35 replies to this topic

[AByrne27]

​Hello all,

 

​I've been something of a lurker on this part of the forums for a while, and I must say I've been very impressed with the many things I've learned here about various aspects of motorsport history!

 

​Anyway, I'm starting to do some research on Don Beauman with the intention of writing a profile on him for GP Rejects: http://gprejects.com...entrale/drivers. For those who don't know GP Rejects is a website dedicated to the less successful teams and drivers in F1 history. I live in Wicklow, which from 1950-57 hosted car and motorcycle races on an 8-mile road circuit. Three competitors were killed on the circuit in this period, and one of them of course was Don in his Connaught A-Type in 1955. His name is etched on the memorial dedicated to the races on the outskirts of Wicklow town, so naturally I took an interest in him.

 

​What I would love to get a hold of is any information that would not be easily found elsewhere on the internet, as well as any photographs anyone might have of him which I could possibly use in the profile with permission. Your help would be greatly appreciated!

 

​Cheers,

 

​Anthony

 

 

[ensign14]

Your best bet is to look out books about Mike Hawthorn, including Challenge Me The Race and Mon Ami Mate, as Beauman was something of a protege of Mike.  Hawthorn suggested Beauman over Ivor Bueb to Lofty England for Le Mans 1955, but after Jimmy Stewart retired Jaguar signed up Bueb anyway - and paired him with Hawthorn...

[AByrne27]

Your best bet is to look out books about Mike Hawthorn, including Challenge Me The Race and Mon Ami Mate, as Beauman was something of a protege of Mike.  Hawthorn suggested Beauman over Ivor Bueb to Lofty England for Le Mans 1955, but after Jimmy Stewart retired Jaguar signed up Bueb anyway - and paired him with Hawthorn...

I will be sure to keep a look out for them! I've actually been meaning to pick up a copy of Mon Ami Mate for some time. All the more reason to do so now! It seems quite pricy though, can't seem to find a copy going for much less than £100. Still, I've heard great things about it, so I'm sure it's worth every penny. Many thanks for your help.

[Eric Dunsdon]

Its nice to see Don Beauman being remembered, though not perhaps, as a Grand prix reject'. Back in the the 1950's Don was one of my many schoolboy heroes and I saw him race many times in the ex-Hawthorn Riley and the Connaught A Type of Sir Jeremy Boles.

Don was clearly a mant to watch out for and I know that Mike Hawthorn wanted him in the Works Jaguar team. I was shocked to hear of the fatal   crash in The Leinster Trophy Race in that dreadful year of 1955 but Don Beauman is another promising driver that I have never forgotten. Good luck with your research.

[nicanary]

"Grand Prix Rejects" is a rather unfortunate choice of title for the website. The aim of the site is to provide information about cars and drivers that raced in Formula One (or intended to ) but achieved little or no success. In Don Beauman's case, the 1954 British GP in a Formula 2 Connaught, racing against the Mercedes-Benz W196 team as well as the usual suspects.

 

Many of the "rejects" certainly were nothing but pipedreams, but sadly the parameters for inclusion mean that drivers who were doing their best get lumped in with the no-hopers.

[fuzzi]

Dreoilin Publications have produced a lovely series of transport books including books on Irish motor racing. Their titles may offer some help and they are soothingly priced.

[AByrne27]

"Grand Prix Rejects" is a rather unfortunate choice of title for the website. The aim of the site is to provide information about cars and drivers that raced in Formula One (or intended to ) but achieved little or no success. In Don Beauman's case, the 1954 British GP in a Formula 2 Connaught, racing against the Mercedes-Benz W196 team as well as the usual suspects.

 

Many of the "rejects" certainly were nothing but pipedreams, but sadly the parameters for inclusion mean that drivers who were doing their best get lumped in with the no-hopers.

Well, surely the "no-hopers" were also doing their best, no? Granted, they would have lacked the ability of drivers like Beauman or Archie Scott Brown or Desmond Titterington, but they did try, and I can almost guarantee a large number of them were better in a racing car than the average person would manage.

 

GP Rejects is dedicated to figures who tried their hand at F1 but didn't succeed, whether because they lacked the ability or the funds, or simply suffered from terrible luck or an underperforming car. Many long-time readers of the site and its predecessor F1 Rejects (which was sadly shut down in late 2014) are aware of this and that all of these drivers are treated with the utmost respect, as opposed to poking fun at them. Some profiled drivers have even made valuable contributions to the website itself. For example, late sixties Canadian driver Al Pease recorded an introductory soundbite that used to be featured on the front page of F1 Rejects explaining the purpose of the website to new visitors.

 

All of the profiles were written in a respectful tone, which you can also see in the recently published Joe Kelly profile that I wrote with assistance from Joe's son, who I can tell you was very happy to see his father commemorated. Many of the drivers profiled on F1 Rejects were of varying levels of ability, from Jean-Denis Délétraz and Giovanni Lavaggi (both of whom were moderately successful in sportscars) to genuine talents like Desmond Titterington and Mike Thackwell. Yes, they are linked by the fact that they didn't succeed in F1, but their profiles serve to show that there was more to them than simply making up the numbers on an entry list.

 

That said, something probably needs to be done to make this clear on the website itself. The old Al Pease recording might still be in the hands of the webmaster of the old site.

 

 

 

Dreoilin Publications have produced a lovely series of transport books including books on Irish motor racing. Their titles may offer some help and they are soothingly priced.

 

Ah yes, I do have quite a few of their titles! The history of motorsport in my home country is a subject I have a great interest in as I'm sure you'll understand! Very little info on Don though, apart from how he ended up driving a Gordini at the 1954 TT at Dundrod (and won in the 1.5 litre category!), and of course a brief account of his tragic death at Wicklow moments after setting what would turn out to be the fastest lap of the race. None of the other books covering races from the period have anything on him, sadly.

[nicanary]

I apologise for any offence caused. Re-reading my post I think I could have worded it more appropriately. It's just the word "rejects" which I believe is misleading. My comments on no-hopers refers to cars like the infamous Life, and proposed Soviet-era creations which were never entered in Western races.

[Sharman]

I apologise for any offence caused. Re-reading my post I think I could have worded it more appropriately. It's just the word "rejects" which I believe is misleading. My comments on no-hopers refers to cars like the infamous Life, and proposed Soviet-era creations which were never entered in Western races.

Even Bugatti

[AByrne27]

I apologise for any offence caused. Re-reading my post I think I could have worded it more appropriately. It's just the word "rejects" which I believe is misleading. My comments on no-hopers refers to cars like the infamous Life, and proposed Soviet-era creations which were never entered in Western races.

 

No need to apologise, none was taken.  It is something that has misled people in the past. In fact, former Osella driver Allen Berg once emailed the webmasters of F1 Rejects thinking that it was a site dedicated to mocking people like him! Like I said, there really needs to be some sort of disclaimer on GP Rejects to set the record straight.

 

And yes, it is a different story when you look at some of the teams run by people who seemed to lack better judgment. It's hard to sympathise with Ernesto Vita fielding a chassis that its designer had labelled a deathtrap, or Andrea Sassetti's abysmal treatment of Perry McCarthy. The driver profiles were always the more popular articles on F1 Rejects in the past and I expect it to remain that way now with GP Rejects. Generally speaking, the drivers are largely seen as "triers", while a number of teams that were profiled in the past tend to be a case of "what were they thinking?!" Efforts that were never on an entry list like the severely underpowered Soviet cars from the 1960s wouldn't get a profile. F1 Rejects always tended to avoid those in the past, and there is now another site set up recently called Unraced F1, which is dedicated to projects of that nature.

[nicanary]

Thanks for the info. I haven't been on the site for a long time - a visit is overdue.

[dgs]

Another source of results for Don Beauman would be found in the book 'European Formule Libre 1929-1961', published by Formula One Register.

 

This shows 20 race entries 1953-1955 

[cooper997]

Can't help with this much, but have this entry listed for him at Boreham

August 11, 1951 Event 2 500cc Formula III Race – heat 2 5 laps

23 M Barclay Cooper 498 D Beauman

 

Stephen

[cooper997]

I've just had a check of another Boreham programme and Don is listed in an earlier meeting.

 

May 26, 1951 Event 3 500cc Formula III Race – heat 2 5 laps

12 (Dvr) D Beauman Cooper (Ent) D Beauman

The top 15 of each were to go through to the final. Can't say if Don was one of them. Someone with access to appropriate Autosport issue may help.

 

I'm aware there was also a June 30, 1951 meeting at Boreham. But don't have access to a programme to see if Don was entered.

 

Also, I should have specified in the previous post, Don is listed as entrant at the August 1951 meeting

 

Stephen

[AByrne27]

Cheers for that, Stephen! Right now I'm only going to include career highlights (wins, podiums etc.). Otherwise there would be a pretty exhaustive list (although even then he scored a lot of podiums in his short career)! That said, I would love to know where and when exactly he made his motor racing début. At the moment the earliest I can find is a meeting at Brands Hatch on the 8th of April 1951, which could well have been his first, but some sources claim he first started racing the Cooper-JAP in 1950.

 

I've also picked up a copy of Challenge Me the Race. ​It is a splendid read, well worth having, although it wasn't quite as useful in relation to Don as I thought it would be, given how close Mike and Don apparently were. There were a couple of useful anecdotes with regards to the 1000km Nurburgring in 1953 (Don's first continental race from what I've gathered) and a little bit on his getting the 1955 Le Mans drive with Jaguar, but little more. I was also hoping for some sort of insight into his off-track life. So far I have absolutely nothing on his life outside the car except that he ran a hotel. Nothing else. While a good summary of his racing achievements can be written with the material I already have, I feel like I'm missing out on a big chunk of his life. It would be a terrible shame if this sort of information is lost.

[Doug Nye]

The remains of Sir Jeremy Boles's Connaught - after Don Beauman's fatal crash in it - were stripped of all salvageable parts in the Hawthorns' TT Garage here in Farnham, and the mangled frame was then tossed into the foundation excavation for a new showroom building there - and engulfed when the concrete infill was poured. Dependent upon oxidation they will still be there today, if only as discolouration within the slab...

 

DCN

[cooper997]

Anthony, I understand where you are coming from for your project's use, but as this thread is now a record of Don Beauman any information that can be added here is worthwhile for future reference. You've already got a few nuggets of info, such as DCN's and it would be handy if dgs was able to list the known races from the 'European Formule Libre 1929-1961',published by Formula One Register 

 

I don't have many 1950 UK circuit race programmes to check in an attempt to get a clearer picture on Don's debut race meeting. But if this thread can generate some attention, then there's a good chance someone will have them. Or indeed know where to look to help answer that question.

 

Stephen

[Eric Dunsdon]

My battered copy of the 1952 500cc Year Book has the following information on Don.

 

BornJuly 26th 1928. Driver of Cooper. Won handicap race at Brands Hatch April 1951.

Timber Importer. Orwell, Walton-On-The-Hill, Surrey.

 

The 1953 Year Book lists him as finishing 2nd in the 1952 Championship of Ireland at Newtonards.

Car for 1953..Ex-Hawthorn Riley.

 

Sorry not to have found this earlier. As I said, I was quite a young fan of Don Beauman and had great hope for hiim.

 

[cooper997]

Somewhere I have those two 500cc Yearbooks Eric refers, but totally forgot about them until seeing his post. So thanks for enlightening us Eric.

 

Anthony I had a bit more of a scratch around and have found Don listed in the following race programme.

 

Saturday 19/6/54 Crystal Palace

Event 2 Crystal Palace Trophy Race heat 2 10 laps 2.30pm

1 Sir Jeremy Boles (dvr: entrant or D B Beauman – DBB underlined) Connaught 4 1967 Green – 2^nd place to Nuckey

 

Event 5 The Club Trophy race 10 laps 4pm

1 Sir Jeremy Boles (dvr: entrant or D B Beauman – DBB underlined) Connaught 4 1967 Green – 2^nd place to Leston

 

Event 7 The Crystal Palace Trophy Race Final 10 laps 5pm

(This event entries hand written in programme)

2 Parnell – 1^st

4 Collins – 2^nd

7 Nuckey

1 Beauman – 3^rd

20 Gould

5 Whitehouse

11 Emery

15 Fairman

6 Young

14 Whiteaway

3 Boulton

18 Leston

Results written in as 2, 4, 1, 5 & 7

 

 

So he did pretty well in this company!

 

Stephen

 

 

[dgs]

Results;  

 

11-07-1953:  Leinster Trophy (Wicklow)  Riley TT Sprite, 3rd

12-09-1953: Wakefield Trophy (The Curragh)  Alvis 12/70,  retired

29-05-1954:  Aintree 200 (Aintree)  Connaught A, retired

07-06-1954:  Brands Hatch  Connaught A, 2nd

12-06-1954:  Oulton Park  Connaught A, did not appear

19-06-1954:  Club Trophy (Crystal Palace)  Connaught A,  2nd

10-07-1954:  Chester Trophy: (Oulton Park)  Connaught A, 1st

02-08-1954:  Rochester Trophy (Brands Hatch)  Connaught A,  2nd

07-08-1954:  Oulton Park  Connaught A, retired

14-08-1954:  Redex Trophy (Snetterton)  Connaught A, retired

28-08-1954:  Wakefield Trophy (The Curragh)  Connaught A, did not start

18-09-1954:  London Trophy (Crystal Palace)  Connaught A, 2nd

02-10-1954:  Aintree International (Aintree)  Connaught A,  6th

09-10-1954:  Snetterton  Connaught A,  2nd

26-12-1954:  Silver City Airways Trophy (Brands Hatch)  Connaught a,  1st

29-031955:  Snetterton  Connaught A, retired

11-04-1955:  Chichester Cup (Goodwood)  Connaught A,  5th

16-04-1955:  Winfield JC (Charterhall)  Connaught A, result unknown

30-04-1955:  Ibsley  Connaught A, retired

29-05-1955:  Farnington Trophy (Brands Hatch) Connaught A, 2nd

30-05-1955:  London Trophy (Crystal Palace)  Connaught A, did not start, crash

09-07-1955:  Leinster Trophy (Wicklow)  Connaught A. result unknown (recorded fastest lap of race)

 

 

[dgs]

Results:

 

09-07-1955:  Leinster Trophy (Wicklow)

 

I should have written, fatal crash, not result unknown

[Eric Dunsdon]

Results:

 

09-07-1955:  Leinster Trophy (Wicklow)

 

I should have written, fatal crash, not result unknown

Thank you for compiling that list of Don's successes. They reminded me that I saw nine of those races including the 1954 Boxing Day Brands race which he won despite a spin at Paddock Bend.

[dgs]

Further Don Beauman results on his sports car races can be found on the Racing Sports Cars site.

 

Just type in his name on drivers page

[dgs]

Cheers for that, Stephen! Right now I'm only going to include career highlights (wins, podiums etc.). Otherwise there would be a pretty exhaustive list (although even then he scored a lot of podiums in his short career)! That said, I would love to know where and when exactly he made his motor racing début. At the moment the earliest I can find is a meeting at Brands Hatch on the 8th of April 1951, which could well have been his first, but some sources claim he first started racing the Cooper-JAP in 1950.

 

I've also picked up a copy of Challenge Me the Race. ​It is a splendid read, well worth having, although it wasn't quite as useful in relation to Don as I thought it would be, given how close Mike and Don apparently were. There were a couple of useful anecdotes with regards to the 1000km Nurburgring in 1953 (Don's first continental race from what I've gathered) and a little bit on his getting the 1955 Le Mans drive with Jaguar, but little more. I was also hoping for some sort of insight into his off-track life. So far I have absolutely nothing on his life outside the car except that he ran a hotel. Nothing else. While a good summary of his racing achievements can be written with the material I already have, I feel like I'm missing out on a big chunk of his life. It would be a terrible shame if this sort of information is lost.

Earlier date:  26-03-1951:  Nottingham Trophy Meeting (Gamston) 5 laps Cooper-JAP, retired 4 laps

31-03-1951:  Bristol MC & LCC (Castle Combe)  shown in entrants, do not know if he took part in race

[Doug Nye]

Here's the man himself - on the wonderful Revs Digital Library website.  Isn't it odd how so many young men of the wartime generation and just after often looked older than their years...?

 

https://revslib.stan...log/rf330dp7086

 

Also see here in the Boles Connaught:

 

https://revslib.stan...log/rv378nj9702

 

Here in Leslie Hawthorn's Riley Sprite at Crystal Palace:

 

https://revslib.stan...log/fw133bc9901

 

Spinning here in the works D-Type Jaguar at White House, Le Mans...

 

https://revslib.stan...log/cq647ff1033

 

And here in the Boles Connaught again, at the Palace:

 

https://revslib.stan...log/mt763nq4752

 

Just type 'Don Beauman' into the Revs DigiLib search function - and away you go...

 

DCN

[cooper997]

With a collective TNF effort, Don's events are being brought together. Thanks to dgs for his efforts and Doug for finding the revs library photos.

 

dgs mentions the Easter Monday, 26/3/51 Gamston meeting and I have a programme reference to Don being at the Easter Saturday, 24/3/51 Brough Areodrome

– Blackburn Welfare Motor Club ‘Festival of Britain Road Race Meeting'. So thus far, that might be the earliest meeting we've listed for him.

 

I've also come across the following 2 from programmes, but I don't have hardcopy.

Saturday, 6/10/51 Castle Combe National Car Race Meeting.

Class A 2^nd 7 lap heat for racing cars up to 500cc

32 D B Beauman D B Beauman Cooper JAP 497

Ron 'Curley' Dryden was killed at this meeting

 

Saturday, 17/5/52 Boreham ‘Tim’ Birkin Trophy Meeting.

Event 4 500cc Race Formula III 10 laps

41 D Beauman Cooper 498 D Beauman

 

In the programme I have for the following, he is listed, but crossed out. But dgs' list states he'd crashed

Whit-Monday, 30/5/55 Crystal Palace

Event 4 The London Trophy Race - part 1 12 laps 3.12pm

1 (Dvr) D Beauman (Car) Connaught (Engine) Connaught (Entrant) Sir Jeremy Boles, Bt – Beauman crossed out

Event 8 The London Trophy Race - part 2 12 laps 5.06pm

1 D Beauman Connaught Connaught Sir Jeremy Boles, Bt – Beauman crossed out

 

Stephen

[AByrne27]

This page on the 500 Owners Association website has some of his F3 results as well as a piece written about him around New Year's 1955. The last sentence in particular is quite sad to read in hindsight.

 

They also have a (very incomplete) collection of race reports from the period that I'm still digging through. Still no mention of any participation before the April Brands Hatch meeting I mentioned before (or indeed the earlier Gamston and Castle Combe meetings, cheers for that dgs!), but at least one can get a sense of how he performed from what race reports are available.

 

And Doug, many thanks for the links to those photos. They shall come in very handy should I obtain the permission to use them.

Edited by AByrne27, 21 May 2016 - 03:08.

[Pat Clarke]

Anthony,

I was brought up in Wicklow town where my father worked at Coleburn and Hopkins garage in the main street (where the AIB bank is now)

 

My dad was a spectator marshall at that '55 Leinster Trophy race, and naturally, as a small boy, I accompanied him to his area, out past Wolohans Bridge somewhere, near the Beehive pub.

 

Donald Beauman crashed just out of our sight, but I vividly remember the flames and smoke going up through the tree he hit. In truth, I don't even remember him passing my viewpoint, but it was a long time ago.

 

The wrecked Connaught was taken to Colburns for safe keeping while the Gardai did their stuff. I souvenired a lump of molten aluminium from atop the frame rail and it sat on my bedroom windowsill in Convent Road (alongside a shard of magnesium from Sammy Miller's NSU) for several years until my mum did a 'spring clean' :-)..

 

One of the apprentices at Colburns appropriated the enamel Connaught badge from the car. My dad confiscated it, and I found it many years later when he died. It is wrapped up in newspaper somewhere at home, though I have not seen it for years.

 

I remember telling this story several years ago on TNF

[dgs]

With a collective TNF effort, Don's events are being brought together. Thanks to dgs for his efforts and Doug for finding the revs library photos.

 

dgs mentions the Easter Monday, 26/3/51 Gamston meeting and I have a programme reference to Don being at the Easter Saturday, 24/3/51 Brough Areodrome

– Blackburn Welfare Motor Club ‘Festival of Britain Road Race Meeting'. So thus far, that might be the earliest meeting we've listed for him.

 

I've also come across the following 2 from programmes, but I don't have hardcopy.

Saturday, 6/10/51 Castle Combe National Car Race Meeting.

Class A 2^nd 7 lap heat for racing cars up to 500cc

32 D B Beauman D B Beauman Cooper JAP 497

Ron 'Curley' Dryden was killed at this meeting

 

Saturday, 17/5/52 Boreham ‘Tim’ Birkin Trophy Meeting.

Event 4 500cc Race Formula III 10 laps

41 D Beauman Cooper 498 D Beauman

 

In the programme I have for the following, he is listed, but crossed out. But dgs' list states he'd crashed

Whit-Monday, 30/5/55 Crystal Palace

Event 4 The London Trophy Race - part 1 12 laps 3.12pm

1 (Dvr) D Beauman (Car) Connaught (Engine) Connaught (Entrant) Sir Jeremy Boles, Bt – Beauman crossed out

Event 8 The London Trophy Race - part 2 12 laps 5.06pm

1 D Beauman Connaught Connaught Sir Jeremy Boles, Bt – Beauman crossed out

 

Stephen

In  the two volume 'A Record of Motor Racing at Crystal Palace ' by Richard Page (considered the standard work on races at Crystal palace) it states that London Trophy Part 1, that Don Beauman (Connaught A) did not start, crashed during practice. The same note appears in Entrants for Part two of London Trophy

[AByrne27]

Anthony,

I was brought up in Wicklow town where my father worked at Coleburn and Hopkins garage in the main street (where the AIB bank is now)

 

My dad was a spectator marshall at that '55 Leinster Trophy race, and naturally, as a small boy, I accompanied him to his area, out past Wolohans Bridge somewhere, near the Beehive pub.

 

Donald Beauman crashed just out of our sight, but I vividly remember the flames and smoke going up through the tree he hit. In truth, I don't even remember him passing my viewpoint, but it was a long time ago.

 

The wrecked Connaught was taken to Colburns for safe keeping while the Gardai did their stuff. I souvenired a lump of molten aluminium from atop the frame rail and it sat on my bedroom windowsill in Convent Road (alongside a shard of magnesium from Sammy Miller's NSU) for several years until my mum did a 'spring clean' :-)..

 

One of the apprentices at Colburns appropriated the enamel Connaught badge from the car. My dad confiscated it, and I found it many years later when he died. It is wrapped up in newspaper somewhere at home, though I have not seen it for years.

 

I remember telling this story several years ago on TNF

Pat, I do remember reading your story on TNF. I make no secret of the fact that I've done searches on this forum and elsewhere on the internet in the past in relation to the old Wicklow races, as I do have a deep fascination with them. I've been building up a collection of photographs from the races and I've even photographed the circuit layout as it looks today as part of a project for college (minus the majority of the section between the Beehive and Ballinabarney, now that it's been turned into motorway). You could say I'm trying to make up for being born far too late to have witnessed them firsthand!

 

But anyway, I do have a question: You wouldn't happen to know the exact spot where the crash happened, would you? It's just that the sources I have seem to be in disagreement. Joan Carvill's  The Wicklow Motor Races 1950-1957 state​s that the accident occurred on the fast stretch between the Beehive and Ballinabarney, while other sources say it happened before on the approach to the Beehive.

[EDWARD FITZGERALD]

One person I have spoken to says after the Beehive,I have been told by people who were there that some of Joan Carvills facts are not correct , so we need proof ,Gardai reports or the inquest would be worth checking

[cooper997]

After a bit of scrounging I've found I have the 15/7/55 Autosport issue with the Leinster Trophy report and vale for Don in the Sport News pages

Throughout the report Don is mentioned for his fast lap times and coverage of what happened. It also mentions the Leinster Club cancelled the following day's Wicklow Hillclimb as a mark of respect.

 

What follows shows a cropped version of the George Phillips photo DCN's Revs library link brings up.

 

 

Stephen

[Eric Dunsdon]

Don co-drove Redmond Gallaghers Gordini in the 1954 Dundrod Tourist Trophy Race finishing 11th overall and taking Class victory.

[AByrne27]

Many thanks for posting that Autosport piece, Stephen. There are certainly some parts worth quoting in there.

 

Don co-drove Redmond Gallaghers Gordini in the 1954 Dundrod Tourist Trophy Race finishing 11th overall and taking Class victory.

 

Ah yes, according to John S. Moore's ​The Dundrod TT Races 1950-1955 ​Don's participation in that particular event was a little, shall we say, complicated  Apparently, Don was supposed to co-drive Mike Hawthorn's Ferrari instead of Umberto Maglioli before Maurice Trintignant was chosen to take over (although Maglioli was only replaced by Trintignant after Trintignant's own co-driver José Froilán González crashed their car in practice, so I'm unsure as to the validity of this claim). Red Gallagher's Gordini was originally supposed to be driven by Pierce Cahill and Tom Lord. Cahill for some reason never took part and Lord was injured, so Red himself took over driving duties along with Don and, as you say, they won in the Sports 1500 Class.

[EDWARD FITZGERALD]

I have a copy of The Irish Times report of the Wicklow race and its gives accurate info as to the crash location , I will forward as a PM

[AByrne27]

I have finally completed my profile on Don Beauman; I do hope I've done him justice: http://gprejects.com...ile-don-beauman