11 replies to this topic

[racer69]

Just wondering about the History of David Hobbs. He is British? I think he used to commentate on F1, but seemed to be based in the USA, and he did some racing as well, i remember he raced for the factory BMW Australia team at Bathurst in 1981 and '82. Does he still do commentary and racing?

[indycarjunkie]

I don't know if he still races or not but he does work in the broadcast booth for Speedvision's F1 coverage. With F1's future with Speedvision/Speed Channel in doubt I'm not sure if he's still with them.

[Ivan]

he always appeared drunk to me and he never seemed to know what was going on.

[Dave Ware]

Yes, he's English. Lived in Upper Boddington at one point. His father invented some sort of automatic transmission. Hobbo drove the Lola GT car at Le Mans, and also Triumphs, as well as GT40s, Matras, and the Penske 512 Ferrari. Never quite won the big one. He was a Gulf Ford works driver in '68 and I believe '69. Drove F2 and had some occasional F1 drives in Hondas, works McLarens, and the Penske McLaren. Never quite got a good F1 seat. Won the U.S. F5000 championship in '71, and may have also won the English championship - I do know he won several races there. Drove Can-Am and Indy (5th in '73), and in the late seventies drove a factory BMW in the IMSA series in the states. In the early '80s he won the Trans-Am championship. Not quite sure when he retired, or when he moved to the U.S. At one point he had a BMW dealership in Columbus, Ohio (near the Mid Ohio Sports Car course). It may still be there for all I know. I believe he has a Honda dealership in Wisconsin. And of course he commentates on Speedvision, with his old F5000 sparring partner, Sam Posey.

I've always liked David Hobbs.

That's it in a nutshell.

Dave

[BRG]

Definitely English (born in Leamington Spa). See http://www.silhouet....vers/hobbs.html for career information. One of Britain's many journeymen racing drivers (but no disrespect meant by that).

Is Guy Hobbs, a sometime racing commentator on US races, perhaps his son?

[Martyj]

I recall Hobbs had a very colorful rivalry with Sam Posey in the 1971 "Contenential" series (F/5000) that was chronicled at the time in Car and Driver magazine. He also did commentary for CBS television in the mid-seventies for NASCAR, of all things.

I believe I read or heard that he is from an extremely wealthy family who own a palatial estate close to either Brands or Silverstone. It was the site of frequent after-race parties.

[Dave Ware]

Guy Hobbs is indeed his son. I had meant to mention that. I'm told that Guy has not raced, though.

Yes, the press made quite a thing about Hobbs and Posey. Apparently it started as some off-hand remark that one of them made, and the press took off with it. Then Hobbs and Posey played along with it. It went on for a few years. Sometimes they still rib each other on Speedvision.

Interesting, I had not known that his family was extremely wealthy. Should have guessed it, I suppose. How else does someone build a career in road racing?

Dave

[Don Capps]

David 'Obbs' father was Australian and emigrated to Britain and developed an automatic transmission which was used by several in racing at the time -- 50's -- obviously made it a bit easier for David to enter the sport. If I recall, David drove an Elite equipped with a Hobbs automatic gearbox to a class win in the 1961 Nurburgring 1000 kms.

Personally, I have always thought very highly of Our David. I got to watch many episodes of the David and Sam Show in person -- on and off the track -- and came away with lots of respect for both. David I once had a nice chat in the Road Atlanta paddock about many subjects (including his opinion on the new Can-Am Lola 310 -- not as high as it had been once he drove it and realized it was awful late in the season to try to fully sort it out) and were interrupted by Sam Posey who saw us and wandered over to pick on David and then join the chat. Two wonderful characters!

Unlike most it seems, obviously, I like "Sam & Dave" as commentators.

[David McKinney]

Originally posted by Dave Ware
Guy Hobbs is indeed his son. I'm told that Guy has not raced, though.

Another son, Greg, did try his hand at racing, circa 1986.
I especially remember it because I'd got used to seeing sons of drivers racing - but young Hobbs was the first son I'd seen racing whose father I remembered as "an up-and-coming young driver".

David Hobbs started with a Jag XK140 fitted with Hobbs Mechamatic transmission, then the Elite.

[Wes]

Bit of useless trivia: in the '80s, there was a "David Hobbs BMW" dealership in Houston. I have no the extent of his ownership interest, or even if there was any.

[Elspeth]

I saw David Hobbs race at Riverside in California in the 60s. He had hair then.

[2F-001]

David Hobbs - a much loved and respected figure over here, at least among my generation.
I know I saw him race before this, but the first of many occasions I genuinely recall seeing him race was '69 with a works Surtees TS5 (F5000 car) at Mallory Park. He finished second to Peter Gethin's Church Farm Racing McLaren M10. During that year David partnered, variously, Trevor Taylor and Andrea de Adamich at Surtees.

Never occured to me that commentator Guy was his son. Funny, I often assume stuff like that and then find I'm wrong!

I read of quite a few Hobbs/Posey ''exchanges'' before I learned that it was all a joke...