulster Trophy and Shawe-Taylor was 3^rd in 1951.

Raymond Mays won the British Hillclimb Championship in 1947 and 1948.

The ERA company was acquired by Leslie Johnson in 1948 and under his sponsorship the two "E" types continued to race with limited success. The 1949 season brought two 2nds, two 3rds and a fifth, but their time was up after on was crashed in the Isle of Man in 1950.

New management in 1950 concentrated on engineering and prototype work for the motor industry. The last ERA was the Formula 2 "G" type of 1952, designed by Hodkin, with a twin tube chassis and wishbone independent front suspension with coil springs. The rear axle was a De Dion tube arrangement which incorporated the 4-speed gearbox. It used the 2-litre Bristol engine converted to dry-sump lubrication. It had outings in a couple of minor events, driven by Stirling Moss, but the project was abandoned when the car was sold to Bristol and used as the basis for their three Type 450 aerodynamic sports racing coupes for Le Mans.

Other prototype work was the development of a sports car that became the Jowett Jupiter, but there were no other ERAs.

All the pre-war cars have survived and another built from spares so there are now 18 being raced. The "E" type has also been restored. Development has continued and these cars continue to surprise the ownres of more modern Formula 1 cars at Vintage and Historic race meetings.

The club which provides most of the racing for ERAs is the Vintage Sports Car Club:-

Secretary: Stuart Pringle, The Old Post Office, West Street, Chipping Norton,

Oxfordshire., OX7 5EL