6 replies to this topic

[275 GTB-4]

Goodwood crash claims 'D-D'
Bob Jennings, , June 26, 2000

The Honourable John Dawson-Damer, 59, one of the most prominent people in the Australian historic car racing movement, was killed at the weekend in a crash at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

The Honourable John Dawson-Damer, 59, one of the most prominent people in the Australian historic car racing movement, was killed at the weekend in a crash at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
The car hit two officials, one of whom later died at Chichester Hospital. The other is in a critical condition.

Mr Dawson-Damer (pictured) - known to his motorsport friends as "D-D" - was driving a rare four-wheel-drive Lotus 63, once driven by Mario Andretti, and one of the cars from his treasured collection of Lotus Formula One cars.

UK reports said that the car appeared to put a rear wheel in the dirt at the finish of the sprint along the driveway of the Goodwood stateley home in West Sussex.

The car veered off the road, collided with the supports of a temporary archway over the track, then ploughed into some trees.

Mr Dawson-Damer, who was chairman of the historic section of the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport, was also a member of the historic commission of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile, the world's controlling body of motor sport.

He had competed at Goodwood twice previously, and earlier this year drove one of his Lotus F1 cars - a Lotus 49 driven when new by Graham Hill - at the Formula Adelaide historic F1 races supporting the Adelaide 500 touring car race on the city's GP street circuit.

He was Australian champion rally co-driver in 1978 with Canberra driver Greg Carr, although for most of his competitive rally career he co-drove for his long-time close friend, Colin Bond.

Born in the UK and educated at Eton, Mr Dawson-Damer moved to Australia to live in 1964, moving to Sydney after staying for a short while in Perth.

He is the younger brother of the Earl of Arlington. The Earldom of Arlington was established in 1785.

Meanwhile, drive.com. also sadly records the death of Peter Tighe, 48, after a long illness.

Mr Tighe was chief mechanic for leading Australian Formula Pacific driver John Smith before joining Toyota's product planning division in 1988.

He also worked with the company's public relations department, and was widely known and respected in the automotive industry.

man has told how he fled from the path of a racing car seconds before it crashed killing two people.


The crash, which happened in June 2000 during the Goodwood Festival of Speed, claimed the lives of John Dawson-Damer and marshal Andrew Carpenter, 40. Mr Carpenter, from Polegate, East Sussex, died from his injuries at St Richard's Hospital, Chichester.

http://www.ten-tenth...ead.php?t=56108

Edited by 275 GTB-4, 26 June 2010 - 03:01.

[Ian G]

Sad..what happened to the last 10 years,thats when i first found this Forum trying to find details of the accident. I didn't know John personally but spoke to him at several Rallies he navigated in(including one at Orange, NSW where he drove although listed as the navigator) and when he attended the ocassional meeting of the NSSCC where he was a member. Very Sad.

[oldtransamdriver]

I met John Dawson-Damer by accident at the 90 or 91 Aussie GP when it was still run at Adelaide. My wife's family lives there and we managed to co-ordinate a family visit at the same time as the GP. It was a most interesting race weekend. My sister-in-law gave me a Gold pass for the weekend. Somewhere near the track on a side street I discovered a small warehouse with the doors open and a marvelous display of vintage race cars including several Lotus F1 cars - maybe 5 or 6 cars. I had no idea who owned them and there was a man polishing the cars who I thought had been hired just for that job.

Some of the cars I had seen race and mentioned this to the polisher. We had an enjoyable chat and I soon realized he knew way too much about those cars - turns out it was John Dawson-Damer himself.

If I remember correctly, Nelson Piquet won the race and Mansell had been involved in a spirited drive for the lead but fell out near the end. There were several support races, a drag race down the front straight, aerobatics with helicopters and vintage demo laps. I still have the race program, a few photos, and tons of newspaper clippings before and after, and a previous year program - lots of GP stuff. It was a big deal for Adelaide and I remember they were disappointed when it went to Melbourne.

I also got to watch Senna do a "flyer" lap for qualifying while standing next to the fence at the esses - awesome! Also got conned by 2 Aussies who invited me to the local pub for a bite and just one beer - fatal mistake, but somehow made it home around midnight. They were very keen race fans and I remember that one of them was a train driver for the state of Victoria - lost track of them many years ago.

Robert Barg

[Wirra]

Some images from the subsequent auction.

[Terry Walker]

I remember John vividly from his early rally days in Western Australia, when he navigated for his then wife Rosemary. Taken at the Benger fuel stop, 1968 (or was it '69?) 1,000 Mile Rally. That's Rose looking back at the camera. John and Rose often competed in the Light Car Club's small club events, like motorkhanas. In those days he had a Maserati Mistrale, Rose had the Cooper S. The corduroy cap set a fashion here.

Edited by Terry Walker, 26 June 2010 - 07:57.

[Red Socks]

I think you will find that the Earldom is not of Arlington but of Portarlington -a village in Ireland.
I sat in the competitors enclosure and had lunch with John on the day he died-we talked about his aunt who lived in the village where I grew up. As we sat and chatted he as introduced to Nigel Roebuck and as I left them and goodwood little did I know he would be gone that afternoon.
A simply super guy.

[Gary C]

I, too, spoke briefly with D-D that fateful afternoon at Goodwood, as my friend Bob Dance, was looking after the car for him. It was not a nice paddock to be in the next morning.