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Mays says thanks to eyewitness

When Irish racer Robin Rennicks witnessed Ron Flockhart’s accident in the 1958 International Trophy at Silverstone, not only did it earn him these letters of thanks from BRM boss Raymond Mays, it also cleared a grateful Flockhart from blame.

Mr Rennicks was a spectator at Copse when Flockhart crashed into a ditch to avoid marshals pushing a stalled car. Dropped oil had already caught out race leader Peter Collins when Bruce Halford pirouetted his Maserati. George VVicken’s Cooper scraped by, Flockhart did not.

“BRM was blaming Flockhart for the accident, so he could not thank me enough for getting him out of trouble,” says Mr Rennicks. “There had been no warning flags.”

Mays writes that he has “made a strong protest to the BRDC”, but these letters were the last that Mr Rennicks heard of the matter.