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#1 ian senior

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Posted 27 September 2002 - 11:35

The current edition of Motor Sport carries an excellent article about this largely forgotten driver. Considering the equipment at his dsiposal, Bob did a first rate job in achieving the rsults that he did. Cananyone provide any more information or memories?

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#2 Barry Lake

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Posted 27 September 2002 - 15:00

I don't see Motor Sport these days, so don't know if this was mentioned in the story. But one thing that always has stuck in my mind about Anderson was something Denis Jenkinson once wrote. He said that, since Anderson prepared his own F1 car and towed it on a trailer to and from races, his policy was that if something major went wrong, he would pack up and go home to prepare for te next meeting.

Smart thinking. Staying up all night repairing a car then trying to race it the next day is dangerous. And usually, in such circumstances, small problems very quickly lead to bif problems.

Makes his death all the more ironic.

#3 Barry Boor

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Posted 27 September 2002 - 17:41

Although it would appear from the article in Motor Sport that Bob Anderson was a reasonably wealthy man, his achievements in a totally privately run car were, to me, outstanding.

The number of times he out-qualified factory cars and then proceeded to run ahead of them in races was remarkable.

Sadly, just another case of if only!

The circumstances of his death fill me with anger and frustration; it was SO un-necessary.

#4 Keir

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Posted 27 September 2002 - 20:12

In my Vee racing days, My friend Dennis and I were the only crewmembers. On one historic trip to New Hampshire and the "much missed" Bryar Motorsports Park. We drove 10 hours straight, ate nothing but potato chips and drank a 2 liter bottle of Coke. When we arrived at the track, we had to reassemble the right front wheel assembly. Then qualify in slightly wet conditions with the slicks still on. The second session, we got to use the rains, but the track dried out!!
Later that day we raced and I finished a credible 5th. Then we drove home.

Then again, That's Racing! :eek:

#5 Buford

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Posted 27 September 2002 - 20:17

Many people know him from Grand Prix Legends. A kind of fame I am sure he would never have imagined would take place 35 years later. What was the circumstances of his death that were "so unnecessary"?

#6 Vitesse2

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Posted 27 September 2002 - 21:33

Originally posted by Buford
Many people know him from Grand Prix Legends. A kind of fame I am sure he would never have imagined would take place 35 years later. What was the circumstances of his death that were "so unnecessary"?


He hit a marshals post in private testing at Silverstone. There was no doctor on site, only a superannuated ambulance, but no crew. He was removed from the car, which was probably what ultimately killed him, since it exacerbated his injuries. The Motor Sport article speculates that he might have survived if the whole car, with him inside, had been transported to hospital, where professional help would have been available. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. :

I'm too young to have seen Anderson race, but I used to drink with a chap who knew Bob from his biker days. He remembered him as a thoroughly decent and very sporting rider.

#7 Buford

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Posted 27 September 2002 - 21:42

OK thanks. Yeah in that era they yanked you out of the car immediately, because of the threat of fire, and because medical science had not yet come to the conclusion that stabilizing the patient on the scene is usually best. But then you get the opposite extreme like the Princess Diana incident, where they did not take her to the hospital even though she currently was stable.

But anyway, it was the fire threat that motivated rescuers to get people out now and worry about the injuries later. In fact I do not recall anything but that being done well into the late 1970s when they did start taking more time to work on an injured driver in the car and not yank him out immediately.

#8 Doug Nye

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Posted 27 September 2002 - 21:49

Bob was a good guy but very much his own man. I did an interview with him for 'Motor Racing' magazine at Oulton Park in 1967 - I think - only fragments of which were published under the magazine's contemporary '20 Questions' format. The thing that bugged him most was that almost nobody had ever offered him a drive in anything else, like a sports, GT or saloon car. He was regarded as being contentious - potential trouble - I never really knew why. He carried his Brabham around on the deck of a flat-bed VW utility. It was immaculately prepared, as had been his LolaClimax and the Juniors and - I gather - his bikes before that. He drove very well and when only private opposition faced him he was amongst the cream, as his drives at Vallelunga and Imola for example showed. His wife did the bookings and logistics for their little team, and a couple of pals from his local pub provided his pit crew and helped him with preparation. One of them told me about the accident and the aftermath. With his chest crushed he suffered terribly on the way to the hospital, where he died... Tragically Chris Williams met a rather similar fate at Silverstone in a Bob Gerard car, again on a lonely, deserted, test day. And in 1969 when Jack Brabham crashed there while Goodyear tyre testing he was hooked in the fuel-gushing wreck by his ankle, one foot having popped through the undertray which then closed and trapped him - and his boys, including Ron Dennis and Nick Goozee - later director of Penske's UK operation, spent a painstaking half-hour extricating him while smothering the spilled fuel in foam to minimise the risk of ignition. If his BT26 had gone up 'Blackie' wouldn't have stood a chance that lonely day...

DCN

#9 Dave Wright

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Posted 27 September 2002 - 22:02

Although it would appear from the article in Motor Sport that Bob Anderson was a reasonably wealthy man



This is not true. He was entirely dependent on racing to support himself, his wife and two children. It has been suggested that his frugal existance on the Grand Prix circuit was one reason he failed to secure a works drive - he didn't mix with the right people. I have quite a bit of background information on Bob from the book "Fast and Furious" written about the 1967 season. I don't feel it is appropriate to post it all in this forum, but if I get the chance I will e-mail Ian with it.

#10 LittleChris

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Posted 27 September 2002 - 23:20

Originally posted by Doug Nye
Bob was a good guy but very much his own man.

DCN


So RESERVED rather than ' a bit posh' as intimated in the MS article ? Sadly this also seems to answer a previous thread about where at Silverstone Bob met his fate. I'd assumed it was on the entry to Becketts whereas someone else thought it was on the Hangar Straight. For those that haven't had access to the article, he was 'running in' his car on the Club circuit and crashed on the entry to Woodcote.

#11 Ray Bell

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Posted 29 September 2002 - 12:35

Did he approach 'Blackie' with a view to buying one of the Repco-powered cars?

I recall some discussion that it had been a shame that he languished and died in a Climax-engined car while the less skilled but more wealthy Guy Ligier got a Repco...

#12 Vitesse2

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Posted 29 September 2002 - 13:06

Originally posted by Ray Bell
Did he approach 'Blackie' with a view to buying one of the Repco-powered cars?

I recall some discussion that it had been a shame that he languished and died in a Climax-engined car while the less skilled but more wealthy Guy Ligier got a Repco...


No mention of that in Motor Sport, Ray. They do hint that he was considering having his BT11 rebuilt with a "bespoke chassis", but no mention of what might have powered it - his non-injected Climax was 4 years old. There weren't many engines available to privateers in those days and another Climax would have been pointless - a Martin V8 maybe?

And apparently Big Lou was considering him for a BRM drive in 68 :| Make of that what you will ....

#13 Ray Bell

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Posted 29 September 2002 - 21:30

His 'non-injected Climax' was, of course, an FPF 4-cyl engine.

During the previous formula he had run a V8 Climax... or was that a BRM?

Anyway, he might have had the choice of enlarging one of these, as was done for the Tasman Cup series by both builders and which engines were run with success by both Team Lotus and BRM in F1 as they awaited more suitable engines.

At the same time, Repco were in full production with their V8, several were running in Australia in both 2.5 and 4.4-litre form, there was, IIRC, one or maybe two 4.4s in British hillclimbing, and Jack didn't have the only 3-litre versions...

I think Repco would have been the choice.

#14 Doug Nye

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Posted 01 October 2002 - 17:43

Just for interest, this is the 'Motor Racing' magazine feature with Bob - from an interview conducted at the Oulton Park Spring Cup meeting... under the trees, in the grassy paddock...

TWENTY
QUESTIONS
It’s not easy out on your own, says Bob Anderson, Grand Prix independent

In pre-war days there was a happy, fortunate band of wealthy amateurs who drove in Grands Prix for the pleasure of it. They called them les independantes. Today they are very few and far between; Guy Ligier is one example, Joakim Bonnier another. But nowadays there is a variation—the private owner who, for sheer love of racing, contrives somehow to do well enough with inferior equipment in one of the most competitive and costly of all classes of motor racing. Such a one is Bob Anderson, ex-racing motorcyclist.

Essentially a ‘lone wolf’, operating his own Brabham Intercontinental with 2.7 litre four-cylinder FPF Coventry Climax engine, Bob Anderson ended a 1966 season of troubles with sixth place in the Italian GP, then went out to Africa, won the Rhodesian GP at Bulawayo, came fifth in the South African GP, and was second in heat one, first in heat two and second overall in the Cape Town GP at Killarney. Back home, the car threw fits of temperament in both the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch and the Spring Cup at Oulton Park, while at Silverstone in the International Trophy he was involved with Denny Hulme in a lap 1 mix-up, but rejoined the race two laps down and finished eighth.

Anderson came to motor racing in 1961 with a great reputation in motor cycle racing with wins in Northern Ireland, Nurburgring, Bourg-en-Bresse, Mallory, Brands, Scarborough, Castle Combe, Silverstone, etc to his credit. He raced Lotuses in his first year on four wheels, drove for I.otus the following year, and bought a Formula 1 Lola in 1963. With it he won the Rome GP at Vallelunga, was third at Imola, and fourth at Syracuse. For 1964 he got a new Brabham with carburettor Climax V8 engine, and scored his first World Championship points with third in the Austrian GP and sixth in the Dutch. With excellent placings elsewhere he was awarded The Von Trips Memorial Trophy by the GPDA as the most successful private entrant of 1964.

1965, the final year of the 1½-litre Formula, brought him little but trouble; a sixth at Syracuse, disqualification at Goodwood when fifth, fuel injection trouble at Silverstone and Clermont, retirements in the British and Dutch GPs, and loss of brakes culminating in that Nurburg crash just about sum it up.

Born in Hendon, and just 36 this month, Bob and his French wife Marie-Edmée live in a pleasant old house in the village of Haynes, Bedfordshire, have a five-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son, and live a quiet life centred around racing the Brabham. Bob Anderson Racing is indeed a husband-and-wife concern, financially precarious but rich in enthusiasm and determination.

Driving your 2.7 litre four-cyilnder Climax-engined Brabham against modern multi-cylindered Formula I cars must be frustrating sometimes. Why do you do it?

‘It’s a matter of circumstances. I had to switch from the old 1½-litre Formula to the new one for 3 litre engines. I bought the Brabham chassis on the never-never after writing off my old one against a tree in practice at Nurburg in 1965, and the only engine I could buy with the amount of money I had available was a 2.7 Climax. But it is frustrating sometimes. That big four can really whistle along, but now, when we seem to have got over our first season’s piston and gearbox troubles, the latest multi-cylinder designs are becoming reliable and getting way ahead.’

How do you make it pay?

‘We don’t. We would with just a bit more success. As it is we make ends meet.'

How much longer do you think the private entrant can keep going in Formula I with all the costs involved in being competitive?

‘That’s a complicated question. I have to rely on support from component, oil and petrol, and tyre makers, and on starting money, and unless the scale of starting money payments is altered the private entrant has had it. I think that starting money should be more evenly distributed; the big names get too much, the lesser ones too little. Spread it out among more entries and you’d get better fields. And prize money should be spread out lower down the placings. Unless this is done in the very near future privateers will just disappear from the scene.’

Who prepares your Brabham?

‘I do. The lot. I have no full time mechanic, but two good friends—Alan Brodie and David Stanbridge—help at race meetings.'

Would you like to go professional and drive for a team?

‘WouId I! I’d give my right arm (well, metaphorically!). It would be lovely to turn up fresh for practice and the race, and concentrate on driving instead of worrying about preparations, tyres, pit gear, and air that. It’s very inhibiting having to keep your car in one piece when you’re trying to motor race. Last year at Oulton Park I threw a rod—and it cost me about £1,000 rebuilding the engine. Four new con rods from California alone cost me £200, and five gudgeon pins £48. That’s not cheap!'

Would you like to drive sports-racing cars at say. Le Mans or elsewhere?

‘Yes, I once drove a BT8 Brabham for Clive Hunt at Silverstone back in 1964. I came second. I enjoyed that drive.’

What about saloons!

‘Yes, I’d love ago in saloons too, but I can’t run more than the Fl Brabham from my own pocket.’

How do you find the motor racing fraternity in comparison with racing motorcyclists?

‘There’s not much of a relaxed atmosphere in either these days—they’ve all got too much on their minds. When I raced bikes they were a friendly crowd, but they’re all so professional and serious-minded nowadays; and it’s the same in cars.’

Is there any parallel at all in riding a Norton 500 and driving a Brabham?

‘No, b------ all. One goes, the other doesn’t. The Brabham will do 175 mph in the right places, the Norton does about 130 mph. But I must say the 250 cc four-cylinder Yamaha I rode in the Dutch TT last year was very exciting—62 bhp to the Norton’s 49—and only half the capacity!’

Has your bike experience been of much value to you in car racing?

‘Yes, an immense amount. Mostly in preparation. You get to know the whole car right through, just like the bikes.’

How do lines through corners, braking points, etc compare on two and four wheels?

‘It depends on the circuit. On a bike you don’t drift, on a car you do. The wheel centres differ, of course. When cornering a bike you lean over inside your line of travel: when cornering a car you are central between the wheels. As for braking, on a car you can brake further into the corner than on a bike—generally speaking, that is.’

Do you miss the bikes at all?

‘Yes; the pure pleasure of being on a really fast bike is very exhilarating. It’s something car drivers won’t understand.’

Which car circuit do you prefer?

‘Monaco; it’s one place where the others come down nearer my level. Remember I only have a little over 230 bhp.’

Which do you like least?

‘I could never get on with Aintree. I couldn’t adapt my driving to the road surface there. You couldn’t slide far enough, and it wore tyres out like nobody’s business.’

What was your first car race?

‘It was a Formula Junior race at Snetterton in 1961. I drove a front-engined Lola-Ford and came third.’

Which was your most memorable car race?

‘They’re all memorable; they all have their own twist; each one is different.’

Do you do any training or other activities to keep fit?

‘No, I just keep on the go. Working on the car keeps me fit. I play squash, and I like water skiing when in the right part of the world.’

What private car do you run?

‘I have a Mark 4 Ford Executive—power steering, automatic transmission
—the lot. Fabulousl You can’t enjoy yourself driving on British roads now, so why not be comfortable?'

What other interests have you besides car racing?

‘Nothing very profound. I like chatting with friends in the pub: we pull the world to bits and put it right. But I enjoy working on my car and getting it to go right. Our’s is a very small outfit—just my wife and me. But we do try to be efficient. We don’t mess about—you could say we are pretty dedicated to motor racing.’

What future racing plans have you?

‘I’d like a competitive engine in my Brabham. I want to continue Grand Prix racing, but would like to try other classes—the car TT, Indianapolis— races like that.’


And we added this footnote -

Despite setting a practice lap in 1min 30.6secs, faster than works drivers Amon (Ferrari), Rindt (Cooper-Maserati) and Rodriguez (Cooper-Maserti), who were guaranteed places on the grid, Bob Anderson could not start in the Monaco GP as he was one of eight drivers who had to qualify for five places—Ed.

Five months later, Bob was dead…

DCN

#15 Ray Bell

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Posted 01 October 2002 - 21:03

Originally posted by Doug Nye
How much longer do you think the private entrant can keep going in Formula I with all the costs involved in being competitive?

‘That’s a complicated question. I have to rely on support from component, oil and petrol, and tyre makers, and on starting money, and unless the scale of starting money payments is altered the private entrant has had it. I think that starting money should be more evenly distributed; the big names get too much, the lesser ones too little. Spread it out among more entries and you’d get better fields. And prize money should be spread out lower down the placings. Unless this is done in the very near future privateers will just disappear from the scene.’


Prophetic words, though some tried to deny them at the time...

Not, however, for very long.

#16 Buford

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Posted 01 October 2002 - 21:09

Thanks Doug. Fascinating. Please now post everything else you have ever written about anybody or anything and printed any place. You may want to start a new thread. How about "Doug's Stuff."

#17 Doug Nye

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Posted 01 October 2002 - 21:11

I think in such a circumstance that should read 'Doug's been stuffed'... (again)... :cat:

DCN

#18 Buford

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Posted 01 October 2002 - 21:31

Well in any event, please post stuff like that again when you have such a great paper trail of the very stuff we talk about. I remember Bob Anderson only from magazines and books. I probably saw him at Mosport in 1967. But I don't recall for sure. Your actual interview with him was great.

I pass him all the time in Grand Prix Legends before I go off the track so he is a guy who is often in my mind but I didn't know much about him.

#19 Ray Bell

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Posted 01 October 2002 - 23:49

Originally posted by Buford
...I pass him all the time in Grand Prix Legends before I go off the track so he is a guy who is often in my mind but I didn't know much about him.


See... there you go, absolute proof...

He should have got the Repco V8 instead of Guy Ligier! Buford should never have been able to pass him!

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#20 Buford

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Posted 02 October 2002 - 02:40

Actually I probably didn't see him at Mosport in 1967. I think he was already dead by then.

#21 Ray Bell

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Posted 02 October 2002 - 03:23

Well, I think he may well have been...

But you know what?

His date of death isn't recorded in the 'Speed's Ultimate Price' thread!

Canadian GP was August 27 that year.

#22 Buford

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Posted 02 October 2002 - 06:51

I pass Guy Ligier all the time just before I go off too.

#23 Jim Thurman

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Posted 02 October 2002 - 07:40

Doug,

Thanks for posting your interview with Bob Anderson. Very good :up:


Jim Thurman

#24 Barry Lake

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Posted 02 October 2002 - 08:34

Originally posted by Ray Bell

But you know what?

His date of death isn't recorded in the 'Speed's Ultimate Price' thread!

Canadian GP was August 27 that year.




Monday 14 August 1967, private testing at Silverstone.

#25 ian senior

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Posted 02 October 2002 - 08:56

I'm gobsmacked. Thanks everyone for all your postings. I knew all too little about Bob before and only wish I had been around when I could have seen him race. As I said t'other day, I haven't been on this forum very long but I wish I had come along earlier. I'll be back, sadly asking more questions rather than providing information, but it looks as though I'm in good company. I'll have to fight hard to resist metaphorically throwing myself at your collective feet and going through the "we are not worthy" routine.

Ian

#26 Ray Bell

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Posted 02 October 2002 - 11:24

"Sadly asking"?

We all ask questions... look at the threads here... twice in the last week or two Doug Nye has asked questions and got answers via this forum... just like you might. Yet he's probably going to be regarded as one who needn't ask anything.

Thing is that each of us has our own weak and strong points... the things that have clung to our active neurons and the things we didn't think worthy of remembering at the time.

Now someone has to remember to put the date of Bob Anderson's death on the "Speed's Ultimate Price" thread...

And it wasn't before that Canadian race, was it? He must have been doing some final testing after the German GP in readiness for shipment to Canada.

#27 ian senior

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Posted 26 November 2002 - 11:27

The latest issue of Motor Sport features a letter from Bob Anderson's brother, who asks the question of whatever happened to the foundation set up in Bob's name to improve safety standards at racing circuits. Anyone know anything about this?

#28 condor

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Posted 16 January 2003 - 20:23

No....but I'll try and find out :)

A useful question to ask Alan Brodie when I next meet him...

Very interesting thread - has given me a lot of background information - only hope I can add to it properly ...and fill out some gaps - when I 'interview' Brodie.

#29 condor

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Posted 09 February 2003 - 14:57

Originally posted by ian senior
The latest issue of Motor Sport features a letter from Bob Anderson's brother, who asks the question of whatever happened to the foundation set up in Bob's name to improve safety standards at racing circuits. Anyone know anything about this?


Just spoke to Alan Brodie again - and I asked him if he knew anything about it.
He said it wasn't a foundation as such....more like a mobile ambulance unit. It left the UK about 10 years ago now....but flourishes in the Far East.

#30 ian senior

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Posted 02 April 2003 - 12:19

My interest in Bob has led me, through a convoluted route, to make contact with his son Bruce. A couple of things have arisen that make me seek more information via TNF, if anyone can help, please. Firstly, I thought that Bob did a season of F2 in a Bob Gerard Cooper in 1966, as well as a couple of F2 races the previous year in a Brabham (these '65 races showed a car entered by DW Racing Enterprises, THE Bob's team). But Bruce seems to think there was another driver called Bob Anderson at the same time, and the F2 guy may have been a namesake. Any ideas one way or the other? Secondly, elsewhere on here there was a mention that Bob's Brabham was about to take to the tracks again. if indeed it has not already done so. Bruce wasn't very keen on this idea as he thought the car had been destroyed, as requested by the family. Presumably the car that is raceworthy has some parts at least in common with the original, or is it just another replica? Does anyone know? Thanks.

#31 Gary Davies

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Posted 02 April 2003 - 15:20

And of course we can thank poor Bob Anderson for unwittingly being the catalyst for Graham Hill's greatest drive, at Monaco 1965 ...

#32 Alan Cox

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Posted 02 April 2003 - 19:30

With reference to Bob rarely driving anything other than his own F1 cars, am I mistaken in recalling him having a drive in a 250LM with Mike Hailwood at Kyalami, probably 1966? Does anyone recall who the entrant might have been?

#33 ian senior

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Posted 04 April 2003 - 08:55

Originally posted by Alan Cox
With reference to Bob rarely driving anything other than his own F1 cars, am I mistaken in recalling him having a drive in a 250LM with Mike Hailwood at Kyalami, probably 1966? Does anyone recall who the entrant might have been?


Bob and Mike H were entered in the 1966 Kyalami 9 hours in a Ferrari 275 LM by Bernard White (him again), but according to what I found via Google they didn't make the start.

#34 Milan Fistonic

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Posted 04 April 2003 - 09:24

Originally posted by Alan Cox
With reference to Bob rarely driving anything other than his own F1 cars, am I mistaken in recalling him having a drive in a 250LM with Mike Hailwood at Kyalami, probably 1966? Does anyone recall who the entrant might have been?



A broken conrod during practice was the reason they didn't start the race.

#35 Pete Stowe

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Posted 04 April 2003 - 18:50

Originally posted by ian senior
I thought that Bob did a season of F2 in a Bob Gerard Cooper in 1966, .......... But Bruce seems to think there was another driver called Bob Anderson at the same time, and the F2 guy may have been a namesake. Any ideas one way or the other?

From memory I'd agree with you, there was only one Bob Anderson in F1/F2. A quick check in some 1966 Autosports, & also Doug's Cooper Cars, hasn't revealed anything to suggest anything different.

#36 Gregor Marshall

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Posted 25 February 2009 - 12:03

Originally posted by ian senior
Secondly, elsewhere on here there was a mention that Bob's Brabham was about to take to the tracks again. if indeed it has not already done so. Bruce wasn't very keen on this idea as he thought the car had been destroyed, as requested by the family. Presumably the car that is raceworthy has some parts at least in common with the original, or is it just another replica? Does anyone know? Thanks.


Did this ever get answered? :confused:

#37 GBGIVER

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Posted 25 February 2009 - 14:00

Bob Anderson apparently had a brief career as a Yamaha Grand Prix pilot as well. He rode the RD05 V4 250 in 1966. Not that long ago, and during a well documented time in G.P history, but he is completely unknown in motorcycle history and his time at Yamaha is almost completely undocumented. No biographies of his "contemporaries" mentions him at all...Very odd. Before I read this, http://www.classicya...maha-rider.html I had never heard of him...At that time, Read, Duff and others were riding the Yamaha's.

Jeremy

#38 Gregor Marshall

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Posted 25 February 2009 - 14:07

Originally posted by Gregor Marshall


Did this ever get answered? :confused:


I've just had an off-line answer - thank you - and sorry to raise such an old thread.

#39 ensign14

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Posted 25 February 2009 - 14:26

Does anyone know what DW stood for in DW Racing Enterprises?

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#40 Bjorn Kjer

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Posted 25 February 2009 - 14:41

There are more than one Bob Anderson or DW racing threads , try read them all, you may be surprised , must however say from memory I do not think your questions are answered fully, but then again , my memory.....

The only 1966 Yamaha ride Bob had was 5th in the Dutch Gp standing in for Mike Duff.

#41 Squire Straker

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Posted 25 February 2009 - 15:07

Didn't Mike Duff later become Michelle Duff a la Robert(a) Cowell?
I suppose as far as Bob Anderson was concerned Yamaha probably subsidized the running of the old Brabham.

#42 Tim Murray

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Posted 25 February 2009 - 17:05

Originally posted by ensign14
Does anyone know what DW stood for in DW Racing Enterprises?

These two threads asked the same question:

DW

DW Racing Enterprises - Bob Anderson

As Bjørn thought, we didn't reach any firm conclusions, although motorcycle dealer Dudley Ward was suggested. These days we have many more bike racing experts on the forum - perhaps one of them might be able to come up with the answer.

#43 GBGIVER

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Posted 25 February 2009 - 21:14

I find it perplexing also. As I wasn't there at the time, I have to relay on what I've read. I had never heard of him, even in the context of British National racing and am stunned that he should obtain such a ride. What is even more amazing is that there is virtually no mention of him after this ride as well...His result at the Dutch TT is something else. I have e-mailed Michelle Duff to see what she recollects. There is no mention of Anderson in her autobiography.

Jeremy

#44 Russell Burrows

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Posted 25 February 2009 - 21:20

I can't find confirmation anywhere, but something is telling me that he had raced the factory disc valve MZ's in the late fifties. Also perhaps had links with Yamaha when they first appeared in Europe around 1961? Still doesn't explain it though.... He was a bit of an ace on Manx Nortons, doing well in the TT and GP's.

#45 GBGIVER

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Posted 25 February 2009 - 21:30

I've seen some reference to a Bob Anderson riding a Guzzi 250 in Grands Prix in '52 and '53, and a Bob Anderson in the results of the 1960 IOMTT, but have no idea if these are all one- in-the-same or not?

Jeremy

#46 Bjorn Kjer

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Posted 25 February 2009 - 21:31

I listed his MC record on the Bob Anderson thread by kevthedrummer and added the NL66 5 th place here on an earlier post. A German GP report only mention Duff not being there and Ivy and Motohashi driving twins , Read and Bob 4 cyl. Yams.

#47 Russell Burrows

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Posted 25 February 2009 - 21:41

Originally posted by GBGIVER
I've seen some reference to a Bob Anderson riding a Guzzi 250 in Grands Prix in '52 and '53, and a Bob Anderson in the results of the 1960 IOMTT, but have no idea if these are all one- in-the-same or not?

Jeremy


I've checked out the tt database and it's confirmed that he did race the early MZ's ( this fact alone renders him a brave man). I don't think though that its complete as it says Bob was second in the Senior in '58, his first TT year, which as you may know is pretty much unheard of. I would bet quids that the Guzzi pilot is the same guy.

#48 GBGIVER

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Posted 25 February 2009 - 21:45

If I recall correctly, Duff was still recovering from his horrific Suzuka testing crash during the German G.P. He missed the first part of the season and the Dutch was his "comeback" race. At this point, Yamaha had given him the air-cooled RD56, but after a few more rounds he was slowly pushed off the team that was now being dominated by the Read-Ivy rivalry.

Jeremy

#49 GBGIVER

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Posted 25 February 2009 - 22:05

Originally posted by Russell Burrows


I've checked out the tt database and it's confirmed that he did race the early MZ's ( this fact alone renders him a brave man). I don't think though that its complete as it says Bob was second in the Senior in '58, his first TT year, which as you may know is pretty much unheard of. I would bet quids that the Guzzi pilot is the same guy.


Wow, this is certainly is a portrait of an interesting career that's being painted here. Not to sound arrogant, but i can't believe that I'd never read anything about him...

Jeremy

#50 Russell Burrows

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Posted 25 February 2009 - 22:10

Originally posted by GBGIVER


Wow, this is certainly is a portrait of an interesting career that's being painted here. Not to sound arrogant, but i can't believe that I'd never read anything about him...

Jeremy


I knew of him restrospectively as it where, because he had turned to cars about the time I got into bikes as a kid. Also, I can recall John Surtees in one of his early books making reference to Bob's ability. I wonder why he stopped racing bikes?