5 replies to this topic

[Simon Taylor]

His friends in the hillclimb world will be saddened by the death this morning of Richard Drewett, who had been hillclimbing since the late 1950s in a great variety of machinery, but with particular loyalty to the marques Frazer Nash and Lotus. His early mounts included Healey Silverstone, Frazer Nash Mille Miglia, AC Ace 2.6 and more than one Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica. He also unearthed the original Peter Bell/Ken Wharton single-seater Formula 2 Frazer Nash, which scored world championship points in the Swiss Grand Prix at Berne in 1952, and was dramatically crashed by Wharton in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa the same year. It had been converted into a Le Mans Replica, but Richard had it painstakingly restored by Bill Roberts into its original single-seater form.

Another of his discoveries was the Lotus-Buick, the Lotus 15 into which Dizzy Addicott inserted an American V8 power unit in the early 1960s. Richard was at full chat during the Brighton Speed Trials when the nose section came adrift, flew high into the air, and landed on the beach. This gave him an appetite for hairy large-engined Lotuses, and he hillclimbed with great success a Lotus 30, then the ex-Dan Gurney Indianapolis Lotus 29, and finally a Lotus 70 Formula 5000 car. His favourite venues were Goodwood, where he was a regular at the Festival of Speed - always running timed, and more than once winning his class - and Shelsley Walsh, a place that he loved with a passion. In both the Lotus 30 and the 70 he set outright BTDs at Shelsley.

He was a multi-talented individual: an accomplished musician, a collector of first editions, hugely knowledgeable about the cinema, a dry but aimiably unsardonic wit and a brilliant raconteur. He had a long and highly successful career as a TV producer, making many award-winning documentaries down the years. He played a major role in the development of the chat show as it was in its best days, before the presenters started to think they were more interesting than the guests. From the start he was the producer of the original Michael Parkinson Show, and his persuasive charm lured many major stars, from Mohammed Ali to Orson Welles, to appear. He was responsible for the very first programme ever to appear on BBC2, and also came up with the "Evening With...." format showcasing show-business personalities like Dame Edna Everidge and Kenneth Williams. He went on to develop a very fruitful working relationship with Clive James, producing all his television work through the 1980s and 1990s. The driving force behind Clive's occasional TV flirtations with motor-racing subjects was always Richard. His life in show business meant that he had a story, frequently very funny and usually unpublishable, about almost every household name from the past half-century.

At 72 years old he would almost certainly have still been pounding up the hills he loved so much had it not been for the onset of Parkinson's Disease, which he bore with extraordinary good humour and philosophical patience, but which forced him to sell first his Lotus 70 and then his final Le Mans Rep. Although always a quick and competitive driver, in motor racing terms he may not have been a major player; but he was typical of the delightful characters you can still find in the hillclimb paddocks who belong to an era of motor sport which used to value good manners, good humour and a genuine love of the sport more perhaps than they are valued today. His younger brother Christopher, also a hillclimber of speed and flair, is nowadays a commentator at Shelsley Walsh and Goodwood.

[raceannouncer2003]

I'm very sorry to hear this. I had the pleasure of meeting Richard Drewett at the Goodwood Festival in 2003. Here is a photo of him with his ex-Dick Smothers Lotus 70:



Vince Howlett, Victoria, B.C., Canada

[David Force]

There is nothing to add to Simon Taylor's piece. Richard was a lovely guy and bore his illness well. I think his contribution was great in that he saved and restored many important cars during the past years and was always willing to have them displayed and driven even when he became unable to do so. A proper bloke.

[Doug Nye]

I would add my sorrow at Richard's death to the thoughts expressed above. I have no time at all for most 'television people' - indeed to me it's a term of abuse. Richard understood that, he agreed with me and we used to laugh about it, becuase he was different, one of only three 'television people' I have ever really rated. I was delighted by his acquisition of the Gurney Lotus-Ford 29 and helped him with some aspects of its restoration. Richard appears as a young man in the background of the famous photo of the four new Cooper-Bristols lined-up in the Goodwood pits in 1952. He was in my experience straight as a gun barrel, immensely enthusiastic about so many different things and as David writes above, a really, truly, proper bloke.

DCN

[richardspringett]

Gosh - reading those obituaries makes me wish I knew him. What a full life - humbling stuff.

Richard

[cdrewett]

I'm very sorry to hear this. I had the pleasure of meeting Richard Drewett at the Goodwood Festival in 2003. Here is a photo of him with his ex-Dick Smothers Lotus 70:



Vince Howlett, Victoria, B.C., Canada

Clive James's latest book "The Blaze of Obscurity" gives a very vivid portrayal of Richard and his life and work in television. The book is dedicated to Richard's memory.
Chris