Horace Gould

Bio by Stephen Latham

A Bristol motor trader, Horace Gould participated in 16 Grand Prix, debuting on July 17, 195, and his physical build and driving style led to him being termed ’the Gonzalez of the West Country’. Although born Horace Harry Twigg, on the 20th September 1921 in Southmead, Bristol, he later changed his name after acquiring Gould’s Garage in Bristol and getting fed up with people asking him if he was Mr. Gould.

His racing started with an MG TA in 1952 and he finished third in a 6 Hour Silverstone Relay race while in a later outing there he took third and a win in the second heat of an Allcomers race.

For 1953 he campaigned a Cooper Bristol and besides victory in a Silverstone Formula Libre race, he was fourth in the United States Air Force Trophy at Snetterton followed by second behind Tony Rolt in a Bristol MC and LCC F2 race at Thruxton. He was third at Crystal Palace’s London Trophy, behind Stirling Moss and Tony Rolt, then second to Bob Gerard at Castle Combe in the Joe Fry Memorial Trophy. He took fastest time of the day in a Tarrant Ruston Speed Trials event plus had a podium finish in the F2 class at a Prescott Hillclimb. In outings with a Cooper MG there was a victory at Castle Combe and second at Chartehall.

His racing in 1954 started down under for January’s New Zealand GP, at Ardmore, though the race would end in controversy. He lined up on the front row, alongside pole sitter Ken Wharton (BRM), Peter Whitehead (Ferrari 125) and Stan Jones (Maybach Special), while other notable drivers included Jack Brabham and Tony Gaze. After 10 laps, he was running fourth though later, P.Whitehead spun and stalled after hitting a marker drum though the marshals helped pushed the car clear. He restarted and rejoined the race, apparently still ahead of the field but it was later claimed that several cars, including Horace’s, had got past during the confusion without being noticed by the lap-scorers. On Lap 27, he came in for a pit-stop but observers on the spot maintained he only lost a place to Tony Gaze though the official record said he dropped a full lap. This dropped him back in the field but he eventually regained fourth though it was short-lived as he was forced to stop for fuel on the 81st lap. Over the closing laps the gaps had narrowed between the cars and he came home fourth but Horace claimed, and was supported by his pit crew, that he had run 101 laps and finished first. The protest was upheld by the stewards and they moved him up to second place but he said that either he had won or he was fourth, he could not have been second! Ken Wharton and Tony Gaze also protested and there followed a lengthy enquiry that lasted several weeks but in the end the placings were reverted to the original finishing order, with Horace relegated back to fourth. He went on to set second fastest time of the day at a Wairamarama hill-climb event before shipping the car back home for a full British season through 1954.

Continuing with his Cooper Bristol he took podiums at Crystal Palace’s Glade Trophy and London Trophy events, a Snetterton Libre race, the Silver City Airways Trophy at Brands Hatch and the Hastings Trophy at Castle Combe. There was a victory in Castle Combe’s Joe Fry Memorial Trophy and he added fourth and fifth places at Snetterton, in Crystal Palace’s August Trophy, the Madgwick Cup and Goodwood Libre. Racing a Kieft he contested the Empire Trophy and the International Trophy support race at Silverstone though his best result was second at Aintree. At Davidstow in June he entered both the F1 and F2 races though retired from the F2 race after setting the fastest lap. Although his Cooper could not start the F1 race, rather than miss it he drove the Kieft but despite starting second on the grid it was heavily outclassed and he eventually retired from the race. He was using a converted Bristol bus as a transporter but while leaving the circuit he took a wrong turn and found himself travelling down the main straight towards a footbridge. Luckily there was no racing taking place but the bridge was too low and it and the bus came to grief; fortunately nobody was injured but the final two races of the day had to be cancelled. Under the banner of Gould’s Garage, his World Championship debut came in the British GP, but being at the wheel of an F2 Cooper he was already at a disadvantage. He would not be able to battle for a position on the first couple of rows though impressed against some of his competitors driving similar F2 machines and qualified twentieth (out of 32). In the race a front wheel bearing seized and without a spare, his pit crew, Fred Tuck and Peter Weston, commandeered a Ford Consul from the car park, removed its hub and bearing and fitted it to the Cooper. After 46 minutes he was back in the race and came in fifteenth, the last of those who finished. At one point during the season he experimented with nitro-methane and found that the Cooper went quicker. However, after increasing the amount he set off round Goodwood and the engine blew.

In 1955 he continued to race the Kieft in sports car races but also acquired the ex-Prince Bira Maserati 250F (which he would later sell to Bruce Halford) and based himself for much of the season in Modena, where he lived a hand-to-mouth existence. Although he crashed out of the Dutch GP at Zandvoort and retired with brake problems from the British race at Aintree he was third in a non-championship GP at Albi, behind Andre Simon and Louis Rosier’s Maseratis. He was third in the first heat of the London Trophy at Crystal Palace but retired in the final with transmission problems and after qualifying second in his heat in Chartherhall’s Daily Record Trophy he was second in the final. He did not finish in the RedeX Trophy but Crystal Palace’s International Trophy saw him involved in a great battle for the lead before having to retire. After purchasing an ex-works 250F he had a strong third place result in the Daily Telegraph Trophy at Aintree, behind Roy Salvadori and Bob Gerard, though retired from his third World Championship race at Monza. There was a retirement from the International Gold Cup at Oulton Park but he went on to finish second in the Avon Trophy at Castle Combe (behind Harry Schell’s Vanwall) and rounded out his season with fourth at Syracuse in October, behind T.Brooks, L.Musso and L.Villoresi.

Highlights in the following season saw him win the Aintree 100 plus take second place finishes in the Grand Prix di Napoli and the Vanwall Trophy at Snetterton. There were four World Championship entries and though he retired due to gearbox and oil pressure issues in Belgium and Germany he was eighth in Monaco and took two Championship points with a career best fifth place in the British GP. He qualified tenth at Syracuse though did not finish and was entered for the GP del Valentino but the race was cancelled due to lack of entries and then unfortunately he suffered a heavy crash at Caen and broke his arm after being thrown from the car.

He returned down under at the start of 1957 to contest January’s New Zealand GP and though he retired from the race he later qualified on pole and finished third in a Championship Road Race at Invercargill, behind Peter Whitehead and Reg Parnell’s Ferraris. The first round of the F1 World Championship was in Argentina but Horace missed it as he was finishing his New Zealand trip and about to head home for the start of the European season. Back in Europe, although he started on the second row in the non-championship GP at Naples, he had warned Peter Collins and Mike Hawthorn, who were on the front row directly in front of him, that he planned to lead the race at the start. He had fitted a very low first gear to help him achieve this and as the flag dropped they left a gap between them for him to get through, which he did. Then during the first lap, he let them pass but kept L.Musso behind him for a few more laps, before he managed to overtake and he came home in fourth place.

He finished eighth at Pau in April but was not classified, followed by sixth place at Reims while September saw him compete in Silverstone’s International Trophy and after qualifying fourth in his heat he was sixth in the final. Shortly after this he was at the Modena GP though he rented his 250F to Colin Davis and then struck a deal with Scuderia Centro Sud to rent one of their 250Fs at a much lower price than he had charged Colin. Colin retired on the seventh lap in the race due to engine problems and Horace finished ninth. He co-drove a Maserati 300S to fifth in a round of the World Sportscar Championship, at the Nurburgring 1000 Kms, with Francisco Godia-Sales, Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss and was listed as a Maserati factory driver for that year’s Le Mans but didn’t participate in the race. Of the six Grands Prix contested he was tenth in Italy though retired in France and Germany with rear axle failures and crashed at Pescara and Monaco, though was fortunately uninjured. However, at Aintree in the July he was unable to start in the British GP after his foot was run over while helping to extinguish a fire on Bob Gerard’s Cooper.

Unfortunately, after Maserati withdrew from racing it caused difficulties for him in obtaining the parts he needed to keep his car running on a budget. However, he was able to travel to South America at the start of 1958 for the Autodromo Municipal Ciudad de Buenos Aires where he finished ninth and he also took fourth at Syracuse. Argentina would prove to be his last Championship race as he did not qualify at Monaco and though he took his Maserati to the Dutch GP, it was raced by Masten Gregory.

He entered the Maserati for Bruce Halford at 1959’s Oulton Park’s Gold Cup but the car didn’t start due to mechanical problems and after Horace was tempted back to race in 1960’s Italian GP the car failed to take the start due to crossed fuel-lines. That appearance also marked the end of his career and ill-health eventually prompted him to retire from business but his sons Martin, Stephen and Richard continued to run Gould’s Garage.

Sadly, Horace died of a heart attack on the 4th November, 1968 in Southmead, while only aged 47. Martin went into motor racing and raced in F3 and two of his grandchildren Daniel and James also had careers at a young age in motorsport.