14 replies to this topic

[ReWind]

Bert Baldwin was a familiar figure in the Formula 1 paddock of the 1970s.
But I know nearly nothing about him.
 
Just today I found this obituary which was published in AUTOSPORT magazine, 20 September 2018:

BERT BALDWIN 1930 - 2018
Noted race-tyre engineer and ex-Formula 1 team manager Bert Baldwin died recently, aged 88. Baldwin was tyre engineer to Jackie Stewart on his way to the 1971 title, and was a Goodyear designer. He then joined Shadow to manage its F1 team. Baldwin subsequently introduced Yokohama tyres to European and later US motorsport. He retired in 1999, but returned in 2005 to help Yokohama begin its still-ongoing World Touring Car control-tyre programme.

 
I think he was from the United States of America.
But I have no idea where he hailed from, when he was born or where and when exactly he passed away.

Any contributions are welcome.

The man at work

[Sterzo]

Bert Baldwin was from the English West Midlands. Here's some info.

 

https://www.motorspo...pton-1927-1977/

 

Off topic: As a child in the fifties, I lived in Woverhampton, and used to see (and smell) the smoke from what my father referred to as "the annual tyre factory fire".

 

 

Edited: No, Bert Baldwin wasn't from the Midlands. I must learn not to believe what I read...

Edited by Sterzo, 11 August 2024 - 15:08.

[Vitesse2]

Lancashire-born, according to the Wolverhampton Express & Star, May 13th 1970. He was vice-president of the Goodyear Car Club in 1979, when they presented the local hospital's children's ward with two portable TV sets and a telephone trolley - Wolverhampton Express & Star May 17th 1979.

 

There are a few possible Lancashire births in 1930, but with a 2018 death date he could be Robert Baldwin, who died in Liverpool on June 22nd 2018. If so, there's a possible match with a Robert Baldwin, birth registered in Preston; 1939 Register has him living in Walton-le-Dale, son of a railway fireman, DOB August 7th 1930. That would of course mean he was only 87 at the time of his death, but if the Autosport writer only knew he was born in 1930, then he/she might just have guessed his age.

 

Bert isn't a normal abbreviation for Robert, of course, and there are also two Lancashire-born Herbert Baldwins in 1930, as well as an Albert Baldwin (who looks to have died in 1990).

[marksixman]

 

Off topic: As a child in the fifties, I lived in Woverhampton, and used to see (and smell) the smoke from what my father referred to as "the annual tyre factory fire".

So, although they were long gone, you have Sunbeam in your blood !!

[ReWind]

Bert isn't a normal abbreviation for Robert, of course, and there are also two Lancashire-born Herbert Baldwins in 1930, as well as an Albert Baldwin (who looks to have died in 1990).

It could also stand for Bertram or Bertrand, and - him being English, as I learned now - it could be the abbreviation of his second given name.

[Doug Nye]

I recall Bert as a good guy, very approachable though quite serious minded and very much seeming to be a boffin.  He famously features in David Phipps's wonderful photo of Dan Gurney driving his F1 Eagle-Weslake on test at Goodwood with intrepid Bert perched above the engine, facing backwards to study first-hand tyre distortions and scuff patterning in action...  Now there was one of the most complex "on-board instrumentation" systems ever devised - a real live human being.

 

DCN

[Nick Planas]

I recall Bert as a good guy, very approachable though quite serious minded and very much seeming to be a boffin.  He famously features in David Phipps's wonderful photo of Dan Gurney driving his F1 Eagle-Weslake on test at Goodwood with intrepid Bert perched above the engine, facing backwards to study first-hand tyre distortions and scuff patterning in action...  Now there was one of the most complex "on-board instrumentation" systems ever devised - a real live human being.

 

DCN

I think that must have taken more guts than driving the car at speed - and great faith in the abilities of DG.

[Vitesse2]

It could also stand for Bertram or Bertrand, and - him being English, as I learned now - it could be the abbreviation of his second given name.

Indeed, Reinhard. But assuming 1930 and Lancashire are correct then the only possibilities would be one of three Robert Baldwins (born in Preston, Wigan and Liverpool), Herbert Baldwin (Salford) and Herbert K Baldwin (Burnley). There are six 1930-born Baldwins recorded with B as a second initial, none of them in Lancashire; the most northerly was born in Cambridge! But no Bertrams or Bertrands recorded as born anywhere in England in 1930.

[ReWind]

David Phipps's wonderful photo of Dan Gurney driving his F1 Eagle-Weslake on test at Goodwood with intrepid Bert perched above the engine, facing backwards to study first-hand tyre distortions and scuff patterning in action.

That is the photo behind the link at the end of my opening post.
 

[Sterzo]

So, although they were long gone, you have Sunbeam in your blood !!

Yes, born within a mile of their works. (Sorry, way off topic).

[petere]

Indeed, Reinhard. But assuming 1930 and Lancashire are correct then the only possibilities would be one of three Robert Baldwins (born in Preston, Wigan and Liverpool), Herbert Baldwin (Salford) and Herbert K Baldwin (Burnley). There are six 1930-born Baldwins recorded with B as a second initial, none of them in Lancashire; the most northerly was born in Cambridge! But no Bertrams or Bertrands recorded as born anywhere in England in 1930.

i'm from Preston, and lived in Walton-le-Dale as a child... . When i heard Bert on the 1973 documentary 'If you're not winning you're not trying' my first reaction was 'he's a Lancashire man', but not with a Preston accent. Wigan or Burnley would be a closer match. Bert was a very common abbreviation for Herbert, especially in the 'North Country', including my own grandfather. I'd start with the Burnley Baldwin...

Edited by petere, 10 August 2024 - 15:19.

[Vitesse2]

Thank you Peter. There's nowt like local knowledge! Based on that, I think I've identified him as Herbert Kirby Baldwin, birth registered in Burnley. No date of death found, but this Companies House document gives a birth date of July 3rd 1930. Go to June 5th 2014 on page 3: https://find-and-upd...-history?page=3 See particularly the line in the linked PDF that says 'former name(s)'!

 

There's a wedding announcement for a Herbert K Baldwin and Annie Smith in the Nelson Leader, January 2nd 1953. The groom was said to be serving in Her Majesty's forces, so perhaps then doing National Service if it's our man. Parents lived in Colne at the time,

 

Herbert Kirby Baldwin is on the electoral roll in Burnley between 2002 and 2013, but the other name associated with that is Carole Baldwin - however, there's also a Burnley marriage of a Herbert K Baldwin to Carole Standley in 1993.

[ReWind]

The plot thickens.

BALDWIN Bert
Peacefully on Wednesday, 29th August, 2018 at The Grange Nursing Home, Colne.
Bert aged 88 years.
The much loved husband of Carole and a very dear dad and grandad.
A funeral service will be held on Friday September 14th, 2018.
Helliwells Funeral Service,
Stott House, Burnley Road, Colne. TEL: 870898

Link

[petere]

The pity of it is that by the time I was a regular in the pit lane 'Bert' wasn't. There being relatively few Lancastrians in F1 at that time, we tended to sniff each other out and trade background details.

[ReWind]

Do the books on Shadow Racing by Pete Lyons (The Magnificent Machines of a Man of Mystery) resp. Richard Harman & John Nikas (Paint It Black) contain anything about Bert Baldwin from his time there as team manager?