259 replies to this topic

[Marcel Visbeen]

My question is prompted by the thread about the Raymons Mays-memorial I read today.

Everytime I'm on holiday I try to look for motorsport memorials in the surroundings of my destination. Two weeks ago I finally crossed the Futa-pass near Florence and saw the Mille Miglia-plaque over there.
But it's very difficult to find info on the location of these memorials. And sometimes they are very well hiden from the public eye: I don't think it's possible to pay your respects at the Gilles Villeneuve memorial at Zolder without actually drive on the circuit, stop your car at the Villeneuve-turn, get out and shove aside some bushes.

So my question: can anybody give me information on the location of motorsport memorials?
It could be interesting to compile a list, or does it already exsist?

[Mark Bennett]

Jim Clark,
At the location of the old first chicane at Hockenheim - now a footpath
There is a small memorial to another driver (who's name escapes me) at the same spot.

Ayrton Senna
Numerous places!
One is by the road behind the main Grandstand at Spa.

There is one for the French F3 driver who was killed in pre-qualifying a few years ago at Le Mans in a WM (again, the name escapes me!) This is located on the run down to the Porsche Curves from Arnage, behind the armco on the right.

There is a whole row of them at the Nurburgring, on the road that runs in to the pits from the south.

There are so many more, but there's a start (and I'm sure others will put names to them before I get a chance to look them up!)

[Richard Jenkins]

Originally posted by Mark Bennett

There is one for the French F3 driver who was killed in pre-qualifying a few years ago at Le Mans in a WM (again, the name escapes me!) This is located on the run down to the Porsche Curves from Arnage, behind the armco on the right.

Sebastien Enjolras.

[2F-001]

Bruce McLaren:
between the main part of the paddock and the 'flying club' building (in the track centre at Goodwood).

[Alan Lewis]

I posted this elsewhere ages back but I can't remember the thread and it'll be buried now, but anyway...

At the Bois de Boulogne end of the Avenue Foch in Paris there is a roundabout upon which is a memorial to Jean-Pierre Wimille.

Or at least, there was in February 1990, when I was last in Paris.

APL

[rdrcr]

Eventually... this one will be erected in front of the TownGate Memorial Park Community Center.


The Riverside International Raceway Monument

[Gary C]

'Jim Clark,
At the location of the old first chicane at Hockenheim - now a footpath
There is a small memorial to another driver (who's name escapes me) at the same spot.'

That's Bert Hawthrone

[Gary C]

Please go to this page at my website : http://www.users.glo...orial/index.htm
for a look at the Clark Memorial at Hockenheim.

[Vitesse2]

Guy Bouriat and Louis Trintignant at Peronne.

[Udo K.]

Emilio Materassi in Scarperia near Mugello. In memory of the "campione" of the 20ies, who was a winner of the Mugello race on the nearby track.

[Ray Bell]

I'm not sure if it's still there...

At Woodside, in the park, the children's playground was funded by income from the racing... a sign in the playground declared this to be the case... and into the late seventies at least it was being maintained by returns on the balance of the money that was invested for that purpose.

There's a monument of some kind to Tom Sulman at Sulman Park at Bathurst, isn't there? And a Jack Myers memorial at Catalina Park? Or is that at Bathurst too?

[gdecarli]

Even if Brescia (Italy) has a very important motor racing history, I know only Renzo Castagneto memorial (click to enlarge) :


(photo taken by me last August 9th 2003)

This is located in a little park, between Viale Venezia delle Mille Miglia and Viale Rebuffone, near to Mille Miglia start/finish line. For exact location, click here to open Maporama map.
Of course, I think that you know Castagneto as one of Mille Miglia's father.


I know another memorial, very sad. On National Road from Mantova to Brescia, just before Guidizzolo but in Cavriana's territory, there is a memorial for "Fon" De Portago, Nelson and all spectators died in last Mille Miglia, 1957. It's quite big, but hidden and quite forgotten, even if I think that accident was one of the most important in motor racing history (because of its consequence). At the moment I have no photos, but as soon as possible I will take some.
Again, for exact location click here to open Maporama map.


This is not an official memorial, but as you can see people put here lots of flowers...


(photo taken by me last September 21st 2003)

It's Tamburello corner at Imola. Please note (even if it's quite hard on this JPG copy) that somebody wrote on pole Acelera Ayrton Acelera and Grazie Ayrton (thanks, Ayrton).
Official Senna's memorial at Imola is somewhere else, but I don't know exactly where and I have no photos.

Ciao,
Guido

[Hieronymus]

There is one for Patrick Depailler in Clermont-Ferrand. Perhaps tyrrellp34 can post us an image of this, since I still have not figure out how to post images on TNF. A very slow learner...

[tyrrellp34]

OK, I have visit the Depailler memorial in Clermont Ferrand back in 1998. It is in front of a school which was built by Patrick's father who was planing some buildings for the city of Clermont. Very interesting... at that point.. there were lots of "grafity paintings" on the building and the floor, but not one on Patrick's memorial statue...

Maybe Barry Boor can help me to add the photo?!

[uechtel]

Ernst Henne and Ewald Kluge at the AVUS entrance (of course on a motorcycle...)




Paul Greifzu (at Suhl):




And a bicycle tour to the Rosemeyer memorial...

http://home.t-online...im/ausflug2.htm

[Hieronymus]

Originally posted by tyrrellp34
It is in front of a school which was built by Patrick's father who was planing some buildings for the city of Clermont. Very interesting... at that point.. there were lots of "grafity paintings" on the building and the floor, but not one on Patrick's memorial statue...

Think the name of the school is Nestor Perret, from what I can quickly recall. Have to look it up, though, to confirm it.

[Ray Bell]

And in the shadows... on a bleak wall behind a grandstand... a very undistinguished plaque...

"In memory of Robert Benoist... (24-hr race results)... garotted by the Nazis in 1944."

[LittleChris]

Raymond Sommer Memorial at the first corner of Cadours where he crashed

[Catalina Park]

Originally posted by Ray Bell
...... And a Jack Myers memorial at Catalina Park? Or is that at Bathurst too?

The Jack Myers memorial plaque at Catalina was moved to Silverdale Hillclimb when Catalina closed and when Silverdale closed the memorial was moved to Amaroo, then Amaroo closed
The memorial was given to Jack Myers widow and is now in South Australia.

[Bruce Moxon]

Originally posted by Catalina Park

The Jack Myers memorial plaque at Catalina was moved to Silverdale Hillclimb when Catalina closed and when Silverdale closed the memorial was moved to Amaroo, then Amaroo closed
The memorial was given to Jack Myers widow and is now in South Australia.

Bathurst Light Car Club has the Jack Myers memorial gates.

There's a plaque for Mike Burgmann at Bathurst, under the bridge where he died. Wasn't there one just up the road from there for Denny Hulme?

There's a memorial plaque for Len Willing (or was it Warren?) just below the Dipper at Bathurst, too - he was killed there having just previously been on a bike.

There's a memorial to Phil Garlick at South Head Cemetary in Sydney - Maroubra Speedway is long gone now.


Bruce Moxon

[Catalina Park]

Originally posted by Bruce Moxon


- Maroubra Speedway is long gone now.

Did you see the news during the week the idiot that set himself alight and rode a bmx bike off the roof of a toilet block and missed the pile of mattresses.... That was in Coral Sea Park in the middle of Maroubra Speedway!

[conjohn]

There is a memorial to Ronnie Peterson in Örebro, Sweden, that was unveiled this summer.

http://forums.atlasf...threadid=52257

[Mark Bennett]

Originally posted by Hieronymus
There is one for Patrick Depailler in Clermont-Ferrand. Perhaps tyrrellp34 can post us an image of this, since I still have not figure out how to post images on TNF. A very slow learner...

I spent ages looking to see if there was one at the Hochenheim circuit at the Ostkurve - nothing

A memorial that seems to have disappeared was at Le Mans, on the site of the 55 tragedy, in memory of the victims of the accident.

[David Holland]

There is a memorial to Archie Scott Brown on the infield at Snetterton, a bronze plaque by Prince Bira I believe.

I have also sat on the David Murray memorial bench just outside his Cambridge Street flat near Edinburgh Castle.

There is a new statue of Jim Clark in Kilmany, the town of his birth, as well as his room in Duns.

I remember seeing 2 or 3 statues near the circuit entrance at Mallory, but I'm afraid I can't recall who they were?!

There is a new memorial for Roger Williamson in a Leicester park - as seen on TNF.

There must be many more, surely?

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Bruce Moxon
Bathurst Light Car Club has the Jack Myers memorial gates.

I knew there was something at Bathurst!

.....There's a memorial to Phil Garlick at South Head Cemetary in Sydney - Maroubra Speedway is long gone now.

Been here before...



...it's on his grave.

[David Beard]

At Donington...Pat Fairfield I think...

[MCS]

Quote by David Holland: ..........There is a new memorial for Roger Williamson in a Leicester park - as seen on TNF..........

David, I'm in Leicester occasionally. Which park?

Thanks
Mark

[David Beard]

Originally posted by MCS
Quote by David Holland: ..........There is a new memorial for Roger Williamson in a Leicester park - as seen on TNF..........

David, I'm in Leicester occasionally. Which park?

Thanks
Mark

This thread, post 2, indicates cathedral grounds?

http://forums.atlasf...oger williamson

[David McKinney]

Originally posted by David Beard
At Donington...Pat Fairfield I think...

And for another ten points, who was the sculptor?

[Svend]

There is a plaque for Rob Slotemaker at the entry of the Zandvoort circuit, as well as a statue celebrating Dutch drivers which was erected after the death of F3 driver Marcel Albers.

[Vitesse2]

The 1903 Gordon Bennett race is commemorated by a small plaque at Moat of Ardscull, near Athy.

[Aanderson]

Originally posted by Marcel Visbeen
My question is prompted by the thread about the Raymons Mays-memorial I read today.

Everytime I'm on holiday I try to look for motorsport memorials in the surroundings of my destination. Two weeks ago I finally crossed the Futa-pass near Florence and saw the Mille Miglia-plaque over there.
But it's very difficult to find info on the location of these memorials. And sometimes they are very well hiden from the public eye: I don't think it's possible to pay your respects at the Gilles Villeneuve memorial at Zolder without actually drive on the circuit, stop your car at the Villeneuve-turn, get out and shove aside some bushes.

So my question: can anybody give me information on the location of motorsport memorials?
It could be interesting to compile a list, or does it already exsist?

I believe that while his grave, with a simple headstone, is in Crown Hill Cemetery (on 38th Street in Indianapolis), the only memorial to the legendary Louis Chevrolet is a beautiful, very lifelike bronze bust out front of the Hall of Fame Museum at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Of course, the Speedway was the site of Chevrolet's (and also his brother Gaston's) greatest motor racing achievements (as designer and car builder of the 1920 and 1921 winning cars), Louis Chevrolet also created the relatively little-known Cornelian for the 1915 race, unique in it's almost futuristic 4-wheel independent suspension, and its early (if not the first!) use of a monocoque chassis/body. In addition, Louis Chevrolet designed not only the legendary Frontenac SOHC and DOHC cylinder heads which made the Model T Ford engine a serious contender for years on the dirt tracks (A 16-valve DOHC even made the show at Indy in 1924, and finished in the money, outrunning a good number of much more sophisticated machinery in the process), but also designed, engineered, and built the prototype Chevrolet automobile in 1911. Truly a legendary man!

In a cemetery on the north side of the small Indiana town of Battleground is the gravesite of George Souders, winner of the 1927 Indianapolis 500. The marker, while of simple gray granite, is engraved with the image of Souders, aboard his 1927 Duesenberg Indianapolis winner, taken from the "official" qualification photograph, while beneath it, in addition to the standard years of birth and death, lists the high points of Souder's racing career. As Souders died without funds to provide for his funeral and burial, the Hulman family is believed to have paid those costs, with a group of racing fans who knew George in his later years in Lafayette Indiana having contributed to providing the headstone. Each month of May, someone always sees to it that the grave is marked, not only with an American Flag (George Souders was a World War I veteran, I believe), but also with a checkered flag, honoring his finishing the race of life. Really very moving.

Art Anderson

[dmj]

Originally posted by Ray Bell
And in the shadows... on a bleak wall behind a grandstand... a very undistinguished plaque...

"In memory of Robert Benoist... (24-hr race results)... garotted by the Nazis in 1944."

I remember seeing a Benoist plaque in Simon Taylor's C&SC column a few years ago... But IIRC it was in Monthlery? And there was another one besides it, for Wimille.

[Doug Nye]

Originally posted by David Beard
At Donington...Pat Fairfield I think...

...the likeness beautifully sculpted by Fairfield's friend and rival 'B. Bira'...

DCN

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by dmj
I remember seeing a Benoist plaque in Simon Taylor's C&SC column a few years ago... But IIRC it was in Monthlery? And there was another one besides it, for Wimille.

The one I mention was at Le Mans...

You pass by it while you are looking for toilets.

[Mike Argetsinger]

The Levassor Memorial in Paris is particularly beautiful. I wonder if it may be the first racing memorial? - as it was erected about ten years after his great victory in the 1895 Paris-Bordeaux-Paris race.

[Jim Thurman]

Though I mentioned it elsewhere (I believe in the "Riverside Today" thread), while going through issues of Competition Press & Autoweek, I ran across the dedication of a Bruce McLaren memorial flagpole, with plaque, in the paddock at Bridgehampton.

With the golf course construction, my first thought was...what became of it?


Jim Thurman

[Barry Boor]

I am posting this image on behalf of Tyrrell P.34. I have no idea who it is - he didn't tell me!

[tyrrellp34]

Thank you Barry! Great!!!

This is one of the Patrick Depailler memorial places in Clermont-Ferrand. Here in front of a school

[Roger Clark]

This is a memorial to Biagio Nazzaro, killed in the 1922 Grand Prix near Strasbourg. The picture was taken in 1961, but I beleive the memorial has since been moved to make way for a road widening scheme.

[David Holland]

Graham Hill has just been awarded one of those blue circular plaques that are displayed on London houses of historical interest. This is on his home from the early sixties at:-
32 Parkside, Mill Hill, London NW7

Isn't there a newish Fangio monument at Donington as well?

[Roger Clark]

Here is another thread on the same theme.

http://forums.atlasf...&threadid=11321

[roger_valentine]

The Marcel Renault memorial, at the site of his accident in 1903 Paris-Madrid.





Follow the N10 south from Poitiers (somewhere near Couhé, as I recall).

[biercemountain]

With all the drivers that have died there over the years you'd think that they'd declare the entire Indianapolis Motor Speedway a memorial.

Which begs the question, are there actually any memorials at IMS for all drivers that have perished there?

[jph]

On the track side of the spectator wall opposite the pits at Le Mans, there is a simple memorial plaque to the people who lost their lives there in 1955 - just a cross and 11 Juin 1955 inscribed on it. There is a picture in Nigel Snowdon's 'Through the Lens' book.

[roger_valentine]

The Le Mans tribune memorials. (Sorry the Benoist photo is not very clear)





There are also many 'handprints' (do these count as memorials?) around the town. Has anyone made an inventory of these?

[Aanderson]

Originally posted by biercemountain
With all the drivers that have died there over the years you'd think that they'd declare the entire Indianapolis Motor Speedway a memorial.

Which begs the question, are there actually any memorials at IMS for all drivers that have perished there?

For your information, prior to the start of every Indianapolis 500 Mile Race I have ever attended (beginning in 1960 28 races), I (along with the several hundred thousand other fans in attendance) have been asked by Jim Phillippi to pause to remember "those drivers, who unselfishly and unafraid, have given their lives to make auto racing the World's most spectacular spectator event", or at least words closely resembling those.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is perhaps the World's most visited racing facility throughout the year, with its museum and daily track tours by small busses. While I cannot speak for current tour-bus drivers, it was a habit/tradition of these individuals to point out spots around the track where particular drivers met their ends, however, I believe that Indy is more about the living, the achievements and the accomplishments of racing drivers, car builders, the engine designers, rather than to be somehow a huge memorial.

I have yet, in all the races I have attended, to run into anyone who was unaware that sadly, race car drivers have perished there over the past 94 years. In the US, only one other race track has a continous history longer than that of Indianapolis, that being the "Milwaukee Mile" at the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds in West Allis, Wisconsin. Milwaukee has had its share of fatalities as well, and yet I know of no memorial plaques or monuments there either.

In many ways, Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a memorial to all drivers and other participants who lost their lives there, doing what they wanted to do, that is, race cars. I know that every time I enter the grounds of IMS, I am reminded that yes, tragedy does occur there, just as it does on any race course in the entire World. Yet, when I consider the long history of the place, and the immense improvements that have been made there over the past 94 years, I find it amazing how safe it is, in comparison to many other "extreme" pursuits mankind has entered into over the eons.

I also suspect that every driver who puts wheel to track at Indy is well aware of its history, both the good and the bad. However, I also suspect that every driver who has laid down a lap at speed has determined that it is a challenge he/she accepts, and desires to face and to overcome. And that, friend, to me seems to be the finest memorial any race car driver could ever expect to know.

Art Anderson

[biercemountain]

Originally posted by Aanderson
"those drivers, who unselfishly and unafraid, have given their lives to make auto racing the World's most spectacular spectator event"

Thanks Art. Sounds like IMS does a good job at remembering those who never made it home from the big race. Sorry if the tone of my previous post sounded cynical. It wasn't meant to be.

Anyone know if there is a memorial for Gregg Moore somewhere?

[D-Type]

Originally posted by David Holland
There is a memorial to Archie Scott Brown on the infield at Snetterton, a bronze plaque by Prince Bira I believe. - - - -

I checked this out in 'Archie and the Listers'. It is a bas-relief plaque by Cavendish Morton. A very appropriate choice as I believe he styled the 1958 'knobbly' Lister.

As Doug has said Bira sculpted the Pat Fairfield memorial. Did I read somewhere relatively recently that this had been moved?

[dmj]

I found what I reffered to and it is definitely Monthlery and Benoist - but I was wrong on all the other details. It was June 1996 issue of "Thoroughbred and Classic Cars", Phil Llewellin's column on page 10, two good pictures of monument to Benoist and Georges Boillot. Apparently it is outside the track, about one mile from main entrance. Pics show individual plaques for both, with short details and text "MORT POUR LA FRANCE".