21 replies to this topic

[Keir]

Liz did the female journalist bit in the late 60's early 70's. Then she dropped out of sight.
Any details?
This question also appears on the "famous Amon" thread.

[Dave Ware]

I remember her; she wrote for Road & Track...driver interviews and bios, among other things. She was married to a racing jouralist, and I want to think his name was David Phipps, but there is someone with that name or a similar name now writing for RACER and Speedvision.com. I have to remind myself that 1971 was 29 years ago so it's likely not the same person, and I likely have the name wrong anyway.

I'm quite sure that she wrote the article on Jo Bonnier in Road & Track after his death. She said something like "With his wealth, good looks, etc., etc., he could have been anything he chose in life. He chose to be a racing driver." I thought that statement said it all about a driver's motivation, and about the proper response to a driver's death. Sadness, yes, but also admiration for the life they chose and the risks they accepted.

Dave

[Keir]

Phipps was around back then.
You know Dave, old motor racing journalists never go away, they just get older.

[Ray Bell]

I don't... Keir, you'll have to get to know Barry and I better...

[red stick]

I've bumped this up because I was curious about the same thing. She ghosted or co-wrote bios of Brabham and Fittipaldi, plus a history of Grand Prix racing, but info on her is scarce in the sources I've tried to use. Who was she, what was her connection to racing, and given the brief flurry of activity from c. 1969 to c. 1973, where did she go?

[theunions]

Originally posted by Dave Ware
She was married to a racing jouralist, and I want to think his name was David Phipps, but there is someone with that name or a similar name now writing for RACER and Speedvision.com. I have to remind myself that 1971 was 29 years ago so it's likely not the same person, and I likely have the name wrong anyway.

Yes, David Phipps and David Phillips are two different people.

[Doug Nye]

'Elizabeth Hayward' WAS Mrs Priscilla Phipps - wife of photo-journalist David Phipps, whose photographic work is now available from the Sutton empire, though David - re-married - is very much still around, as is Priscilla though I have no idea where, or doing what. I believe she was owner/driver/artist John Campbell-Jones's wife - or 'partner' - pre-Phipps. Rather pushy lady I thought - I have been told she set her hat at Brabham during book research 1969-70.

DCN

[Keir]

So, she remains a mystery woman !!

[KJJ]

Campbell-Jones married a Brenda Priscilla Barron in 1958. Her father's name was Arthur Barron and I did wonder if he might be the pre-war Bugattiste, but it seems the racer was an Arthur Baron from Dorking, with just the one R. Anyone know anything about him? He is one of just three Britons without any biographical info on Leif Snellman's site.

[bradbury west]

Looking through the list of books offered to TNFers on another thread, I see there is a tome "Flying on the Ground" by Emmerson Fittipald and Elizabeth Hayward., publ. Kimber 1973 as hardback, 256 pages, 1st edition at £25

[bradbury west]

Looking through another thread, by chance, I found this Karl Ludvigsen quote about chapter 4 of his Emmo book

I have always referred to 1971 as “the year of the turbine”,’ wrote Elizabeth Hayward, the nom de
plume of Priscilla Phipps, who was timer and scorer for Team Lotus.

RL

[Chris Bloom]

Originally posted by bradbury west
Looking through the list of books offered to TNFers on another thread, I see there is a tome "Flying on the Ground" by Emmerson Fittipald and Elizabeth Hayward., publ. Kimber 1973 as hardback, 256 pages, 1st edition at £25

Thats in my local library. I once borrowed it but only read a few pages before losing interest (actually I don't think it got my interest to start with!). The only other racing book I've had a similar problem with was one I attempted to read about Eddie Irvine, oddly enough also written by a Woman

[Vicuna]

Originally posted by Doug Nye
set her hat

DCN

[David Holland]

I spoke to John Campbell-Jones, on the phone, the other day and asked about this book and author.

He did indeed marry a Priscilla, who now lives at Hove, an artist who produced Christmas cards for Graham Hill each year. As far as he is concerned she did not write the Emmo book. Although I believe they were divorced before the book was published, he should be aware of any possible connection.

[Sharman]

David Phipps wrote for Motor Racing, he did a road test of the Lotus lX so must have been fairly well in to be let loose in a works car on the road

[petefenelon]

Originally posted by Chris Bloom


Thats in my local library. I once borrowed it but only read a few pages before losing interest (actually I don't think it got my interest to start with!). The only other racing book I've had a similar problem with was one I attempted to read about Eddie Irvine, oddly enough also written by a Woman

Interesting; I don't own many racing books written by women but I wouldn't say author gender was in any way correlated with quality of the book. Miranda Seymour's The Bugatti Queen was a very good biography; Hayward's Flying On The Ground caught a lot of Fittipaldi's character, and anything by Denise McCluggage is worth reading.

OTOH there's Beverley Turner, but on the male side there's James Allen, Christopher Hilton when writing about modern F1, the later works of Alan Henry, Timothy Collings, and the incomparable Ronnie Mutch.

[Rob29]

Originally posted by Chris Bloom


Thats in my local library. I once borrowed it but only read a few pages before losing interest (actually I don't think it got my interest to start with!). The only other racing book I've had a similar problem with was one I attempted to read about Eddie Irvine, oddly enough also written by a Woman

Its also on my bookshelf-don't recall I had any problem with it,though I have not opened it for years. Interesting that it seems to be worth more than I paid for it!

[Simon Phipps]

I think I can help out with this one with a brief bio of my mum.

Elizabeth Hayward was the motor racing writing name of Priscilla Phipps, married to photo jounalist David Phipps to 1972. She also wrote short stories for womens' magazines under her maiden name, Priscilla Bailey.

Both my parents were very closely associated with Lotus from the late 50s on. They co-wrote Autocourse from 1966 to 1972, and my mother wrote for Road & Track and Autoracing in the U.S.

She did biographies of Jackie Stewart, Jack Brabham, & Emerson Fittipaldi, along with something like Grand Prix Racing (I can't remember the exact title) published in the U.S.

For me, perhaps the most striking part of her work were the number of driver obituaries she had to do, and almost always good friends. Rindt, Siffert, McLaren, Rodriguez etc....

Unfortunately Priscilla had a stroke in 1973. Whilst she recovered well, it ended her writing career, and she reverted to her earlier career as a teacher. She now lives near me, in Kent, long retired.

Just to correct speculation, she and Priscilla Campbell-Jones are not one and the same, though there is a tenuous connection. The other Priscilla did Graham Hill's Christmas cards, several of which we still have, and it was he who invented 'Elizabeth Hayward'.

Simon Phipps

[Pedro 917]

Hello Simon,

Thanks so much for your reply. I have the obituary of Pedro Rodriguez that your mother wrote in Autocourse here in front of me. It's a text that I've read so many times because it always touches me deeply and says a lot about the man Pedro really was. I always wondered who this "Elizabeth Hayward" was. Now I know. Give her a big hug from me.

[Barry Boor]

Don't you just LOVE T.N.F!!!!

[Thundersports]

Sadly I have to report that Elizabeth passed away in June of this year I expect she is up there lap scoring with Colin Chapman for Clark and Hill.
I hope Simon may reappear here to share some of his mothers memories.

[john winfield]

Yes, sad news; condolences to her family.

Again, though, it's good to know that she made her mark in motor sport writing and Pedro 917 above hits the nail on the head. I haven't seen that 1971/2 Autocourse for a long time but the appreciation of Pedro was excellent and I can visualise the scene as, with a big grin, he bypasses the traffic jam in the coastal resort at Zandvoort, scattering pedestrians while he tears down the wide pavement!