11 replies to this topic

[WINO]

While his daughter Jane receives abundant media attention, Mort Morris-Goodall himself suffers from a severe lack of it. No reference found on TNF at all, which tells you something.

Apart from the fact that he raced an Aston Martin in the 30s and founded the AM Owners Club, I have been able to find very little about him. Yet in 1960 he pops up as the team manager of the Camoradi Maserati entries at Le Mans, taking over Taruffi's job at the Nurburgring a few weeks earlier.

Why of all people was he -- an Englishman-- ever selected for this position in an American/Italian team? What were his specific skill set, inducing Maserati to hire him?


WINO

[Huw Jadvantich]

I've no idea what the media attention his daughter is about but Im sure that MMG had some links with Jaguar, but what it was escapes me at the moment.....

[Gary C]

I've never heard of Jane M-G either !!

[ian senior]

Originally posted by Gary C
I've never heard of Jane M-G either !!

She's an anthroplogist and primatologist - something of a chimpanzee buff. Google will tell you all (and confirm that Mort was her Dad!)

[Geoff E]

Originally posted by WINO
No reference found on TNF at all, which tells you something.

Searching with

Goodall

finds a couple of mentions in race results.

[WINO]

Jane Goodall [now Dame J.G.] has been involved in the protection of the natural hibitat of chimpanzees in Africa. She wrote several books on the subject and produced a number of movies.

Perhaps an indication of the mainstream press focus: interact with monkeys and you get lots of attention; interact with race drivers and you are dead wood.

WINO

[Charles Helps]

by WINO: Mort Morris-Goodall himself suffers from a severe lack of it. No reference found on TNF at all, which tells you something.

I'm afraid it tells you more about TNF's Search Engine. Try searching for Morris Goodall and you will find three valid references - a further one which has Morris and Goodall separately is about the early years of the Australian GP.

Searching for Morris-Goodall produces no results

[WINO]

Thanks Charles. Will try again.

WINO

[ReWind]

Career description from the BRDC archive – although admittedly not a very comprehensive one.

He died on 14 May 2001 at the old age of 94 years.

[WINO]

It sounds as though his frequent participations in long-distance racing [ten 24-Hour races] may have earned him the one-off job in the Maserati team, although one would assume a fair number of things had changed at Le Mans between 1953 and 1960. And it still leaves the question: why Mort in particular? What was his connection to Modena?

WINO

[KJJ]

This is the gist of the very short Telegraph obituary, can't find an obituary in any of the other broadsheets: born 11/3/1907, began racing at Brooklands in an Aston Martin in 1929, founded AMOC in May 1935, 1950 became competition manager of the Donald Healey Motor Company, then team manager at Jaguar for the C Types first Le Mans victory, last raced at Le Mans in 1955 in a works TR2 ( the BRDC seem to have missed that one), co-founder of the Healey Drivers Club, a life member of the BRDC for 69 years, a vice-president of the BRDC since 1965.

Wouldn't the reason that Jane Goodall has received more media attention than her father have something to do with the fact that she is more eminent in her field than Mort was in his?

[WINO]

Re your Jane comments, most likely!

Also, yes... the BRDC missed his 1955 Le Mans ride with a TR2, where he finished but wasn't qualified with only 214 laps. His 1954 DNF in the Mille Miglia was with an Austin-Healey shared with Tommy Wisdom. But I can't find any reference of him having raced at Le Mans in 1953 [his Kieft did not show, although he was entered as a co-driver in the 4th place C-type, but apparently did not take the wheel]. Can't find him in the 1953 Mille Miglia either.

WINO