Tony Crook

A notable driver in the 1940s and 1950s, Tony Crook was one of Britain’s most active racers and drove competitively in some 271 hill-climbs, sprints and circuit races, including 2 World Championship Grands Prix. He later became Bristol’s London distributor and eventually owned Bristol Cars Ltd as an independent concern with Sir George White, grandson of the aeroplane company’s founder.

Thomas Anthony Donald Crook was born in Rusholme, Manchester on February 16 1920 and his family were coal merchants and hauliers, but suffered tragedy while young when his father died during the 1926 General Strike while the family were on holiday in Southport. Despite the sad association with the area, his interest in racing started while watching cars competing on Southport Sands. As a teenage pupil at Clifton Collage, he owned a supercharged MG PA despite it being against the rules to have a car. To avoid detection he wore a false moustache when driving but on one occasion, while filling up at a garage, his headmaster also stopped for some petrol. Realising he would be beaten for this he purchased some local anaesthetic at a chemist and applied it to his backside before receiving the punishment.

While at university he left to join the Royal Air Force, where he became a Flight Lieutenant and was twice mentioned in despatches. During the war he owned two 2.9 Alfa Romeo sports cars, one of them being Clement Biondetti’s 1938 Mille Miglia winning car and during this time would purchase various sports cars and sell them on to other officers. In 1944 he asked Raymond Mays if he could drive for his English Racing Automobiles operation and the following year raced a Frazer Nash BMW 328 at the ‘Cockfosters Grand Prix.’ Held in July 1945 it was organised by AF Rivers Fletcher, who headed a group called The Enthusiasts and was intended to remind people of the joys of motorsport after nearly six years of war. Despite the title, it was not an actual race but was more a motoring competition and demonstration runs and though drivers were instructed not to go fast they still put on a show for the spectators. Earl Howe ((President of the British Racing Drivers’ Club) opened the course in a Bugatti T57S, after having been driven round it by Rivers Fletcher, in Raymond Mays’ 4.5 litre Bentley. There followed runs by drivers including Mrs Bob Gerard and Lord Brabazon of Tara and eventually Tony was out in the Frazer-Nash-BMW. After others had had their runs, there was a break for tea and a later drive saw Tony Rolt in an ERA, who had recently returned after several years as a prisoner of war in Colditz.

In 1946 Tony won an event at Britain’s first post-war circuit race at Gransden Lodge, a disused aerodrome, with the track utilising two runways and part of the perimeter road. The meeting was organised by the Cambridge University Automobile Club and comprised twelve races, six for sports cars, five for racing cars and one for specials. Tony raced his own 328 Fraser Nash BMW and other entrants for the event included George Abecassis, John Bolster, Bob and Joan Gerard, Thomas ‘Cuth’ Harrison, Alec Issigonis, Reg Parnell, Alec Rivers-Fletcher and Roy Salvadori.

By the late 1940s Tony had set up his own sales, servicing and race preparation company, Anthony Crook Motors, buying a garage with a Ford agency at Town End, Caterham. He recalled Alfred Moss and a 17 year-old Stirling buying one of a pair of unused, pre-war racing tyres. Tony had intended using them himself on his BMW at the first post-war Goodwood meeting so had to make do with remoulded tyres but while leading the race with two laps to go, one deflated and he missed out on the prize money. He went on to become a UK concessionaire for Zagato, Abarth and also an agent for Aston Martin, Lagonda, Fiat, Simca and Ford. In 1948 he became one of a number of agents appointed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company Car Division and purchased his first Bristol 400 (for resale) in that year. He finished second in 1948 with the Fraser Nash BMW in the inaugural Goodwood meeting, while racing the BMW 328 he won his class twice at Prescott, took second in class at the Burghfield Common Speed Trial, fifth overall with a class win and second at Boscombe Speed Trials plus a win and seventh in class at Prescott. He raced an Alfa Romeo at Luton Hoo and Stanmer Park Speed Trials and was third in class at Prescott with both his Alfa Romeo and BMW and was a class winner with the Alfa Romeo at Brighton plus took second there with the BMW.

1949 saw him take a win at Silverstone and seventh in a Goodwood Handicap with his Alfa Romeo plus he was was second in class at Gosport and third at the Brighton Speed Trials in a Veritas sports car. Racing the BMW he won the Great Auclum Speed Trials plus took a podium at Blandford Camp and two more in Goodwood Handicaps. In 1950 he began racing the Bristol-engined cars and he racked up countless wins and places over the next few years with his Frazer Nash. He had a win at Goodwood, two wins and a podium at Castle Combe and fourth in the Silverstone International Trophy Production race while in speed events he was second in the sport car class at Shelsey Walsh. He also took seventh place with a Lagonda at Brighton and second place with a Bristol saloon car at Castle Combe.

Tony finished second to Mike Hawthorn in the 1951 Goodwood racing season and it was said his presence enlivened many a national meeting. The Fraser Nash took second in a Sports and Handicap at the Brooklands Trophy, won a scratch race, then had a second in Handicap plus added a fourth place. There were victories in the International Trophy production race at Silverstone, two wins each at Castle Combe and Boreham, class wins at Brighton and Great Auclum Speed trials and second at Castle Combe. Away from the Fraser Nash he drove a Bristol Saloon to a class victory at Boreham Speed Trials. During the year, while setting an endurance record at Montlhery he was struck in the face by a shard of tyre but though the Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica spun it didn’t crash and after a new wheel was fitted he continued and went on to set the record.

He competed in his first British Grand Prix in 1952, starting twenty fifth of the thirty two cars for the 85 lap race, but though he finished he was not classified. However, he put in a notable performance at Monaco. The GP that year was a non-championship event with sports car rules and there were two races, with one held on the Saturday for cars with fewer than 2.0-litres. Tony competed in the Saturday race in the Bristol-powered Frazer-Nash Le Mans Replica and despite starting from sixth place on the grid he finished the 65 lap event on the podium in third place, behind Franco Bordoni’s OSCA and the winning Gordini of Robert Manzon. Amedée Gordini was so impressed that he wanted Tony to drive for him, but he refused as wished to continue with Bristol. He won twice at Castle Combe and had a podium at Boreham, took victory at Silverstone and a class win at the Boreham Speed Trials. The non-championship International Trophy at Silverstone consisted of two 15 lap heats followed by a 35 lap final race and he was in the second heat. Facing competition from drivers including Robert Manzon, Rudolf Fischer, Kenneth McAlpine and Duncan Hamilton he started fifteenth but the attrition saw a number of competitors retire and, driving consistently, he came home seventh. The final saw him start in fifteenth place though with Lance Macklin taking victory over teammate Tony Rolt and third placed Emmanuel de Graffenried, Tony took the flag in seventeenth. There was also a fifth place finish at the International Trophy meeting with a Bristol saloon.

In 1953, now piloting a single-seater Cooper-Bristol Mk II, he enjoyed many spirited battles with Roy Salvadori plus also had a Mk I Cooper modified to compete in sports events. His second GP came at the British round in his Cooper Bristol though he suffered a broken fuel feed while on the start line. His sports car Cooper Bristol took two second place finishes at Silverstone, third at Snetterton, fourth at Crystal Palace, sixth at Aintree and tenth in the Goodwood 9 Hours. Racing a Cooper Alta he took an F2 win and second place at Snetterton, then tenth in the British GP sports car race with the Fraser Nash and second with the Bristol Saloon at Silverstone. However, while competing at Snetterton, after losing the brakes on the Alta he spun into a farmer’s field and was knocked unconscious after being hit on the head by a cabbage.

1954 saw a successful season with the Cooper Sports, taking victories at Oulton Park, Aintree and Goodwood, three at Brands Hatch, two each at Snetterton and Crystal Palace (including the Norbury Trophy) plus six at Silverstone (including three in one day). There were also second, third and fourth place results at Goodwood, two class wins at Snetterton, podiums at Oulton Park, Snetterton and the Glade Trophy at Crystal Palace, fifth at Goodwood and fourteenth in the Silverstone International Sports race. In speed events he won the class at Wethersfield and Brighton, was a double class winner at Snetterton and Prescott and was twice the fastest sports car at Shelsey Walsh. He was fourth in an F1 race at Snetterton with the Cooper Bristol while his Bristol saloon achieved a class win at Stapleford and third at a Snetterton Speed Trial. Tony rounded his year off with a second place finish in a Silverstone Libre event with a Lister Bristol plus a win with the Cooper Bristol sports at Brands Hatch’s Albatross Trophy on Boxing Day. During the year he had also opened a showroom in Esher High Street and later expanded into premises at Hersham and was now also selling aeroplanes and helicopters.

He continued his success with the Cooper Bristol Sports the following year and set countless lap records and best timed runs, winning his class at Shelsey Walsh, Brighton, Prescott, Hempsford CUAC Speed Trial, taking second at Silverstone’s International Sports plus added fourth and fifth place finishes at Crystal Palace. The Frazer Nash was sixth in a Goodwood Sports race plus there were class wins with the Bristol at Brighton and in the International Trophy touring car race. Tony had been planning to retire that year but while racing during the night at the Goodwood 12 Hours, he spun on oil and was hit side on by Stirling Moss’ Porsche Spyder. After being hospitalised for two weeks it hastened his decision to retire.

He then concentrated on his garage business and continued to promote the Bristol marque. Even back in 1950, while attempting his record run at Monthlery, he drove a Bristol 401 from Caterham to Montlhery, using the Silver City air ferry to cross the channel, doing 104 miles in one hour around the banked circuit and then home, having been out of England for less than 12 hours. Bristol Cars was set up in Filton after the Second World War, with the post war Bristol being a development of the pre-War BMWs, including a straight-six engine that they would go on to develop for racing. Their first car was the 400 and Freddie March, the 9th Duke of Richmond, drove an early model around Goodwood Motor Circuit for its official opening in 1948. In 1960, when the Bristol Aeroplane Company sold its car-building subsidiary, 60 per cent was bought by its managing director George White (grandson of BAC’s founder) while Tony bought the remaining 40 per cent. They introduced a new range of cars, powered by Chrysler V8 engines, that quickly gained a reputation for performance and being of the highest quality. In 1962 he took a lease on the Bristol showroom in Kensington and four years later was the sole distributor of the marque. Following the retirement of Sir George White in 1973, who had suffered severe injuries in a motoring accident, he bought the remaining 60 per cent to become Bristol’s sole owner. The cars would be built in Filton, near Bristol, and displayed in showrooms in London’s Kensington High Street and he logged thousands of hours flying his own plane between the factory and showroom, and back, to keep watch on how the cars were built. Well known Bristol customers included Stewart Granger, Jean Simmons, Noel Gallagher, Bono and King Hussein of Jordan and he was often tasked to find various cars for Peter Sellers. He told how “I remember him having this old Lagonda, which he reckoned wasn’t fast enough. He phoned me from the States, telling me he’d seen a Scout armoured car; I was instructed to put a Scout engine into this Lagonda.” But after explaining that the engine wouldn’t fit, Sellers angrily told him “Do as you’re told!” There were many stories and anecdotes of Tony’s activities, and at a motor industry event, all delegates were given a name badge, with Tony particularly amused as his read ‘A Crook’. At one motor show he dressed as a Middle Eastern monarch and placed fake orders on cars at a rival’s stand while at another it was said he had someone dress and smell like a vagrant and then hang around on a rival stand.

In 1997 Tony sold half of his stake in Bristol Cars, followed by the remainder of his holding in 2001 though he remained as Managing Director. During this time the company launched a high performance two-seater, the Fighter, which cost over £200,000 but not many were sold and they struggled to recoup its development costs. In 2007, on arriving at Bristol’s showroom he found the locks had been changed and the company eventually went into administration in 2011.

Sadly, his wife Diane died during 2011 and Tony himself passed away on the 20th January, 2014. The family held a private cremation at Putney Vale Crematorium and, as a fan of the American jazz musician Fats Waller, his song ‘Your Feet’s Too Big’ was played at the funeral.