Cliff Allison
The former Formula 1 racer Cliff Allison has died at the age 73. Born in Brough, a town in the Eden Valley
RIP Cliff Allison
Started by
Boniver
, Apr 07 2005 17:58
39 replies to this topic
#1
Boniver
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Posted 07 April 2005 - 17:58
APRIL 7, 2005
Cliff Allison
The former Formula 1 racer Cliff Allison has died at the age 73. Born in Brough, a town in the Eden Valley
Cliff Allison
The former Formula 1 racer Cliff Allison has died at the age 73. Born in Brough, a town in the Eden Valley
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#2
Gary C
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Posted 07 April 2005 - 18:09
another link with the early days of Lotus passes. RIP, Cliff.
#3
Cirrus
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Posted 07 April 2005 - 18:11
Very sad news.
We seem to have been saying that a lot on TNF for the last few months.
We seem to have been saying that a lot on TNF for the last few months.
#4
Suzy
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Posted 07 April 2005 - 18:24
I don't post in here very often but I do have to express my sadness here and write an "obituary" though my eyes.
I met Cliff Allison last year at a charity dinner and he was very charming. He took the time to talk and pose for photographs. The sad irony is that I have my personal photograph album from that evening on my desk at the moment because I was sending some scanned pictures to a friend of mine who also attended the dinner - including one of Cliff himself. It's been a real blow to send the email - and then open up the news that Cliff has passed away within 5 minutes of hitting "Send".
I'm 28 years old, I never saw him race and I am afraid that I can't tell you very much about his career. Instead, the last memory I have of him is of a really friendly gentleman who seemed to have the utmost respect for everybody - and vice versa. I've got the photograph album open on the portrait shot I took of him and I feel very sad at his passing.
I met Cliff Allison last year at a charity dinner and he was very charming. He took the time to talk and pose for photographs. The sad irony is that I have my personal photograph album from that evening on my desk at the moment because I was sending some scanned pictures to a friend of mine who also attended the dinner - including one of Cliff himself. It's been a real blow to send the email - and then open up the news that Cliff has passed away within 5 minutes of hitting "Send".
I'm 28 years old, I never saw him race and I am afraid that I can't tell you very much about his career. Instead, the last memory I have of him is of a really friendly gentleman who seemed to have the utmost respect for everybody - and vice versa. I've got the photograph album open on the portrait shot I took of him and I feel very sad at his passing.
#5
Vicuna
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Posted 07 April 2005 - 18:49
That's young - had he been unwell?
#6
humphries
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Posted 07 April 2005 - 18:58
Suzy
Your assessment of Cliff Allison rings very true. I saw him race many times and years after he retired I chatted with him for some considerable time at one of the last F1 International Trophy Silverstone meetings. Although I was a total stranger he was very friendly and accommodating and came across as a real gentleman.
John
Your assessment of Cliff Allison rings very true. I saw him race many times and years after he retired I chatted with him for some considerable time at one of the last F1 International Trophy Silverstone meetings. Although I was a total stranger he was very friendly and accommodating and came across as a real gentleman.
John
#7
llmaurice
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Posted 07 April 2005 - 19:20
Cliff -a totally charming ,quiet man . The epitome of what was British in the '50s .Truly a sad loss to those of us who knew , worked with and admired him .
#8
Richard Jenkins
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Posted 07 April 2005 - 20:28
I am stunned by this - he seemed healthy the last time I "saw" him and he wasn't really that old.
Very nice man and a fine, very under-rated driver. The whole world of motorsport is poorer for his passing.
Once again, someone has to ask. Where & when precisely, did he die?
RIP.
Very nice man and a fine, very under-rated driver. The whole world of motorsport is poorer for his passing.
Once again, someone has to ask. Where & when precisely, did he die?
RIP.
#9
Paul Taylor
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Posted 07 April 2005 - 20:50
This is the only source of info I can find:
http://www.grandprix...ns/ns14558.html
If it's true, then RIP
http://www.grandprix...ns/ns14558.html
If it's true, then RIP
#10
D-Type
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Posted 07 April 2005 - 21:56
How very sad.
I've just been refreshing my knowledge of his career If he hadn't had the Monaco smash who knows what he might have achieved?
I've just been refreshing my knowledge of his career If he hadn't had the Monaco smash who knows what he might have achieved?
#11
Barry Boor
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Posted 07 April 2005 - 22:11
This is very sad news indeed.
Condolences to all Cliff's family and friends.
How ironic if it was on this date - another connection we shall never forget.
Condolences to all Cliff's family and friends.
How ironic if it was on this date - another connection we shall never forget.
#12
ricardo1954
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Posted 07 April 2005 - 22:55
I believe that have a mistake in the "Grandprix News"[ www.grandprix.com/ ] note with the results of Cliff Allison in the year of 1959 : "... Allison's best result was fourth in Belgium... "
Allison was fourth in the Belgian GP in 1958, with a Lotus 12.
In 1959 your best result was fifth in the Italian GP, with a Ferrari.
Ricardo Cunha
Allison was fourth in the Belgian GP in 1958, with a Lotus 12.
In 1959 your best result was fifth in the Italian GP, with a Ferrari.
Ricardo Cunha
#13
David Beard
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Posted 08 April 2005 - 04:27
Originally posted by Paul Taylor
This is the only source of info I can find:
http://www.grandprix...ns/ns14558.html
If it's true, then RIP
I can't find another source either.
#14
Eric McLoughlin
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Posted 08 April 2005 - 07:48
Sad to hear.
#15
RTH
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Posted 08 April 2005 - 08:53
I am very sorry to hear this sad news.
He did several interviews with Neville Hay on motor sport videos - usually in connection with Lotus, he always spoke frankly, with the full story and was most interesting to listen to and came across as a truly nice man - someone you would have liked to meet personally, as said previously a much under rated and publically unrecognised driver. We do seem to have lost many good people in the last couple of years.
He did several interviews with Neville Hay on motor sport videos - usually in connection with Lotus, he always spoke frankly, with the full story and was most interesting to listen to and came across as a truly nice man - someone you would have liked to meet personally, as said previously a much under rated and publically unrecognised driver. We do seem to have lost many good people in the last couple of years.
#16
nigel red5
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Posted 08 April 2005 - 10:34
Originally posted by RTH
I am very sorry to hear this sad news.
He did several interviews with Neville Hay on motor sport videos - usually in connection with Lotus, he always spoke frankly, with the full story and was most interesting to listen to and came across as a truly nice man - someone you would have liked to meet personally, as said previously a much under rated and publically unrecognised driver. We do seem to have lost many good people in the last couple of years.
I echo Richard's thoughts exactly, from the point of never meeting the man and only knowing of him through those few interviews mentioned.
RIP
#18
Doug Nye
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Posted 08 April 2005 - 16:36
....really bad news... Cliff was one of the nicest men ever to have competed at the top level. Another quiet star lost to us all.
DCN
DCN
#19
David Beard
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Posted 08 April 2005 - 16:38
I was reluctant to post on this thread at first…such a shock: I sort of half hoped there was some mistake.
I saw Cliff race when I went to Silverstone with dad as a kid. I linked his name with Lotus from the start, like Graham Hill. I’m convinced Cliff’s talent was at least as great.
Then a year or two ago I found myself with an excuse to contact Cliff, and on two occasions visited him at his bungalow at Brough. I took some period photos with me to see if he could identify some of the characters depicted. He produced his own collection from the attic going back to his 500cc F3 days. The photo which he seemed most keen to show me was not of him driving a Lotus or a Ferrari, but Robin Lodge’s Lancia D50 during a demonstration at a Silverstone Historic Festival a few years back. He also drove Lodge’s Ferrari, but got more of a buzz from the Lancia “Ascari was my hero” he said.
My wife and I sat and just let the stories flow over us. Here we were in this comfy little bungalow in a quiet northern village, with this unassuming old feller saying things like “when Dan called in here” and Phil Hill said this, or Colin that. It was a marvellous afternoon, and I felt very privileged.
This week I was about to package up a load of photos I thought he might not have seen, of his exploits in Lotus and Maserati at Oporto in 58. I thought I might have an excuse for another visit, but alas…..
Tired cliché or not, Cliff was a lovely man, and has to be my favourite racing driver.
In the evening sun at Brough, in BRDC shirt…
I saw Cliff race when I went to Silverstone with dad as a kid. I linked his name with Lotus from the start, like Graham Hill. I’m convinced Cliff’s talent was at least as great.
Then a year or two ago I found myself with an excuse to contact Cliff, and on two occasions visited him at his bungalow at Brough. I took some period photos with me to see if he could identify some of the characters depicted. He produced his own collection from the attic going back to his 500cc F3 days. The photo which he seemed most keen to show me was not of him driving a Lotus or a Ferrari, but Robin Lodge’s Lancia D50 during a demonstration at a Silverstone Historic Festival a few years back. He also drove Lodge’s Ferrari, but got more of a buzz from the Lancia “Ascari was my hero” he said.
My wife and I sat and just let the stories flow over us. Here we were in this comfy little bungalow in a quiet northern village, with this unassuming old feller saying things like “when Dan called in here” and Phil Hill said this, or Colin that. It was a marvellous afternoon, and I felt very privileged.
This week I was about to package up a load of photos I thought he might not have seen, of his exploits in Lotus and Maserati at Oporto in 58. I thought I might have an excuse for another visit, but alas…..
Tired cliché or not, Cliff was a lovely man, and has to be my favourite racing driver.
In the evening sun at Brough, in BRDC shirt…
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#20
WGD706
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Posted 08 April 2005 - 16:40
Originally posted by VWV
A nice tribute by Mike Lawrence on Cliff Allison
http://www.pitpass.c...es_art_id=24066
In that tribute, Mike Lawrence states that "Ferrari reckoned him to be a better prospect than Graham Hill..."
Had Ferrari actually considered hiring Graham for the 1960 season?
#21
D-Type
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Posted 08 April 2005 - 16:52
I've just remembered that Motor Sport did a feature article on him a few years ago.
They also included the school bus story.
Edit. Changed whatI wrote after reading Mike Lawrence
They also included the school bus story.
Edit. Changed whatI wrote after reading Mike Lawrence
#22
AAA-Eagle
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Posted 08 April 2005 - 17:12
What a sad news... I don't have a word to say how I'm shoked now........ Could I suppose that when yesterday I wrote about how tragic the 7th of April for motorsport world was, that day would force us to recollect it in so black way again
RIP
#23
billthekat
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Posted 08 April 2005 - 17:14
I remember him being a very nice man. He was not at all put off to take the time to chat with a youngster -- and to make the youngster feel like Somebody..... I still remember his accident at Monte Carlo because we were so horrified at first to hear that he had been tossed from the cockpit -- never a good thing there, and then relieved that he was moreorless okay, it not being as bad it looked at first, although bad enough, of course. He was one the many I always thought of as being the sort of person who made me become a motor racing addict. It was a great pleasure to have actually met and spoken with him, even if on just a few occasions. A splendid man.
#24
Barry Boor
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Posted 08 April 2005 - 17:38
Thanks for the story of that visit, David. A very poignant tale....
#25
ReWind
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Posted 08 April 2005 - 17:45
There are two things I connect with Cliff Allison:
First this image of his crash in Monaco 1960:
In his 1984 book „Ferrari: The Grand Prix Cars“ from which this stunning picture is taken Alan Henry wrote this:
Second the unique fact that in 1959 at the Avus in Berlin he actually set the fastest qualifying time but had to start the first heat of the German GP from penultimate position because he was only a reserve entry. On this Alan Henry wrote:
Seems Henry Clifford Allison was not only a gifted racing driver but had a talent for telling a story, too.
But the race of his life had happened one year earlier as he told AUTOSPORT in 1993:
First this image of his crash in Monaco 1960:
In his 1984 book „Ferrari: The Grand Prix Cars“ from which this stunning picture is taken Alan Henry wrote this:
Practice was marred by a spectacular accident when Cliff Allison clipped the chicane in his Dino 246, the car pirouetting violently, throwing its driver out on the track from whence he was rushed to hospital with unpleasant head and facial injuries. Cliff had set a promising grid time on the first day of practice only for the time to be scrubbed due to a failure in the circuit timing apparatus: by the time Tavoni communicated this to Cliff, the Englishman was waiting to do a full-tank run on new tyres…
„But I decided that I would have to go for a time“, reflected Allison somewhat regretfully, „and going down into the chicane I got caught out by that revised gear shift, went from fifth to second, locked the rear wheels and glanced the barrier. No excuse, it was all my own fault... I woke up in hospital speaking French… which was strange, because I didn’t know any French!“
Second the unique fact that in 1959 at the Avus in Berlin he actually set the fastest qualifying time but had to start the first heat of the German GP from penultimate position because he was only a reserve entry. On this Alan Henry wrote:
Allison, whose Dino 246 retired early in the first heat with clutch trouble, recalls that quick lap around Avus with a mixture of amusement and pride: „I thought my car was exactly the same as the other three, but it just wouldn’t pull the same revs. So I thought to myself, I’ll go throught the kink on to the banking without lifting… well, I did, and I nearly slid sideways all the way up the banking. I thought, Christ, I’m coming in after this. When I pulled into the pits everybody was cheering because I’d done this record lap. But the engine still wasn’t pulling maximum revs. Then they told me that it was an experimental engine and they were worried that it wouldn’t last, so they’d fitted the car with a longer top gear… but they never told me that before!“
Seems Henry Clifford Allison was not only a gifted racing driver but had a talent for telling a story, too.
But the race of his life had happened one year earlier as he told AUTOSPORT in 1993:
#26
ReWind
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Posted 10 April 2005 - 17:18
This posting on 10 Tenths indicates that Allison’s crash at Monaco was even worse than I thought. Can anyone confirm that Allison in fact spent 16 days in a coma?
#27
flat-16
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Posted 10 April 2005 - 17:52
In reference to ReWind's question, I quote this from David Tremayne's obit printed in The Independent Sat 9/4/05:
Posted by ReWind:
I have a feeling people will be enjoying the stories for many years to come. RIP Cliff, thanks for the memories.
Cheers,
Justin
"... When he awoke from a 16-day coma he found he could speak French, which was odd since he had understood not a word of the language previously."
Posted by ReWind:
Seems Henry Clifford Allison was not only a gifted racing driver but had a talent for telling a story, too.
I have a feeling people will be enjoying the stories for many years to come. RIP Cliff, thanks for the memories.
Cheers,
Justin
#28
FerrariV12
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Posted 17 April 2005 - 09:37
Very sad news! never knew he was a fellow Cumbrian either! Local lad driving for Ferrari in Formula 1 would seem a bit far fetched these days! R.I.P.
never knew he was a fellow Cumbrian either! Local lad driving for Ferrari in Formula 1 would seem a bit far fetched these days! R.I.P.
#29
David Beard
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Posted 17 April 2005 - 16:49
Originally posted by FerrariV12
Very sad news!
Cliff's remote home location, when he was so much a part of the Hornsey family in the early days, fascinates me. He seems to have treated the commute to north London as an extra practice session. Apparently his best time for the 249 miles from Hornsey to Brough was exactly three hours (many years before motorways, of course)...an average speed of 83mph. This was achieved "in 1956 in the early hours of a summer, starting in the dark at 2am. The car, a Series 1 Eleven, cruised for mile after mile at over 110mph"
(Sports Car & Lotus Owner, February 1958)
#30
gerard BARATHIEU
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Posted 17 April 2005 - 17:22
DAVID,
could you scan the photo with CLIFF in thr MASER at OPORTO 1958 ?
could you scan the photo with CLIFF in thr MASER at OPORTO 1958 ?
#31
David Beard
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Posted 17 April 2005 - 17:33
Originally posted by gerard BARATHIEU
DAVID,
could you scan the photo with CLIFF in thr MASER at OPORTO 1958 ?
The photos I have of Cliff in the 250F were passed to me by TNFer Neri Moreira...I'm not sure how the copyright stands for me to post his photos here. Try a PM to him?
#33
ian senior
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Posted 04 May 2005 - 08:08
Originally posted by David Beard
Local newspaper report on the funeral.....
http://www.newsandst....aspx?id=202131
The penultimate paragraph says it all. Copies should be sent to everyone involved in present day F1.
#34
David Beard
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Posted 04 May 2005 - 11:39
Unfortunately the writer of the article gets something wrong: it wasn't the Ferrari crash that ended Cliff's career.
#36
Paul Rochdale
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#37
Scuderia SSS
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Posted 07 April 2006 - 15:06
Just found this thread.
Sad indeed. I had the pleasure of spending an evening in the company of Cliff and others only 6 months before he died.
Here are a couple of shots of the evening. The first is me and Cliff, and one of Cliff with Tony Brooks and Surtees. It was the Surtees tribute evening at Sywell Aerodrome. Good memories.
Sad indeed. I had the pleasure of spending an evening in the company of Cliff and others only 6 months before he died.
Here are a couple of shots of the evening. The first is me and Cliff, and one of Cliff with Tony Brooks and Surtees. It was the Surtees tribute evening at Sywell Aerodrome. Good memories.
#38
David Beard
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Posted 06 April 2008 - 20:51
I was passing through Brough on Saturday, so spent a quiet moment:
#39
AAA-Eagle
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Posted 07 April 2010 - 20:18
It has been 5 years today since Cliff passed away
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#40
llmaurice
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Posted 08 April 2010 - 09:42
Still remembered as a truly nice unaffected man-in or out of a car .
