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British Motor racing was at an all-time low in 1933, Bentley’s Le Mans domination seemed ages away and Britain’s last international single seater success dated back to the early 1920s and Sunbeam. ERA was founded by Humphrey a businessman and racing enthusiast, Raymond Mays, and designer Peter Berthon in November 1933 and established in Bourne, Lincolnshire. Their ambition was to manufacture and campaign a team of single seater racing cars capable of upholding British prestige in Continental European racing. With the cost of Grand Prix racing prohibitive, they instead aimed ERA’s efforts at the smaller voiturette class for 1500cc supercharged racing cars. Peter Berthon was responsible for the overall design of the cars, while Raymond Mays became its principal driver—having already successfully raced several other makes including Vauxhall, Bugatti and Riley.
