Yeoman Credit/Bowmaker

I have been contacted by a couple who are trying to produce a history of the Yeoman Credit/Bowmaker Yeoman team.

I have a rudimentary knowledge of those years (being old enough to have actually been there!) but do not have the wherewithall to produce lists of entries/results/incidents etc.

They are particularly keen to know a little of the background. E.g. who actually ran the team (did the Samengo-Turners have anything to do with it in 1960) or did they only come along in 1961. When did Reg Parnell get involved; etc etc etc.

I wonder if the REAL historians among us can offer anything to help this project?

Two books, though both flawed, might be a starting point:
Reg Parnell, by Graham Gauld (Patrick Stephens Ltd, 1996, ISBN 1 85260 561 8)
Managing a Legend, by Robert Edwards (Foulis/Haynes 1997, ISBN 9 780854 299881)

Don't know was a real historian is Barry,but I think most of the results ,if not all,F1,F2,ICF,Tasman,can be found without much trouble.The history, from memory,goes something like this:1958,British Racing Partnership formed by Ken Gregory & Alfred Moss.Sept 59,Yeoman Credit run by Samango-Turner? arrived to sponsor it.
Sep 60: BRP fell out with YC.New team started to be run by Reg Parnell,who was just unemployed as Aston Martin gave up. Early 1962 YC taken over by Bowmaker hence new team name Bowmaker-Yeoman.End of 62 BY withdraw from sponsorship-tean renamed Reg Parnell Racing.Spring '63 Reg dies,team run by son Tim until merged with BRM c1969.

Very interesting subject. Parnell/YC/Bowmaker were one of the leading F1 constructors of the early 1960s, having built at least two Cooper T53s, sundry Lotus 21s, one or two Lotus 24s and a rather poor impersonation of a Lotus 25. I've been struggling to work out what they did with those cars and attempting to untangle them from their factory-built sisters.

I'd be happy to help out with a team history.

Allen

I didn't know Parnell built so many cars Allen. Can you tell us more?

Ken Gregory ran the Yeoman Credit Racing Team in 1960. It was previosly known as the British Racing Parnership which was formed by Stirling Moss's father Alfred. I am not 100% sure who ran the team before this without doing a little research but I think it was Ken Gregory. In 1961, the BRP team picked up UDT-Laystall sponsorship. Consequently, the Bowmaker sponsorship went to the team that Reg Parnell managed. Bowmaker sponsorship ended after the 1962 season. As a result, Reg Parnell formed his own team using much of the same equipment. Then in January of 1964, Reg Parenell died due to complications of an appendectomy. His son took over the team.

There was an article in MOTORSPORT a while back that focused on the Yeoman Credit/BRP Team. I remember a color (or colour) picture of Chris Bristow and Bruce Halford at Reims in 1960. Harry Schell last raced for Yeoman Credit Racing in 1960 and was killed practicing in one of their cars.

The Yeoman Credit team was managed by Stirling Moss' manager, Ken Gregory.

Masten Gregory, Innes Ireland and and Jim Hall among others drove for BRP.

Gil

Hang on, I'm confused.

Yeoman Credit and Bowmaker were two of the main providers of credit to the car trade and had merged in 1959. For the 1960 season, still operating under the Yeoman Credit name, they agreed a fairly straightforward sponsorship deal with Ken Gregory's BRP team.

After that season, BRP and Yeoman Credit fell out fairly badly as one of Gregory's employees was found to be cooking the books. Yeoman Credit moved their sponsorship to Reg Parnell's team, which had been running the Aston Martin effort over the previous four seasons. Gregory did a fresh sponsorship deal with UDT-Laystall for 1961.

For 1962, the Parnell/Yeoman Credit team changed branding and became the Bowmaker team, then becoming simply Reg Parnell (Racing) for 1963. They ran Coopers in 1961, Lolas, Cooper and Lotuses in 1962 and then Lotuses again in 1963 and 1964.

Apart from building lots of Aston Martins, they built two extra Cooper T53s (apart from the three they bought) in 1961, appear to have built an extra Lola plus a couple of Lotus 18/21s in 1962, built three or four Lotus 24s in 1963 and even contrived to build a Lotus 33 out of a crashed Lotus 25 in 1965. In late 1967, just before Tim Parnell got the BRM team manager job, they built their own monocoque car along the lines of the Lotus 33. This car was not completed until it was in private hands in 1973 and was mistaken for an ex-Parnell Lotus 25 until quite recently.

Allen

That's both clarified and confused the picture Allen. Some of the cars you mention, eg the 1961 Lotus18/21s, were built by Tim Parnell's operation, which was separate from his father's. It was only after Reg died that Tim took over Reg Parnell Racing.
I'm also mystified by your reference to Aston Martin construction.
But you can add to your Yeoman Credit build list five or six T51 Coopers built 1959/60
Finally, I can't check my references right now but surely the team name in 1961 was Bowmaker-Yeoman Credit?

Originally posted by David McKinney
That's both clarified and confused the picture Allen. Some of the cars you mention, eg the 1961 Lotus18/21s, were built by Tim Parnell's operation, which was separate from his father's. It was only after Reg died that Tim took over Reg Parnell Racing.
I'm also mystified by your reference to Aston Martin construction.
But you can add to your Yeoman Credit build list five or six T51 Coopers built 1959/60
Finally, I can't check my references right now but surely the team name in 1961 was Bowmaker-Yeoman Credit?

I knew nothing about the Aston Martins. Is it true that Parenll's team had been "running the Aston Martin effort" (Allen Brown)? I thouht that Parnell was employed by Aston Martin at that time.

Presumably the 1959/60 cars were BRP, not Parnell?

Originally posted by Gil Bouffard
There was an article in MOTORSPORT a while back that focused on the Yeoman Credit/BRP Team. I remember a color (or colour) picture of Chris Bristow and Bruce Halford at Reims in 1960. Harry Schell last raced for Yeoman Credit Racing in 1960 and was killed practicing in one of their cars.Chris Bristow could not have been at Reims as he was killed 2 weeks earlier at Spa.

The Yeoman Credit team was managed by Stirling Moss' manager, Ken Gregory.Only until Sept 1960,when Reg Parnell took over.The BRP was then sponsored by UDT/Laystall during 1961-62

Masten Gregory, Innes Ireland and and Jim Hall among others drove for BRP.These drivers drove for the UDT/Laystall team which became just BRP again in 1963-64.

Gil

Originally posted by Roger Clark
Is it true that Parenll's team had been "running the Aston Martin effort" (Allen Brown)? I thouht that Parnell was employed by Aston Martin at that time.
Presumably the 1959/60 cars were BRP, not Parnell?

Yes, I'm sure you're right about Parnell's association with Aston Martin
BRP ran one Cooper-Climax in F2 in 1958, then two Cooper-Borgwards in F2 in 1959 (plus the BRM in three(?) F1 races). The Yeoman Credit sponsorship came in time for the 1960 season. IIRC Parnell's involvement started in 1961

Thanks for all the stuff so far, people. I hope it is helping my contacts.

It just occurred to me - were Yeoman Credit, in fact, the very first full-time, non motoring-connected, team-name sponsors ever to appear in Grand Prix racing?

They may have been a finance house that dealt in the motor trade but I think it is stretching the situation too far to call them a motoring-connected company.

Could we possibly have some opinions about the team/drivers/cars performances and results?

I have always admired Yeoman Credit greatly. How a team soldiers on having lost 2 fine drivers barely a month apart is somewhat hard to imagine. But then I suppose it was not an uncommon situation back then.

Originally posted by Barry Boor

Could we possibly have some opinions about the team/drivers/cars performances and results?

In the early part of 1960, Yeoman Credit was a very strong team. Bristow was one of the most promising young drivers at a time when there were al ot of promising young drivers about, and Harry Schell was Harry Schell. Tony Brooks joined the team at Monaco; I always thought it was as a replacement for Schell, but Autosport said that Schell knew Brooks was joining the team and suggested that he may have been trying too hard as a result.

Both Brooks and Bristow showed themselves capable of qualifying the cars on the front two rows of the grid, which wasn't bad for a year old car, especially considering the progress Cooper and Lotus had both made in 1960.

After Bristow's death, things semed to fall apart. Brooks drove a Vanwall at Reims and YC entrered Gendebien, Henry Taylor and Halford. Good drivers, but not in the forefront of Grand Prix drivers. Brooks rejoined at silverstone were he stalled at the start but recovered to finish fourth. for the rest of the year, YC seem to have spread themselves too thinly, drivers including Gurney, Phil Hill and Denny Hulme as well as those already mentioned. Even Brooks seemd to lose his early season form, or perhaps it was the cars gradually becoming uncompetitive.

Firstly, thanks to every one so far for the information submited about the YC/Bowmakr teams, it's really helpful. One of the areas I'd like to dig deeper into is that of sponsorship at that time. I remember seeing a picture of Moss driving a DBR (Silverstone?) with a Bowmaker hoarding in the background, as I recal, most advertising hoardings at that time were for directly motoring associated products ie. Ferrodo, Shell, Dunlop etc and feel it must have been quite ground braking and forward thinking for finance houses to have got involved in the first place.......a forerunner to modern F1 sponsorship? Was this inovative marketing, or was it that someone at YC talked the board into it as they had a passion for motor sport? Any ideas?

I was far too young to take out loans in those days, but I think "consumer credit" was only just getting off the ground in the late 50s. There was still a stigma about buying on the "never-never", credit cards didn't exist and I would have thought Yeoman were probably targeting the people who were rather taken with the new cheap small cars. And where better than a motor race? A scan through the ads in Autocar and Motor of the time might be informative

Originally posted by Russ Gannicott
Was this inovative marketing, or was it that someone at YC talked the board into it as they had a passion for motor sport? Any ideas?

Bob Gibson-Jarvie was chief executive of what became UDT finance - he was v. keen on fine cars and motor sport - while at Bowmaker almost the entire Samengo-Turner family were similarly enthusiastic. Even in motor engineering or fuel or oil related companies it normally required some personal enthusiasm amongst top execs to open the purse-strings - e.g. Grady Davis at Gulf Oil, Lord Wakefield at Castrol etc. Or at the very least there had to be people at the head of the company who would listen to the pleadings/proposals of those further down the pecking order who were keen, or saw good mileage from sporting association - such as Reg Tanner or Geoff Murdoch at Esso or Dennis Druitt at BP or Dick Jeffrey at Dunlop, Fred Gamble and Leo Mehl at Goodyear, etc. Nobuhiko Kawamoto at Honda is another decent example, though Soichiro Honda himself as company founder and head set a racing-orientated example that his minions were bound to follow...

DCN

[There was an article in MOTORSPORT a while back that focused on the Yeoman Credit/BRP Team. I remember a color (or colour) picture of Chris Bristow and Bruce Halford at Reims in 1960.

Please can somebody tell me which issue this article was in.

I have the magazine somewhere and remember something "funny" about one of the pictures?

I have found the issue of MotorSport after much looking.
It is December 1997.
But it does not have the photo I am looking for.

Was there a story on Chris Bristow in a fairly recent (that probably means 5 years!) MotorSport?
If so which one?

In late 1967, just before Tim Parnell got the BRM team manager job, they built their own monocoque car along the lines of the Lotus 33. This car was not completed until it was in private hands in 1973 and was mistaken for an ex-Parnell Lotus 25 until quite recently.

Can you elaborate on this, please? How recent is 'quite recently'? Are you saying that a car which we may have seen running in historic races as a Lotus 25 is now running as a Parnell? And if so, which one?

Originally posted by pedro
Can you elaborate on this, please? How recent is 'quite recently'? Are you saying that a car which we may have seen running in historic races as a Lotus 25 is now running as a Parnell? And if so, which one?

As far as I know, the Lotus/Parnell has never appeared in historic racing. IIRC, Doug Nye was asked to authenticate the car prior to a restoration and noticed a suspicious join down the centre of the car. I believe it was Doug that identified it as a Parnell and not as the Lotus 25 that it had been identified as in various books.

If you really twist my arm, I might tell you that it was previously believed to be 25 R3 and belonged for many years to Tony Mantle. Mantle bought it in good faith as a suspected Lotus 25 so please don't think I am accusing anyone of dishonesty.

Allen

OK - here's where I get confused.

BRP ran in very pale green. Yeoman Credit cars ran in the same - or similar? - green with a big blob of red at the front.

Bowmaker cars ran in deep blue with a deep blue nose.

So what colours did UDT/Laystall run in?

And what were Parnell's colours?

Thanks Allen

On your point about 'dishonesty' - is it worth any less as a unique Parnell than as a Lotus 25?

Originally posted by Vicuna
OK - here's where I get confused.

BRP ran in very pale green. Yeoman Credit cars ran in the same - or similar? - green with a big blob of red at the front.

Bowmaker cars ran in deep blue with a deep blue nose.

So what colours did UDT/Laystall run in?

And what were Parnell's colours?

Will try to sort out the confusion!!
BRP started with plain pale green.In '59 coloured noses,were painted on the F2 cars red for Bueb,Orange for Chris Bristow. When Yeoman Credit took over Red was standardised,up to the windshield. After the split at end of 1960,YC then Bowmaker-Yeoman,then Reg Parnell racing used the dark blue-Green,with red noseband. The UDT /BRP team reverted to pale green 1961-64. A tartan stripe on the nose was added.

Seeing that the matter of colours has come up, I would like to raise a couple of points.

The subject of this pale green (British Grazing Green as it was once called) has been a constant source of frustration to me.

When modelling the 1960 Yeoman Credit Coopers in my slot-car series, I was keen to get the correct green. I looked at an ex-Yeoman Credit car at a Coy's Festival and spoke to the driver/owner. He didn't know what the colour was as the car was already painted when he got it. Eventually I was directed to Ken Gregory himself and he gave me a manufacturers paint reference (as I recall, a Vauxhall colour). All searching of paint reference books etc brought no luck whatsoever and in the end I gave up and had a very light green made up for me. Even now I think it is slightly too light.

However, one thing that has always bugged me is that I have always had the feeling that the light green that was on the British Racing Partnership's B.R.M P25 was NOT the same light green that was used by Yeoman Credit. I have not seen the B.R.M at Donington for a long time but if pressed, I would say that it, and the B.R.P cars from 1961-64 were a darker (much nicer) shade than the Yeoman Credit colour.

Am I completely up the pictures with this view or can anyone collaborate my story.....?

Barry - the BRP-BRM 1959 shade and the Yeoman Credit/UDT/BRP shades of Grazing Green should really all be identical, a v. pale creamy green. I would give you a Pantone code number for it but the Pantone on my computer has led us astray before because of course it depends upon monitor adjustment, and I cannot find my printed Pantone list. But they should be the same.

Regarding the 3-litre Parnell-BRM - this was an unraced monocoque chassis built for Tim by Bruce Macintosh - now with McLaren Cars - who adopted Lotus 25-type front bulkhead assembly etc. This is what caused the misidentification problem, long before I was allowed to examine it. Allen is quite right, it was more cock-up than conspiracy (at least initially) and raised the question 'OK if this was not the ex-Lotus-BRM 25, what the hell became of it... '?

But the surviving monocoque in question is Parnell/Macintosh made and is NOT a Lotus 25 nor 33. And when it comes to various books having made the claim that this was a 25 - mine was the FIRST of them. We believed this to be true at the time, and not having the opportunity to examine the chassis saw this erroneous claim made in print. Ultimately my fault.

DCN

Further to the 'Yeoman Credit green' question
A few years ago a Cooper was painted to the code supplied by a member of the Samengo-Turner family, but was a slightly greener shade than I remember from when the cars raced in NZ in 1960 and 1961.
Having said that, I find that remembering colours is an exceedingly dodgy business, not only because memory fades (sorry), but especially becuase our judgement over the years might have been coloured (sorry again) by colour photos printed with the imperfect technology of the day.

Having said that, I find that remembering colours is an exceedingly dodgy business, not only because memory fades (sorry), but especially becuase our judgement over the years might have been coloured (sorry again) by colour photos printed with the imperfect technology of the day.

Quite!

I too saw a 59 type Cooper,at Goodwood I think,in recent years claimed to be ex Yeoman Credit but painted a bright green,not seen elsewhere ,but about the correct red nose. I was tempted to tell the owner'Your car is the wrong bloody colour' Question ;did they ever run in that colour in the original era? possibly in 1960 Tasman series of which I have no colour photos.

I watched the 1961 Springbok Series and in particular want to talk about the Natal GP at Westmead (because I have the program). There were entries from both UDT Laystall AND Yeoman Credit.

Bruce Johnstone and Tony Maggs ran Yeoman Credit entered Coopers. (Johnstone in the F1/FJ "Special, Maggs in the ex-Surtees T53).

I can't remember what colors they were! But from memory they were not the pale green/red that Bristow used in the {1960 January} "Sixth" SAGP when his Cooper Borgward was entered by YC.

In the same race UDT Laystall entered two Lotuses (18M's ?) for Gregory and Moss. They were pale green.

Originally posted by pedro
Thanks Allen

On your point about 'dishonesty' - is it worth any less as a unique Parnell than as a Lotus 25?

Massively less. Genuine Lotus 25s are about as common as rocking horse manure. But I meant what I said - 1970s adverts for the car made it clear that nobody knew exactly what it was: it was described once as probably an early BRM monocoque. I think it had come out of a Tim Parnell sale so Lotus 25, PRM P261, BRM P83 and BRM P126 were all valid guesses. Few people really knew that Parnell had started to build their own monocoque and hardly anyone knew that they had actually completed it.

Allen

I think my old AppleMmac computer and its Pantone colour chart were probably responsible for the deep-green Cooper cited above which was plainly the wrong colour. Martin Stretton was restoring (building?) that car and he called me for a colour reference which I grandly gave him as a Pantone number off the computer screen.

I'm told I have a pretty acute colour sense and I was absolutely confident that the colour I quoted to him from the screen rendition was absolutely spot on. Now either his sprayshop screwed up or we were singing from different Pantone colour songsheets 'cos the wrong-coloured Cooper was the result. You can't trust colour references off-screen, over the telephone...as I now appreciate, and so does he...

DCN

You and I are talking about the same car, Doug, but not necessarily the same colour.
The green used at the first attempt was far too deep - and in fact looked so much like the (then) United Colours of Benetton that the car is to this day known in the Stretton camp as "Benny"
It was an attempt to make the colour more realistic that brought the Samengo-Turner connection, and something closer to the correct colour. As I said earlier, I still don't think it was quite right, but at least it's a lot closer to the real thing (as I remember it) than the Cooper became in the hands of its later owner.
I reckon the various ex-BRP/UDT Lotuses and BRPs in historic racing these days are closer to the correct BRP colour, but maybe that's just because they don't have a great dollop of red to show the green up.

I read all this light green talk with great interest, but can somebody please tell me what the colour reference is?

Gentlemen - I offer, for your perusal, the following 2 images, captured from my video taken at the 1999 Coy's Festival.



and




Comments would be appreciated!

I'm amazed at the amount of information thats coming in about the Yeoman team.....incredible! What about the 1962 Bowmaker season? I'm trying to trace a full list of cars, results and team personnel......any offers?

Originally posted by Barry Boor
Comments would be appreciated!

The BRM shade is too bright - possibly the lighting or the video technology, as my memory of the car on display is that it was closer to the correct colour
The Cooper ("Benny") is much closer. But I'm still not saying "Yes!" to myself - perhaps another point or two of yellow inthe mix?

Originally posted by Russ Gannicott
I'm amazed at the amount of information thats coming in about the Yeoman team.....incredible! What about the 1962 Bowmaker season? I'm trying to trace a full list of cars, results and team personnel......any offers?

1960 Formula 1 and Formula 2

19/3 Syracuse (F2)
Harry Schell Cooper 51 F2-24-59 7th
Chris Bristow Cooper 51 F2-2-59 Retired

2/4 Oulton Park Trophy (F2)
Harry Schell Cooper 51 F2-24-59 5th
Chris Bristow Cooper 51 F2-2-59 4th

8/4 Brussels GP (F2)
Harry Schell Cooper 51 F2-2-59 4th
Chris Bristow Cooper 51 F2-24-59 Disqualified

18/4 Glover Trophy, Goodwood
Harry Schell Cooper 51 F2-19-59 Retired
Chris Bristow Cooper 51 F2-24-59 3rd

18/4 Lavant Cup, Goodwood (f2)
Harry Schell Cooper 51 F2-24-59 8th
Chris Bristow Cooper 51 F2-2-59 4th

30/4 BARC 200, Aintree (F2)
Harry Schell Cooper 51 F2-24-59 8th
Chris Bristow Cooper 51 F2-2-59 6th

14/5 International Trophy, Silverstone
Harry Schell Cooper 51 F2-24-59 Fatal crash in practice
Chris Bristow Cooper 51 (F2) Withdrawn

29/5 Monaco GP
Chris Bristow Cooper 51 F2-25-59 Front row of grid, retired lap 17 gearbox
Tony Brooks Cooper 51 F2-26-59 4th

6/6 Dutch GP
Chris Bristow Cooper 51 F2-25-59 Retired engine
Tony Brooks Cooper 51 F2-26-59 Retired gearbox
Henry Taylor Cooper 51 F2-2-59 7th

19/6 Belgian GP
Olivier Gendebien Cooper 51 F2-24-59 3rd
Chris Bristow Cooper 51 F2-25-59 Fatal crash
Tony Brooks Cooper 51 F2-26-59 Retired transmission

3/7 French GP
Olivier Gendebien Cooper 51 F2-24-59 2nd
Henry Taylor Cooper 51 F2-26-59 4th
Bruce Halford Cooper 51 F2-2-59 8th

16/7 British GP
Tony Brooks Cooper 51 F2-26-59 5th
Olivier Gendebien Cooper 51 F2-24-59 9th
Henry Taylor Cooper 51 F2-2-59 8th

1/8 Silver City Trophy, Brands Hatch
Tony Brooks Cooper 51 F2-24-59 Retired overheating
Dan Gurney Cooper 51 F2-26-59 7th
Bruce Halford Cooper 51 F2-1-59 8th
Henry Taylor Cooper 51 F2-2-59 5th

14/8 Portuguese GP
Tony Brooks Cooper 51 F2-24-59 5th
Olivier Gendebien Cooper 51 F2-26-59 7th
Henry Taylor Cooper 51 F2-2-59 Did not start

28/8 Kentish 100, Brands Hatch (F2)
Olivier Gendebien Cooper 51 F2-24-59 Retired

17/9 Lombank Trophy, Snetterton
Denis Hulme Cooper 51 F2-1-59 5th
Henry Taylor Cooper 51 F2-2-59 10th

24/9 Gold Cup, Oulton Park
Henry Taylor Cooper 51 F2-2-59 7th
Bruce Halford Cooper 51 F2-1-59 8th

20/11 USGP
Tony Brooks Cooper 51 F2-24-59 Retired, spin
Olivier Gendebien Cooper 51 F2-26-59 12th
Henry Taylor Cooper 51 F2-2-59 14th
Phil Hill Cooper 51 F2-1-59 6th

The really amazing thing about the Yeoman Credit/Bowmaker/UDT Laystall saga is how these three names have infiltrated themselves into our collective consciousness as being an integral and essential part of F1 history - and yet they really weren't around for all that long. I never realisd until I read this thread that the name "Bowmaker" was only ever used in 1962; indeed, according to David, "Bowmaker" was never used at all - it was "Bowmaker-Yeoman Credit" (Can anyone confirm this?)

Can any subsequent mega-dollar sponsorship deal claim such lasting success? Probably only John Player Special comes close, and even they never managed to convince anyone that the cars were anything other than Lotuses. Back in 1959/60, the green and red cars were always (for me) "Yeoman Credit Coopers" - it never occurred to me that they were anything to do with BRP. And later, the blue and red cars were always "Bowmakers" - I doubt if I'd even heard of Reg Parnell back then. Not only that, but the blue and red cars were (in my mind) STILL "Bowmakers" even after 1962. Hard to imagine, today, a team retaining the colours of a previous sponsor after the sponsor had left! Or (as in the case of UDT-Laystall), a sponsor accepting a coulor-scheme which had previously been used by a rival sponsor.

On the subject of who constructed what, can we clear this up? I'm confused. (That word seems to have occurred quite a lot in this thread)

1959/60 Yeoman Credit Cooper Borgwards and Cooper Climaxes - constructed by Cooper, I thought (aren't there pictures of them at the Cooper factory in Doug's book?). Though they do look very different from other Coopers - so, maybe built by BRP at the Cooper factory??

1961 Yeoman Credit Coopers - constructed by Reg Parnell (?)

1961 UDT-Laystall and BRP Lotuses - constructed by BRP

1962 Bowmaker Lolas - constructed by Lola, I always assumed. Maybe Reg Parnell ?

other Reg Parnell cars - ?? (over to you, Allen)

Tim Parnell cars - Built BY Tim (according to David) - I thought just ex-works Lotuses

Pedro, you're reading more into what I said than was intended. My reference to the Bowmaker-Yeoman Credit name applied (as stated) to 1961. The style was certainly plain and simple 'Bowmaker' in 1962.
Tim Parnell did run factory-built Lotuses - but built his own too
The caption for the YC-car construction picture in Doug's book makes clear the work is being done in the YC workshops

I believe that tey raced as Yeoman Credit in 1961. Autosport 17 November 1961 contained an announcment that they would be chagning their name to Bowmaker-Yeoman for 1962.

Firstly, I'm glad my little Bowmaker project has created so much interest.....and confussion!!
Secondly, some more questions;

Were all the 1962 Non-Championship races entered by Surtees/Salvadori under the Bowmaker banner? ie Surtees T53 at NZ, Salvadori Cooper for the Lombank Trophy, Surtees Lotus 24 at the Mexican GP?

Salvadori appears not to have driven at the Belgian GP, why, and was there a stand in?

Several sources refer to Surtees driving BRGP44 at Monza, is this correct?

What led to Surtees taking Salvadori's car at USA GP when he appears to have been out qualified by him, and what number did it run under?

Why did Salvador suffer so many mechanical failures in '62, and why did the team results weaken towards the end of the season?

What were the first and last appearences of the Bowmaker team?

Once again, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Russ

The caption for the YC-car construction picture in Doug's book makes clear the work is being done in the YC workshops

You caught me out! I don't actually have a copy of Cooper Cars - I was relying on my memory of the caption from a library copy. (Shhh! Perhaps Doug will never find out). I'm sure you are correct - It was the YC workshops.

Although, what exactly does 'the YC workshops' mean? If YC were essentially sponsors, does this mean 'BRP workshops' - i.e. a completely different place from where the Parnell YC cars were built in 61?

As for the actual name of the entrant, The Formula One Record Book has Yeoman Credit Racing Team throughout 1961 (to end of Springbok season), Bowmaker Racing Team throughout 1962. No mention of "Yeoman Credit-Bowmaker". Does this name actually appear in an official entry list anywhere?

Originally posted by Russ Gannicott
Firstly, I'm glad my little Bowmaker project has created so much interest.....and confussion!!
Secondly, some more questions;

Were all the 1962 Non-Championship races entered by Surtees/Salvadori under the Bowmaker banner? ie Surtees T53 at NZ, Salvadori Cooper for the Lombank Trophy, Surtees Lotus 24 at the Mexican GP?

Salvadori appears not to have driven at the Belgian GP, why, and was there a stand in?

Several sources refer to Surtees driving BRGP44 at Monza, is this correct?

What led to Surtees taking Salvadori's car at USA GP when he appears to have been out qualified by him, and what number did it run under?

Why did Salvador suffer so many mechanical failures in '62, and why did the team results weaken towards the end of the season?

What were the first and last appearences of the Bowmaker team?

Once again, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Russ

The reason Salvadori did not race at Spa is that the team was short of engines and only entered one car.

At Watkins Glen John Surtees crashed in practice and took over Salvadori's car for the race. The team had no spare car.

Early in the season the team was entered as Bowmaker-Yeoman Racing - later in the year just as
Bowmaker Racing.

Yes, the Surtees T-53 in New Zealand was entered by by Bowmaker-Yeoman. It was their 1961 Intercontinental car. Yes also, on Salvadori in the early season Lombank Trophy at Snetterton in the light weight Cooper.

As to Salvadori's many mechanical problems - he was number two driver on a team with limited resources. Few teams at that time could run their number two car to the same standard as their number one car. The team also was low on the priority list for the V-8 engine and did not have preferred rebuilding schedules as did Cooper and Lotus. Salvadori used engines that Surtees had practiced and raced once already. So there's no mystery about it.

For what it’s worth, this is how the entrant’s name appears in the New Zealand Grand Prix programme each year, remembering that the races took place in January, in effect between two European seasons
1960
Cooper (Moss) - Yeoman Credit Racing Team
1961
Cooper (Bonnier), Lotus (Salvadori) - Yeoman Credit
1962
Cooper (Surtees, Salvadori, Davison) - Yeoman Credit Racing Team
1963
Lola (Surtees, Maggs) - Bowmaker Racing Team
1964
Lola (Amon) Reg Parnell Racing

Re my earlier post about colors of cars
I have found the1961 Rand GP program.

It lists the colors of the Yeoman Credit cars as "Blue/red stripe"
and those of Ecurie UDT Laystall (M.Gregory) as "Pale green"

Just found the official 1961 mid-season YC press release, it states; "..there has now been a change of name to Bowmaker-Yeoman Racing Team..." and "..for the 1962 season the team's racing colours will be Yeoman green and red."
This must have pre-dated the decision to close the subsiduary businesses and use the Bowmaker name only. So officially, Bowmaker-Yeoman only existed for the second half of 1961.....interesting!

This is very interesting - especially when you realise that Yeoman green was actually BLUE! Or does this mean that another colour was substituted and Yeoman green was never used?

The thick plottens.....

Originally posted by Russ Gannicott
Just found the official 1961 mid-season YC press release, it states; "..there has now been a change of name to Bowmaker-Yeoman Racing Team..." and "..for the 1962 season the team's racing colours will be Yeoman green and red."
This must have pre-dated the decision to close the subsiduary businesses and use the Bowmaker name only. So officially, Bowmaker-Yeoman only existed for the second half of 1961.....interesting!

What was the date on the press release Russ? I have never heard of the team being entered as Bowmaker Yeoman in 1961, and would assume that the Autosport article I mentioned at the top of this page resulted from such a press release. It is true that during 1962 the contemporary reports began referring to the team simply as Bowmaker, but I don't know whether that is because they changed the name or just journalistic shorthand.

Ok, let's try and sort this out! The press release is not dated, but is refered to as 'mid-season'...whatever that means? At the begining of 1962, Yeoman Credit ceased to exist as the Bowmaker Group merged it's operations and promoted just the Bowmaker name. I guess it's possible that the name Bowmaker Yeoman may have been used for a while by contemporary journalists and publicists to avoid confusion and prevent them looking like a brand new team, but this was not the official stand-point. I'm currently in contact with Nicky Samengo-Turner and will try and sort some of this out.
Also, the cars were still entered as Bowmaker's in the 1963 season (ie NZ GP) but I'm not sure yet how long this lasted.
It appears that Bowmaker had two Lola T4's and one T4a....BRGP 42, 43 and 44. Is this correct? Also, did the team own the Coopers and Lotus 24 which crop up in the '62 results, or were these 'contract' cars?
I'm having real trouble sorting this lot out, as so many reports are conflicting or contain errors.

I'm hoping to get more information from the Samengo-Turner family and Lola Cars (Eric B.) but does anyone know anything about Gillian Harris who worked for Aston Martin as competitions secretary, and then Reg Parnell during this period (joining Oct. '60). If I could trace Gillian, I'm sure she'd have loads of helpfull information!

Russ