Tim Mayer - what might have been

[Terry S]

This is a great article on young American Tim Mayer, who sadly died before he could fully realise his potential.

Kiwis may remember his fantastic drives in the 1964 Tasman rounds in NZ.

Although new to the power of the 2.5L Climax. and competing against stars such as Brabham, McLaren, Hulme and Amon, he scored great results. 2nd, 3rd, 8th and 2nd were pretty good for a newcomer.

The 8th was after a pit stop having been forced off by another driver. The 2nd at Teretonga was behind his team boss McLaren, where they had a form finish and he was only 0.1s behind.

Interesting to note how far his head was above his roll bar. This would not be allowed now.

https://primotipo.com/2016/11/18/tim...ght-have-been/

Highly recommended

[seaqnmac27]

Geez thats a loaded one Terry, If Bruce hadn't died in 70, would it have taken 25 Gp's for McLaren F1 to win its next GP after late 69, so many what ifs.

In terms of the rollbar, it reminded me a little of 3 drivers, Chris Kniefel, Christian Danner and Gerhard Berger, all of whom needed their cars modified to cope with their height. This is Kniefel

[khyndart in CA]

January 1964.Pukekohe.
This is how Tim Mayer was written up in the 1964 NZGP programme.


As this photo shows, the 1964 Tasman Cooper did not have much protection if anything went wrong.

( Thanks to Gearbox Grinder for the photo )

(Ken Hyndman )

[seaqnmac27]

Looking at the footage of the Longford 64 meet, just about the drivers heads were above the roll bar, makes you wonder the point...

[Ray Bell]

The issue was the regulations, or lack of them...

Initially, if my recollection is correct, the rules simply called for a roll-over bar but gave no specs. Some time later, noting that a lot of the bars were inadequate, regulators called for them to be not more than an inch below the top of the helmet.

Just guessing, but it's probable the first of the rules were for Formula Junior when it became an International formula in 1960. It quickly spread to other formulae.

Gradually things got more sensible.




.

[khyndart in CA]

If there was not much of a roll bar in 1964, check what it was like in 1961 at the NZGP at Ardmore.
I guess rolling the car was not an option the designers allowed for !


Stirling Moss in a Lotus with no roll bar at all.



Bruce McLaren in a Cooper with a small roll bar.
(Photos from NZ Weekly News. 1961)


(Ken Hyndman )

[Ray Bell]

As I suggested, it was the CSI's adoption of FJr which introduced a roll bar rule. But it was a little earlier, October, 1958.

With the new F1 in 1961 came a requirement for a roll bar in F1. So those NZ pics are of 1960 F1 cars which were lacking that requirement.

The 1966 F1 introduced a rule that they be at least 5cm above the driver's head (or helmet?), around the same time there was a requirement to brace them front or rear.

[khyndart in CA]

At the Motorsport Memorial site it had this paragraph which I had not known before regarding the rear end.

" After a few laps at a slow pace, Mayer was pushing harder to obtain a spot in the starting grid when he suddenly lost control of the car, when his car took off at the hump after a fast downhill right-hander, where a stream ran under the road. Mayer landed crooked and the Cooper hit a bump near the side of the track being launched into a group of trees. The driver was ejected from the car and died while being transported to Longford hospital. It is believed the car had mechanical trouble at the rear wheels before crashing."

I had stopped at the Longford pub on the corner and looked at the photos on the wall in 1991, but did not realize that Tim had just crashed just up the road.
This 1960 photo is taken close to where Tim Mayer had his accident and you can see the power poles and trees are very close to the track.

(Ellis French photo.)

(Ken Hyndman )

[Ray Bell]

Ken, none of that description makes any sense...

The 'hump' was on a straight road leading into town. It's pretty flat, the hump was very slight and it's only that it was a fairly quick bit of track that cars got either light or even slightly airborne there. "Where a stream ran under the road"? No such thing... the King's Bridge was several hundred yards back and that was over the South Esk River.

The 'fast downhill right hander' was almost a mile before this point. The trees where Tim crashed were almost opposite the pub.

The 'hump' was shaved the following year, perhaps ten or twelve inches taken off it, and was never a problem again.

I'm almost doubtful about that pic, too, as it seems to be too long a straight for that point, and the foreground too unruly, but I never went there until 1965.

[khyndart in CA]

Ray,
Please excuse me if I got this wrong but this is the source of my inputs.

https://primotipo.com/2015/01/20/jac...ustralia-1960/

http://motorsportmemorial.org/focus.php?db=ct&n=163



You can not deny that those poles and trees are very dangerously close to the track.

p.s. I do enjoy your inputs and keeping us honest !

(Ken Hyndman )

[Ray Bell]

It's your source which is the problem, Ken...

As you can see by the photo, which is correct I now accept, there is no 'fast downhill right hander' leading to this point, and it's... well, I'll put it into pictures for you.

Mention is made of a fast downhill right-hander, this is it:



That's in turn followed by the famous Viaduct, these parts can be seen in the Long Weekend at Longford clip which is linked:



Now there's more. Once again, if you follow some of the scenes from the clip you see that there's a little ess-bend section before the King's Bridge. This is what it looks like from on top of the Viaduct:



So then there's the Kings Bridge:



The photo you've posted of Brabham entering the pub area shows clearly that there's a long and flat straight section between the bridge and the problem area.

And this photo from 1968 shows that there had been some cleaning up done of roadside furnishings. The plane trees are still there, however:

[khyndart in CA]

Ray,
Thanks for those informative photos.
That is a nice shot of Jim Clark leading in what was to be his last race before the rains came which allowed Piers Courage to go on to win
in March 1968 just one month before Jimmy died in Germany, April 1968.

This is what the Longford Corner Pub (Country Club Hotel ) looks like today looking back to the area where Timmy Mayer crashed not far up the road from where those two people are walking in this scene. The pub owner had a lot of memorabilia from the racing days back in 1991, I don't know if it still there today.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Co...!6m1!1e1?hl=en


(Ken Hyndman )

[Ray Bell]

Yes, the pub still has memorabilia there Ken...

If you look closely at the pic of Clark, Hill, Amon, Gardner, Rodriguez etc, you will see a patch of lighter coloured hotmix just where Bartlett is. That's where the 'hump' was removed, and you can see that it couldn't have been very high.

There used to be a service station on the corner opposite the pub, my recollection is that the plaque indicating where Tim tied was only just before the service station area.

If only we'd had digital cameras in 1965...

[khyndart in CA]

Ray,
I went around the old course using the Google map. A lot has changed but you can still see the remnants in some places. e.g. The Long Bridge and Viaduct areas. Very interesting.

The Longford Race Course as in 1964.





(Ken H)

[Ray Bell]

The problem with that, Ken, is that Google Earth sticks to the present roads...

So while you can follow from Newry through the Flying Mile, Mountford Corner has disappeared and the new road is very different to what was there originally. In the second map you have posted above, the person who drew it misunderstood the entry to the Viaduct, that road swinging out and then going under the railway line is a present-day farm track which has to go under a bridge in the new road.

Sadly, this is now Mountford Corner... the tree is all that's left:

[khyndart in CA]

I found this to be an interesting Longford article. (Motor Sport Magazine. Oct. 2005 )

http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/ar...visit-longford

At Longford you can still see parts of the old circuit and reminiscence, not like here in California where the Ontario Motor Speedway and Riverside Raceway have been developed over without hardly a trace of ever existing.
( At least Bay Park does have some street names to remind us that it had racing in that area.)

(Ken Hyndman, who likes the history of old race circuits )