136 replies to this topic

[simonlewisbooks]

Flicking through some photos I found shots of two famous musicians enjoying some rather low-key motor sport at Combe back in the late 80s(scanner has gone on the blionk so can't post them at present) . One was Chris Rea in a Ferrari Dino GT4 (in itself a fairly low-key kind of Ferrari...if there can be such a thing)and the other was Dire Strait's guitar legend Mark Knofler** racing a converted road-going Rocket in.... Monoposto!
Now thse two are worth a few quid , to say the least, so could, if they chose, have gone for something big, and noticeable to race in but instead they were obviously just haveing fun like the rest of us and keeping a low profile. I remember Tony Allan, king of the roving mic' at Combe, reporting that Rea politely declined to be interviewed over the PA as he was just there for fun and didn't want any fuss.

It reminded me of another man with a few quid in the bank, racing an MGB in an MGCC series event at Silverstone around the same time - one Richard Branson, no less. Aside from the obvious 'celebrity races' (and like anything with that term in the title it should be taken with a huge pinch of salt) how many other famous names enjoyed proper grass roots motor racing in this admirable fashion I wonder (aside from McQueen, Newman and James Dean) ?

**I seem to recall Mark Knofler co-drove Alain DeCadenet's Alfa on an early Mille Miglia retro event and because of the media scrum he was generating at the time , he was listed under a pseudonym in the programme!

[Gregor Marshall]

Chris Rea raced in a lot of AMOC events in 308GTB IIRC and Mark Knopfler I'm sure raced a Cosworth in Prod Saloons in the early '90s too.
I think the Silverstone event with Richard Branson he actually was due to race a Morgan, can't remember if he did race though (I think for some reason he didn't though), he definitely turned up in a helicopter though.
Jason Priestly the American actor had a good career until accident/injury, Andrew Ridgley raced Renault 5s, as did Rowan Atkinson until he moved on to historics. The "singer" Shane Lynch has done a lot of GT stuff and Maxi Jazz the from the world-famous dance group Faithless has done a lot of one-make stuff. Simon Weston, the Falklands War Hero did Prod Saloons in the late '80s (he definitely did the Willhire anyway).
There have been quite a few "famous" racing drivers who have dropped down the ranks to do club-type events (Denis Hulme, James Hunt, Graham, Hill, etc).
I suppose fame depends on how you classify it really.

[LotusElise]

Frankie Muniz (ex Malcolm in the Middle) is working his way up the motorsport ladder in the States - I'm sure he used to be an SCCA competitor.

Mark Knopfler has raced various historics and I'm sure I've seen him racing before. Also, who can forget the other 80s motor racing "celebrity" Mark - Mark Thatcher?

[TooTall]

Over here in the US a number of well knowns raced SCCA and various club races. Off the top of my head, James Dean, Steve McQueen, James Brolin, Gene Hackman, Ray Sinatra (brother of Frank) famously flipped a Kaiser Darrin of all things at Palm Springs. The first time I saw Paul Newman race it was in a TR6 at Willow Springs in an SCCA National. I saw Mark Knofler at the Monterey Historics in a Lotus 23. Singer Cristopher Cross ran in Formula B/Atlantic and a music video for one of his songs uses film of him driving. There is a well known US juvenile actor named Frankie Muniz who basically gave up acting and is pursuing racing.

Cheers,
Kurt O.

[David McKinney]

Originally posted by Gregor Marshall
Chris Rea raced in a lot of AMOC events in 308GTB IIRC

...and a lot of Caterham racing

[Frank S]

Recently deceased Nick Reynolds of the Kingston Trio was an avid SCCA racer before he became too valuable:
http://home.san.rr.c...ff/covsb964.htm

He was father-in-law to my granddaughter's current art teacher in the Coronado School of the Arts.

More than once I saw him hanging over the spectator fence in the esses at Riverside, just like the rest of us.

--
Frank Sheffield
San Diego CA
USA Voter on this historic day

[Paul Parker]

I remember that Nigel Mansell drove a Jaguar E type (I think it belonged to John Lewis) during practice for the AMOC Silverstone meeting in July 1981 or thereabouts, but crashed it IIRC.

[Stephen W]

James Hunt used to race in Northern FF1600 - of course it wasn't THAT James Hunt!

Ayrton Senna raced in the Sunbeam Celebrity race at Oulton! Oh and he won!

[Red Socks]

Originally posted by Paul Parker
I remember that Nigel Mansell drove a Jaguar E type (I think it belonged to John Lewis) during practice for the AMOC Silverstone meeting in July 1981 or thereabouts, but crashed it IIRC.

Brakes failed and John Lewis did not know where to put himself with the embarrassmnent of it all.

[Red Socks]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Red Socks


Brakes failed and John Lewis did not know where to put himself with the embarrassmnent of it all. [/QUOTE

And another thing, John Lewis was really unlucky with stars in that car: Bobby Unser used it on the 1990 Pirelli Classic Marathon and stuffed it on the first or second stage at Lydden. They patched it up but Unser never got the time back.He was mighty quick up the hills mind.
The list of stars who ran in Historic rallies-particularly the first three Classic Marathons was vast.

[Paul Rochdale]

"Maxi Jazz the from the world-famous dance group Faithless has done a lot of one-make stuff".

World famous? What like Nelson Mandela, Frank Sinatra, John Kennedy?

[Gregor Marshall]

I think you'll find he has sold more records than the first and last ones put together!!

[simonlewisbooks]

Originally posted by LotusElise
Also, who can forget the other 80s motor racing "celebrity" Mark - Mark Thatcher?

I think Mark Thatcher was actually quite a 'serious' racer for a few years rather than a 'celebrity' - after all he was not famous in his own right until he got 'lost' on the Paris Dakar with Marie-Chantal ....

[Gregor Marshall]

Well, Mr T finished second in the Willhire in 1980 and did a few races in '79 & '80 in a Talbot Sunbeam, winning his class a few times IIRC.

[Mallory Dan]

Originally posted by Stephen W
James Hunt used to race in Northern FF1600 - of course it wasn't THAT James Hunt!

Ayrton Senna raced in the Sunbeam Celebrity race at Oulton! Oh and he won!

Graham Hill as well Steve

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by Gregor Marshall
Well, Mr T finished second in the Willhire in 1980 and did a few races in '79 & '80 in a Talbot Sunbeam, winning his class a few times IIRC.

How did they get him into a Talbot Sunbeam? Drop the bodywork onto the chassis once he was in the seat?

[zakeriath]

Originally posted by Gregor Marshall
I think you'll find he has sold more records than the first and last ones put together!!

More than the dead Kennedy`s ;)

[Simon Arron]

I know James Weaver never achieved fame on a Sinatra scale, but I recall turning up at an HSCC Donington meeting in 1981 to find him driving a Cooper (a T51, if memory serves). I always thought that a pleasingly odd diversion for a contemporary F3 hero.

[alfredaustria]

Originally posted by Mallory Dan


Graham Hill as well Steve

Sure. Which races of Graham do you have in mind?

[Simon Arron]

They are talking about this Graham Hill, seen...


...leading a FF1600 race at Longridge and...


...in a spot of bother with his nosecone at Oulton Park.


Meanwhile, with reference to previous posts, here's Mark Thatcher chasing [edit, due to previous finger trouble - see below] a Mazda RX-3.

[Stephen W]

Originally posted by Mallory Dan


Graham Hill as well Steve

Thanks Dan! I was saving Graham Hill for later!!! :

[simonlewisbooks]

I remember Dr Jonathon Palmer guest driving the Lola T70 Aston-Martin at Silverstone one year in the Atlantic Computers Historic GT series and beating the much faster McLaren M8F of John Foulston to pole in the wet. I think he drove the car in several events at around the same time he was also leading the Euro F2 series in the Ralt Honda and running in Group C with the RLR Canon Porsche 956.

[Mallory Dan]

Originally posted by zakeriath


More than the dead Kennedy`s ;)

"Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables", a very fine album, and Jello Biafra was a good writer. I saw them in early '82, they were good, but left the stage very early due to serious fighting/violence. Not me I hasten to add.

Isn't the Mazda an RX3 Simon, don't think they'd invented MX3s then? Or an RX2 maybe, Vic Covey perhaps.

[Gregor Marshall]

Looks like an RX-3 and I think it's Eric Cook, he certainly had an RX-3 around then.

[Andrew Kitson]

Show jumper Ann Moore did some FF2000 and Sports 2000 around 1977ish as did 'Uriah Heep' keyboard player Ken Hensley, who had his own 3-car Dulon team with Ian Taylor and Frank Sytner.

[Simon Arron]

Originally posted by Gregor Marshall
Looks like an RX-3 and I think it's Eric Cook, he certainly had an RX-3 around then.

Sorry, slip of the finger. It should have read 'RX-3'. The driver is Pete Walters and the shot was taken in September 1979 - it was a support race at the F3 meeting in which Andrea de Cesaris attempted to launch Nigel Mansell most of the way to Crewe.

And Ken Hensley is still a fan of the sport. He was a guest of BMW Sauber at Monza in 2007.

[Ian Smith - Diz]

Originally posted by Stephen W
James Hunt used to race in Northern FF1600 - of course it wasn't THAT James Hunt!

And IIRC it was Northern FF2000 and many other classes, but not Northern FF1600. Sadly James passed away not too long ago.

Whilst as Simon shows above, Graham Hill did take part in FF1600, as did his brother Ramon Hill [almost Damon] The two brothers were motor factors from Stoke on Trent.

It must be something about motor factoring, Stoke on Trent and brothers that brings back Roger and Peter Eccleston into my mind. These two are worthy of a thread of their own. There are some tales to tell out there.

[HiRich]

Originally posted by simonlewisbooks
...and the other was Dire Strait's guitar legend Mark Knofler** racing a converted road-going Rocket in.... Monoposto!

Simon,
First, please keep me in mind when you're ready to sell (as another Rocket owner)
Second, I'm not so sure Mark's car was converted. The car I've seen looks suspiciously like his personal car with a roll hoop bolted in.

[Ian Smith - Diz]

Cozy Powell the drummer with someone or other raced in Prod Saloons.

Noel Edmunds is another Prod Salooner, as was Mike Smith.

Barry McGuigan the boxer might have done some racing. He definitely did Rallycross.

Luther Blissett the ex Watford footballer might have done some racing, or be about to do some.

Daley Thompson the athlete is another one.

[Paul Parker]

Circa 1971 Mike Beuttler drove a Talbot Lago at a VSCC Silverstone meeting and I well recall him nearly falling out of the (very) open cockpit rounding Woodcote on the old Club circuit layout.

[Groggy]

Remember seeing Mark Knofler in an historic race at Donington. I think it was in a 23b if my memory serves correct.

Again at Donington Martin Donnelly blitzed everyone in a Maclaren M8 a year or so after his big F1 shunt.
On the same day he also raced in the series that Tom Wheatcroft set up but never really got off the ground (was it Formula Classic or something like that?)
Not 100% sure but i think Donnelly may have won that race as well.

Shane Lynch of Westlife "fame" has also demonstrated a fair turn of speed in rallying and various circuit races including the BGT. I think he has now moved over to the drifting scene?

[David McKinney]

Originally posted by Ian Smith - Diz
Barry McGuigan the boxer might have done some racing

Yes he did - can't remember what. Something one-make I think

and PP
You can drop the circa. Car was owned by his diarist brother-in-law, Hon Alan Clark

[Gregor Marshall]

It was a Nova wasn't it?

[P. Dron]

The Dire Straits chap is Knopfler, with a p. I don't know if he races any more.

He and I took part in a relay race at Snetterton. I'm pretty sure it was 1987, the weekend after The Great Storm. I was in a Peugeot (306, I think), sharing with Louise Aitken-Walker among others, and he was in a Porsche 911. He passed me on the pits straight, but I cunningly got ahead again between Riches and Sear. OK, I have to admit that this was because he had taken a quick detour to visit the cabbage patch. Anyway, he seemed to be having lots of fun, and that's what it's all about.

And there were some serious racing drivers in that event, such as James Weaver and (I think) David Purley.

[David McKinney]

Originally posted by Gregor Marshall
It was a Nova wasn't it?

Can't remember - it would have been around 1985 or 1986

[Frank Verplanken]

Originally posted by Ian Smith - Diz
Daley Thompson the athlete is another one.

Another decathlon star to go car racing was Daley's predecessor as the world's #1, USA's Bruce Jenner who had a decent IMSA GTO career and drove for Jack Roush there.

[Simon Arron]

Originally posted by Gregor Marshall
It was a Nova wasn't it?

Barry McGuigan was rallycrossing a Nova in 1991 - I shared the Swindon track with him while preparing for my rallyx debut at Brands Hatch.

[LotusElise]

Didn't Barry McGuigan do some stage rallying as well?
I seem to remember a thread here not long ago mentioning that Jimmy Savile once entered the RAC Rally, with unimpressive results.
Tennis player David Nalbandian has done a few rallies in his native South America, and has said that he will switch to motorsport once his tennis career is over.

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by P. Dron
The Dire Straits chap is Knopfler, with a p. I don't know if he races any more.

He and I took part in a relay race at Snetterton. I'm pretty sure it was 1987, the weekend after The Great Storm. I was in a Peugeot (306, I think), sharing with Louise Aitken-Walker among others, and he was in a Porsche 911. He passed me on the pits straight, but I cunningly got ahead again between Riches and Sear. OK, I have to admit that this was because he had taken a quick detour to visit the cabbage patch. Anyway, he seemed to be having lots of fun, and that's what it's all about.

And there were some serious racing drivers in that event, such as James Weaver and (I think) David Purley.

James Weaver possibly. Purls definitely not, given that he was killed in his Pitts Special aerobatic plane in 1985.

[Allan Lupton]

Originally posted by P. Dron
The Dire Straits chap is Knopfler, with a p. I don't know if he races any more.

He and I took part in a relay race at Snetterton. I'm pretty sure it was 1987, the weekend after The Great Storm. I was in a Peugeot (306, I think), sharing with Louise Aitken-Walker among others, and he was in a Porsche 911. He passed me on the pits straight, but I cunningly got ahead again between Riches and Sear. OK, I have to admit that this was because he had taken a quick detour to visit the cabbage patch. Anyway, he seemed to be having lots of fun, and that's what it's all about.

And there were some serious racing drivers in that event, such as James Weaver and (I think) David Purley.

We were handicapping that Relay Race, and someone spoke in awed tones that Mark Knopfler was driving, so we asked who he was, since we'd never heard of him and assumed he must be an important racing driver in some formula we knew nothing of. Once we heard he was just a pop musician, we relaxed of course.
The 750MC Six Hour Relay did attract some unusual driver/car combinations at various times, such as Gerry Marshall in a Clan Crusader.

Someone mentioned Richard Branson earlier, and he was amongst those who drove in a celebrity handicap at an MG CC Silverstone. As one might expect, he put a fair amount of effort into understanding what a handicap race was (not having even heard of the idea before) but I can't recall how he did. At least I'd heard of him and knew him by sight, unlike my co-handicapper!

[P. Dron]

Originally posted by Vitesse2

James Weaver possibly. Purls definitely not, given that he was killed in his Pitts Special aerobatic plane in 1985.

Yes, my memory failed me. I met Purley at a previous event at Snetterton, not long before his death. He was a very friendly, unpretentious fellow, and I was surprised how well he could walk given the severity of his injuries from that terrible accident at Silverstone, in which I think he experienced the highest decelerative g anyone had survived until then, and perhaps even now.

[Simon Arron]

The March 712 of t'other James Hunt (mentioned in a more northerly sector of the thread) leads Bob Poole's Palliser at Longridge, July 1977.

I know Steve McQueen's fondness for SCCA racing was mentioned earlier, but surely his appearance in a Mini at a Boxing Day Brands Hatch meeting (1964?) has to be the ultimate global icon/grass roots cocktail?

[Gregor Marshall]

David Purley did do the Willhire, 1982 or 1983 I think, with David "Jess" Yates

[Gregor Marshall]

Originally posted by Allan Lupton
The 750MC Six Hour Relay did attract some unusual driver/car combinations at various times, such as Gerry Marshall in a Clan Crusader.

Dad was an official Clan dealer but unfortunately Clan went bust about two weeks after the HB 6 hour race!! I have some very good pics of it 3 wheeling through Woodcote and he always enjoyed the 6 hour, even won it once!!

Denis Hulme did the Tour of Britain in Dad's Opel Commodore in '76.

[Mallory Dan]

Originally posted by Simon Arron

The March 712 of t'other James Hunt (mentioned in a more northerly sector of the thread) leads Bob Poole's Palliser at Longridge, July 1977.

I know Steve McQueen's fondness for SCCA racing was mentioned earlier, but surely his appearance in a Mini at a Boxing Day Brands Hatch meeting (1964?) has to be the ultimate global icon/grass roots cocktail?

Another great pic Mr SA, however, is the order right? That looks like James' bitza March behind the strange looking thing in front, or has the Palliser got a March nose, and the 712 a bitza one?? Any more like this?

[Simon Arron]

That is definitely James leading but, yes, I concur the Palliser's nose appears to have been pinched from Bicester...

[Stephen W]

Originally posted by Simon Arron
That is definitely James leading but, yes, I concur the Palliser's nose appears to have been pinched from Bicester...

One of the competitors in Monoposto was turning out March look-a-like nose cones and I think the Palliser has one of these fitted. The leading car is definately a 1971 March whether it is an F2 or F3 car I am not sure - if it is an F2 why no rear wing?

[alansart]

Originally posted by Gregor Marshall

Denis Hulme did the Tour of Britain in Dad's Opel Commodore in '76.

James Hunt (The well known one) won the 75 Tour of Britain in the AJ Rivers Camaro with Robert Fearnell, who I think was still a journalist then.


Other GP drivers of the day entered were Howden Ganley in a Citroen SM...


...and Vern Schuppan in a Cortina

[alansart]

Originally posted by Gregor Marshall
David Purley did do the Willhire, 1982 or 1983 I think, with David "Jess" Yates

The 1980 Willhire featured several "names" plus a few who later went on to bigger things.

Stirling Moss, Russell Brookes, Mark Thatcher, Tony Trimmer and Desire Wilson being some of the stars of the day, while the likes of Martin Brundle, John Cleland and Eddie Jordan were on the way up at the time.

[Simon Arron]

Originally posted by Stephen W
One of the competitors in Monoposto was turning out March look-a-like nose cones and I think the Palliser has one of these fitted. The leading car is definately a 1971 March whether it is an F2 or F3 car I am not sure - if it is an F2 why no rear wing?

Fair point. In my mind he drove a 713, but on the entry list it is down as a 712. Not that Longridge programmes were immune from typographical errors...