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Stu Howitt - in Oulton Park lake?


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#1 Auroraf1

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Posted 17 May 2011 - 16:18

Hi Chaps

We have been asked to find pictures of a memorial which was (is?) here at Oulton Park.

It is to a Stu Hewitt, who drowned in the lake in 1968 (driving a Hillman Imp?)

I know nothing of this story and hope that one of you can help?

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#2 Simon Arron

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Posted 17 May 2011 - 16:22

Phil, his name was Stu Howitt.

#3 Auroraf1

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Posted 17 May 2011 - 16:32

Thanks Simon

I wish I knew how to edit my title?


#4 Auroraf1

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Posted 17 May 2011 - 16:44

A phone call from Diz Smith (who pointed out that I missed his jibe about the Stirling Moss mural on another thread) revealed that Stu was a Liverpool driver and it was in the brook and not the lake. Thanks Diz.

Any else out there with info?

#5 MCS

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Posted 17 May 2011 - 16:48

There is a picture (not of the accident) in one of Peter McFadyen's books, along with a description of what happened.

Edited by MCS, 17 May 2011 - 17:03.


#6 elansprint72

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Posted 17 May 2011 - 17:57

There used to be quite a drop (6ft ?) off the circuit on the outside of Knicker Brook, into the brook/swamp itself. This has since been culverted and levelled.

#7 Tim Murray

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Posted 17 May 2011 - 18:35

There are very basic details on Motorsport Memorial, but they do include the date of the accident:

http://www.motorspor...hp?db=ct&n=4382

#8 Giraffe

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Posted 17 May 2011 - 21:36

The month before Stu perished, I was marshalling as a "junior race assistant" at Aintree and Stu persuaded me and my mate (with probably 10/- I'd guess) to leaflet cars in the carpark during our lunch break for his garage business on Merseyside.
I was at Oulton Park marshalling when he died, but not at the scene of the incident. I recall that the Imp was his wife's car, and I also recall talking to the guys who attended the incident later that day. They told me that Stu actually drowned in the inverted car at Knicker Brook and that the St.John's Ambulance workers who attended the accident couldn't get a tube down him to clear his lungs, the reason for which was discovered later, that being that he swallowed his dentures in the accident (dentures he should have removed before racing, I was told).
This all made a huge impact on me as a very young marshal, and I hope that I have not provided too much detail of poor Stu's demise here, even though nearly 43 years have now passed.