Non-F1 deaths in the automotive world

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dinizintheoven
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Non-F1 deaths in the automotive world

Post by dinizintheoven »

Lee Iacocca died on 2nd July aged 94. And while he may never have been involved in F1, mainly due to being American (and probably barely recognising anything outside NASCAR and Indy), I think everyone on this board should at least be aware of his life and works. As close to F1 as he ever got would be as the big cheese of Chrysler, which he left at the end of 1992 just before the potential tie-up with McLaren and Lamborghini that never happened. I would recommend watching Regular Car Reviews' overview of his career - that's one of the automotive channels I've spent a fair while watching in recent times.

Another recent departure is Norman Dewis, who died on 8th June aged 98. Only three years before, he'd appeared on the reconstituted post-Clarkson Top Gear and was one of the highlights of the sole Chris Evans-fronted Series 23 as he recounted his tales of driving the Jaguar E-Type overnight to its unveiling at the 1961 Geneva Motor Show. As a Jaguar test driver, one of his other jobs was to test the all-new concept of disc brakes that caused Jaguars that adapted them to carry a warning on the back bumper to other cars that this Jag could stop a hell of a lot sooner than mere mortals in their Ford Anglias could - and he had one shot at Le Mans, with Don Beauman, which scored him a mention on the Rejects Of Le Mans article on this site.

A rather more tragically short life is that of Alex Mills, who lost a two-year-long battle with leukemia on 27th February, aged 34; I only found out recently. Maybe you don't recognise the name. Chances are, you don't. But if you ever did enjoy Top Gear, the Clarkson/Wilman version, or the foreign spin-offs, or the original magazine version, or Fifth Gear, you'll certainly recognise Final Gear, the website he founded as the fan-hub for both Top Gear and Fifth Gear. It was my original automotive online hang-out before this place took over - and this site has had a much longer run, given that GPR hasn't fallen prey to petty tribalism or over-zealous moderation (for the most part) - but, had it not been for Final Gear, I probably wouldn't be here. Yes, I knew about The Original Site before this forum even existed, and it was regularly namedropped on Final Gear, which is probably what convinced me to sign up. The FG forums are still a going concern, as other moderators have ensured that it survives, but the torrent site was whacked a long time ago and it's never quite been the same since.

If anyone has other names to add to the roll of honour, do so.
James Allen, on his favourite F1 engine of all time:
"...the Life W12, I can't describe the noise to you, but imagine filling your dustbin with nuts and bolts, and then throwing it down the stairs, it was something akin to that!"
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dr-baker
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Re: Non-F1 deaths in the automotive world

Post by dr-baker »

This thread is a lovely idea and I hope many people contribute to it in the years to come.
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Bobby Doorknobs
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Re: Non-F1 deaths in the automotive world

Post by Bobby Doorknobs »

I had thought of making a thread about Norman Dewis when I read the news of his passing, but this is certainly a much better solution. Thanks, Diniz.

Not a name of international renown, but he did make the national news here for all the wrong reasons, Manus Kelly was killed participating in the Donegal International Rally on the Sunday before last. He was a local businessman, a former three-time winner of the event, and was only recently elected to Donegal County Council. He was 41 when he died, and left behind a wife and five children.

Carlo Maria Abate is and isn't an F1 name: He's one of a fairly large number of drivers from back in the day who have been entered for World Championship Grands Prix but never actually made an appearance. Great sportscar driver in the late fifties and early sixties and won the Targa Florio with Jo Bonnier in 1963. He died on 29 April aged 86.

Bill Gowdy was a regular on the Irish Formula Atlantic scene back in the seventies who at one point held the lap record for the extended Hawthorn circuit in Phoenix Park. He died in May, and I don't know much more about him unfortunately.
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Bleu
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Re: Non-F1 deaths in the automotive world

Post by Bleu »

https://dams.fr/en/team-statement-jean-paul-driot/

DAMS founder Jean-Paul Driot has died. The team was planning to move to F1 in mid 1990s but it never materialized.

Erik Comas, Olivier Panis, Jean-Christophe Boullion, Romain Grosjean, Davide Valsecchi, Jolyon Palmer, Kevin Magnussen and Carlos Sainz are among champions in his team.
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dinizintheoven
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Re: Non-F1 deaths in the automotive world

Post by dinizintheoven »

Another name to add to the list is Ferdinand Piëch, apparently. So far, all the news outlets are tracing their sources to Bild, rather than anything more credible, so I'm bracing myself for this post to be Guy Edwards Mark Two.

Assuming Bild have their facts right, though, this marks the end of the 82-year life of the former head honcho of the Volkswagen-Audi-Skoda-Seat-Lamborghini-Bugatti-Porsche-Bentley empire. Highlights of Ferdinand Piëch's career on his way up the ranks of the German car industry include some Le Mans prototypes with Porsche that led up to the 917, the 1982 Audi 100 that thrashed its competitors at aerodynamics in a way that would have stunned Adrian Newey, and the brilliant idea to fit the Audi Coupé with four-wheel-drive, call it the Quattro and take on the world of rallying. His crowning achievement was the Bugatti Veyron project that was heart-attack-inducingly expensive but was worth doing to (seemingly) tear holes in the laws of physics. Much the same fanatical attention to detail in engineering a luxury car produced the Volkswagen Phaeton that met every parameter he set out for it, but it had the wrong badge and barely anyone bought one, especially the crazy W12.
James Allen, on his favourite F1 engine of all time:
"...the Life W12, I can't describe the noise to you, but imagine filling your dustbin with nuts and bolts, and then throwing it down the stairs, it was something akin to that!"
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Re: Non-F1 deaths in the automotive world

Post by dr-baker »

Brazilian Christiano 'Tuka' Rocha has died aged 36, having been involved in a plane crash on Thursday. He competed alongside other Brazilians in the A1GP series before moving onto the SuperLeague series in 2008, scoring a best result of 2nd at Donington Park. He had more recently raced in Brazilian StockCars until last year.

https://www.autosport.com/other/news/14 ... -air-crash
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dinizintheoven
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Re: Non-F1 deaths in the automotive world

Post by dinizintheoven »

And now for our latest carving on the automotive headstone: Clive James.

Those of you thinking "hang on, what?" have obviously not seen some of the early Official FOCA F1 Season Review videos (specifically 1982, 1984 and 1986) with his irreverent, sarcastic and incredibly entertaining commentary. (The chances are I was addressing nobody on this forum, though, which is as it should be.) It didn't matter who else FOCA employed to narrate the other seasons, none of them came close to replicating the impact of these three, whether it was Tony Jardine (who droppped in a few Clive James impressions as if he knew the benchmark from the start), Simon Taylor, Peter Ustinov or the drivers involved at the head of the 1985 season.

F1, unfortunately, died for Clive James with the Schumacher-Barrichello-Ferrari incident in Austria in 2002, and he didn't mince his words there either.
James Allen, on his favourite F1 engine of all time:
"...the Life W12, I can't describe the noise to you, but imagine filling your dustbin with nuts and bolts, and then throwing it down the stairs, it was something akin to that!"
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Barbazza
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Re: Non-F1 deaths in the automotive world

Post by Barbazza »

The commentary on the 1982 video in particular, especially regarding the deaths of Villeneuve and Paletti (in the days when nasty footage wasn't shied away from) is brilliant, but all his contributions on F1 and other topics were rarely less than entertaining.
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dinizintheoven
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Re: Non-F1 deaths in the automotive world

Post by dinizintheoven »

To stop this thread falling off the front page, I'll carve another name on the memorial. Corona-chan has had her evil way with Bob Lazier.

He had a stab at CART in 1981 and finished 19th in the Indy 500, but was spectacularly usurped by his son, Buddy, who was presented with a pint of milk at the end of the 1996 race.
James Allen, on his favourite F1 engine of all time:
"...the Life W12, I can't describe the noise to you, but imagine filling your dustbin with nuts and bolts, and then throwing it down the stairs, it was something akin to that!"
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dinizintheoven
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Re: Non-F1 deaths in the automotive world

Post by dinizintheoven »

I think this thread needs reviving, for two reasons.

Within a week of this website and the forum vanishing off the face of the internet, seemingly forever, Ron Tauranac died, on 17th July 2020, aged 95. Nobody should need reminding that he was half of the brains behind Brabham, and the "T" in the cars' "BT" model names, even after he'd left the team. And then, he was both the "R" and half the "T" in Ralt (brother Austin Lewis Tauranac was the rest), a team known for building successful cars in the lower formulae, including the bizarre asymmetric F3 cars of the 1980s and 1990s.

And now that we're all back and running again, Hannu Mikkola isn't. He has died aged 78 from some unspecified cancer, and was the World Rally Champion in 1983 - he won his first WRC event as early as 1974 in a Ford Escort RS1600, won his second with Jean Todt as co-driver (I wonder what happened to him?) and finally got his hands on the title in the all-conquering Audi Quattro. As we all know, he was far from the only Finn to be successful in rallying... Kimi Räikkönen is not one of them.

If anyone wants to fill in any more details, or alert of us of any significant names to add to the GPR tombstone between July and now, do so.
James Allen, on his favourite F1 engine of all time:
"...the Life W12, I can't describe the noise to you, but imagine filling your dustbin with nuts and bolts, and then throwing it down the stairs, it was something akin to that!"
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Bleu
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Re: Non-F1 deaths in the automotive world

Post by Bleu »

Some notable names lost when the site was closed.

Walter Lechner, former racing driver and later team boss known especially running Porsches.

Aldo Andretti, Mario's twin brother and racing driver himself

Hubert Auriol, Dakar rally winner
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dinizintheoven
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Re: Non-F1 deaths in the automotive world

Post by dinizintheoven »

And just because I thought it was necessary given the other two similar posts:

DEATH #3 OF 3 FOR LATE NOVEMBER 2021, for the EVDP forum: Tony Dron, died 16 November 2021, aged 75.

Tony Dron wasn't involved in F1, or in single seaters, because he was too tall at 6'5" (just ask Matt Neal for confirmation). According to the All-Knowing Oracle he won races "going into the hundreds", some of which were in the BTCC (or BSCC as I think it was then) in the early 1970s. For the most part, though, he made his name as a motoring journalist. Annoyingly, this article about his Triumph Dolomite giving the Ford Capris a good thrashing is behind a paywall.
James Allen, on his favourite F1 engine of all time:
"...the Life W12, I can't describe the noise to you, but imagine filling your dustbin with nuts and bolts, and then throwing it down the stairs, it was something akin to that!"
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dinizintheoven
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Re: Non-F1 deaths in the automotive world

Post by dinizintheoven »

Here's an unfortunate reason to dig up a thread that's based entirely on misfortune (and also inevitability). There must have been some deaths in 2022 and 2023 that could have been marked on this thread, but now it's time for a big one.

Marcello Gandini died some time today, aged 85, long retired from a career in automotive design that includes the following, which I'd expect pretty much everyone to have heard of:
- Alfa Romeo Montreal
- De Tomaso Pantera SI (the 1990 update of Tom Tjaarda's 1970s original)
- Dino/Ferrari 308 GT4
- Fiat Dino Coupé
- Lamborghini Countach
- Lamborghini Espada (and the Marzal prototype that spawned it)
- Lamborghini Jarama
- Lamborghini Miura
- Lamborghini Urraco
- Lancia Stratos
- Maserati Khamsin
- Maserati Ghibli Mk2
- Maserati Quattroporte Mk2 (1974–1978) & Mk4 (1994–2001)
- Maserati Shamal
- Maserati Biturbo facelifts (Pierangelo Andreani designed the original)

And as if that list of Italian thoroughbreds wasn't enough (even though YMMV on the square 1980s Maseratis), also worth mentioning would be the Lamborghini Diablo prototype - his design was rejected but was built privately and sold as the Cizeta V16T (falling foul of American regulations in the process), another rejected prototype for the Bugatti EB110, and the De Tomaso Biguà concept, which eventually made production as the Qvale Mangusta, and in turn formed the basis of the ill-fated MG XPower SV.

And then there are some rather more mundane offerings that'd have the Festival Of The Unexceptional organisers wetting themselves if they turned up for the Concours de l'Ordinaire:

- Audi 50, later rebadged and better known as the Volkswagen Polo Mk1
- Autobianchi A112
- BMW 5 Series (1972 E12)
- Citroën BX (and the rejected Volvo Tundra prototype that's its obvious genesis)
- Fiat 132
- Fiat X1/9
- Renault 5 Turbo Mk1 (with the engine where the rear seats should be)
- Renault 5 Supercinq (i.e. Mk2)
- and... er... the Perodua Kancil facelift (no, really!)

Now if that isn't a legacy for the ages, I don't know what is.

I should probably have mentioned Robert Opron on this thread, who's been dead for three years now, and worked with Gandini on multiple projects for Renault. He designed some of the French Tat (© Gavin Braithwaite-Smith) and not-so-Tat that I'd have in my Ideal Garage of Chod - the awesomely-styled but mechanically troublesome trio of 1970s Citroëns, the GS, SM and CX - then he moved to Renault, spruced up the Alpine A310, and developed a taste for large rear glass hatchbacks inspired by the Jensen Interceptor - producing the Fuego coupé, the 9 (saloon), 11 and 25 (hatchbacks) with Gandini influencing the latter, then had a brief period at Fiat where a rejected prototype ended up built as the Alfa Romeo SZ.
James Allen, on his favourite F1 engine of all time:
"...the Life W12, I can't describe the noise to you, but imagine filling your dustbin with nuts and bolts, and then throwing it down the stairs, it was something akin to that!"
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