and Joan Gerard continued to use R4A for a string of hillclimbing and sprint victories, newly purchased ERA R14B was rebuilt and modified for circuit racing. Gerard's major changes to the pre-war design were to fit a preselector gearbox and to change the Zoller-type supercharger for a smaller, but more efficient Murray-Jamieson design. He also later changed the car's outward appearance, switching the old-fashioned upright radiator to one with a far more raked cowl, lowering the bonnet line to accommodate this. Over the next five years Bob Gerard used R14B to great effect. He scored three consecutive victories in the Empire Trophy and two victories in the Jersey Road Race between 1947 and 1949, as well as regularly finishing in the top ten in many international standard events. In the first British Grand Prix, in 1948, Gerard drove the decade-old R14B to third place, beaten only by the brand new works' Maserati 4CLT/48s of Italian greats Luigi Villoresi and Alberto Ascari. The following year he went one better, taking second, again to a Maserati, this time driven by Swiss ace Toulo de Graffenried. His two wins and a Grand Prix second placing, along with seventh in the 1949 International Trophy race at Silverstone, earned Gerard the British Racing Drivers' Club's prestigious Gold Star award for 1949. Gerard continued to campaign R14B for the first year of the new FIA World Championship in . Despite the ever-increasing age gap between his car and the majority of the rest of the field, Bob Gerard's meticulous preparation of his cars, and his emphasis on increasing their reliability, meant that he often finished a race much higher in the placings than expected. At the very first World Championship event, the 1950 British Grand Prix, the Gerard-R14B pairing only narrowly missed out on the points, finishing in sixth place, despite having started as low as 13th on the grid. He also finished in sixth in R4A at the Monaco event later in the season, this time from 16th at the start. However, the rapid evolution of racing machinery, inspired by the rewards offered from the Championship, meant that for Gerard would have to abandon his old ERA in favour of something more modern. Retaining a degree of patriotism, Gerard bought a Cooper T23-Bristol, which he would continue to use for both Championship and non-Championship races until when he upgraded to the new, mid-engined T43 chassis.