Grand prix star Taylor recalls his life in the F1 fast lane

TIMO GLOCK and Lucas di Grassi, a German and a Brazilian, are about to make Yorkshire history.

When the red lights go out at the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain tomorrow, they will become the first drivers to represent a team from the Broad Acres in a Formula 1 grand prix.

John Booth's Manor Motorsport operation from Dinnington, transformed into Virgin Racing by the backing of Sir Richard Branson, are treading where few Yorkshiremen have gone before.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

However, Yorkshire's Formula 1 story could have been so very different had another operation, also based in Rotherham, been successful over half-a-century ago.

The year was 1959 and the event, the British Grand Prix at Aintree. Among the teams who paid a fee to try and qualify for the prestigious race was a local family-run operation from the Ace Garage in Bramley.

The Taylor family had risen quickly through the Formula 3 ranks and decided to boldly try their luck on the most glamorous grid of them all.

Dad Raymond was the money and the brains behind the team, eldest son Mike was the mechanical genius and middle son Trevor was the lightning quick driver.

The car was a Formula 2 Cooper Norton.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"We'd had a lot of success in Formula 3, and with my dad being someone who loved motor-racing and spent money on it like nobody's business, we thought we'd have a go," said Trevor Taylor, who, now 73, lives in neighbouring Wickersley. "But we couldn't compete with the works teams at that time; we didn't have the resources, the parts or the infrastructure to make any impact.

"We didn't know about all the new techniques and different facets of the sport then. It was an exciting time and, unfortunately, proved a step too far for us – but it whetted the appetite."

The name Ace Garage never appeared on the Formula 1 radar again and was sold by the family in the 1970s, but for Trevor, who was born in Gleadless, Sheffield, on Boxing Day, 1936, his family's bold attempt at making the grade proved just the start. He got his break later that year when invited to test drive a Lotus at Goodwood and stopped the clock at the same time as another young driver, Jim Clark.

Clark, a future two-time world champion, and Taylor were given drives in the Formula Junior championship by the established manufacturer in 1960, and so began a four-year relationship with Lotus and Clark in which Taylor was never fully appreciated.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"It got to the last race of the Formula Jnr championship of 1960 and Jim and I were neck and neck when Jim got the call to race in Formula 1 that day," remembered Taylor. "We had the same number of wins, second places, fastest laps and pole positions so I said 'let's just share the title'.

"Would they do that today? Probably not, but I'm a Yorkshireman, and I offered, and we shared the title. But Jim Clark never said thank you. It sounds like sour grapes now because nobody is alive to refute it."

From 1961 to 1963 Taylor raced 19 times in recognised Formula 1 grands prix for the green machine, making the podium once.

In those days, drivers raced in a number of series and Taylor won a clutch of races around the world. He is still remembered today as one of the men who helped Lotus to the front of the grid in the 1960s and 70s.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

But driving with Lotus was not an easy task for Taylor, who reflects now on a troubled era in his career.

"Lotus was the biggest downfall of my career," he said. "They couldn't afford to run two cars, so I was always in last year's car behind Jim.

"There was only room for one main driver and Jim could do no wrong."

Off the track, Taylor – who was only designated as the family's driver because he narrowly beat brother Mike in a test at Gamston airfield near Worksop – lived every minute as if it was his last, and reminisces about it all with a twinkle in the eye.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"We used to lose five drivers a year," he said. "Today, they can run into a brick wall and walk away.

"That's why I used to enjoy myself. My motto was 'if I'm going to go, I'm going to go happy'. It was a brilliant life and I was a real jack-the-lad.

"We were all pals in those days, not like they are today. We'd go out drinking with the mechanics and everyone else after a race. One time at Snetterton, this young driver was coming up to everyone asking where to break at the end of the long straight towards the first bend.

"There was a white stone in the road which everyone had to break at before turning. Anyway, after a few drinks I went to the track and dug up the stone and brought it forward 20 yards.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"In those days a grid was placed like 4-3-4-3 and I was on the edge of the front row. So we all shot off towards the first bend and everyone breaks at the white stone anticipating the bend – and I carried on driving 20 yards and made the corner. Not surprisingly, I won the race."

Such joviality helped ease the fear every driver felt as he climbed into the driver's seat at the start of a race.

"I drove a lot of cars in a lot of classes, you couldn't let the fact that you could die cross your mind," said Taylor, who had his fair share of near-death crashes in an era of motor-racing before seatbelts and safety regulations.

"In Mount Etna one year, I was behind John Surtess and Lorenzo Bandini. Bandini hit the armco barrier in front of me and all this gravel and muck hit me in the face, knocking me out. My car hit Bandini's, I shot out of the cockpit in one direction, the car spun through the air in flames in the other.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"I woke up in the ambulance. All I had was a back full of friction burns. If I'd have been wearing a seatbelt I wouldn't be here today."

He is, thanks to the love of second wife Liz, his brothers and his two sons, although the diagnosis of cancer six months ago has slowed down a man who still retains a considerable zest for life.

And he will be watching tomorrow, hoping a Yorkshire team can go one step further than his family's garage all those years ago.

"I only normally watch the start and the pit-stops, because other than that, someone gets in front and its a case of can you pass me?" he observed. "But I'll be a keen observer on Sunday. I know John Booth well, he's a good man, a really proud Yorkshireman and I'm really pleased for him. He's going to have the White Rose tucked away on the car and when I used to drive I had the White Rose on my crash helmet.

"It's great that he's at last carrying on what my family started, and good luck to him."