 Donald McLeod in his Lotus 69 behind John at Silverstone Club circuit 1972. |
 Late spring, 1972 at Silverstone Club. Syd Fox at right, Mac McKinstry, then Rob Cooper (well known for being fast at Silverstone Club.) |
 At Silverstone Club, 1972. Syd Fox's paddock is on the left, John's is on the right. |
 Looking out the second floor door of Swaines Factory, Crane Mead, Ware, Hertfordshire – the Hawke shop, down at John's car. While John first thought David was nuts for getting a second floor shop, it was much better! Less effort. A strap was put around the roll bar, hooked to a crane and then the car was plucked off the trailer, and then the beam of the crane pushed the car into the shop and lowered it onto wheeled stands. |
 Syd’s DL9 is in the foreground on one of these roll around stands. The crane used for lifting the cars is in the background. |
 Inside the shop looking away from the crane. In the background, Marty David’s secretary is standing, Doug, thin face looking down in the direction of Marty (he was in charge of welding at this time). The bearded man facing Marty from the right is Arthur who was the manager. He left after a while and Doug managed, then John. The orange dot just left of the middle of the picture is the pilot lighter at John's workstation. |
 Looking across one of the nice Colchester lathes at a pre-WWII turret lathe, used to make the bushings for suspension parts. One of the few jobs John never had in the shop. |
 John's then wife Fran with one of their Aussies. Three came over, all sort of friends. John can’t remember this chap’s name. They all worked at DRL Engineering (Hawke) for a bit. One other, Greg Bowden stayed with John and Fran for a while in Bishops Stortford. He went on to working in the Maclaren engine shop for a few years before going off home. The coolest of the three was Alan Docking, who is still in England running his own place managing turnkey race teams. |
Please send comments (and thank yous..(ed)) to John Bicht at:
Email: versa@versalab.com
