82 replies to this topic

[Thundersports]

On another thread "the 10 oldest F3000 drivers" this forgotten chap turned up and stirred some memories. What we know is he was a gentleman driver and had some involvement with the music scene (after some research it was obvious he wasn't the drummer from Kool and the gang!) any pics of this mysterious english racer would be appreciated too.

[PS30-SB]

On another thread "the 10 oldest F3000 drivers" this forgotten chap turned up and stirred some memories. What we know is he was a gentleman driver and had some involvement with the music scene (after some research it was obvious he wasn't the drummer from Kool and the gang!) any pics of this mysterious english racer would be appreciated too.

Manager ( ex? ) of 80s Birmingham band 'Duran Duran'. Domiciled in Kent ( UK ) and Spain, I think.

[Formula Once]

Where is Simon Arron? When I was in F3000 he was the man who knew everything and I am sure he still does.

[Vitesse2]

Where is Simon Arron?

Somewhere between Spa and Monza, probably!

[SRB]

On another thread "the 10 oldest F3000 drivers" this forgotten chap turned up and stirred some memories. What we know is he was a gentleman driver and had some involvement with the music scene (after some research it was obvious he wasn't the drummer from Kool and the gang!) any pics of this mysterious english racer would be appreciated too.

This sounds like the guy who ran in the New Zealand Atlantic/Pacific series some years ago for Graeme Lawrence's team. Plenty of money but not a lot of talent.

I seem to remember that he was a mystery to most people here as well.

[ensign14]

Manager ( ex? ) of 80s Birmingham band 'Duran Duran'. Domiciled in Kent ( UK ) and Spain, I think.

Given there were two Taylors in DD, was he related to them perchance?

[Tim Murray]

Three Taylors, surely - John, Andy and Roger. These three were unrelated, but one of them might have been related to this mystery James.

[ensign14]

Oh yeah, I keep confusing Roger with the bloke in Queen. You know, Anita Dobson.

[Gary C]

Surely Anita Dobson is married to Brian May ??

[ensign14]

I can't tell them apart.

[RStock]

Perhaps this will help .

The Racing Database has these stats for a James Taylor in F3000

Borndate - October 18, 1955
City - Imtarfa (Malta)
Country - England
Died - -



STARTS BY TEAM
Pos Team Starts
1 Bob Salisbury Racing 13
2 Vortex 8
3 GP Racing 2
4 Private entry 2

STARTS BY MODEL
Pos Model Starts
1 Lola T96/50 - Zytek 15
2 Reynard 94D - Cosworth 5
3 Reynard 95D - Cosworth 3
4 Lea Francis-Meadows 1
5 Triumph TR4A 1

Miscelaneous Stats
Wins/Finished Race (%) 0.00
Wins/Race (%) 0.00
Poles/Race (%) 0.00
Fastest laps/Race (%) 0.00
Abandons (%) 32.00
Accidents (%) 12.00
Poinst/Race 0.00
Racing Seasons 7

You cannot link straight to the page with his results , but there is a bit more info if one cares to check . You'll have to navigate the main page to find them however .


http://www.racing-da...e.com/index.htm

Under Formulae New click on F3000 , scroll down and under "Statistics by... " click on "Drivers" . The drivers list is not in alphabetical order , so you'll have to dig around to find his name . It's about halfway down the third column . Click on his name and there are various stats and links there .




^ I have no idea of the veracity of this data , as it also shows him having one "pre-war" start , even though it shows him being born in 1955 . This might be an anomolous mistake .

[Phil Rainford]

Somewhere between Spa and Monza, probably!

Via 750 MC meeting at Oulton Park this weekend

PAR

[Thundersports]

I'm eagerly awaiting Mr Arrons response to this thread.................

[Simon Arron]

Somewhere between Spa and Monza, probably!

More prosaically, I'm in Folkestone... although I have been to Oulton Park twice aince Spa and I'll be off to Monza in 48 hours.

Right, James Taylor...

Can't do much to dilute the mystery, I'm afraid. He was always very wary of the press - he didn't like having his picture taken and rarely liked to talk, even though I only needed to know whether a driveshaft had snapped, perhaps, and had no interest in running a blockbusting exposé of some kind.

Nobody was ever quite sure about his background. When he drove for Vortex, the team didn't have his contact details and had to rely on him phoning them. If testing dates or venues had to be altered for any reason, there was no way of letting him know unless he rang them first.

He was quite brave and had no problem committing himself to quick corners, but he tended to lose huge swathes of time whenever a little judgment and finesse were required. One of his headline moments came at the Nürburgring in '98. There were 33 cars entered but the grid had space for only 32. No prizes for guessing who was 33rd – about four seconds off the pace – but Nick Heidfeld then had his times disallowed for a fuel infringement and Taylor was suddenly on the grid. The McLaren junior team (West Competition) offered him a wad of cash to withdraw, so that Heidfeld – who had a chance of beating Juan Pablo Montoya to the title – could take part, but Taylor stood his ground. His view was that he had paid handsomely for the privilege of enjoying himself and didn't see why he should surrender the opportunity that had unexpectedly come his way. As he refused to budge, McLaren had no option but to withdraw its second entry... and Bas Leinders was denied his only opportunity to represent a fragment of Ron Dennis's empire.

Edited by Simon Arron, 07 September 2009 - 10:23.

[Formula Once]

Well, if even Simon doesn't know... I was involved with Vortex in those days and as I mentioned in the thread about "the 10 oldest F3000 drivers" I thought James was entertaining company. I didn't bother to ask about his background then; how was I supposed to know we would all be wondering about it here fifteen years later? There were stories about a history in music and at the time some said he was linked to Queen but I reckoned already then that was only because people mixed up his surname with that the band's drummer Roger.

[PS30-SB]

Given there were two Taylors in DD, was he related to them perchance?

Just total coincidence I believe. Not related to Roger Taylor of Queen either.......

I know a little bit more about him, but I'll respect his apparent wish to remain somewhat enigmatic.

[Nordic]

Just total coincidence I believe. Not related to Roger Taylor of Queen either.......

I know a little bit more about him, but I'll respect his apparent wish to remain somewhat enigmatic.

Was James Taylor his real name?

[f1steveuk]

Part of my early working life was in the "music biz" and I worked on a couple of Duran Duran tours, and the managers name wasn't Taylor.

First tour it was Michael Berrow, and when Duran switched to Left Bank Management, they were looked after by either one of the Kovac brothers or a chap called Bill Buck. Never encountered anyone called James Taylor conected to Duran, although that's not to say there wasn't one somewhere, but I never met one!!

He must have been low key, because I organised interviews for ISC (who were then Bernie's F3000 arm of the F1 Digital Broadcast) and the media packs have absolutely nothing!

Edited by f1steveuk, 07 September 2009 - 15:42.

[Thundersports]

The intrigue gets deeper..........I remember seeing him getting in and out of the car in F3000 but he literally would vanish, I can only assume he hid in the transporter or motorhome. He was a lean, tanned, tall blond (dyed?) chap i'll ask a few contacts I have.

Another thing occured to me at work today (when I should have concentrating on Parts for Mondeos, Mazdas and MGs) how did he obtain the necessary license for Int F3000 with an apparent lack of previous racing experience?

Edited by Thundersport, 07 September 2009 - 20:47.

[Richard Jenkins]

Was James Taylor his real name?

Well, his birth details say so, but believe you me, it was mass for some while. Although born in Malta, I must stress that as far as I/we are aware, he didn't have much link with the island, but, like with most things with him, I really don't know..

[hatrat]

He apparently raced 13 times for Bob Salisbury Racing who are still around today making display F1 cars - does anyone know Bob Salisbury as he may know something.

[F3000man]

Two photos of him:



This was taken by the time he was racing at Interseries.



And this one is possibly the only photo taken of him in a F3000 car. That was a picture of him inside a Vortex Reynard in 1994.

James Taylor was considered the "worst driver I ever raced with" by my countryfellow Tarso Marques, his teammate in Vortex. "In Eau Rouge, he used to brake on the approach!".

I guess he could be that obscure because maybe his money source for racing wasn't exactly "legal".

[Mansell Madgwick]

Two photos of him:



This was taken by the time he was racing at Interseries.



And this one is possibly the only photo taken of him in a F3000 car. That was a picture of him inside a Vortex Reynard in 1994.

James Taylor was considered the "worst driver I ever raced with" by my countryfellow Tarso Marques, his teammate in Vortex. "In Eau Rouge, he used to brake on the approach!".

I guess he could be that obscure because maybe his money source for racing wasn't exactly "legal"

Not that anyone's alleging anything, mind!

Good to see a pic of Mr. Taylor, he looks like a sort of Tiff Needell / Keith Richards crossover.

[helioseism2]

Ran across this interesting article on the-race.com about James Taylor who apparently was a mysterious sort, and I wondered if TNF could dig up his story. He has been briefly mentioned a few times here in reference to his birth date and his running a Jordan 191 in F3000 that he subsequently sold to M. Schumacher, but nothing more.

 

And no, he is not the American singer-songwriter.

[BRG]

Intriguing!   One sensible comment below that article said that whoever issued his competition licence must have had some sort of personal information about the bloke, like an address?  What flag did he race under?

 

My theory is that he was in fact Lord Lucan.

[ensign14]

Another thread on him here.  The article misses out he also raced in Group C2 sportscars in 1992, so moving into Interserie was not an illogical step for a gentleman driver with independent wealth (the few pics of his single-seater career available show either next to no sponsorship or the Jordan still in GP livery). 

 

And he surely qualified for an International F3k licence because he had scored points in the British series in 1993, albeit mostly by finishing last when there were fewer than 7 finishers.  Where his team-mate incidentally was one Dominic Chappell...

[BRG]

It looks like he raced on a UK licence, so he must have gone through the necessary steps to  qualify for an International Licence.  So MS-UK (the former RAC-MSA) must hold a record of him, including his address of the time.  But of course the Data Protection Act means that they could not reveal it, even if they wanted to, which they wouldn't.  And I am sure that his various teams know more then they are saying, probably for the same reason.

[ensign14]

He would not necessarily need to give a home address though, just a contact address.  The article suggests he gave Arundel Castle for that...although of course there are some motorsports links for that, such as Viscount Downe.

[BRG]

I don't think the Dukes of Norfolk run Arundel Castle as an accommodation address for all and sundry.  So if Taylor did indeed used that address, it is very suggestive of .....something?

[RCH]

At the risk of ending up in the Tower can I ask a question? Was sports car driver Eddie Arundel the current Duke of Norfolk? If so could he be a candidate for James Taylor?

[ensign14]

I don't think the Dukes of Norfolk run Arundel Castle as an accommodation address for all and sundry.  So if Taylor did indeed used that address, it is very suggestive of .....something?

Could be lots of things.  There are companies based there and he could have been associated with one of them.  That's if the article is correct in having that as his contact address - Simon Arron on the linked thread suggests that Vortex did not have even that.

[9203RW]

The current Duke of Norfolk raced under the name of Eddie Arundel in the early '80s, before he acceded to the Dukedom on the death of his father in 2002.  He was born in 1956, a year after the apparent date of birth of the mysterious Mr Taylor.  Eddie Arundel was no slouch, though.

[Doug Nye]

The gent photographed as 'James Taylor' here bears no resemblance to Eddie Arundel around the same time.  Neither physically, nor certainly - as above - where his driving capabilities were apparently concerned.

 

DCN

Edited by Doug Nye, 29 December 2021 - 10:01.

[RS2000]

And no, he is not the American singer-songwriter.

 

There was I thinking this was going to be retrospective of "Two Lane Blacktop", taking the mufflers off the Chevy for street drag racing...

[bsc]

My hunch is that James Taylor wasn't British. To have raced in British F3 (which appears to have been the start of his career), he would have needed an international licence.

Aside from F1, licences are dished out by each country's governing body. To get an MSA British international licence, one needs to have competed in some club races (albeit not many). I've never heard of James Taylor having done this.

Therefore, my suspicion is that Taylor must have had a licence from a country that would give an international licence to a rookie. In the 1990s, Germany was one such country (Germany would also fit with racing in Interserie).

In theory, drivers from one country can get a licence from another. However, for a Brit this requires the agreement of the MSA to switch. I doubt whether they'd grant such permission if the intention was to circumvent their licence requirements.

Also if this route were possible, the likes of George Russell would surely have taken it rather than spend weekends racing Citroen 2CVs and the like.

Although he's been listed as British on entry lists, there are a number of pseudonymed drivers out there so it's not impossible that the details would differ. For different reason, Kamui Kobayashi appears as Japanese on entry lists but has a Monegasque licence.

None of this, of course, explains the links with the Arundels.

[Doug Nye]

But there is no apparent link with the Arundels...

 

DCN

[ensign14]

My hunch is that James Taylor wasn't British. To have raced in British F3 (which appears to have been the start of his career), he would have needed an international licence.

Aside from F1, licences are dished out by each country's governing body. To get an MSA British international licence, one needs to have competed in some club races (albeit not many). I've never heard of James Taylor having done this.

Therefore, my suspicion is that Taylor must have had a licence from a country that would give an international licence to a rookie. In the 1990s, Germany was one such country (Germany would also fit with racing in Interserie)
 

 

Doesn't mean he was not British though - Andrew Ridgeley ran in French and German F3 with no prior experience other than a run at a racing school.  And Simon would surely have stated had his accent not been British.

 

Were the Class 3B requirements lower than for the big boys though?  Lots of obscurities ran in that category over the years.

[Richard Jenkins]

My hunch is that James Taylor wasn't British. To have raced in British F3 (which appears to have been the start of his career), he would have needed an international licence.

Aside from F1, licences are dished out by each country's governing body. To get an MSA British international licence, one needs to have competed in some club races (albeit not many). I've never heard of James Taylor having done this.

Therefore, my suspicion is that Taylor must have had a licence from a country that would give an international licence to a rookie. In the 1990s, Germany was one such country (Germany would also fit with racing in Interserie).

In theory, drivers from one country can get a licence from another. However, for a Brit this requires the agreement of the MSA to switch. I doubt whether they'd grant such permission if the intention was to circumvent their licence requirements.

Also if this route were possible, the likes of George Russell would surely have taken it rather than spend weekends racing Citroen 2CVs and the like.

Although he's been listed as British on entry lists, there are a number of pseudonymed drivers out there so it's not impossible that the details would differ. For different reason, Kamui Kobayashi appears as Japanese on entry lists but has a Monegasque licence.

None of this, of course, explains the links with the Arundels.

Taylor was born in Malta so may have had the necessary from Malta, who of course enjoy a good historical relationship with Britain.

[opplock]

 

 

Were the Class 3B requirements lower than for the big boys though?  Lots of obscurities ran in that category over the years.

 

All you needed to race in the B class was an International C licence. The criteria for having one was to obtain 11 signatures at club level meetings. Even signatures from racing school closed events counted. I needed one to race on Le Mans Bugatti circuit in October 1990 and qualified due to having finished 9 Caterham races that year plus a few Jim Russell events in 1989.  

[BRG]

But there is no apparent link with the Arundels...

 

DCN

..apart from him using their ancestral home as a correspondence address.  Did the Duke forward Taylor's mail to him?   

Edited by BRG, 29 December 2021 - 11:14.

[bsc]

Taylor was born in Malta so may have had the necessary from Malta, who of course enjoy a good historical relationship with Britain.

Eminently plausible. As it would appear that James Taylor was born in Malta, he'd have been entitled to Maltese citizenship provided that at least one of his parents was born there (which,one would assume, is also plausible). As a Maltese citizen (and acknowledging that its potentially possible to hold dual Maltese and British citizenship), the Maltese Motorsport Federation would have been able to have issued him with licences. By the looks of things, the route to a current international Maltese licence isn't arduous. I doubt that it was more difficult in the early 1990s.

[Carl R.S.]

Motoring News reported the following on his debut in British Formula 3 in April 1992:

 

"Dickie Bennetts had his hands on a F3 Ralt again at the weekend, although it was only one of his own RT35s that we was running for James Taylor in Class B.

 

 This was a one-off race for Taylor, who originates from Malta but was vague as to his current whereabouts. He started off at the Jim Russell Racing Drivers School before progressing to Formula First and then the Champion of Brands FF1600 Winter Series. He spent the rest of the winter competing in the Peter Jackson Formula Atlantic Series and was hoping to progress to British Formula 2. Licence difficulties prevented this, hence the one-off outing with WSR.

 

 "it's just one race at the moment to see how he goes and if he like it," said Bennetts. After qualifying 19th and eighth in Class B, he came home 17th." 

[Geoff E]

The birth of a James R Taylor was registered in Intarfa (Malta) in 1955.

The index does not supply mother's maiden name.

Found in FindMyPast (British Armed Forces And Overseas Births And Baptisms)

EDIT: Apart from a middle initial this gives no more information than that supplied in a reply from 2009 https://forums.autos...d/#entry3839274

[Charlieman]

The gent photographed as 'James Taylor' here bears no resemblance to Eddie Arundel around the same time.

 But there is something similar in the facial features.

 

According to records, the Duchess of Norfolk, blah blah, was the daughter of a Knight of Malta.

[ensign14]

The Knights of Malta are not from Malta though.  Their HQ is in Rome.

[Charlieman]

The Knights of Malta are not from Malta though.  Their HQ is in Rome.

So we should presume a Di Vinci Code link.

[Ardmore]

This is the James Taylor who competed in New Zealand in 1992. He drove a Swift DB4 for Ken Smith. He came back in 1993 after doing a "useful year in British F3 under Dick Bennett's direction" to drive a Ralt RT40 for the Graeme Lawrence team.

 

1992

 

1993

 

 

[Derwent Motorsport]

The Malta connection is interesting. Malta is reputedly the money laundering capital of Europe and has a large ex at population. Visiting the Mdina GP a few years ago it was interesting that there are some quite well known names competing, several of whom would come under the "I wonder what happened to them" category and some with slightly dubious backgrounds, plus some who competed under assumed names.

[bsc]

Looking into references to the TVR Vixen, I have found that a James Taylor in such a car was a late entrant to the 750MC meeting at Pembrey in September 1991. He was fourth in the Road Going Sportscar race. His place of residence was listed as the Worcestershire village of Inkberrow. Possibly interesting in that a similar late entrant was a Kerry Horan also of Inkberrow in a TVR Griffith. I've not found any other references to a James Taylor in similar 750MC races.

[BRG]

 

If this source is to be believed, he did not the impact on FV Junior that is claimed in this piece.  His name doesn't even appear?   Although the same website does have his subsequent career   No mention of NZ though.

 

We have some hill-climb aficionados on this forum so can anyone cast light on his efforts at Viscombe (sic)?