10 replies to this topic

[VDP]

M. Taylor was involved in a big crash at spa in 1960 but what happened with him after did he trecovered and did he started again racing ?
sub. He was also second drivetr to I. IRELAND at le mans and replaced by J. SIEFF who crashed also in training ?

robert

[Ray Bell]

Here's a snippet for you, from Evan Green's A Boot Full of Right Arms

Jim Gavin was in a troubled state of mind as he left Tamanrasset. He had clashed with his friend Henry Liddon, he had argued with the Algerians and he had been forced to spend a great deal of money on what he hoped would be a wasted mission. Additionally, he himself now had to face the unpleasant prospect of a slow drive through the Sahara at the onset of summer. But any doubts of the wisdom of his stand vanished as the two Land-Rovers approached the remains of Fort Serouenout.

It was two o'clock in the afternoon of the third day since the rally cars had set out on their long journey to the north. Gavin's party had seen no signs of life since leaving the settlement of Hirhafok and he was now sweeping the route towards the refuelling point at Fort Gardel, still 168 km away.

Fort Serouenout was a tiny relic from the Foreign Legion days of French colonisation. No more than a square of crumbling mud and stone, it stood out only by the symmetry of its design in a region of vast plains and worn hills.

Parked in front of the fort was a white car. And lying against one of the decaying walls, their bodies dappled by its shade, were three men.

Stirling Moss, Michael Taylor and Allan Sell had been there for two days. It would be an exaggeration to say they were near death, but not that they were in a desperate situation. The three men - who had given away five gallons of water at Tamanrasset - drank the last of their supply as the rescue vehicles drove into view. Allan Sell was unconscious. All were severely affected by the heat and the overwhelming loneliness of their location.

Their Mercedes-Benz 280E, already severely battered by the journey to Tamanrasset, had broken its shock absorbers through the Hoggar Mountains. The shaking had loosened the plates within the battery.

They had been stuck in sand several times. Each experience had been terrifying, for had the motor stalled while they dug they had no means of restarting. Believing they were the last car on the road added to their worry. Waiting for rescue on a sandhill had no appeal, so they halted when they reached the fort.

It was built on firm ground, where they could restart the car by pushing it in gear. They could have gone farther, but would almost certainly have bogged or broken down at some less hospitable place where their chances of survival were poorer.

Besides, they took some comfort from the fact that men had once lived here. A building, even an abandoned one, offered a sense of security in this inhuman land.

So they stopped at Fort Serouenout and waited for Jim Gavin. They knew he would come because he said he would.

.....

"I got to the point where I was getting twitchy," Moss admitted later.

"They say a drowning man sees his life all over again. Well I think it must be true. I was lying there thinking about what I'd done and thinking of the futility of it all."

"Most of all I felt regret. I was so sorry I'd been such a **** to all my friends."

Use search, there is a bit about him already in other threads...

[Peter Morley]

Originally posted by VDP
M. Taylor was involved in a big crash at spa in 1960 but what happened with him after did he trecovered and did he started again racing ?
sub. He was also second drivetr to I. IRELAND at le mans and replaced by J. SIEFF who crashed also in training ?

robert

His father ran a garage in London called Taylor & Crawley, the garage is still going and selling exotic motor cars.

As far as I know Mike Taylor joined the family business after his accident, it certainly put an end to his competitive racing.

I did just find the following:

This Wellington-educated amateur had his racing career cut short when his Lotus 18's steering column broke during practice for the 1960 Belgian Grand Prix, with Taylor suffering multiple injuries in the ensuing crash.

He later sued Colin Chapman and Lotus, obtaining a substantial out-of-court settlement. The son of a Mercedes car salesman who founded Taylor and Crawley in Mayfair, he married Stirling Moss's former second wife Elaine Barberino in 1980. He founded a private property company which crashed in 1977 with debts of over 28 million. The official receiver later blamed the collapse on 'expensive, ill- judged, speculative ventures'.

[Bjorn Kjer]

Taylor & Crawley was formed in 1942. They went racing from 1959 , was at Nurburgring 1000 kms and the Tourist Trophy. In 1960 they again went to Nurburgring , as well as 61 and 62 , with Lister and Lotus in 59 and Lotus the following years. Innes Ireland was one of their drivers.
My info says David Cunningham drove a Lola T70 Ford for T&C in 65 , but other info says DC sold the T70 . Now whose was it ? I believe the co. stopped with racing in 65 ?

[llmaurice]

Following his accident at the disastrous Belgian GP at Spa in 1960 , I can assure you that Michael did take part in one genuine race up at Croft in the 3 hour relay race held there .
He in fact drove the T70 owned by David Cunningham alongside the Lotus 7 (I think) of one of the Ropners (who part owned the circuit at that time -'65 if I recall correctly) and another team member in a Lister Bristol .
Our Team finished second behind Keith Schellenbergs team (he driving a Mustang ) .
From memory ,we should have won the event which was really an all out race between the two well know drivers but the Lola suffered from a clutch hydraulic problem which dear old Brit Pearse tried to bleed whilst I poured cold water over his hands and arms to stop him from getting too badly burnt - to no avail .
The Lola originally belonged to David Good the hill climber but where it went after Croft , Gerald Swan (of Lola Heritage fame ) can probably tell.

[Gabrci]

Here is a short CV written by himself:

BRDC

A nice, easy-going chap.

[Richard Jenkins]

The BRDC have announced that Mike died on Tuesday.

[ReWind]

Surely you mean Monday.

Obituary by the BRDC:

 

We regret to have to advise Members that Michael Taylor passed away on Monday at the age of 82.  He had been battling with cancer.

Michael began racing with an MG TC and a Jaguar SS100 in the mid ‘50s, followed by a Lotus 7 in 1957, but it was with a 1.1 litre Lotus Eleven the following year that he began to make a name for himself at a time when the 1100 cc sports-racing car class was the place to be for aspiring young drivers. His victories at Goodwood in particular earned Michael the Motor Sport Brooklands Memorial Trophy, which had been won several years earlier by Mike Hawthorn, whilst he also shared a Team Lotus Eleven at Le Mans with Innes Ireland, leading the 1100 cc class until the distributor drive sheared on Sunday morning.  A visit to Roskilde in Denmark was more productive, Michael winning over the aggregate of several heats. Michael also had the opportunity to drive Alan Brown’s Cooper-Climax T45 in several Formula 2 races in the latter part of the year, finishing fourth in one of three heats of the Berlin Grand Prix at AVUS behind the likes of Masten Gregory, Jim Russell and Jack Brabham.

Michael embarked on an ambitious season in 1959, principally with a Lotus-Climax Type 15 and a Lola-Climax Mk 1 in sports car events.  There was also a return visit to Le Mans to share a Team Lotus Type 17 with Jonathan Sieff, the car retiring early.  A month earlier Michael had shared a works Lister-Jaguar with Peter Blond in the Nurburgring 1000 Ks and was fortunate to escape with slight arm injuries when the car rolled into a field. With the Type 15 Michael won the Grand Prix des Frontieres on the very fast Chimay road circuit near the Belgium/France border and, towards the end of the year, won the Coupe de Paris at Montlhery and the preliminary heat of the Governor’s Trophy at Nassau, finishing fourth in the main race.  There were a few opportunities to drive the Alan Brown F2 Cooper T45 again, a particular highlight being fourth overall and first in the Formula 2 category of the Aintree 200 behind the Ferrari Dinos of Jean Behra and Tony Brooks and the works 2.2 Cooper-Climax T45 of Bruce McLaren.  He also started, but failed to finish after sustaining transmission troubles, the British Grand Prix at Aintree in what would prove to be his only World Championship Grand Prix.

The Lotus Type 15 continued to produce good results in the early months of 1960 including victory at Snetterton and second places at Oulton Park and Silverstone but the plan for the year was to move into Formula 1 for which purpose the prototype Lotus Type 18 was acquired from Team Lotus.  This car had made its debut with Innes Ireland in the Argentinian Grand Prix and, in F2 guise, had won at Oulton Park. Its first race in Michael’s hands was the BRDC Daily Express International Trophy at Silverstone when it was plagued by a misfire and finished too far back to be classified. The next race should have been the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.  However, during the Saturday practice session, more or less simultaneously with Stirling Moss’s Type 18 crashing heavily when a stub axle broke, the steering column of Michael’s Type 18 failed and the car plunged into the trees, Michael sustaining very serious injuries from which he ultimately recovered but he never raced again.  Understandably in the circumstances, legal action was taken against Lotus and eventually Michael received financial compensation from its insurers.

Later Michael competed in some of the early long-distance rallies. In 1968 he shared a Mercedes 280E with Innes Ireland and Andrew Hedges in the London to Sydney Marathon, winning the award for first private entrant to reach Bombay but retiring in Australia. In the repeat Marathon in 1977 he shared a Citroen CX2400 with Paddy Hopkirk and Bob Riley to finish third.

Michael is survived by his wife Elaine and stepdaughter Allison to whom the BRDC extends its sincerest condolences.

 

[llmaurice]

I'm very sorry to hear of Mike's passing as I worked for him from March 1960 up to 1966 when I decided that London was no longer my home City as it had altered drastically from the London I loved.
I joined Mike shortly after Lotus returned home from Argentina where, after working all hours, we just about finished the Ireland prototype 18 in time. On its arrival back to UK, the car was finally finished at Cheshunt where when preparing the two newer 18s for Innes Ireland and Alan Stacey I had a major difference of opinion with "The Guvnor" on how he should treat people and promptly walked out. Having said that, I had been approached by Brit Pearce regarding helping him prepare the car for Michael who had purchased the now fully prepared prototype 18...
How could one refuse Brit, he was a lovely old guy, the image of Hitler apart from the constant fag in his mouth with about 1/2" of ash hanging on for dear life.
So we all got going in a small yard in Beaconsfield in time for the 1960 Glover Trophy where queerbox troubles ended our weekend. However, it wasn't long before we were on our way to Monaco where we believed we had an entry (with help from Innes) who previously had looked after Mike's sportscars along with Brit at Innes' workshop.
Once there we were told that we did NOT have an entry, but Dickie Samuelson with the (Fitzwilliam Racing Team) Lola entries including John Love told Mike that if he performed well in one of their Lolas in practice, he could well get a drive in the lesser formula race. Mike did impress but his drive got vetoed through the insistance of Mr. Love so after two days solid graft up on the top floor of the Austin importer's garage we were most unhappy. Brit showed his displeasure by having a few too many to drink and after slagging off the contingent of Britain's finest waiting collection, rushed up to one little car and gave it a mighty kick, resulting in a broken toe !
However, we got over that saga and set off to Europe again to race at the Spa. What happened there is well documented but after Moss had crashed in practice, Mike had apparantly stopped to see if he could do anything, then set off to tell Stirling's team what had happened. Unfortunately, Mike didn't get far before his steering column broke and put him and the car through a wood of fir saplings with a broken neck and thence out of racing !
Having to leave Mike in the hospital we set off for our dream, the 24 hr du Mans where we had a strong team of Jonathon Seiff, Mike, (obviously not in attendance) and Innes albeit run by David Buxton in the 2 litre Elite. As is well known, Jonathon demolished a barn and was badly hurt and Innes failed to race the 2 litre Elite because the intense heat burnt his feet, so Mr Taylor Snr. withdrew the Elite.
Other than a run in David Cunningham's T70 Spyder in the 1965 (I believe) Croft relay race, that ended Mike's circuit career but I stayed with him for another 5 years tending his wonderful mix of exotic sports cars and my favourite Mercedes including the fabulous 300SL Gullwings and roadsters.
I will always remember those days at Grosvenor Crescent Mews where really wealthy neighbours treated us Erks with total respect even though we continually blocked their garages but with Mike living above the garage all was well.The name of Taylor and Crawley still exists but under different ownership.
I'll miss you Mike. You were truly a Gentleman driver with great talent, unfortunately never to see your full potential. Rest in Peace Michael.

[GMiranda]

RIP....

I had no idea he was the same Mike Taylor as the accomplished rallyman form the 60's

[cooper997]

My thanks to llmaurice for sharing a fine personal tribute.

What follows is from the BARC Gazette in 1958. It's actually the first of this BARC driver series published with Mike the subject.




My condolences to Mike's family and friends.

Stephen

Edited by cooper997, 06 April 2017 - 23:33.