Longford, 1964
Longford was one of those circuits – very fast, very spectacular…and very dangerous. There’s a jocular feel to this video from the 1964 Tasman race, but that’s how they were back then. It hides the tragedy of Timmy Mayer’s practice accident in the second Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd Cooper-Climax. Tim was pushing hard in the afternoon session, enjoying himself in the beautiful little car that his brother, Teddy, had helped to produce. He took off over one of the many bumps on the street circuit – nothing new there – but his landing on this occasion was skewed. The car spun into one of the trees you can see early in the first lap here, on the straight leading up to the tight right-hander, Pub Corner. Tim – a wonderfully fast driver who had made his name in a rapid Lotus 23 against the likes of Graham Hill – was killed instantly. That was on the Friday. On Saturday there was a motor race….
peterwindsor.com 