John Nicholson – 1974 British Grand Prix Programme | The “forgotten” drivers of F1

When Denny Hulme won the Argentine Grand Prix in January, and Emerson Fittipaldi won the Brazilian Grand Prix in February, they were using engines from a new race preparation works. The Ford DFV in their Texaco Marlboro McLaren’s had been rebuilt by Nicholson McLaren Engines Limited, Green Lane, Hounslow, Middlesex.

They had been put together with watchmaker’s precision by a team under the direction of an engineer who is also a racing driver, John Nicholson, Director of Nicholson McLaren. ‘It’s a good thing to have racing drivers at each end of the chain here. We’re talking the same language; we need a lot of feedback about how the engines behave, and I know how they feel if the power curve’s taking a holiday.’

John Nicholson came to this country in 1969 with £30 in his pocket, and an ambition to be a racing driver. But first he had to earn some money and unfortunately in a way, turned out to be so good with engines that his plans for the track have progressed haltingly. ‘I’ve been involved in Formula 1 engines for three years. Now I am using one on the track.’

Nicholson was born in Auckland, New Zealand, on 6th October, 1941. He left school at 15, and went straight to work building engines. Cars were scarce in New Zealand, and with manufacturing on the other side of the world, the reconditioning industry was important. Young Nicholson became an apprentice at L. H. Hayter Limited, in Palmerston North, winning an award for the top New Zealand apprentice in 1963. This led to him becoming workshop foreman, and in time he was offered a share in the business.

There were other opportunities. Nicholson exchanged his cherished TR3 for a 1936 Morris 8 so that he could buy a share in a new reconditioning company, expanding to a dozen sites. He took control of the plant at Wanganui, and then Wellington. The company went public, and in 1966 Nicholson used his modest profit, not to buy back his TR3, instead a two-year-old Lotus Elan. For his £2,000 or so, he had a competitive car for the occasional hill-climb, as racing did not interest him greatly. He joined motor clubs because it made business sense, and won his hill-climbs by such margins he concluded the Elan had insufficient opposition.

Then almost without thinking, John Nicholson, entrepreneur and engine builder, became John Nicholson, racing driver. ‘A man sold me the right sort of car,’ he admits.

The car turned out to be an Ex-Tasman Lotus 27 with a Ford Twin Cam engine. His first race was at New Plymouth alongside another young hopeful also in his first single-seater drive, Graham McRae. Nicholson finished one race behind McRae, another ahead, and after three ‘good behavior’ appearances to get rid of his novice’s stripes at Levin and Pukekohe, found himself taking part in the 1968 New Zealand Grand Prix against Graham Hill and Jim Clark. It was his eighth race ever, and the Stewards were dubious. He needed five observed laps to show he was not going to be in anyone’s way, and finished ninth, the fourth local driver.

Nicholson maintained his own engines, but never set himself up as a ‘tuning wizard’. Chassis preparation he admitted remained something of a mystery to him, but it did not prevent him moving to a Brabham BT18 bought from Graeme Lawrence with which he finished consistently well, and even scored a win or two. He had taken over a new branch of the engine reconditioning firm, but the racing bug had bitten, so early in 1969, he tore up his roots, and worked his way to Britain as mechanic on a Formula 2 Brabham via Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Japan.

Things were not easy. The idea was to sell the Brabham and raise money for Formula 3 in Britain, but by November, owing to a change in New Zealand’s national Formula, it was still not sold and George Bolthoff, for whom Nicholson had been building Can-Am engines, wanted home to the United States. In 1 970, Nicholson went there too, working with McLaren building their Can-Am engines, but a year later he was back. McLarens were out of Can-Am, and he began preparing their Formula 1 DFV’s at Colnbrook.

Nicholson was in charge of a small staff, working with the Champion Spark Plug company’s dynamometer, and built some of the most reliable Cosworth V-8’s in the business.

Yet he still wanted to race. The opportunity came with a March 702, in Formula Atlantic races in Britain, with a Piper development BDA. At last, he was building, developing, and driving. Still, the tug of war restrained him on the track. The demands of McLaren only allowed him about half the races on the calendar, yet he was fifth in the Championship, and won at Brands on Boxing Day, 1971.

For 1972 Nicholson ran the works development Lyncar designed by Martin Slater, using the same engine he had raced the previous year. He finished sixteen races out of twenty-two, with only one stop through engine trouble, and came third in the Yellow Pages Championship. For 1 973, he sold the car to his sponsor, Bruno Drury of Pinch Plant, bought two engines and worked during the week setting up the new Nicholson McLaren Engines Limited.

The fruits of his efforts were on the driving side, he won the BP Formula Atlantic Championship and finished second in the Yellow Pages Championship. Then there was his well-organized engine shop. Fifteen engine builders preparing thirteen DFV’s for McLaren, eight for Graham Hill, four for Dave Charlton, and one each for hill-climb driver David Good and Sir Nick Williamson. Nicholson also prepared his own BDA’s as well as some Formula 2 and a few rally engines.

Two engineers work on each engine, which is delivered to Green Lane immediately after each race. First, it is stripped and cleaned for inspection. A report comes from the user about race mileage, and the r.p.m. used. There is a rev limiter on DFV’s but this can be overridden by the McLaren drivers. The driver’s report is important, and the parts of the engine due for renewal depend on it.

Crankshaft, cranks, and rods are crack-tested, pistons, valve springs, and probably the valves are replaced. About half the moving parts are replaced after every race, or a run of about 1,000 miles, at a cost of £200 for con rods, £330 for a crankshaft, £200 for a set of pistons, £200 for a set of valves, and £100 for springs. Labour costs for an average rebuild are £400, and a ‘rebuild kit’ of gaskets, etc., is around £60. Thus, most rebuilds average £1,100 and take about 120 hours.

about John Nicholson