11 replies to this topic

[Vicuna]

Wally Willmott contacted earlier today to advise the sad news that Mike Barney has passed away. As Wal says 'an significant person in the life of Bruce McLaren and too important to be forgotten'

[Gary C]

Very sad to hear. One by one the people that were present at our favourite time of racing are leaving us.

[Macca]

That’s very sad to hear. RIP Big Mike.

Paul M

[Michael Oliver]

Very sorry to hear this, another of the great unsung heroes and a lovely man to boot.

[cooper997]

Another member of Coopers Championship years taken.

 

 

Mike in light blue overalls (foreground middle) at 1961 Italian GP (attribute Hutton/Getty)

 

My condolences to his family and friends.

 

Stephen

[Doug Nye]

Oh my.  The loss of big Mike is really sad news to the world of front-line Formula 1 racing mechanics in particular and to the British motor racing fraternity as a whole.  Quiet, capable Mike worked with the very best, making his name and founding his reputation at Cooper, and later working most notably with McLaren.  His published story of the epic rebuild of Denny Hulme's M7 between it being bent at Watkins Glen in 1968 and returned to racing - without better luck - in the following, Championship-deciding, race in Mexico City survives as a true racing-mechanic epic, rivalling any sequence of such events before or since.

 

After his racing career Mike worked with the lamented London Toy Museum, and through quite recent years he and his great mate from Cooper days - the late Terry Kitson - had a Cooper which they restored and ran together.  They and their respective wives always seemed virtually inseparable.  They were both great supporters of our Goodwood events, and featured in several of our set-piece tribute demonstrations there.   I am sure all here will join me in sending sincere condolences to the surviving families and many, many friends of both Terry, and now Mike.  I really am extremely sad to hear this unfortunate news...

 

DCN

[JacnGille]

Sad news

[cooper997]

Chris Dawson, who was a longtime employee of John & Mike Cooper's Ferring and East Preston garages has posted a period and some recent photos with Mike Barney included

 

https://www.facebook...56/?__tn__=CH-R

 

It is with very sad news Mike Barney passed away 8th March 2019 Our thoughts go out to his wife Mo and family.

Mike at the LH wheel

 

Mike, seated in the middle

 

Stephen

[Tony Robinson]

Oh my. The loss of big Mike is really sad news to the world of front-line Formula 1 racing mechanics in particular and to the British motor racing fraternity as a whole. Quiet, capable Mike worked with the very best, making his name and founding his reputation at Cooper, and later working most notably with McLaren. His published story of the epic rebuild of Denny Hulme's M7 between it being bent at Watkins Glen in 1968 and returned to racing - without better luck - in the following, Championship-deciding, race in Mexico City survives as a true racing-mechanic epic, rivalling any sequence of such events before or since.

After his racing career Mike worked with the lamented London Toy Museum, and through quite recent years he and his great mate from Cooper days - the late Terry Kitson - had a Cooper which they restored and ran together. They and their respective wives always seemed virtually inseparable. They were both great supporters of our Goodwood events, and featured in several of our set-piece tribute demonstrations there. I am sure all here will join me in sending sincere condolences to the surviving families and many, many friends of both Terry, and now Mike. I really am extremely sad to hear this unfortunate news...

DCN

Terrible bad news of Mike one of the good old Formula One brigade, never tired after an all night,er was always there to offer help and assistance if needed,he had a great sense of humor and was always up for any post race celebrations,and in his day there were many!
My sympathy to his lovely wife Maureen and family.

R.I.P.

[Doug Nye]

From the BRDC:

 

The Club regrets to have to advise Members of the passing of Mike Barney on 8th March. Known as ‘Big Mike’ by his contemporaries on account of his 6’ 4” height, he was very much of the era when world championship-winning Formula 1 cars were built and tended to throughout a season by fewer mechanics than swarm around a current F1 car to change tyres at one pit stop. Mike became Bruce McLaren’s mechanic at Cooper in July 1959 and was immediately rewarded with Bruce taking third place in the British Grand Prix at Aintree, the young New Zealander finishing almost alongside Stirling Moss’s BRM P25. Mike stayed with Bruce throughout their remaining time at Cooper, becoming chief mechanic for the F1 team as a whole from 1963 when Tony Maggs, Phil Hill and Jochen Rindt were Bruce’s team mates and there were between three and five mechanics to look after the team’s two cars.

In 1966, with the advent of the new 3-litre formula, Bruce McLaren left Cooper to set up his own F1 team and Mike soon joined him as a race mechanic. For the first couple of years, not for lack of effort, results were limited but in 1968, with the availability of the Cosworth DFV engine, the McLaren M7A proved to be a race winner in the hands of both Bruce himself and team mate Denny Hulme who finished third in the Drivers’ World Championship. In 1969 Big Mike ran Peter Gethin’s works-supported Church Farm Racing Team McLaren-Chevrolet M10A in the first European Formula 5000 championship. The paths of Mike and Peter had first crossed when they worked for Dee’s of Croydon and had together attended the 1958 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, won by the Ferrari 246 Dino of Peter Collins. Eleven years later Peter won the F5000 Championship in partnership with Mike.

After leaving McLaren Mike worked for Ron Tauranac on the Brabham BT34 ‘Lobster Claw’ with which Graham Hill won the Daily Express BRDC International Trophy in 1971. By the end of the year he was working for Frank Williams on Henri Pescarolo’s March 711, going on to build the Len Bailey-designed, Ron Tauranac-fettled Politoys (Williams) FX3 for 1972. Also in 1972 Big Mike built the Gordon Murray-designed (around Brabham suspension) Duckhams De Cadenet-Cosworth LM72 which, shared by Alain himself with Chris Craft, was running as high as fourth on Sunday morning in that year’s Le Mans 24 Hours before falling to 12th at the finish following a crash. In the early ‘70s, Formula Ford was taking off around the world and Mike produced a small series of cars for the category, most of which were sold to New Zealand between 1972 and 1974.

In 1977 Mike returned to Brabham, more on the engineering side than the race team, building the BT46-Alfas through to the BT60-Judd of 1991. In his later years Mike worked with the London Toy Museum while retaining an involvement in the sport by running a Cooper with the late Terry Kitson in historic events. Mike was elected to the BRDC as an Associate Mechanic Member in 1998. The Club extends its sincerest condolences to Mike’s wife Maureen and their family.  

 

 

So many great characters - so much crucial knowledge - now lost to us:  McLaren veterans here - L to R - Cary Taylor, Tyler Alexander, Howden Ganley, Susie Dunbar, Ray Rowe, Derek Kneller, Edie Wyss, Eddie Stait, Hughie Absalom, Patty McLaren, Frank Zimmermann, Gordon Coppice and 'Big Mike' Barney...

 

DCN

Edited by Doug Nye, 14 March 2019 - 15:44.

[Bloggsworth]

We all have to run the last lap, no matter how long the race; Mike Barney completed more laps than many of us ever will - Rest in peace.

[Michael Ferner]

Great article from the BRDC - thanks for posting, Doug!

RIP, Mike Barney - from the great heights of a fellow 'Big Mike'...