33 replies to this topic

[Graham Gauld]

Sadly Mike MacDowel two time British Hill Climb Champion and Cooper driver, died on January 18 following a long illness.

 

 

[Tim Murray]

Oh no. Yet more sad news. Sincere condolences to his family and friends.

[Doug Nye]

Very sorry to hear of Mike's passing. This is proving to be a seriously costly month. He was a very pleasant man, and a far more talented driver than perhaps his results might demonstrate.

 

Sincere condolences to his family and friends.

 

DCN

[Richard Jenkins]

Oh FFS, not another death. I think DCN has captured everything I would've said but I'll say it anyway;
Delightful man. A real enthusiast and very modest about what he did.
Sincere condolences to his family and to his friends which are many in number.

[Eric Dunsdon]

Sadly Mike MacDowel two time British Hill Climb Champion and Cooper driver, died on January 18 following a long illness.

Sorry at the loss of another link with my younger days as an enthusiastic spectator.

[Alan Cox]

Very sorry to hear this.

Coincidentally, as I was looking through my files for photos of Mike Salmon to post here, I came across a number of pictures of Mike at the same Goodwood Festival and I was wondering how he was, as I haven't seen him around recently. I shall now go and look them out.

Only one GP start in a works Cooper T43 at Rouen in 1957 but, as Doug says, he was better than his results would suggest

[john aston]

Oh crikey ; I confess that with most deaths of people in the sport I normally feel a moment's sadness and utter some ritual pleasantry but this is different . I didn't know MM but  he is one of those names  (along with Davids Hepworth and Good, Nicholas Williamson, Richard Thwaites et al) who I will always associate with my early days as a start line marshal at Harewood in 1970-4. BT30X  was it ?   

[2F-001]

I think Michael MacDowel had already stopped competing regularly by the time I got really interested in hill climbing, so I never met him, but his was certainly a name with a great 'presence' within the sport. Wasn't it his old Repco motor that found its way into Chris Dowson's Pillbeam - the one that Charles Wardle took to a hillclimb title? That was an entertaining car to watch; or maybe it was an entertaining driver...

 

I only discovered fairly recently that MacDowel competed in a Grand Prix (possibly something I'd read before, but it didn't sink in).

 

All round, though, what a very sad start to the year.

Edited by 2F-001, 20 January 2016 - 20:22.

[Richard Jenkins]

Worth mentioning that MacDowel's death means all those who raced at the 1957 French Grand Prix have now passed on. That now becomes the most recent Grand Prix that no-one who raced remains alive. Prior to yesterday, it was the 1954 Argentine Grand Prix. Only 17 (if John Barber is actually alive) men remain who raced in a Grand Prix in the 1950's; sadly history is fading right in front of us.

[Eric Dunsdon]

Worth mentioning that MacDowel's death means all those who raced at the 1957 French Grand Prix have now passed on. That now becomes the most recent Grand Prix that no-one who raced remains alive. Prior to yesterday, it was the 1954 Argentine Grand Prix. Only 17 (if John Barber is actually alive) men remain who raced in a Grand Prix in the 1950's; sadly history is fading right in front of us.

A sad thought indeed, but those drivers will always be remembered by those that watched and admired them.

[Stephen W]

Mike MacDowell won the first hillclimb I attended in the neat & tidy Palliser-Repco WDH1. I chatted with him on a couple of occasions and he was very friendly. I did see him driving the Brabham-Repco BT36X that he took to the championship and also in the Ralt RT1 Hart that was modified by Derek Gardner and was known as the Coogar-Ralt (the Coo bit coming from Mike's association with John Coombs).

[MCS]

Always wondered where the "Coogar" bit came from, Steve.  Thanks.

 

How old was he by the way?

[ReWind]

Just look there.

[MCS]

Thank you, Reinhard.

[Charlieman]

COOmbs GARages

 

Mike with the Coogar at Loton in 1976

Looks like a Ralt with a big nose...  Does anyone know the changes made or suggested by Derek Gardner?

[Michael Ferner]

Apart from the bearded (?) lady to its left, I can't spot anything unusual in the picture...

[Tim Murray]

Does anyone know the changes made or suggested by Derek Gardner?

My understanding is that Gardner designed/organised the mods necessary to install a Cosworth DFV into the ex-Larry Perkins F3 Ralt.

[Stephen W]

The car shown in the above Alan Cox photo had an F2 Hart 420R 4 cylinder 2 litre engine. The full width nose was 'de rigeur' at this time on the Ralt RT1. The car was to have had a DFV in it but ended up with the cheaper and easier to acquire Rover V8.

[2F-001]

Is this Coogar related to a car I associate (in my mind, at least) with Alan Payne - or another iteration of the theme? 

 

The RT1's nose looks pretty standard, doesn't it? Except that it's trying to snort a set of overalls...

Edited by 2F-001, 23 January 2016 - 11:07.

[Tim Murray]

The car definitely did have a 3.3 litre DFV fitted, and MacDowel ran it in this form in 1978 and 1979. Looking through old programmes, it appears that the car wasn't entered as a 'Coogar' until after the DFV was fitted - before that it was entered as a 'Ralt RT1-Hart'. This would tend to confirm my suspicion that Coo- referred to Coombs and -gar to Derek Gardner.

The first mention I can find of Alan Payne running the car is in 1983 when it was Rover V8-powered. Would this have been the Rover V8 previously fitted to 'Smiley Riley', his fearsome special saloon based on a Riley 1.5?

Richard Young, who used to post here both under his own name and as 'Coogar', told us in another thread that he acquired the Coogar in 1985 and ran it in Ireland for the next fifteen years. Does anyone know where it is now?

[2F-001]

I've now consulted Chris Mason's Uphill Racers: he writes it was the same Rover unit previously used in the Riley (which is reported to have be driven subsequently by Nick Langdon - although with what engine is not stated).

 

I'd assumed that same Rover unit was the one used, later, in Alan's Anson F3-based car - Mason confirms that, and adds that the Coogar was passed on to David Keer (if that fills in any gaps for anyone).

Edited by 2F-001, 23 January 2016 - 19:43.

[Tim Murray]

Thanks Tony. Why didn't I have the sense to buy that book when it didn't cost silly money?

[2F-001]

I received my copy in '91 - exactly one year after publication: it has a 'happy christmas' inscription inside from my Mum and Dad!

It was £40 when new; but an online 'inflation calculator' I tried suggests that would be £89 in todays money - but that sounds an awful lot to me.

[MCS]

I've been after a copy for years.  I hope to be lucky one day.

 

It appears as used for £89 / £99 fairly regularly, but look at this!  http://www.amazon.co...53628335&sr=8-1

[Paul Parker]

I've been after a copy for years.  I hope to be lucky one day.

 

It appears as used for £89 / £99 fairly regularly, but look at this!  http://www.amazon.co...53628335&sr=8-1

 

Just daft.

 

You see all sorts of books with humungous price tags on Amazon and elsewhere, including some of mine, it is simply somebody seeing if they can get away with it.

[2F-001]

I think those ridiculous prices are sometimes the product of an auto-pricing algorithm that's run amok. (Sorry, even further off-topic.)

[Tim Murray]

... as explained here:

http://www.michaelei...org/blog/?p=358

(originally posted in the Books thread by Vitesse2)

[Vitesse2]

I've been after a copy for years.  I hope to be lucky one day.

 

It appears as used for £89 / £99 fairly regularly, but look at this!  http://www.amazon.co...53628335&sr=8-1

I think that rather than a rogue algorithm that's 'fat finger syndrome' and should be either 89.99, 99.99 or 98.99.

[layabout]

Gentlemen: This thread was started to honor a two-time British Hillclimb Champion & Cooper driver, Michael MacDowel. It was not intended as a forum to go on about book, book prices & the like.

 

Michael MacDowel was an accomplished driver in all manner of cars, Bobtail Coopers, John Coombs' GTO , Brabham & Palliser (formula) hillclimb cars, F2 cars, plus he was Jaguar's Competition Manager & more. Surely there is plenty to talk about without going off course with a discussion about books that better belongs in the Book Thread?

 

Please, can we see some photos, personal stories & the like...?

 

Edited by layabout, 25 January 2016 - 22:42.

[MCS]

I would like to know why he left circuit racing for the hills.  Do you know why, layabout?

[socram]

Had a the good fortune to meet Mike a few years ago when he was in New Zealand.  We met at a fund-raising art show for the McLaren Trust.  A lovely man and I think he was somewhat surprised that I even knew of him!

 

RiP

[Rupertlt1]

At Doune Hill Climb, 1970:

 

https://news.google....6,4091440&hl=en

 

RGDS RLT

[layabout]

I would like to know why he left circuit racing for the hills.  Do you know why, layabout?

Perhaps military service took precedence. By the time he came out of the RAF all the drives were gone. So apart from being reserve driver for Lister (who had Jaguar support ) at Le Mans, his only (much later ) circuit races were in the Coombs cars .

 

Hillclimbing was more a hobby, which fit in with his day job of managing the Coombs organization.

[Richard Young]

I was very sorry to hear of Mike's death, as I had always intended to make contact with him, but, as with so many things, never got round to it.

 cars from the past, As Steve mentions above, I was the Coogar's 'keeper' for the better part of 15 years and enjoyed every minute of the affair. It was the perfect car for Irish hills, which tend to be longer and bumpier than the mainland variety, and proved to be a very friendly car. As Steve says it had been 'Roverised' by Alan Payne when I bought it from David Keer, but it seemed to me that the Gardner mods - apart from fitting that DFL in earlier life consisted of lenthening the wheelbase by about four inches and making appropriate changes to the rear suspension.  When it came to me it had what appeared to be a March 761 - or thereabouts - nose and one side-mounted radiator. Gearbox was an FGA/FG400. We changed the nose to a 'normal' Ralt front end/radiator arrangement to make things cooler and to get more weight over the front wheels as, on sticky grippy days, it would 'wheelie' off the line and skip over the old timing shoes that were used back in the day - anybody else remember them ? - with a resultant 'no time'.

A great car capable of flattering a less-than-great driver.

It left me in 1999 and went to John Leinster, thence to John McNamara in Galway. John McN had a heavy accident in it and tub went back to Maurice Gomm who rebuilt it - making, I think, the first-ish (chassis RT1/2) and last RT1 tub Maurice worked on before his sad death. I believe it is now somewhere in the Midlands....

As with so many cars from my past, I should never have parted with it.......