Since the early days of Grand Prix racing many attempts were made to enter the Formula One and pre-war Grand Prix era. The period 1885 – 2021 contains over 650 Unraced projects. Every now and then new projects appear on the surface. To share with you all the stories i decided to summarize the stories per year. Don’t you worry, all the stories will be researched and eventually published. This is the summarized overview of the 1955 season.
Berkshire Special
Probably one of the forgotten 50s Unraced F1 cars. The Berkshire was a car from Geoffrey Crossley, Bruce Adams and John Lloyd. It was built during the 1954 season and the beginning of the 1955 season. The car was ready for the Glover Trophy, a non-championship race, held on the 11th of April 1955. Geoffrey Crossley would race during the race. The car was fitted with the Lea Francis engine. Due do to some small problems the car was unable to race. The car would not reappear on the grid after the Glover Trophy.
Lancia D50 Streamliner
Lancia was working on their D50 streamliner for the 1955 season. Though due to financial problems and the dead of Ascari the Lancia family was more or less forced to sell their shares in the company. Scuderia Ferrari purchased the assets of the team’s Grand Prix team. Eventually the Ferrari D50A Streamliner only appeared during the free practice at Rheims during the French Grand Prix. More info will follow in an article.
Milano – Franchini
There were times that Scuderia Milano tried their luck in the Formula one before they left the sport. However, in 1955 the Ruggeri brothers contacted Enrico Franchini to create a new car. The car was similarly to the Milano, which would be fitted with Franchini’s air-colled flat eight engine. The engine was placed behind the driver. As with many attempts in the early 1950s, the funding was a problem. While they tried to complete the car it wouldn’t take long before the project was abandoned.
