My brief motor racing career started somewhat by accident. In 1954 I purchase a secondhand Aston Martin DB2/4 from Brooklands of Bond Street; the car came with a one-year membership to the Aston Martin Owner’s Club. Reading the AMOC booklet I noticed there was a race meeting at Snetterton in two or three weeks time, so, I thought it would be a jolly good opportunity to go along and try the car out. At that time, I had absolutely no idea what would happen should the car begin to slide out of control and thought this may give me some insight of what to do. I attended the meeting and entered a few of the events, like the half-hour reliability trial. That was enough to spark my appetite for more, and this most unlikely of starts eventually led to my racing for the works Aston Martin team.
In the interim, I soon realized that an Aston DB2/4 was not a very good car for competition, and purchased a Lister-Bristol for the 1955 season. While this wasn’t too successful, it did get me noticed by George Abecassis of HWM. George was married to Angela Brown, who was the daughter of David Brown, who owned Aston Martin. I drove for George; I’m not sure if he recommended me to David or whether it was fortunate that the Astons noticed my performances for HWM. For whatever reason, I was given the opportunity to test drive for the Aston Martin team. The test was at Silverstone in a DB3S; I was very fortunate to be the one they selected to drive for them. It was not all to do with David Brown. I had to convince both John Wyer and Reg Parnell, who headed the team, that I was quick enough and consistent.
I was offered a contract to drive and made my debut at the 1957 British Empire Trophy meeting at Oulton Park. I was entered in a DB3S, and my teammate Roy Salvadori had a new 2.5-liter DBR1. The DB3S, as with all the Aston Martin cars, handled well and braked well, but unfortunately, it didn’t have too much power—and that was the trouble. It left the driver frustrated, either praying for rain or yearning a twisty circuit. I finished the race in 5th place, and Salvadori finished 2nd.
The next race was to be the zenith of my career; the Nürburgring for the 1,000-kms. Aston Martin had entered two DBR1s. Les Leston and Roy Salvadori were in DBR1/1 and Tony Brooks, a most underrated driver whom I have enormous respect for, and I were in DBR1/2. If a twisty circuit were needed, the Nürburgring was absolutely built for our nimble car. The other cars on the grid, Jaguar D-Types, Maseratis, and Ferraris found the circuit to be a handful.
I am often asked how I learned to drive the meandering ’Ring. The simple answer is, I didn’t. Before the race, I had driven around the 14-mile circuit, which was just public roads, about fourteen times. After the race, I had added another thirteen laps, but still not enough to learn it. Tony Brooks set off in the race, making my life relatively easy by handing me a 4-minute lead at the end of lap 13. He had decimated the others; all I had to do was maintain our advantage.
All the best drivers in the world were in that race: Fangio, Moss, Hawthorn, the whole bloody lot of them. So, no pressure! When I handed the car back to Tony I had been fortunate enough to add another couple of minutes to our lead. We went on to win the race, thanks to Tony Brooks and the DBR1, which I consider to be one of the greatest racecars. Ted Cutting designed this tremendous machine that would do exactly what the driver asked of it; it was so nimble that if one made a mistake, or came into a corner at a bad angle, there was enough really good road holding to catch it and keep going—it was a super, super car.
Had I been in many of the other cars, I could have been in big trouble. I continued driving for Aston Martin until my racing retirement in September 1958, after the Daily Express race at Silverstone. I knew my limitations.
As told to Mike Jiggle
