43 replies to this topic

[Macca]

It is being reported that Dr Lawrence has passed away. RIP, sir.

[Geoff E]

There is an announcement here https://www.pitpass....1/Mike-Lawrence

[sstiel]

A shame. Mike had a column for us at Vintage Racecar, lectured at Sussex University and Gothenburg University, had Track Torque radio with Robin Widdows and did press releases for Dave Scott when he was in Formula Three. Leaves behind a body of work today.  Vale Mike.

[LittleChris]

Sad to hear this. Have the following books by Mike and enjoyed them all

 

Brabham Ralt Honda - The Ron Tauranac Story Four Wheel Drift - 1945 - 1959 Cooper Colin Chapman Wayward Genius

 

RIP Mike

[Doug Nye]

Very sorry indeed to hear this news.  One feels for Mike's family and many friends at this sad time. He was diligent at digging down for fine and unexpected detail and certainly left some fine footprints behind him...  

 

God bless mate.

 

DCN

[1969BOAC500]

I'm sad to hear this - just this week I was re-reading parts of 'Colin Chapman - Wayward Genius'.

 

RIP.

[proviz]

A great motor sport historian. I particularly like his encyclopedic works, but "March - Four Guys and a Telephone" is a shining example of how chronicling history really can be moulded into a story. How old was he?

[Vitesse2]

How old was he?

78. Mike did post here on occasion - although a long time ago - and according to his profile he was born on April 17th 1942.

[Eric Dunsdon]

Oh dear, such sad news. commiserations to Mikes family. R.I.P.

[Michael Ferner]

I'm very sad to hear this. Mike was a great writer!

 

Condolences to his family and friends.

[ensign14]

Sad news, so often enjoyingly pugnacious in his writing, not afraid to tilt at a few sacred cows.

[wolf sun]

Sad news, he will be much missed.
 

RIP and sincere condolences to his family and friends.

[68targa]

Oh dear, such a shame. His contributions will not be forgotten. RIP

[Risil]

Goodness, what a shame. Best wishes and condolences to his friends and family.
 
I posted this clipping from a 1959 edition of Motor Sport in one of the Grand Prix threads in RC this summer: anyone recognize this as an early Lawrence missive? Or some coincidence?

[kayemod]

Mike was one of my favourite motor racing writers, and now he may be able to meet Daffy Duck at long last.

 

RIP Mike.

Edited by kayemod, 05 January 2021 - 21:18.

[DogEarred]

I was always keeping an eye out on pitpass.com for his contributions. By far the best on that website

 

Obviously up there with best auto/racing writers,

 

Had a quick chat with him at the Goodwood Festival one day. Wish we had chatted more as he only told me his name as we parted.

 

Shame

[P.Dron]

He was a good chap. R.I.P. 

[Vitesse2]

Goodness, what a shame. Best wishes and condolences to his friends and family.
 
I posted this clipping from a 1959 edition of Motor Sport in one of the Grand Prix threads in RC this summer: anyone recognize this as an early Lawrence missive? Or some coincidence?

Coincidence I think. The only Michael J Lawrence I can trace born in 1942 was registered in Willesden. That's a long way from either Acomb. Not impossible, but seems unlikely.

[Roger Clark]

His books on Reynard, Ralt and March were all classics as were many articles he wrote for Motor Sport.  I always liked the story he told, possibly on this forum, of when a Chichester resident wrote to the local paper complaining about the noise of air displays at the Revival.  Mike wrote for the next edition saying that anybody who complained about Spitfires over a World War 2 should at least have the decency to write in German.

[DCapps]

I liked Mike quite a bit. He had that certain talent for seeing things just a few degrees off from the rest of the us -- and then being able to articulate it, in often rather "interesting" ways....

 

I must admit to not be completely shocked by this, but rather being quite saddened by it. When I saw the email forwarded from his son Mark, I knew right away that Mike had left us. As ever, it seems that Mike went out in style, creating yet another Mike story in the process.

 

I shall certainly miss him given that he was among the few not bothered by ruffling feathers or causing folks to clutch their chests with what he might dare to observe in his writings....

 

It looks as if the Eternal Historians' Corner is getting more crowded all the time.

 

Miss ya' Mike....

[Tim Murray]

I always liked the story he told, possibly on this forum, of when a Chichester resident wrote to the local paper complaining about the noise of air displays at the Revival. Mike wrote for the next edition saying that anybody who complained about Spitfires over a World War 2 should at least have the decency to write in German.

Here’s the post, which demonstrates Mike’s inimitable writing style:

In the late 1960s entrepreneur, Nick Brittan, fitted a Lotus 59 Formula Ford 1600 car with mudguards and lights to make it road legal and, if I remember rightly, it was to raise publicity for a move to stage a Grand Prix in London's Hyde Park, which is about the same size as Monaco.

Nick had the whole circuit worked out and back then Hyde Park had not played host to The Rolling Stones or any of the other concerts that have gone on in recent years.

London's parks are 'royal parks' but I know that the Queen has driven around Goodwood circuit (in a Jensen 541) and she is useful with a spanner. HM served in the Transport Corps during WWII, she can strip down an engine and, I hear, is a better driver than Prince Philip, he being a sailor.

We need royal approval for Hyde Park so we need to put the proposition to Her Majesty. If she declines, we wait a bit. Prince William and Prince Harry have both received instruction at the Goodwood Motor Circuit, more than once, so they may be up for it.

I liked Macca's idea for a Chichester Grand Prix, for that is where I live. I was involved in the struggle to get Goodwood reopened for racing so I know that is a non-starter even though his route would work. We have incomers: "After a life spent in the dog-eat-dog world of insurance, I retired to the quiet cathedral city of Chichester. I bought a house within earshot of a motor racing circuit and airfield. Now I am here, I demand that both be closed down."

Believe it or not, there were letters to the local paper complaining about 'noise pollution' when the late Nick Grace kept his Spitfire at Goodwood. I wrote that anyone complaining about a Spitfire flying from a Battle of Britain aerodrome should have the grace to write in German.

RIP Mike.

[Funland]

Sad news to hear of the passing of Mike Lawrence . As an avid motor racing fan and luckily living in the Portsmouth area I was able to listen to the track torque show on the local radio station radio victory hosted by Rob Widdows  and mike. Thursday night 8.30 never missed a show , the guest list was unbelievable for such a small local Portsmouth based radio station. Every week they seemed to have ether John Watson or Derek Bell on both being local (pagham)  . Happy memories 

[D-Type]

What sad news. 

I may not have always agreed with his opinions but I always enjoyed the style he expressed them with.  The three and a third books I have by him continue to give pleasure no matter how often I read them.

 

Farewell to another of the great enthusiasts who could write.

Edited by D-Type, 31 December 2020 - 14:12.

[Jack-the-Lad]

When I saw the email forwarded from his son Mark, I knew right away that Mike had left us. As ever, it seems that Mike went out in style, creating yet another Mike story in the process....

Can you tell us a bit more about that, please, Don?

Thank you.

[Richard Jenkins]

I've recently re-introduced myself to Dr. Lawrence's work in Motorsport (articles on Formula Junior, Paul Emery and Peter Arundell specifically) through researching for the Mike Spence book, and by doing so, have been reminded of his flowing narrative, his research, the way he could describe complex things quite easily and his unbridled enthusiasm.

 

His opinions obviously make the articles very much a Lawrence hallmark, but the articles are not poorer for that.

 

Very sorry to hear the news, especially so at this time of year.

[Graham Gauld]

Very sad news. Mike was special. Back when I used to help organise new car press launches for Fiat Mike and I used to enjoy entertaining our journo pals in the bar by starting a ompetition between us to see which one of us could catch the other one out with obscure motor racing questions. We called it Basdardmind and it usually ended up with an audience joining in.. in the end I like to think it ended up a draw but have a sneaking feeling he was better as he proved in his many books and articles. It is a pity he stopped contributing and writing so soon. I had one or two questions I still had for him

[RobertE]

Damn; I knew and liked Mike. He was that interesting combination - a mischievous scholar. Excellent company, too. He will be missed. RIP...

Edited by RobertE, 31 December 2020 - 16:49.

[MartLgn]

Sad news, so often enjoyingly pugnacious in his writing, not afraid to tilt at a few sacred cows.

Indeed! He certainly wasn't seduced by the romance and legend of Ferrari (the team or the man!) I still occasionaly read his deconstruction of the Scuderia in his book on GP cars 1945-65 to make sure that my memory isn't playing tricks.

[guiporsche]

Well, seduced or not, the problem was (and is) when all the ranting becomes confused for writing history with an aim at objectivity. His pages against Ferrari rank amongst the worst stuff he wrote (but I suppose it's gold for an English audience).

And besides that book on GP Cars (which ignores Ferrari's financial difficulties and what it was to go against state-backed Alfa as a private concern in post-WII Italy, see what Tavoni had to say about the team's finances), I'm thinking about his weird comparison about the merits of Enzo Ferrari vs Colin Chapman on the conclusion of Wayward Genius - that hasn't aged well.

Edited by guiporsche, 01 January 2021 - 19:20.

[john aston]

Don't fall into the lazy trap of assuming every Brit is anti Ferrari . This Brit  once did a 3000mile round  trip - in a Fiat Uno - to see Ferrari race at home..   

[guiporsche]

I don't and that was not the purpose of my post: otherwise I would not cherish all the books about Ferrari written by British historians sitting on my bookshelves, from Doug Nye to Keith Bluemel, from Anthony Pritchard to John Godfrey. Some of which I spent years saving until I could get them. At the same time, it's hard to ignore that a certain type of narratives comes and gets repeated the most in certain circles, including in some of Mike Lawrence's books.

 

Regardless, I will simply state that what I enjoyed the most about Mike Lawrence's books was the depth of his research on British motorsports industry topics that otherwise would be left untouched because they had no bling 'eff-one' appeal: March, Ralt-Brabham, Reynard... It's a shame he never came to write about the demise of the bigger names in that industry. 

[Charlieman]

Regardless, I will simply state that what I enjoyed the most about Mike Lawrence's books was the depth of his research on British motorsports industry topics that otherwise would be left untouched because they had no bling 'eff-one' appeal: March, Ralt-Brabham, Reynard... It's a shame he never came to write about the demise of the bigger names in that industry. 

The Reynard and Chapman books are on my to-buy list. In the March and Ralt-Brabham books, Mike Lawrence got to know some of the principals and he was open about how this exposed him as their witness. Like all good authors, he allowed people associated with mistakes to talk about them, to explain with minimal embarrassment.

 

Mike Lawrence was a traditional British Liberal, which is associated with contrariness and independent thinking. He'd poke a stick at established opinion, partly for fun and partly to establish the truth. 

[2F-001]

Regardless, I will simply state that what I enjoyed the most about Mike Lawrence's books was the depth of his research on British motorsports industry topics that otherwise would be left untouched because they had no bling 'eff-one' appeal: March, Ralt-Brabham, Reynard... It's a shame he never came to write about the demise of the bigger names in that industry. 

There were bigger names in that industry?
Yes, there were others (e.g. Lola, Chevron. Van Diemen...), but bigger ?

[SamoanAttorney]

It was always a privilege and a pleasure to encounter Mike at events such as Goodwood. He was full of mischief and amusement backed up with a deep knowledge of the sport.

 

I found this passage recently when looking from something else, I only wish I could write half as well as this:

 

"During World War II, Balestre had served in the Legion de Charlemagne, which was a French regiment in the Waffen SS and photographs have been published of he, in uniform, stretching his right arm, as one does when one gets cramp.

He later pleaded that he was a member of the French Resistance acting as a double-agent. If Balestre is right then he was the only French double-agent in the Waffen SS so the fact he has not been hailed as a hero by former members of the Resistance is pretty small-minded of them"

 Those who fancy reading more will find it HERE

[ensign14]

It's pretty easy as well to see why the volume racecar manufacturers failed.  Either they tried to move up, or they missed out on sole manufacturer franchises.  Tony George choosing Falcon over Lola for instance out of sheer spite.

 

Whereas Dallara and Van Diemen basically chugged along in lower formulae and stuck to what they knew. 

[guiporsche]

I'm going off-topic again, but Dallara clearly did not stuck to what they knew. 

Reynard, Lola, and March basically went bankrupt trying to do F1 or were outpaced on the track. Dallara grew step-by-step from category to category, never spent more than they had chasing the F1 dream, read well the American market and eventually ended up doing F1 (again, after the late 80s-early 90s) with Haas after the early experience with Hispania (which again, was a job done on money received, as a recent F1 podcast with De la Rosa makes clear). And that's not counting all the work done for manufacturers, like the monocoques built for Audi. All that from Varano de Melegari. Signore Dallara also clearly picked well his collaborators throughout the years. Quite impressive, I would say, for a man who worked at Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini and not at the English motorsports silicon valey.

 

There were bigger names in that industry?
Yes, there were others (e.g. Lola, Chevron. Van Diemen...), but bigger ?

 

Mike's books were all published before the end of March & Reynard (and he never wrote one about Lola, etc).

Edited by guiporsche, 05 January 2021 - 12:09.

[ensign14]

Dallara was smart in that they let everyone else pay the bills for their F1 efforts.  Did not expose the company.  Lola did that every single time as well, except once - and that killed off Lola Part 1. 

 

But on the Indycar bit, Dallara were "lucky" to be on George's side, so that, when the merger happened, Lola Part 2 was discarded in favour of a marque that had made as many cars as I had. 

 

And now almost every formula is one-make, there is little chance of anyone ever being able to compete with Dallara's near-monopoly.

[Michael Clark]

I stayed with Mike for the 2008 Revival - Rogers Clark and Lund may recall encountering us. I well remember the pleasure at meeting the two of you. 

 

Mike initially offered me a bed some months prior to me leaving NZ but when I hadn't heard from him for a while I emailed and indicated that if it was no longer convenient, then no problem. He responded immediately 'I am an Englishman and an Englishman does not reneg on invitations to Colonials...'

 

Over dinner one night we got onto the number of F3 drivers from 1969 who went onto to race in F1 - we were still discussing it in the early hours of the next morning. Mike didn't do 'once over lightly'. Samoan Attorney (I have always been intrigued with your name having met a number of the lawyers in Apia) has captured Mike perfectly with his second sentence. We walked through the paddock at Goodwood and he had a story about every Cooper-Bristol - and that was before we got to HWMs, Connaughts, 250Fs et al.

 

His turn of phrase and way with words was spectacular - he told me of heavy duty drinking sessions with a well-known designer 'Michael, at two in the morning you're sitting there with the meaning of life just dancing in the palm of your hand. The next morning, you're trying to remember what it was as you're about to clean your teeth with a razor.'

 

Oh, and by the way - it was Daffy, not Donald. Finding Mike's Fiat in the Goodwood carpark was easy because Daffy "my hero" Duck sat atop the car's aerial. Eoin Young used to refer to some people as 'non-standard issue' - a phrase that could have been coined for Mike.

[Roger Clark]

I stayed with Mike for the 2008 Revival - Rogers Clark and Lund may recall encountering us. I well remember the pleasure at meeting the two of you. 

 

 

I do indeed!

[bradbury west]

As do I. I recall your daughter had taken your camera that day. The two Davids , Beard and McKinney , were also with us. “ If the Devil could have cast his net....”  someone will be saying....

Stay safe.

Roger Lund

[SamoanAttorney]

I stayed with Mike for the 2008 Revival - Rogers Clark and Lund may recall encountering us. I well remember the pleasure at meeting the two of you. 

 

Mike initially offered me a bed some months prior to me leaving NZ but when I hadn't heard from him for a while I emailed and indicated that if it was no longer convenient, then no problem. He responded immediately 'I am an Englishman and an Englishman does not reneg on invitations to Colonials...'

 

Over dinner one night we got onto the number of F3 drivers from 1969 who went onto to race in F1 - we were still discussing it in the early hours of the next morning. Mike didn't do 'once over lightly'. Samoan Attorney (I have always been intrigued with your name having met a number of the lawyers in Apia) has captured Mike perfectly with his second sentence. We walked through the paddock at Goodwood and he had a story about every Cooper-Bristol - and that was before we got to HWMs, Connaughts, 250Fs et al.

 

His turn of phrase and way with words was spectacular - he told me of heavy duty drinking sessions with a well-known designer 'Michael, at two in the morning you're sitting there with the meaning of life just dancing in the palm of your hand. The next morning, you're trying to remember what it was as you're about to clean your teeth with a razor.'

 

Oh, and by the way - it was Daffy, not Donald. Finding Mike's Fiat in the Goodwood carpark was easy because Daffy "my hero" Duck sat atop the car's aerial. Eoin Young used to refer to some people as 'non-standard issue' - a phrase that could have been coined for Mike.

 

Michael,

 

your own description captures the essence of any encounter with Mike. The few occasions I was fortunate enough to spend time in his company were precious, he was a one-off.

 

As to Samoan Attorney, I am afraid I must disappoint you, I am in no way clever enough to be a lawyer. It was a pseudonym for Oscar Zeta Acosta, created by Hunter S Thompson in his book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Acosta was an activist lawyer in California heavily involved with the Chicano movement. The book is a semi-fictional account of a trip that the two of them took to Nevada involving many alleged felonies and criminal behaviour.  

 

Apologies to all for straying off topic but it is in the spirit, if somewhat diluted, of the man we are saluting.

Edited by SamoanAttorney, 06 January 2021 - 19:51.

[Michael Ferner]

Ha! I knew it!! Fear & Loathing!!!

 

Two Michaels, two Rogers and two Davids... must've been some meeting!

[SamoanAttorney]

A fine tribute can be seen HERE

[ReWind]

Strange to read in the Road & Racecar article that he passed away "on Dec. 23rd".

How could the thread opener and the Pitpass staff know about it on Dec 22nd?