2 replies to this topic

[raoul leDuke]

I have been contacted by Peter Schutte asking if anyone knows how to get intouch with Mike Beckwith. He is organising a DAF reunion and would like him to attend as he drove an F3 DAF in the 60’s.

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Mike Beckwith was versatile driver who raced saloons, sports cars and single seaters. He had a number of memorable races including early in his career in a club race at Castle Combe in 1962. Roy Pierpoint led from the start in a front-engined Lotus followed closely by Beckwith in a new light blue Lotus 23. Every lap Beckwith would poked his nose alongside at the last corner and every lap he'd get a little further. On the very last lap he finally squeezed passed and took the chequered flag.

He drove a Lotus Elite Mk14 to a class victory in the 1963 R.A.C. Tourist Trophy race at Goodwood and also raced a Lotus 23 for Normand Ltd. taking second place overall in the Auvergne Trophy in Clermont Ferrand, with his good friend Hegbrourne.

Normand decided to take a step up into Formula 2 in 1964, signing Hegbourne and Beckwith as their drivers, with Beckwith also taking responsibility for running the team. Bucking the trend, Normand acquired two new Cooper T71s with Cosworth SCA engines. And though the cars looked pretty in white with bright blue and red stripes, they handled appaulingly. The car was quick in a straight line and Hegbourne won both heats of the Berlin Grand Prix at Avus in May.

Unfortunately there was only one Avus with it's two four-kilometer long straights linked by a hairpin at one end and by the banked Nordkehre at the other and thus the team struggled everywhere else.

That year Mike drove a Lotus-Cortina with Jackie Stewart in America winnning the Malboro 12-hour race at Marlboro Park Speedway.

In 1965 Frank Lythgoe Racing had a F3 version built of the Lola T60 for Mike. He took a win at Monza the following year though generally results were poor.

In 1965 the first Brabham-DAF appeared and in 1966 DAF and Brabham teamed up with The Chequered Flag garage to run their F3 team. The team contracted Beckwith to race the Brabham-DAF BT18A. The team took part in 16 races all over the continent using the Variomatic transmission. Beckwith's best results came in the Lotteria GP at Monza with a second place and in the late-summer in the Leston Trophy at Brands he came third.

In 1967 The Chequered Flag hired Gijs van Lennep to partner Beckwith, and after a short spell with BT21s, the Brabhams were swapped for a pair of Geminis.

The Gemini-DAF combination proved to be the best match-up between chassis and CVT, as a late-season charge saw Beckwith take second at Brno in early September before winning outright at Brands at the end of October, followed up by a third at Jarama, in the wake of Clay Regazzoni's emerging Tecno. Guest-starring in the non-championship Swedish Stockholmsloppet at Skarpnäck on September 24, Beckwith took pole while Van Lennep went on to win the 20-lap race.

Mike also tackled 4 European F2 rounds during the year with Bob Gerard run Cooper T82.

Having seen the quick Tecno beat Beckwith at Jarama, DAF decided to up the ante one more time in 1968, moving closer to home by handing over operations to Racing Team Holland, the famous Dutch outfit run by Pon and Slotemaker, and replacing the successful Gemini with a couple of Tecnos. The change to Tecno chassis for 1968 seemed wise, as was proven by the numerous wins taken for Tecno by Wisell, Peterson, Jaussaud, Regazzoni and Cevert. In all, that season Tecno cars won 32 out of 65 international F3 races. However, none of them sported a Variomatic transmission. To top that, the team shot itself in the foot when it did lead a race. Culminating in the final race of the season when, in what turned out to be DAF’s last F3 appearance, Van Lennep and Beckwith took each other while running first and second.

Beckwith also raced in sports cars driving with Tony Dean in a Ferrari Dino 206S in the Brands Hatch 6 Hours and a Porsche 906 in the RAC Tourist Trophy. At Le Mans he drove a closed Costin-Nathan GT with Roger Nathan. Powered by a 1006cc engine, it retired in the fifth hour with electrical problems having run dead last up until that point.

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historicracing.com

[bradbury west]

Raoul, look for an e mail from me.
Roger Lund.

[raoul leDuke]

Thanks to Roger Lund for the contact information. I spoke to Mike yesterday evening and he will be calling Peter Schutte today.

Peter would like me to pass on his thanks. Apparently he had been trying to find Mike for years! One post on TNF..............job done!