Racing driver

Born in Gleadless, Sheffield, on Boxing Day, 1936, Trevor’s career in motor sport spanned 15 years. The son of a garage owner in Rotherham, he became the family’s designated driver by virtue of victory over his elder brother Mike in a one-off test drive at Gamston airfield, Nottinghamshire, in 1957.

A year later he won the Formula 3 championship in a Norton Cooper with Mike as his mechanic and his father, Raymond, as manager.

In 1959, the family-run Ace Garage in Bramley, Rotherham, attempted to qualify for Formula 1’s British Grand Prix at Aintree, but their bid fell short.

Undeterred, Trevor seized his next opportunity to break into motor sport’s elite class when he impressed Lotus supremo Colin Chapman at a test drive and won a seat with the famous works operation.

His first year was spent primarily in the Formula Junior Championship alongside Jim Clark, the ill-fated, future two-time Formula 1 world champion.

Ahead of the final race of the season with the two men locked on the same number of wins and points at the top of the championship, Clark was called up to race in Formula 1. Trevor graciously offered to share the junior championship they had competed for all year and the offer was accepted, though Trevor was disappointed that Clark never thanked him.

In 1961 he won the title outright and also made his Formula 1 debut in Holland. He returned to Zandvoort at the start of the 1962 season as a fully-fledged member of the F1 grid and finished second at the Dutch Grand Prix. It would be his only podium finish in 29 races. He won eight championship points.

He did win non-championship races around the world for Lotus and is still remembered today by the legendary name for the yellow overalls and helmet he always raced in, which prompted the yellow stripe down the green Lotus cars of the 1960s.

In later years he would refer to his time at Lotus, which was ended by Chapman before the 1964 season, as the “biggest downfall” of his career as he was forced into the role of second driver behind Clark.

He tried again to qualify for the British Grand Prix in 1964 and again in 1966 with privateer teams. The latter attempt was with the Shannon team alongside his best friend in the racing world, Innes Ireland, who ironically was the man he replaced at Lotus in 1962.

Together, Trevor and Innes enjoyed the playboy lifestyle of the racing driver. Trevor revealed in later life that with the prospect of death hanging over them in an era of racing when safety was not of paramount importance, his motto was “If I’m going to go, I’m going to go happy”.

He escaped death on the track a number of times. At Mount Etna, one year, he trailed John Surtees and Lorenzo Bandini when the latter hit the armco barrier. Knocked out by the spray from Bandini’s car, Trevor ran into the back of the Italian and was flung out of the cockpit. The car went in the other direction and erupted in a ball of flame.

“If I’d have been wearing a seatbelt I wouldn’t be here today,” he recalled.

The Taylor family sold their garage business in the late 1980s and Trevor lived the remainder of his years in the Rotherham villages of Ulley and Wickersley.

He was diagnosed with gastric cancer last August but he still retained a zest for life. Trevor died peacefully at his home on Monday night. He is survived by his wife Liz and their two sons.