11 replies to this topic

[Boniver]

David Piper start in

1959 and 1960 in the F1 and F2 with Lotus 16 climax 1.5 L - 363

team Dorchester Service Station

 

in 1960 in the F1 with Lotus 16 climax 2,5 L - 368

team Robert Bodle Ltd

 

Who or what was

 

- Dorchester Service Station

from Boston ?  BP ? sporsorship ? the garage from Piper ?

 

- Robert Bodle Ltd

from Banbury ? transport firm ?

 

[RS2000]

I think the Dorchester referred to is Dorchester on Thames (Oxfordshire? - may have been Berkshire then) rather than Dorchester, Dorset (or Dorchester, Ontario....).

 

I'm sure I've seen a reference by somebody to calling in (on the way from Silverstone?) to check on Piper who was doing an "all nighter" on that car.

Edited by RS2000, 27 February 2016 - 18:44.

[Vitesse2]

I think the Dorchester referred to is Dorchester on Thames (Oxfordshire? - may have been Berkshire then) rather than Dorchester, Dorset (or Dorchester, Ontario....).

 

I'm sure I've seen a reference by somebody to calling in (on the way from Silverstone?) to check on Piper who was doing an "all nighter" on that car.

Yes, probably Dorchester-on-Thames. Phone book records between 1959 and 1963 give the address as just 'Oxford Road', which is today a cul-de-sac leading to an old gravel pit. No obvious former garage premises, but most of the houses look 1960s or later.

 

However, there was also a Dorchester Service Station in Dorchester, Dorset. And both are in the 1961 phone book.

 

There was another in Dorchester Rd, Hazel Grove, Manchester, but not until later in the 1960s.

 

Robert Bodle (Banbury) Ltd seems to have been a car dealer. Address in 1961 is Continental Car Centre, 57 Parson's St, Banbury. Looks to now be a pedestrianised area, as it's not on Google Street View. Company was wound up in 1968.

[AAGR]

As a Dorset resident, I can confirm that the Robert Bodle/David Piper premises were close to Dorchester in Oxfordshire, and not Dorchester in Dorset. To re-confirm this, in the early 1960s, I once had cause to pull in for fuel (don't know why .... mists of time, etc), but indeed I have actually been there.

Edited by AAGR, 27 February 2016 - 22:17.

[RS2000]

It was Alan Mann's biography that has AM (and Roy Pierpoint) calling in on David Piper because he hadn't turned up at Silverstone. "We knew he worked out of a garage halfway back to Henley...Our cars were safely installed in the paddock ready to go but there was David, all alone in his garage with his totally dismantled engine all over the floor. There was no mechanic to help him....We left him to set to work and he did race the next day".

 

Clearly their concern did not extend to actually helping...

 

Dorchester on Thames more or less  fits - given the road system of the day. The timescale is not clear but Piper's car was "a 2 litre Lotus 15". Mann had the HWM Jaguar he bought in 1960 (the car John Heath was killed in). Pierpoint had a Lotus 15. Would this place it in 61 (after the end of 2.5 litre F1 for the Lotus 16)?  Did Piper move to a Lotus 15 then?   

[raceannouncer2003]

Apparently, Piper raced the Lotus 15 in 1959 and 1960, the same period as the Lotus 16.

 

Vince H.

[artyparty]

Obviously rather late to this, but being a South Oxfordshire resident I was intrigued to fall across some photos this evening, taken of the "Piper Equipe, presumably on the way back from an unhappy day's racing", snapped in St Giles, in the centre of Oxford, in May 1960. As you will (hopefully) see, there is a reference to both Robert Bodle Ltd. and the Dorchester Service Station on the side of the trailer. Dorchester-On-Thames is only a couple of miles from me, so I will ask around next time I am there. Sadly, my father passed away a couple of years ago, so is not around to help. He worked for Hartwells at Oxford at this time, who were the local Rootes agents, so I can only think that Bodle either had the agency for North Oxfordshire, or dealt in used vehicles.

http://mydadsphotos....166bab946/10085

[Tim Murray]

The event the Piper equipe was returning from was the Aintree 200 meeting on 30th April 1960. Piper drove Lotus 16 #4 in the F2 race and Lotus 15 #27 in the sports car race.

[Derwent Motorsport]

Personalised number on the Volvo tow car.  RB

[BRG]

A look at the maps suggests to me that Dorchester Service Station on the Oxford Road (A4074) might have been near the Berinsfield roundabout. There are two establishments there that could have been it - one is Clovers Discount Shop and other is Infinity Motorcycles.  These are postally described as Dorchester, Wallingford, Oxon even if a mile or so north of Dorchester proper.  Infinity is listed as 'Deacon's Garage' though so maybe Clovers is the one?  

Edited by BRG, 12 December 2020 - 14:13.

[Geoff E]

Yes, probably Dorchester-on-Thames. Phone book records between 1959 and 1963 give the address as just 'Oxford Road', which is today a cul-de-sac leading to an old gravel pit. No obvious former garage premises, but most of the houses look 1960s or later.

 

A 1961 newspaper says Dorchester on Thames.

 

You will be able to see it - if you zoom out 3 clicks - on this old map. https://www.old-maps...95029/12/100954

[BRG]

Good find!   Clearly that site has been completely redeveloped since then, so no trace remains of the Service Station.