1936 Riley TT Sprite Le Mans

Seen at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Mallory Park race meeting on 23rd August was this superb 1936 Riley TT Sprite. The bodywork is unlike that of most other Riley TT Sprite's because, in 1937, a French team was formed to enter race meetings equipped with three Riley TT Sprite's fitted with this bodywork for streamlining, built by Maurice Pourtout a Paris coachbuilder. As well as entering various high profile races, such as at the Autodrom at Montlhery, they were most well known for entering the 1937 Le Mans.

Unfortunately the original bodywork of these three cars hasn't survived, so this is a replica built using photographs of the team's cars - the attention to detail is superb, including a sign on the dashboard for 'M PourTout'

Mignet Pou-du-Ciel

The Mignet Pou-du-Ciel, known as the 'Flying Flea' in the United Kingdom although the name translates into 'Louse of the Sky', was a home built aircraft, first flying in 1933 with the book containing plans and instructions becoming available in 1934. Powered by a motorcycle engine and needing very little storage space due to their small size, they were at first very popular with budding aeronauts in many country.

However, a series of fatal accidents led to groundings or bans in most countries in which they were flown in, and, although a solution to the problem was solved (they had a tendency to be unable to pull out of shallow dives), the dangerous reputation they had by then received many remained firmly on the ground. This surviving example is on display at the Midland Air Museum, Coventry