30 replies to this topic

[ian senior]

His name seems to be cropping up all over the place in TNF at the moment. I just wonder if perhaps we could concentrate Chris Meek stuff in one place, for the sake of convenience if nothing else!

It strikes me that we have a hell of a lot to thank Chris for. Those of us who have seen him race will remember his stirring drives in all kinds of cars, over many years. Those of us who raced against him will know a fierce but fair competitor. Those of us who met him will recall his rather "special" personality. He saved Mallory Park. He's not one to ignore the heritage of the sport - witness the statues. He has helped up and coming drivers.

His autobiography would make fascinating reading, if ever he found time to sit down and write the thing.

[TFBundy]

Why do I suspect his autobiography would be "lightweight" ...

[Andrew Kitson]

He also does an enormous amount for charity, especially for deprived children in Russia, his wife's homeland. A very colourful character is Chris and incredibly kind and generous. A book may be difficult as he often shuns any talk about his own racing career and shows little interest in the cars he drove. Remember too he backed Tom Pryce via his Titan Properties company and got him into F1.

Enzo was in his debt as the press did not believe that the Ferrari BB512 would do the claimed 188mph by the factory following a magazine track test around 1987. A customer of Maranello Concessionaires threatened to sue Ferrari for making false claims. Chris heard of this and organised a car having owned more than 30 Ferraris himself. A photographer accompanied him in the car, Michelin were present to check the standard road tyres and Chris actually managed 190mph and the photo showing the needle at 188mph was acheived on the M1 near Leeds at 5am one morning. The photo was made into an official Ferrari poster clearly showing Chris with his hands on the wheel, the speedo at 188mph at 7200rpm. Enzo summoned Chris to Maranello to thank him in person and asked Chris if he wanted anything in return. On his way to Ferrari's office he had seen a stack of some lovely 'prancing horse' floor tiles and asked if he could have a few for his hallway at home in Leeds. A few weeks later a truck arrived with many palletts full of them!

There is however a wonderful book that he commissioned in 2001 about the history of the Mallory Estate written by his friend Gareth Evans with this Ferrari story included. 'Mallory Park Leicestershire - Portrait of a country estate' Published by Stowefields Publications in Stafford Tel: 01889 270354 ISBN 0 9519102 6 4

[RTH]

Any chance of getting him to post on here I wonder ?

[Andrew Kitson]

He definitely wouldn't have the time Richard - always travelling to and from Russia!

[RTH]

Internet link on his private plane !!! Bit of R&R and think about something other than work from time to time is good for everyone !

[philippe7]

Not meaning to be self-indulgent with my poor teenage photographic efforts, but if we're going to concentrate the Chris Meek stories here, those pictures would fit better here than in the "Valli" thread .....and hopefully attract other (and better) photos.

Llandow, sometimes 1973

[philippe7]

This Chris Meek / Tom Pryce / Motul (Rondel ) M1 business has been puzzling me lately....this is what I found in a post by Chris Towsend about the M1 chassis history in the Ten-Tenth archives :

202: F1R doesn't give this chassis, which suggests that it was the car sold to Tate of Leeds and used by Chris Meek and later Tom Pryce in F.Atlantic. Used by Meek to win 1974 Northern Single Seater Championship. F/S AS 1976 as NSSC winner unused since 1974

204: F1R says Scheckter and then Pryce in 73. To N.America 1974

208: F1R says new for Tom Pryce at Rouen in 73. To North America 1974

So apprently Tom used Chris Meek's car in Atlantic. But besides that, he also drove factory cars in Formula 2

BTW , I always wondered at the time what "Tate of Leeds" was.....another Chris Meek business ???

[roger ellis]

phillipe7 - "Tate of Leeds" were the Ford Rallye Sport dealership for Leeds.

I am not sure if Chris Meek was involved in their business.

I believe they were subsequently taken over by either the Tricentrol group or Hartwells.

[philippe7]

Thank you Roger . I thought there was a link with Chris Meek because of "Leeds" , and also since apparently Tate of Leeds had been invoiced Meek's M1 according to the Ten-Tenths post .

[Andrew Kitson]

There is an interesting 'link' to today. In the late 60s Chris's F2 Brabham was looked after by Bill Jones. Bill's young son Gavin was car polisher and is now joint boss of GP2 team iSport International with drivers Ernesto Viso and Timo Glock.

[Alan Cox]

[philippe7]

Thank you Alan ! The second picture seems to be more recent than the first one, since Chris appears to be one of the many who had been convinced at the time by the innovative features claimed by the "Griffin Graviner" helmet ( safety bolt, oxygen supply, etc....) whereas in the Pantera pic he seems to be wearing the same Bell-star style helmet as in my Llandow pics ....

[h4887]

Chris Meek was the works Ginetta driver back in the sixties. Sadly most of the tales recounted about him by the Walklett brothers cannot be repeated here

[john aston]

As a student in Leeds in the early seventies Chris Meek was a frequent sighting in his Pantera or similar exotica.He always could be relied upon to produce a crowd pleasing charge in the huge variety of machines he drove at Croft and Rufforth, my local circuits. Tony Dean was another, of course and the sight of his F5000 cars or Porsche 908 scything through a Formula Libre field of Mallocks and Sprites was quite something.I have to say(sorry,sounding like bloody Shumi ) that the Northern racing scene was a lot better in those days with strong fields and alot of good local drivers.Croft is still live but grids are sometimes painfully thin and it's all a bit sanitised compared to the rough and tumble seventies.

[rdmotorsport]

to reply to john aston regarding the northern motorsport scene in the seventies it did appear for some unknown reason that the "frozen north" produced some quality drivers and races amonst them as metioned chris meek and tony dean (and later his son richard) also trevor thwaites, richard sims and david hepworth(hillclimb champ as well as racing brm can ams) who also had offspring in andrew and stephen who later raced in various sportscars,f3000 ans f3.crowtrees garage in brighouse as well as running various cars for peter ormerod and paul haigh (still in he industry as team manager in f renault) i also remember a yorkshire domiciled ulsterman palmer hewerdine who raced an ex piers courage shelby mustang with great verve around rufforth,croft.elvington etc. making the northern race scene healthy maybe this gave the aspirations to both frank dernie and james robinson to stop designing agricultural machines and leave their huddersfield employer to design and engineer for the likes of senna and co. Rodney Dodson

[Twin Window]

A couple of pics I took of Chris's cars;

Mallory 1972, with Chris looking over his shoulder at the Lotus...



...and his Rondel (or was it a Motul?) - also at Mallory - in 1973.



Somewhere I've got a pic of Chris and me when we were team-mates briefly in 1980, again at Mallory, which I'll add when I find it.

[Alan Cox]

Surely the top pic is a March, is it not, Twinny?

[Twin Window]

It doesn't surprise me at all, Alan, as I've always suffered a 'blind-spot' when it comes to differentiating between a March 712 and an F2 Lotus 69!

My excuse [this time] is that the nose looks similar (to my eyes) to the one used during the previous winter's Temporada series by Wilson Fittipaldi - who I just never associate with driving a March - whilst Chris had longstanding ties with Lotus!

Feeble, I know...

[scags]

nice purple jackets....

[Eli Solomon]

I thought this would be an interesting addition for this forum as it features Chris Meek in two cars he ran in the late 1960s....

From 1967 onwards, almost all the F2 competition were running with the Cosworth FVA, the first year the FVA was used in Formula 2 racing. The whitewash began from Round 1 in the Guards 100 at Snetterton on 24th March with the top seven being FVA-engine cars (Rindt won for Roy Winkelmann Racing in a BT23-FVA). Round 2 was even better – Silverstone on 27th March saw Rindt win again, the top 10 all being FVA-engine cars. There was nothing out there that could match the Cosworth FVA (even though Ferrari looked like it could on paper) right up to 1971!
I managed to piece together the story of the ex-Costin BT10 FVA, from the time Mike Costin used it as a mule at Cosworth Engineering, to Chris Meek’s 1968 Formula 2 foray backed by Bill Jones, and finally to John Macdonald’s success with it in Asia.

Macdonald thought Meek wasn’t able to match the other cars in F2 in 1968…”Poor Chris Meek had little luck at all but then F2 was developing fast with tires and wings, and FVAs; they'd already gone to 4-1 exhausts from 4-2-1 at that time ...which added 20BHP/700RPM. That was not on the car when… I got it, nor is it visible on old photos of the car in 1968, so presumably Chris Meek was behind with such factory developments alone…”

There’s a connection between this BT10 and my own BT18 AM128. Chris Meek drove both our cars. Meek raced for Gil Baird (the meatpacker?) in the European Formula 3 championships in 1967 with a BT18 (F2-66-27), backed by Gil.

Meek’s results with the BT10 FVA

1968 – 15th April – 2x 15 laps + 54 lap final Thruxton Trophy, BARC 200
Chris Meek, Car #20, entered by Bill Jones. Finishes 9th. BT10 FVA

1968 – 21st April – 2x 30 laps. Nurburgring ADAC
Chris Meek, Car #9, entered by Bill Jones. DNF, Valve trouble. Event won by Chris Irwin in a Lola T100 FVA

1968 – 28th April – 2x 60 laps. Gran Premio de Madrid, Jarama
Chris Meek, Car #16. DNA. Entered by Jones. BT10 FVA

1968 – 5th May – 2x 24 laps. Limbourg GP, Zolder, Belgium
Chris Meek, Car #28, Not Classified. Heat 1 DNF, Heat 2 Gbx lap 7

1968 – 16th June – 30 laps. Hockenheim
Chris Meek, Car #14, DNF, head gasket lap 6.

1968 – 23rd June – 45 laps. Monza
Chris Meek, Car #21, DNQ.

1968 – 28th July – 2x 20 laps + 50 lap final. Zandvoort, Holland
Chris Meek, Car #26, DNQ. 12th in Heat 1.

1968 – 13th Oct. 35 laps. Hockenheim
Chris Meek, Car #34, Not Classified. Lap 19

1968 – 27th Oct. 2x 40 laps. Vallelunga, Italy
Chris Meek, Car #38. DNQ.
Still running the Cosworth FVA entered by Bill Jones. Last entry before the car was shipped to Hong Kong.

Finally, in 1968, at a Silverstone club race (probably Peterborough MC) Chris Meek apparently equaled the outright lap record set by the Kincraft on 2 September 1967 with a 59.0 sec. Lap. Such was progress in 1968 with wings and tyres, from Mike Costin's lap record of 1min 2.4 secs. in 1966 with the same car/engine 2 years earlier.

Eli Solomon
Hong Kong

[Alan Cox]

[Twin Window]

Nice one, Alan!

Chris in 1979...




...and me in 1980...



Same car (and still run by Chris)...

[Andrew Kitson]

Just received this press release:

MALLORY PARK'S HISTORIC 50th ANNIVERSARY
FINALE TAKES SHAPE

Sunday 8 October sees Mallory Park's race
paddocks once again burgeoning with a
dynamic collection of the UK's top historic
racing cars for its annual end-of-season
historic finale, brought to this evocative
circuit by Top Hat Racing.

This unique meeting is dedicated to Chris
Meek, the sportscar ace whose tireless
endeavours saved this historic venue for
all motorsport competitors -- not property
developers. The 'Best of British' race will
carry the Chris Meek Trophy, which will
become an annually presented award.

Fittingly, Howard Bentham has entered in his
fleet Lotus Europa in deference to Chris'
astonishing number of victories in his similar
'Radio 208 Luxembourg' Europa of the 1970s.

Supporting the Lotus contingent will be
Michael Doyle in his race-winning Lotus Elan,
Roger Wills in his rare Daren Mk2 and Stephen
Garrett in his early Lotus 7 BMC.

Fresh from a great outing at Goodwood in his
Morris Minor and chasing the 'Spirit of MG'
Trophy -- awarded to the first MG or
MG-powered car home in the same race -- will
be Russell Martin in his quick MGB.

With just about every British marque
represented in this race, it goes without
saying that Jaguars will be there in strength
-- headed by Harry Wyndham's 3.8 E-type FHC
and John Bussell's 4.2 roadster.

The five support races will be:
:: The headlining 'Dunlop Trophy' for Top
Hat pre-'66 touring cars.
:: The 'Coys Trophy' for Cloth Cap pre-66
sports cars.
:: The 'Sunoco' Trophy for 'Groovy Baby!'
'70s Soulful Saloons.
:: The 'Revivalist Trophy' for Oldies but
Goldies pre-'60s touring cars.
:: The 'Julius Thurgood' Top Hat All-comers
Trophy.

[Mallory Dan]

Any 'real' racing cars there Andrew, if so I may be tempted !!!

[james claridge]

New here and just reading the Chris Meek thread. Great pictures of the 1971 March 712 and the 1973 Motul but does anyone have a picture of his 1972 Brabham BT38 F/Atlantic car?
We've just aquired it and would love to restore it in it's "Tate of Leeds" livery.

[MCS]

Only shot I could find - Oulton Park scrutineering bay some time in 1972...

[Cirrus]

22nd July, according to my trawlings through www.oldracingcars.com, although the jackets and overcoats would suggest that it was fairly cool.

The three fag-smoking guys in the purple jackets with the stripes (along with the other jacket, to the left of STP man) are sporting colours very similar to the "Tate of Leeds" Brabham BT36, driven by Malcolm Wayne in early '72.

The reason I know this is that I have recently seen a very blurred picture of said BT36 taken by a certain historic motorsports forum moderator.

Maybe the BT38 was repainted in the same colours eventually...

Edited by Cirrus, 05 November 2009 - 21:33.

[james claridge]

That's fantastic, thankyou.

Edited by james claridge, 06 November 2009 - 00:27.

[james claridge]

Anybody know if the car did change colour later in the season? It seems unlikely looking at the picture of the Motul in '73. Any idea what's written on the rear wing?
The change to the Motul and the fact that Tate entered a Taydec in Atlantic in '72 on occasion, suggest Chris might not remember the BT38 too fondly

[MCS]

Anybody know if the car did change colour later in the season? It seems unlikely looking at the picture of the Motul in '73. Any idea what's written on the rear wing?
The change to the Motul and the fact that Tate entered a Taydec in Atlantic in '72 on occasion, suggest Chris might not remember the BT38 too fondly

I don't believe the car changed colour. The reason the Brabham was bought was because the Taydec Mk5 didn't prove itself to be quick enough, apparently.

It later evolved (if that's the right word) into the "DBR2" - see the Formula Atlantic thread - http://forums.autosp...w...ydec&st=240

Edited by MCS, 09 November 2009 - 21:11.