33 replies to this topic

[piperp2]

I have just come across some old slides again from 1960/61 which I need to digitise and they clearly show John Ewer with a Lola Mk1, does anyone remember this? Is John Ewer still alive?

Edited by piperp2, 18 July 2009 - 17:37.

[Andrew Kitson]

Is John Ewer still alive?

I'd like to know this too. I remember him racing a saloon Mustang in the late 60s, which he shared with Syd Fox in long distance races.

[Bjorn Kjer]

Is this a coincidence or did you see it ,John Ewer is just mentioned on the Goodwood-early 60' thread with part of his transporter.

[piperp2]

Is this a coincidence or did you see it ,John Ewer is just mentioned on the Goodwood-early 60' thread with part of his transporter.

No coincidence, I recently collected some slides from Ronald’s Wrenns daughter (Ronald Wrenn Aspern 1961 Hume Cooper). These were taken in 1959/60/61 and some of the slides show John Ewer at the Roksilde Ring in Denmark, they show Ronald with his Lotus 11 and Lotus 17 and John Ewer standing alongside his Lola Mk1 and a single car trailer with John Ewer Motors scribed on the side.

[d j fox]

I have a vague memory that John Ewer ran a Lister Corvette in 1959/1960 and changed to a blue Lola Mk1 in which he raced sporadically in 1961

David Fox

[piperp2]

The picture below shows John Ewer standing next to his Lola Mk1 and Ronald Wrenn standing next to his Lotus 17, the car in the middle is Charlie 'Todger' Whites Lotus 11. The picture was taken in September 1960 in Denmark they were on there way back to the UK from the Roskilde Sept 10/11 1960 event



Event Details below:

GP Copenhagen
Grand Prix Copenhagen, Roskilde Ring, Copenhagen Date: 11.9.1960

Pos. No. Driver / Nationality Car
1. - John Skaarup (DK) Lotus Eleven Climax
2. - Elo Sörensen (DK) Lotus Eleven Climax
3. - Ronald Wrenn (GB) Lotus 17 Climax
4. - E. Riisager-Hansen (DK) Lotus Eleven
5. - Yngve Rosqvist (S) Maserati
6. - Jörgen Ellekjaer (DK) Cooper

Edited by piperp2, 08 October 2009 - 18:31.

[Bjorn Kjer]

Thanks very much , superb picture !

[JimVale]

I'd like to know this too. I remember him racing a saloon Mustang in the late 60s, which he shared with Syd Fox in long distance races.

I know this is a very old thread, but did anyone ever find out if John Ewer is still around ? I had a really nice working relationship with him....but it was about 40 yrs ago and he attended my wedding about that time. By that time he had given up racing, (although he still had the Mustang) and we formed a partnership overhauling Jaguar engines in NW London...which was quite successful. He introduced me to many racing greats......Frank Costin, Sid Fox, Gerry Marshall and many others....all spoke highly of John being a very fair and a very underated driver. The last time I came across John, he was running a car sales slot in Sth London. He did have a very sweet French girl friend, and he was seriously learning French...I believe with the view to moving over there. Going by my age now, John must be well into his 80's...but he was very fit....so maybe he's still around....I would love to find out.

[bradbury west]

[quote name='d j fox' date='Jul 20 2009, 21:33' post='3753253']
I have a vague memory that John Ewer ran a Lister Corvette in 1959/1960 and changed to a blue Lola Mk1 in which he raced sporadically in 1961 David Fox quote]

The Lister Corvette was for sale in Autosport 1/7/1960
Roger Lund

[horizon]

And is again forsale in the USA 2010.
PM if interested pls.

[David McKinney]

The Lola was owned by - or at least entered by - Derek Wilkinson

[piperp2]

The Lola was owned by - or at least entered by - Derek Wilkinson

Who was Derek Wilkinson, did he compete? did he enter any other cars and do you know if the Lola still exists?

[David McKinney]

Raced ERAs with the VSCC. Also owned the Lister-Jag that Bekaert raced before the Lola. Can't add more without further research

Last I heard (2008) the Lola was being raced by Kurt Del Bene in the US of A

[Paul Parker]

Who was Derek Wilkinson, did he compete? did he enter any other cars and do you know if the Lola still exists?

Derek Wilkinson was entrant and owner of the Lister raced by John Bekaert in period and later a Lola Mk1.

[Paul Parker]

Raced ERAs with the VSCC. Also owned the Lister-Jag that Bekaert raced before the Lola. Can't add more without further research

Last I heard (2008) the Lola was being raced by Kurt Del Bene in the US of A

Apologies David I've replicated your post unintentionally.

As an aside a few years ago an E type reg. no. YRP 999 I think, was touted as being owned by DW for Bekaert to race although I'm fairly sure it never was.

[piperp2]

The Lola was owned by - or at least entered by - Derek Wilkinson

Spoke to John Ewer today and he confirmed that the Lola was owned and entered by himself outright. He was delighted to hear the car still exists.

[David McKinney]

Terribly sorry, Pipes - for some reason I had John Bekaert in mind when we were discussing John Ewer. Put it down to senility

Apologies too to Mr Parker for leading him astray. Again...

[Paul Parker]

Terribly sorry, Pipes - for some reason I had John Bekaert in mind when we were discussing John Ewer. Put it down to senility

Apologies too to Mr Parker for leading him astray. Again...

You were not.

Whilst researching the Bekaert Lister some years ago for a magazine article and track test I understood that Bekaert's Lola (BR 11 according to some) ride was also courtesy of Derek Wilkinson as per period information. Or am I getting the wrong end of this? I was not inferring that John Ewer's car was entered by Wilkinson.

However not being a Lola aficianado I stand to be corrected, what chassis number is the Ewer car?

[David McKinney]

No Paul, you're right about the Wilkinson/Bekaert question, as was I. The problem was that the thread is talking about Ewer's Lola, and I threw in the Wilkinson angle for a different car.

Bekaert's car was BR11, now with Kurt Del Bene. Ewer's was BR20, subsequent fate unknown

Edited by David McKinney, 23 August 2010 - 22:07.

[piperp2]

No Paul, you're right about the Wilkinson/Bekaert question, as was I. The problem was that the thread is talking about Ewer's Lola, and I threw in the Wilkinson angle for a different car.

Bekaert's car was BR11, now with Kurt Del Bene. Ewer's was BR20, subsequent fate unknown

Could I ask how you know John Ewers car was BR20? John does remember he sold it to a guy in America

[David McKinney]

I believe that info would have come from David Pratley's book (Lola's First)

[MikeWalton]

Spoke to John Ewer today and he confirmed that the Lola was owned and entered by himself outright. He was delighted to hear the car still exists.

Hello piperp2 - as is the way of the interweb I stumbled over this thread whilst looking for something else entirely. Good to see John Ewer is still around, I worked for him as a mechanic during the (I think) 1965 and 67 seasons. It seems a god awful long time ago which of course it is ! I do believe I have some photos of the McLaren on this computer - if only I could find them ! Hope this thread is still active.

best regards

Mike Walton

[Sharman]

No Paul, you're right about the Wilkinson/Bekaert question, as was I. The problem was that the thread is talking about Ewer's Lola, and I threw in the Wilkinson angle for a different car.

Bekaert's car was BR11, now with Kurt Del Bene. Ewer's was BR20, subsequent fate unknown

David
According to t'other David BR11 was 2nd in class at the 'Ring 1000 km Baekert/de Selincourt and was written off at Oulton in 1965 so it is not with anybody now.
John

[David McKinney]

Written off by Mike Fraser?
He then had it rebuilt on a new chassis and continued to race it, the car henceforward being known as BR11-33
So you're right in that the actual BR11 frame doesn't exist, but Kurt Del Bene has everything else including, I maintain, a continuous history of the car since new
And no, I don't know Mr Del Bene....

[Jesper O. Hansen]

The picture below shows John Ewer standing next to his Lola Mk1 and Ronald Wrenn standing next to his Lotus 17, the car in the middle is Charlie 'Todger' Whites Lotus 11. The picture was taken in September 1960 in Denmark they were on there way back to the UK from the Roskilde Sept 10/11 1960 event



Event Details below:

GP Copenhagen
Grand Prix Copenhagen, Roskilde Ring, Copenhagen Date: 11.9.1960

Pos. No. Driver / Nationality Car
1. - John Skaarup (DK) Lotus Eleven Climax
2. - Elo Sörensen (DK) Lotus Eleven Climax
3. - Ronald Wrenn (GB) Lotus 17 Climax
4. - E. Riisager-Hansen (DK) Lotus Eleven
5. - Yngve Rosqvist (S) Maserati
6. - Jörgen Ellekjaer (DK) Cooper

I'm sure the picture was taken at Wittrup Hotel in Albertslund, situated about midway from Copenhagen to Roskilde Ring: http://www.wittrupmotel.dk/eng/rooms

Jesper

[SydFox1]

Hello piperp2 - as is the way of the interweb I stumbled over this thread whilst looking for something else entirely. Good to see John Ewer is still around, I worked for him as a mechanic during the (I think) 1965 and 67 seasons. It seems a god awful long time ago which of course it is ! I do believe I have some photos of the McLaren on this computer - if only I could find them ! Hope this thread is still active.

best regards

Mike Walton

Hi Mike,
I was a good friend of John Ewer and drove some of his cars,I have been trying to contact him for some time and have only recently come across your report.
Could you please give me his email address and/or phone number.If you want to be discreet I can let you have my email address.I,m in Mallorca for the Winter.
Regards,
Syd Fox.

[SydFox1]

Spoke to John Ewer today and he confirmed that the Lola was owned and entered by himself outright. He was delighted to hear the car still exists.

Hi Pierp2
I was good friends with John Ewer and drove some of his cars.I,ve been trying to get in touch for some time.Could you supply me with his email
and/or phone number?To keep this info confidential you can reach me sydfox400@gmail.com.I know that John would like to hear from me.
Kind regards,
Syd Fox.

[Tim Murray]

Syd, if you check Mike Walton's profile:

http://forums.autosp...?showuser=70295

you'll see that he hasn't checked in here since he posted that post back in November, so the best thing is probably to send him a direct message. If you scroll down to the bottom left of his profile, you'll find two options, Send Message and Send Email. 'Send Message' sends him a Personal Message (PM) via this bulletin board, and he'll also get an automatic email notification that there's a message for him here. 'Send email' does what it says on the tin, but I suggest you try both options, as sometimes the direct email doesn't get through, for some reason.

Piperp2's profile:

http://forums.autosp...?showuser=15595

shows he last checked in here a couple of days ago, so he'll probably spot your post fairly soon, but you might like to contact him direct too.

Hope this helps, and apologies if you knew all this already.

[SydFox1]

Syd, if you check Mike Walton's profile:

http://forums.autosp...?showuser=70295

you'll see that he hasn't checked in here since he posted that post back in November, so the best thing is probably to send him a direct message. If you scroll down to the bottom left of his profile, you'll find two options, Send Message and Send Email. 'Send Message' sends him a Personal Message (PM) via this bulletin board, and he'll also get an automatic email notification that there's a message for him here. 'Send email' does what it says on the tin, but I suggest you try both options, as sometimes the direct email doesn't get through, for some reason.

Piperp2's profile:

http://forums.autosp...?showuser=15595

shows he last checked in here a couple of days ago, so he'll probably spot your post fairly soon, but you might like to contact him direct too.

Hope this helps, and apologies if you knew all this already.

Hi Tim,thanks for the advice re:John Ewer,I am very much an "L" driver online and need all the help I can get
Syd.

[SydFox1]

Hello piperp2 - as is the way of the interweb I stumbled over this thread whilst looking for something else entirely. Good to see John Ewer is still around, I worked for him as a mechanic during the (I think) 1965 and 67 seasons. It seems a god awful long time ago which of course it is ! I do believe I have some photos of the McLaren on this computer - if only I could find them ! Hope this thread is still active.

best regards

Mike Walton

Hi Mike ,
Doubling up on things lets hope someone out there can get us in touch with John Ewer,I would like copies of the McLaren by which you mean the Single Seater,a real beast which I hear
its new owner was killed in it.Also,have you any photos of the Lola T70 ?
Syd.

[Rupertlt1]

I've just come across a picture of John Ewer in the Lola Mk 1 at Silverstone in the Six Hour Relay, 13 August 1960.

See centre spread Motor Sport, September 1960. The car was registered AJD 432.

RGDS RLT

[Sharman]

Kurt de Bene I think advertised the Lola a couple of years ag, whether it was sold i know not but I don't imagine he was selling it because he needed the money. He owns a large chunk of Microsoft. Incidentally BL 103 Baekerts Listerwas also owned by Bill de Selincourt now owned by (still I think)Shaun Lynn

[Rupertlt1]

Kurt de Bene I think advertised the Lola a couple of years ag, whether it was sold i know not but I don't imagine he was selling it because he needed the money. He owns a large chunk of Microsoft. Incidentally BL 103 Baekerts Listerwas also owned by Bill de Selincourt now owned by (still I think)Shaun Lynn

 

This is at odds with post #24? The car John Ewer drove is thought to be BR20 (now known to be registered AJD 432)?

 

John Ewer in the Lola Mk 1 at Silverstone in the Six Hour Relay, 13 August 1960, Motor Sport, September 1960, Page 718 says: "Ewer's Lola-Climax delivered at 5 a.m. that morning,..."

 

Not listed here: http://www.lolaherit...egister/mk1.htm

 

The John Bekaert and Bill de Selincourt car was registered VBL 858:

 

https://revslib.stan...log/nc374bs4689

 

RGDS RLT

Edited by Rupertlt1, 02 May 2016 - 13:38.

[Sharman]

I was referring to BR 11 Rupert

JSF