223 replies to this topic

[Vicuna]

Three years! I was just thinking about David yesterday in fact when I saw this post. What a contributor he was.

[Alan Cox]

In memory of a good and loyal friend - and always top-class company

[bradbury west]

Alan, thank you. That says it all.
Roger Lund

[D-Type]

Is it really three years!
 

[JacnGille]

[Stephen W]

David is often mentioned in conversations I have about the researching into the history of the British Hillclimb Championship. His help as invaluable.

[Macca]

I popped into MM75 testing at Goodwood on Friday and made a point of finding this bench in the memorial garden:

 

uploading images

 

 

Much missed and often remembered.

 

 

Paul M

Edited by Macca, 12 March 2017 - 22:31.

[Doug Nye]

Yes - doesn't time fly.  Dave often lap-scored for TV commentator Simon Taylor up in the Goodwood tower and we three must have spent several days together up there over the course of multiple early Revival Meetings.  A very, very good bloke...one whom I always thought had been dealt a pretty poor hand by life in general. 

 

DCN

[DCapps]

Rarely does a day or so go by when I don't have a thought or two about David. I am often surprised at just how long we were in contact with each other over the years, beginning with my quest to find out just who this "DGM" might be.... I was always amazed at David's broad and literally encyclopedic knowledge of motor sport. David was also quite loyal, I discovered, which really was not much of a surprise, of course. That he made a trek into Darkest Bloomsbury to find just the right pub and exactly the right restaurant when my wife and son met me in London when I took a break from my deployment in the Middle East never ceases to amaze me, even years later. Typical David.

[Roger Clark]

Four years today. Sometimes it seems a blink of an eye, sometimes it seems a different age. David’s posts here, his notes and his books still provide a wonderful source of information.

[Tim Murray]

RIP David.

[E1pix]

Same from me, we were email buddies and I knew he had his struggles.

 

But what a fine guy, we really hoped to meet someday.

 

Still Very Sad, RIP.

[Lola5000]

Such a knowledgeable person ,i treasure his 250F book i bought so many years ago.RIP David.

[Michael Ferner]

David and his legacy are alive through TNF - long may it continue!

[Doug Nye]

Indeed - already four years - so fleeting...

 

Godspeed Dave...

 

DCN

[elansprint72]

We shall not see his like again.

[Roger Clark]

Today is the tenth anniversary of David's death. Long standing members will remember his knowledge and the generosity with which he shared it. Many will know his published work, particularly the 250F book, still frequently consulted. Those lucky enough to have known him personally will remember a good friend.

[Doug Nye]

Well said Roger.  Ten years gone already!  Unbelievable.   And so much history written since then.  And so much older history re-trawled and often put right since then - David's forté.

 

Unforgotten.

 

DCN

[Richard Jenkins]

I still miss David, for there were few as knowledgeable and wise as he was.

[Mal9444]

A long time since I have posted on this forum - but Roger and Doug touch a chord.  I was the originator of this thread (http://forums.autosp...ol#entry2732743) which was begun as a bit of light-hearted fun. It deservedly fizzled out quite quickly but I was very saddened to learn later that not only was David, like Queen Victoria, entirely unamused, even offended, by it but that it caused a rift between him and another regular contributor, both of whom I respected enormously.  I was able to make things up with David some years later by inviting him to supper with Stirling and Susie Moss, with whom I had latterly (long story) become acquainted. David hung back when my other two guests arrived, eventually whispering "you'll need to introduce me to them - I don't know and have never met either of them.."  I was dumbfounded, not least because of David being the go-to man on all things to do with the Maserati 250F, of which vehicle SM was a considerable and possibly best-known exponent.  We had a very convivial evening together during which I further learned - but was not entirely surprised this time - that SCM had never heard of David McKinney nor had he read 'the book'. 

 

Funny old world...

[Tim Murray]

I still miss David, for there were few as knowledgeable and wise as he was.

Agreed absolutely. I have great memories of the times I met him, and still greatly regret that circumstances forced me to miss his funeral. RIP David.

[Ray Bell]

Those ten-year periods of loss pass all too quickly...

 

I've recently had many people tell me it can't be ten years since my wife died.

[DCapps]

David's death came just a few days before I finally stepped away from what had been my day job some four decades plus. In fact, just the day before I had finally turned in all my battle rattle -- ACH, body armor (with both plates), protective mask, and all the other odds and ends that the Army allowed me to use -- as I was in the midst of all clearing paperwork inflicted upon you as you depart. I had made plans to visit London and see David once the semester was over (my evening job since I had been held over on my day job for almost a year thanks to "needs of the DoD") due to his health issues. But, nothing was going to prevent me from attending his funeral and the department head understood that. The kindness of Roger picking me up at Heathrow and Richard dropping me off at the rail station are the sorts of tings that I will never forget. Not to mention Doug's efforts and those of Hall & Hall to have a 250F at the pub. Along with meeting so many at the pub, Duncan and the others.

 

I miss David and our many exchanges, which were many and varied. How we managed to link up with one another is another of those almost improbable stories, but one that more than few others could probably match.

 

Among those who made TNF in the Ancient Years, David was certainly among them, to my relief, to be honest... I am not sure that he was quite sure what tommake of all this at first.

 

It rare that a few days go by and I don't think of David, especially given that his books are on the bookshelf near my desk. The care that David went to for selecting the pub and the restaurant when my wife met me in London while I took a few days off from being in SWA was typical David. 

 

I really miss his emails when he would toss out a query of some sort and I would wonder just what in the world...? And, of course, it inevitably led to some sort of Adventure in Research.

 

And, I am forever grateful for David coming on board and creating the sub-forum that rightly bears his name.

 

 

HDC

[O Volante]

10 years! Unbelievable! Despite being a fully qualified academic historian, I learned a lot from him not only about racing history.