John Taylor

Popular and mild-mannered, John Malcolm Taylor was born in March 1933 in Anstey, Leicestershire, and is best remembered for his successes in club single seater races, particularly at his local track at Mallory Park. His early racing saw him progress through Formula Libre and Formula Junior and he went on to contest five World Championship Grands Prix plus several non-championship races but was badly burnt in a crash during 1966’s German GP and sadly later died in hospital.

John grew up very much a country boy and would trap rabbits on his way to school and then sell them when he arrived there. On one occasion he caught twenty three trout but then had to swim to escape the gamekeepers who had spotted him. At the age of fifteen he went to Arbroath Naval College and two years later began specialising in aeronautical engineering. From there he joined the Fleet Air Arm, where he was engaged in secret experimental work, then spent time in Korea where he was a front line maintenance engineer. Following this he was involved with a Naval Arctic survey, testing life saving gear, before returning to civilian life where he worked as a freelance flight engineer for BOAC, BEA and the RAF. During this time, he smuggled a motorcycle to sea on board an aircraft carrier, keeping it hidden in the torpedo body room, and would ride it round the deck until he was discovered. He also developed an interest in archery and on one occasion won a pig in a Naval archery competition.

His racing started in 1958 with a cousin’s old Riley 9, though he began to take his racing seriously after they built a Ford 10 special the following year and he went on to compete extensively in Formula Libre and Formula Junior. In 1960 he was thirteenth in a Silver City Trophy race at Brands Hatch with Cambridge Racing’s Lola Mk2 and after joining Bob Gerard’s team that year he stayed with them for several seasons. He started as a mechanic at Gerard’s garage in Leicester, although he did not work on the race cars, but John was building his own special in a shed at home and Bob’s racing mechanic would give him encouragement and advice. In 1961 he was allowed to rebuild an old Cooper Junior and try it out out and eventually was placed in charge of the business’s flourishing Competitions department. He and Bob Gerard formed a close partnership which bring considerable success, with John being meticulous about the preparation of his race cars. His skill at the wheel was accompanied by a smooth driving style and fans would enjoy his fine performances.

Racing a Cooper T59 during 1962, he retired at Oulton Park though in two outings at Mallory Park in July and September he was second plus shared fastest lap in both with race winner Jack Pearce. In 1963 there were also a number of drives with the Anglo Scottish Racing Team’s T59 in FJunior and although he retired at a Spring Whizz race at Aintree due to oil pressure problems, he was sixth at the support race at Silverstone’s GP meeting and in August won at Mallory Park plus recorded the fastest lap. In outings with Bob Gerard, two Continental events saw sixth at Monthlery’s Coupe de Paris and fourth (with a T67) in the Von Trips Memorial race at Nurburgring then a drive in the T67 brought a second victory at Mallory Park in October (plus fastest lap). Libre races produced a win and third at Silverstone plus three wins and two seconds at Mallory Park and he took a further second place at Mallory Park with a Lola Climax. April that year saw his F1 debut in the non-championship BARC Aintree 200, where he finished ninth though he retired due to an oil leak from the following month’s International Trophy at Silverstone.

The following year started with one outing in Tyrrell Racing Organisation’s Cooper T72-BMC at the first F3 round at Mallory Park and in a dominant display he won from pole position plus recorded the fastest lap. At the following race, a young Jackie Stewart would be with the team and went on to dominate the series, taking seven wins with the T72 from the nine races. The rest of the season saw him with Bob Gerard in European F2 plus he continued gaining experience in non-championship F1 races. He was seventh with a T71 at the News of the World Trophy at Goodwood and races with a T73 saw fifth in April’s Aintree 200 (beaten by Jack Brabham, Graham Hill, Peter Arundell and Jo Bonnier) and tenth in the BRDC International Trophy at Silverstone in May. Away from single seaters, he and Dick Protheroe shared a privately entered E-Type Jaguar at the Nurburgring 1000km at the end of May but did not start due to an accident. In July he made his World Championship debut, piloting Gerard’s neatly prepared T73 at the British GP at Brand Hatch, where he qualified twenty first. Unfortunately, although he finished fourteenth, he was twenty-four laps down due to losing a great amount of time in an extended pit-stop to repair his gearbox. In August he raced for the first time in F1 outside Britain, in the Mediterranean GP at Pergusa, and was seventh with a Climax powered T60 and in Libre events he was the man to beat that year, with three victories, plus one at Oulton Park, and secured the Mallory Park Championship. His two final races came in September at the wheel of the T73 and he was seventh at Oulton Park’s Gold Cup and eighth the following week in the Vanwall Trophy at Snetterton.

There were three European F2 outings with Bob Gerard in 1965 though he contested non-championship races with Cooper Car’s T77-Climax. His first race with the T77 saw eighth place in March at the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch, then seventh at April’s Sunday Mirror Trophy at Goodwood plus eleventh in the following month’s BRDC International Trophy at Silverstone. In F2 outings with the T73 in April he did not start at Oulton Park’s Spring Trophy then was seventh in the following week’s Autocar Trophy at Snetterton and his final race was back at Oulton Park in September’s International Gold Cup though it ended in retirement due to an oil leak.

John planned to contest Grands Prix with David Bridge’s Brabham BT11-BRM in 1966 though had early races with Frank Lythgoe, retiring from a European F2 Sunday Mirror Trophy Goodwood race with a Brabham BT16 and took victory with the Lola T60 in an Oulton Park Libre race. He did not attend the Monaco F3 race though in early June entered the Nurburgring 1000kms World Sportscar race and in an impressive performance, he and Peter Sutcliffe finished second in class and sixth overall in Red Rose Motor’s Ford GT40. The following month saw him in France to participate in the French GP at Reims where he came home sixth in the Brabham-BRM and earned one championship point. There were two consecutive GPs later in July and he had eighth place results in both the British and Dutch races and his drive at Zandvoort saw John receive the ‘Godin de Beaufort Memorial Trophy’ , which recognised the ‘best performance for a new driver in the Dutch Grand Prix’, (which was awarded by the family of the late Carel Godin de Beaufort). Sadly, two weeks later, in August, he returned to the Nurburgring to compete in the German GP and qualified twenty fifth. The race began in heavy mist and rain, making conditions wretched for the drivers, but he was involved in a first lap collision with Jacky Ickx’s Matra and was badly burned in the accident. He was rescued and taken to hospital in Koblenz but despite his severe burns, early prognosis was hopeful, though he sadly passed away almost a month later, aged only 33.

John was buried in the village of Newtown Linford and an inscription on his headstone reads ‘Thine Is The Victory’ and in his memory an annual Formula Junior historic event, the ‘John Taylor Memorial Trophy Race’ was established at Mallory Park. A magazine article paid tribute to him, with its headline reading ‘A Fine and Likeable Driver’ and said his death robbed motor racing of a highly polished driver and one of the most likeable men in the sport.

Ady Simpson wrote a comprehensive report on the Nurburgring accident. He wrote that John “was extremely serious about his future and it was David Bridges additional intention to make use of John’s ability as a skilled engineer and tuner to market engine modifications to which end he had already started to acquire certain machine tools for that purpose. Sadly John died before any progress was made in this direction. John was very particular about his own health and I remember him ticking all of us off for not rinsing a second time, dishes washed using a liquid such as Fairy, to make sure all traces of detergent were removed! At the time that David decided to enter F1, cars were very hard to obtain and had David been able to purchase a more competitive Brabham John would undoubtedly won more that the single point he obtained in 1966. We had two BRM engines which, ahhough religiously returned to BRM before allowed mileages were exceeded, had an rpm limit well below those used by the top contenders. He was popular with his racing rivals and struck up a friendship with Jim Clark who would guide him through any problems he had on the circuits, showing him approach angles, speeds, braking points etc. John recalled on one occasion Clark passing him on the outside of a corner, one hand on the steering wheel, the other in a cheery wave to John. As you already know John’s accident was at the Nurburgring when a few F2 cars were allowed to join the F1 brigade. ln retrospect one could question the decision, in view of the nature of the track and the atrocious weather conditions of the day, to allow these slower F2 cars to race. However on that fateful day John collided with the rear of Jacky lckx’s car. The high pressure fuel pump feeding the engine was situated towards the front of John’s car and was immediately ruptured. John later recalled to David Bridges, who visited him in hospital, how he was standing up in his cockpit waiting for the car to slow sufficiently to allow him to jump clear. Unfortunately the petrol tanks exploded before this was possible resulting in John’s awful burns. As the days went by John seemed to improve and we were all hopeful of his recovery. Sadly events suddenly took a turn for the wore and John, I believe, succumbed to septicaemia. I attended John’s funeral along with many of the drivers but it was some months before David Bridges, who was distraught, could bring himself to dispose of the remains of John’s car. My memory of John was of a very confident and able person determined to get to the top, but not so single minded that he would ride roughshod over everyone to get there. I often think of him even today but now nearly all of those who were around in those days are no longer with us.”

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Motor Sport magazine reported that John misjudged his braking and ran into the back of Jacky Ickx’s Matra, causing both cars to leave the road and John’s to catch fire. Ickx managed to make it back to the pits but his transmission was too badly damaged for him to continue. A further post in Motor Sport reported that “somebody caught the front of John Taylor’s car and he spun off and crashed in flames, being badly burnt. Ickx had to take violent avoiding action, being just behind, and he went off the road, but managed to get going again after helping the unfortunate Taylor, while Anderson ran over some of the bits of the wrecked car. At the end of the field (after one lap) came Anderson, having been delayed by the Taylor accident, and long after everyone was well on the second lap Ickx arrived at the pits to retire, his Matra-Cosworth de-arranged by the excursion off the road.”

In a German publication, ‘Grand Prix 1966’, it reported that John “himself said, when he seemingly was on the road to recovery, that he was pushed aside by an overtaking Brabham, skidded and collided with Ickx who was behind him and totally innocent. Taylor’s car crashed against a traffic signal and exploded in flames. After Taylor got out of his car unaided Ickx cast himself onto him to extinguish the flames of the burning clothes.’

However, Ady Stimpson provided a very detailed, comprehensive, account and gave permission for it to be posted. “Back in 2006 I started to research the life and times of Leicester racing driver John Taylor. I found John’s final resting place in the Leicestershire village of Newtown Linford and back then the interweb was bereft of almost any information concerning this driver who came up through Formula Junior ‘Screamers’, dominating many seasons in this category at his home circuit of Mallory Park. Borne out of desperation I had a letter published in the Newtown Linford Parish web based newsletter asking if anyone remembered John from the 1960’s. Some weeks later I received an email from John’s widow Irene who it transpired had long since remarried and done her best to try and forget the horror of John’s fifth and ultimately fatal Grand Prix at the Nurburgring in Germany. Irene was left a widow with infant children. Whilst she never ever forgot about her late husband, Irene had long since remarried and was now enjoying retirement having taught as an art teacher in the intervening years. Once Irene had determined that I was a genuine enthusiast, we arranged to meet that August at Mallory Park, fittingly at the John Taylor Memorial race meeting where Irene was on hand to present the trophies to drivers racing in the now Historic FJ race.

Meeting Irene was a pleasure, and we left that day promising to remain in touch and that she would email me a few things over about John’s career once she had retrieved his personal effects from storage. Several months and emails later, a HUGE parcel arrived at my home by courier. Upon opening it, I found a letter from Irene saying ‘everything you ever needed to know about John and his racing career is in here’. It was the entire John Taylor Race Archive. All jumbled up, dusty, creased, in total dissarray, from photos of his wins at Mallory, to telegrams from Louis Stanley offering immediate assistance in his private aircraft to fly John home from the hospital in Koblenz following his fiery crash at the Nurburgring. From there I found letters and telegrams of condolences from the good and great of 1960’s motor racing, and rather harrowingly, an invoice from a Koblenz undertaker for the coffin and arrangements made to ship John’s body home. I took months slowly going through the archive and gradually reassembled it all in chronological order with Irene’s unstinting assistance, who was always available on the phone or by email when I came across something I couldn’t pin a date or location on. I took copies of every single item and produced a digital archive for both Irene and John’s son Richard, but also for John’s elderly brother. Once completed, several years later, I returned the archive to Irene so that in turn she could pass it onto her son Richard who is now in his fifties. One of the most poignant items in the archive was a postcard depicting a caricature of the Ring. On the reverse John had detailed his trip across Europe in his Austin A40 (!) and told Irene how early practice was going at the wheel of the Red Roses Garage Brabham BT11. That was his final written communication. Pinned to the card was John’s medical card and race licence for the 1966 season.

Regarding the accident, I should note that for decades, Irene firmly believed that John’s crash was caused by Jacky Ickx colliding on the opening lap on the exit of Quiddelbache Hohe. Irene had read several contemporary reports of the time that alluded to this scenario. Having briefly corresponded via TNF with Doug Nye and asking him what he recalled of John, he suggested I seek out copies of the contemporary race reports. In 2003 I met Jacky Ickx at Le Mans and asked him for five minutes of his time to offer his recollections of that day at the Nurburgring in August 1966. Jacky told me that during the opening lap, the weather was atrocious and the spray was hanging like a blanket across the track. Visibility was severely impeded and as he spun twice almost immediately after the start losing several places as the pack charged past him. Jacky said he gathered it all up and then as he carefully ‘tip-toed’ around the Ring on that first lap, he rapidly came upon a recovering (presumably from a spin or collision) John Taylor in his blue & white Brabham. Jacky said that he very nearly managed to avoid John, but in gathering up his car, John inadvertently collided with the rear of Jacky’s Matra and they both went off the circuit at the bottom of the Flugplatz. Jacky said he climbed out to see John standing up in his Brabham and ablaze from ‘head to feet’ from the ruptured full fuel tanks. Jacky said he threw himself onto John to extinguish the flames and later helped John, walking wounded into the back of a circuit ambulance.
I later scrutinised DSJ’s contemporary report of the accident in Motorsport and personally feel that his is the most accurate report of the facts as they were known at that time. I was later able to share my findings with John’s widow Irene and she related how guilty she felt having felt so angry towards Jacky Ickx for so many years since. To this date I still have people sending me previously unseen photos of John, many taken during his final season where he competed in four grand prix races as well as the Nurburgring 1000km as co-driver to Peter Sutcliffe in his dark green Ford GT40.
I keep in touch with John’s widow Irene and she is delighted whenever John Taylor is mentioned in motor racing publications. Invariably I send her copies and she always replies by return. After his death, Irene told me that accompanying his body was just two items. His medical card and race licence. Absolutely nothing else was recovered. His Austin A40 that was parked out there simply vanished although his BRDC bumper badge did make a brief appearance on eBay about 10 years ago. I tried to buy it and won the auction at £600. I paid up and the seller then refused to part with it and I had to get eBay involved. I got my money back but wanted to give the badge to Irene as a thank you for entrusting me with a box of items that wrought total misery on her young life many years ago.

Irene did tell me that after John succumbed to his terrible injuries some 32 days after the accident on 8th September 1966, John’s body was shipped back to his hometown of Leicester. Accompanying the body was just two items. John’s FIA Competition Licence for 1966 and his Medical Certificate – stamped ‘Valid For 1966’. Nothing else of John’s personal effects were ever returned, including I was told his Austin A40 car bearing his BRDC badge on the bumper bar. Everything else that John took to Germany in August 1966 simply disappeared. About ten years ago, John’s BRDC badge surfaced on eBay and I made extended efforts to secure it. I intended to gift it to Irene for so generously entrusting me with such a priceless archive of personal papers to myself. Ultimately I paid £600 for the authentic though tatty BRDC badge. However, the vendor who I later found out was locally based, refused to hand it over so I had to involve eBay to secure a refund. I haven’t seen anything of John’s badge since. If anyone out there can offer a clue as to it’s current whereabouts I would be very interested as Irene is now in failing health and at the time of locating and purchasing John’s BRDC badge was beside herself with delight at it having finally surfaced after all these years. Irene told me that John was especially proud to have been made a member of the British Racing Drivers Club, bearing in mind he was a very likeable and modest man who to put food on the table at home was a mechanic for ‘Mister Bob’ Gerard. For all that I have read about John Taylor and of the people I have spoken to who knew him, Doug Nye included, I didn’t find anyone who had a bad word for him.

In 2014, Ady received an email from one of John Taylor’s colleagues, John Crammond. He reminisced about John and regarding the accident wrote “As you already know John’s accident was at the Nurburgring when a few F2 cars were allowed to join the F1 brigade. ln retrospect one could question the decision, in view of the nature of the track and the atrocious weather conditions of the day, to allow these slower F2 cars to race. However on that fateful day John collided with the rear of Jacky lckx’s car. The high pressure fuel pump feeding the engine was situated towards the front of John’s car and was immediately ruptured. John later recalled to David Bridges, who visited him in hospital, how he was standing up in his cockpit waiting for the car to slow sufficiently to allow him to jump clear. Unfortunately the petrol tanks exploded before this was possible resulting in John’s awful burns. As the days went by John seemed to improve and we were all hopeful of his recovery. Sadly events suddenly took a turn for the wore and John, I believe, succumbed to septicaemia. I attended John’s funeral along with many of the drivers but it was some months before David Bridges, who was distraught, could bring himself to dispose of the remains of John’s car. My memory of John was of a very confident and able person determined to get to the top, but not so single minded that he would ride roughshod over everyone to get there. I often think of him even today but now nearly all of those who were around in those days are no longer with us.”