14 replies to this topic

[MarkWill]

Hello again,

Well,I come to you with one more bit of information culled from my father's friends vague recollections. He (or rather, a friend of his called Pete Ryan) claims that Sid Diggory's Lister jaguar was driven by a farmer's son from Overton called Robin Darlington.

Does anyone have any further information to substantiate this vaguely-remembered claim? I can't find any information on Mr. Darlington, although there's an a book on Vanwall's written by a person with the same name on Amazon.

Another enigma for the Nostalgia forum.

[David McKinney]

Robin Darlington was a very successful club driver in the late '60s, especially in the libre class. From memory his successes started with small cars (Brabhams?) and spread into bigger machinery. I don't connect his name with Diggory's Lister, but it's possible

[bill moffat]

I seem to remember that he raced the Kincraft at some point, used to do the Libre races at the Combe.

[Rob29]

I vaguely recall that he did do some big sports cars as well as libre.,may in fact have driven sports cars in libre cars. I last saw him race at a Silverstone clubbie mid 1967. He destroyed the Mclaren M2A in front of me!

[Duncan Fox]

Could that have been Whoosh Bonk M3A/3 or did he also have a Mallite car?

[Milan Fistonic]

Originally posted by Rob29
I vaguely recall that he did do some big sports cars as well as libre.,may in fact have driven sports cars in libre cars. I last saw him race at a Silverstone clubbie mid 1967. He destroyed the Mclaren M2A in front of me!

As Duncan says, Darlington's car was M3A/3. After the car had been used in the film Grand Prix the car went to John Ewer and then to David Bridges who had Brian Redman drive it on a couple of occasions.

Darlington bought the car and had some success with it before the accident at Silverstone.

There was talk of rebuilding it with a 2-litre BRM V8 engine for Formula 1 racing but it appears Darlington had a road accident which ended that idea. The car then went to South Africa.

[Rob29]

Originally posted by Rob29
I vaguely recall that he did do some big sports cars as well as libre.,may in fact have driven sports cars in libre cars. I last saw him race at a Silverstone clubbie mid 1967. He destroyed the Mclaren M2A in front of me!

Sorry,bit early in the morning,should have read M3A,also driven sports cars in libre RACES.
Suprised there was anything to rebuild after that shunt. Ironic that he walked away (literally) only for a road accident to finish his career.

[Allen Brown]

Overton-on-Dee, to be precise.

I've been in touch (indirectly) with Robin regarding a Lola T142 recently. It would definitely have been him. He drove all sorts of stuff over the years.

Allen

[MarkWill]

Thank-you all. I was unaware that Sid Diggory lent his cars out. In another thread ther was some discussion about whether or not Sid Diggory had a D-type or a Lister Jaguar. My father's friend is adamant that he also had a D-type, but I think that he must be wrong - the two cars resemble each other a little bit, and by confirming that Robin Darlington drove the Lister Jaguar, it confirms that one (but less likely the other) car existed.

By the way, how did people purchase racing cars in those days? Did Jaguar sell to anyone who had the cash, or was there a minimum standard? Was there ever a brochure for a Lister Jaguar, and if so, can anyone post one so that I can see what they look like?

What was the road accident that ended Mr. Darlington's career? Allen - does the Lola belong to him? Is he the same person who wrote the book about the Vanwall?

[Macca]

According to the programme for the 1967 International Trophy at Silverstone, Robin Darlington was down to drive J. A. Pearce's Cooper-Ferrari F1; but the entire Pearce team of cars was destroyed in a transporter fire the night before practise in the paddock.

This was the Cooper with the Ferrari GTO engine that Chris Lawrence drove in the British and German GPs in 1966 and in the '67 Race of Champions at Brands.

[MarkWill]

Macca, do you know any more of the story?

I checked on the Cooper-Ferraris - the engine comes from a 250 GTO Berlinetta, Chaais no. 3729GT (ref. classiscars.com). No idea what led to this purchase - I guess that racing scene in those days was very "chum-like" with people swapping each others bits all over the place. Wouldn't happen today.

[Rob29]

Yes,things have changed since those days.. The 3 litre F1 started in 1966,but despite a years notice,almost no one had a new engine ready. 1500cc motors were bored out to 2000cc,Maserati V12s,Climax 4cyls and even the Godiva dating from 12 yrs previous were dug out. I guess someone thought a production Ferrari would work. That Pearce team seemed to have an attraction to fire. I was standing in the paddock at Brands Hatch practice day for '66 GP when an oil drum suddenly burst into flames.Quick action by marshals prevented the Cooper -Ferrari being destroyed on that occasion.

[Macca]

MarkWill,

There were quite a few pictures of the Cooper-Ferrari in magazines of the time such as Autosport, also in books about Coopers. The chassis was one of the 1964-65 works1.5l cars with an extended engine bay and bigger wheels by Pearce - another one was fitted with an ATS V8 3l engine, if you search under Silvio Moser you will find more about that one.

More recently, there was a good picture of Chris Lawrence in the Cooper in Autocar a couple of years ago and also an article about Chris Lawrence in 'Classic & Sportscar' (I think) with another photo.

I have collected quite a bit of stuff about the J. A. Pearce team over the years, if you want to know more or see pictures let me know.

[MarkWill]

Macca,

Yes, I like to see more pics and get more info. The picture on Classiccars.com makes the car look very long (disproportionately?). While I'm sure that most engines can be squeezed onto most chassis of that time, using two different engines must have had quite a ripple effect - different suspension, cooling elements(?) location of ancilliaries. Perhaps the Cooper chassis was really adaptable (more so than others?). I really like the fact that this car existed - it has a certain appeal (somehow, a Cooper-Ferrari sounds right).

[Macca]

Markwill,

I don't have a scanner, and anyway I'm not very technical with these computer-thingies.

If you send your address to: paul.mackness@archstone.co.uk I will send you some photocopies.


Regards

Paul