35 replies to this topic

[bretonbanquet]

I am trying to find out anything about Keith St John, who according to some sources, entered a McLaren of some description in the Monaco GP in 1968. Was this the case, if so what happened to him and his entry? I'm not even sure whether he was British or perhaps an Aussie...?

Also, did David Hobbs enter a BRM for that race? Thanks very much for any help that anyone can give

[bretonbanquet]

I take it no-one's heard of him then I gather he is/was British, but beyond that he's a mystery. Can anyone confirm or deny his entry in the Monaco GP of '68? Thanks.

[David Beard]

Originally posted by bretonbanquet
I take it no-one's heard of him then I gather he is/was British, but beyond that he's a mystery. Can anyone confirm or deny his entry in the Monaco GP of '68? Thanks.

Didn't he race an Elva sportscar in the late sixties? I seem to recall a connection with one of the pirate radio stations of the time, such as Radio London or Caroline. Something about topless models, too. Don't recall anything about Monaco.

[Kekefan]

Keith St John was British and was born May 5th 1937 in London.
He entered a McLaren M2B-Climax #20 at the 1968 Monaco GP but withdrew because his car was not ready.
David Hobbs also withdrew from that GP; he had entered a BRM P261 #22.

The problem was that 10 cars were seeded in that race. The best 6 of the other 10 would qualify and the other 4 wouldn't. Seing that their chances to qualify were not good maybe explains their withdrawal.

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by David Beard


Didn't he race an Elva sportscar in the late sixties? I seem to recall a connection with one of the pirate radio stations of the time, such as Radio London or Caroline. Something about topless models, too. Don't recall anything about Monaco.

Not only an Elva, but also a Brabham BT15, both for Radio London:

http://www.offshorer...o.uk/odds03.htm

[Vitesse2]

The Aussie confusion seems to stem fom the fact that there was an Australian Radio London DJ called Norman St John:

http://www.paulplu.d..._who/london.htm

[Andrew Fellowes]

Originally posted by David Beard
Didn't he race an Elva sportscar in the late sixties? I seem to recall a connection with one of the pirate radio stations of the time, such as Radio London or Caroline. Something about topless models, too. Don't recall anything about Monaco.

An Elva BMW that was bought by Michael Henderson and taken out to Australia. Later sold but Michael has bought it back and now races it historics. Not really up with this car but I think it was Radio London, I stand to be corrected on that one. Those Pirate radio stations were good listening!!

[Vitesse2]

You didn't check the link in my first post then, Andrew ...

[Andrew Fellowes]

Originally posted by Vitesse2
You didn't check the link in my first post then, Andrew ...

Aaaaaaaaah! clearly time for your afternoon nap Andrew.

[ed holly]

Re Keith St.John

I too would like to contact him. I am the one who owns the BT15 Brabham that he raced in F3 in "65 and "66. The Elva, the McLaren and I believe my car from this early period were owned by a Ken Sheppard, who owned and ran Ken Sheppard Customised Sports Cars, and somehow there was a tie up with Radio London who were the car's normal entrant, although Ken did sometimes enter them under his company's name. Ken went on to be a principal of Elva Sports cars and the the Elva Courier.

Unfortunately Ken is not well these days and I have been unable to contact him.

[ed holly]

Hi I'm new to this forum

I own the BT15 mentioned above and I too have been trying to find Keith to ask him about his time with my car.

What I do know of Keith is that he drove in the mid 60's a couple of Brabham's including mine, an Elva BMW now in the hands of Dr Michael Henderson also here in Sydney, and then a powerful McLaren.

I am pretty sure that these cars were actually owned by Ken Sheppard of Ken Sheppard Customised Sports Cars, although the usual entrant was Radio London. I am not sure of the tie up there, and hopefully one day Keith may be able to enlighten us. Ken Sheppard also was a principal in Elva and a had lot to do with the Elva Courier.

Brian Miller just yesterday gave me a copy of Autosport April 8 1971 which has a photo of Keith on page 5 (or 50 something) saying that he was making a comeback in the ex Peter Hanson F3 Chevron B17. It also made mention of Liane Engeman his very attractive fiancee who also drove my car a couple of times including the F2 race at Zandvoort Aug 67.

So here's hoping someone somewhere knows were he is...

[john medley]

Ed
Welcome to TNF. Your arrival is long overdue .

[RTH]

Are you all sure it was Radio London ? I seem to recall Keith St John associated with Radio Luxemberg 208 (metres on the medium wave) ?

The old commercial pirate Radio London (of fond memory) which produced Kenny Everett and many other well known names was closed down by the government in 1967 and the BBC started up the pop station Radio 1 that year , I was still at school and remember it well.

Radio Luxemburg was transmitted from the Grand Dutchy ( those of you who remember it will recall the signal faded in and out ) with advertising and although in English and being organised from London with British DJ's aimed at Britain - the UK government could not stop them . They were in being long before and long after the 'Pirates' on the radio ships in the north sea.

[Vitesse2]

Richard: check my second link - it was definitely Radio London. Keith St John wasn't a DJ - that was Norman St John. Maybe he worked for 208 as well? I have a book on pirate radio somewhere, I'll try to dig it out.

Ah, memories ... anything to get away from the mindless pap served up by Radio 1. I have fond memories of Radio North Sea International (which broadcast in Dutch during the day and English at night), which was later renamed Caroline International and then, IIRC, sank at its mooring during a storm. Then there was France Inter - legitimate, but broadcasting excellent late night rock and blues that even John Peel wouldn't play.

[RTH]

Richard: Sorry should have looked at that first, You are right it was wonderful stuff in those days , they answered to no one but themselves, it was fantastic , subsequently nothing even came close, in the end there were quite a lot of ships out there in the North Sea.

I was in Hatfield at the time and Radio London had far and away the best signal , - important this when you were trying to tune in the radiogram in the 6th form common room ! They boasted " 50,000 watts , your tower of power "
Do look out the book, - there might be all kinds of forgotten gems in there !

Luxemberg definitely also had a motor racing connection, I seem to think they sponsored some meetings at Brands.

[David McKinney]

I'm thinking lady drivers in connection with Radio Luxembourg - Lella Lombardi? Divina Galica?

[Rob29]

Definitely Lella Lombardi red & yellow Lola F5000 in 1974.
For radio history; Labour government tried to close off shore pirates in 1967 but Caroline manged to continue by being supplied from Spain. They ran a campain of support for the conservatives who promised legal commercial radio. At the next general election labour were kicked out and Capital Radio started in 1972. One of the few cases I know of when policitians carried out their promises!

[Macca]

Sure I've got a pre-British GP publicity pic from a 1974 MN of either Lella or Divina in a BT44-bodied BT42 with '208' numbering and logos.

PM

[ensign14]

So what's the career of Keith St John? Why did he suddenly decide to take a punt at Monaco and then...not? Was he a good 'un? And is his surname pronounced Sinjin?

[Rob29]

Originally posted by Macca
Sure I've got a pre-British GP publicity pic from a 1974 MN of either Lella or Divina in a BT44-bodied BT42 with '208' numbering and logos.

PM

Was Lella again.She failed to qualify. Divina did not arrive on the scene until a couple of years later.
The F1 car I think has been covered in a previous thread. It was fitted with the Godiva V8 of 1954 vintage,and only managed a run up a runway at Silverstone in its life.Name was pronounced 'saint john,as far as I recall. Sinjon is used as a first name.

[David Beard]

I might have got this completely wrong, but in the back of my mind I seem to have a connection between Keith St John, the Elva, Radio London......and Tony Lanfranchi. And a publicity photo with a young lady nearly in a frock. (the usually important top part was missing)

[VDP]

According to oldracingcars he reappear in 1969 with the same ? Mc laren but now fitted with an Olsdmobile engine but didn't start at round two

Robert

[bretonbanquet]

Thanks to all who have shed light on Keith St John - I was beginning to worry

Amazing how we can veer off on to such disparate topics on threads like this!

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by David Beard
I might have got this completely wrong, but in the back of my mind I seem to have a connection between Keith St John, the Elva, Radio London......and Tony Lanfranchi.

Lanfranchi replaced St John as Radio London team driver. Anyone got a copy of "Down the Hatch"? Sure to be in there ....

Originally posted by David Beard
And a publicity photo with a young lady nearly in a frock. (the usually important top part was missing)

We don't want to know about your porn collection ...

[David Beard]

Originally posted by Vitesse2
We don't want to know about your porn collection ...

No collection here : .....the photo to which I refer made the tabloids...Daily Mirror, I suspect. ( I don't think the Sun had started then) (?)

[Barry Boor]

Sure I've got a pre-British GP publicity pic from a 1974 MN of either Lella or Divina in a BT44-bodied BT42 with '208' numbering and logos.

Oh no! Boor's here with his photos again!

It WAS Lella, and here she is with her car at Brands.

[MCS]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Barry Boor
[B]

Oh no! Boor's here with his photos again!

It WAS Lella, and here she is with her car at Brands.

How come the car is facing the wrong way in the pit lane?

MCS

[RTH]

Very interesting - and well spotted - appears to make no sense.

[Barry Boor]

As I remember, it was quite early in the morning and the cars had only just been brought down from the paddock. I don't think things were so orderly in those days.

[ed holly]

I imagine Tony Lanfranchi and Keith St John were mates.

Tony did drive my BT15 once when Keith was recouperating from a bad accident at a 500 mile Sports Car race at Brands when his Elan hit an embankment.

In a report in Autosport, they were going to form a team end of 66 but it apparently didn't get off the ground.

Can somebody tell me how to insert a photo here as I would like to include Keith's fiancee in the discussion, and I promise you won't be disappointed. They were engaged from 66 thru at least until early 70's

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by ed holly
Can somebody tell me how to insert a photo here ....

You can't attach it: it needs to be on a web site somewhere. Then just copy the image address, press the IMG button in the reply screen and paste the address into the resulting pop-up.

If you don't have webspace available then email it to me at richardvitesse@aol.com and I'll host it for you

[Vitesse2]

Right - here are Ed's pictures. As the risk of being accused of sexism, I have to say that Miss Engemann is quite a cutie and certainly one of the best-looking lady racing drivers I've come across! Certainly knocks Violette Morriss into touch .... but then so would most women

[bretonbanquet]

She gets my vote

Do we have any pics of Mr St John at all?

[Vitesse2]

With thanks to Ed Holly again, here's Mr St John ....

[bretonbanquet]

Great stuff! Thanks to Vitesse2 and Ed Holly for the pics

[Milan Fistonic]

Just came across this piece in Motoring News of January 16,1969.

Keith St. John will be taking part in Formula 5000 with the McLaren M2B that he and Ken Sheppard had intended to campaign in Formula One last year. Instead of the Godiva Climax engine, the car will now be powered by a 4.5-litre Oldsmobile engine.