Letters - September 2023
Has the media been wrong about Peter Revson’s ‘heir’ status for decades? It seems so...
| In association with | ||
 |
||
Star letter
In F1 Retro, August 2023, page 33, Peter Revson is referred as “the heir to the Revlon cosmetics fortune”.
This is a statement repeated during Revson’s entire racing career by the media, but was never correct. While he was a Revson, Peter’s father split his interest in the Revlon firm very early from his brothers Charles and Joseph in 1958 and had no equity in Revlon. Charles and Joseph Revson ran Revlon subsequently into an empire, but Peter’s father was not involved. He ran Del Laboratories and lived to an incredible 105 before dying in 2016. Interestingly, Martin Revson left Revlon over ethical concerns of how the company was marketing to women.
The media loved the playboy heir story so much they ignored the reality and it persisted through Revson’s career, despite Revson’s attempts to correct this myth repeatedly in interviews.
Ray Truant, Hamilton, Canada
Our featured letter of the month, chosen by the Editor, wins a scalextric Grand Prix race set prize. email your letters to the usual address
Re your June 23 issue of Motor Sport on Le Mans, I was surprised to see that in your comments about the 1972 race [100 Le Mans moments] there was no mention of the loss of Jo Bonnier who died at the hands of a slow driver who failed to look in his mirrors! Tragic. I would also mention that car No27 won the 2-litre class, driven by René Ligonnet and myself. This was the first Lola ever to complete the classic 24 Hours race, plus the first to finish with a small Cosworth 1800cc FVC engine.
Barrie Smith, BRDC
I am writing to tell you that your article on the Ford Galaxie [It came from another Galaxie, August] brought back some marvellous memories.
The 1963 International Trophy meeting was the first motor race that I attended driving my new Morris Mini Minor that promptly got stuck in the mud. Well, this was Silverstone, but the Galaxie was the highlight of the day.
As a car that was entertaining it had everything. It looked right, sounded right, and blew away the opposition so it was my perfect introduction to motor sport. It made me a fan of large and impressive motor cars and although the day was a marvellous festival of proper F1 drivers such as Jim Clark and Graham Hill ( and I believe that was the introduction of Chris Amon) the Galaxie was my abiding memory.
Well done for your article and I am very pleased that it still exists and I look forward to seeing it at the Silverstone Festival.
Richard Martin, Farlington, HANTS
Nice article in August’s Motor Sport about the Ford Galaxie driven by Jack Sears at the Silverstone International Trophy meeting in 1963.
Damien Smith concludes: “Sadly, there are not too many around today who witnessed first-hand Gentleman Jack’s game- changing turn.” That made me gulp a bit. There are still a few of us about, and still reading Motor Sport! My brother and I stood on the outside of the old Beckett’s corner, atop a then traditional home-made Dexion stand (you can see us in the Silverstone book by Peter Carrick). Jack seemed to be trundling around with ease and swapping gestures with a photographer standing right on the apex behind the dwarf wall as it was then.
Jack Sears leaves Jaguars in his wake on Silverstone’s Hangar Straight in 1963, a year of seismic change on the British saloon car scene
GP Library
At the same event and the same corner Peter Harper rolled a Sunbeam Rapier collecting Christabel Carlisle’s Mini which ended up top of the Rapier. Coupled with a spin by Roy Salvadori in an E-type, and a prang by John Surtees in a Ferrari GT, let alone a full-blown Formula 1 race, it was truly a memorable day’s motor sport – and a good place to watch from!
Keith Martin, Milton Keynes
The August 1973 edition of Motor Sport [including the race report of the British GP, which we wrote about in our July issue – There’s no smoke without ire] was the sixth one I purchased. The first was March featuring Clay Regazzoni driving a BRM on the cover. I always found it interesting that the photo for the August edition had the temporary polystyrene chicane put in place for the European F2 Championship race at Rouen after the unfortunate death of Gerry Birrell the day before and not the multi-car accident at Silverstone. Perhaps your readers would like to hear Jody Scheckter’s account of this incident at the 1973 British GP, which is on BBC Sounds – The Total Sport Podcast.
Steve Davies, Southport
Warm glow seeing the Alexis marque noted in the July issue [Schooldays reimagined, The Showroom]. I raced a rarity in the ’80s, an F100 owned by 750 Motor Club stalwart Jack Jones. At Brands I spun at Clearways, almost collected by the chap in the Mallock. In the paddock we found a smudge of brown paint on the Alexis’s priceless bodywork, it had been that close. Soon afterwards Jack put the car up for sale but haunted by that costly near-miss I bought a Dulon MP21/78 instead. Paddock shot: myself with daughter Kate on board. Handsome little car though, so where is it now and is it still on the circuits?
Frank Barnard, Shapwick, Somerset
Allen Millyard with his own Honda Six replica, which he built in his shed using a booklet aimed at scale model makers.
I have just read the book review of Honda Six: Recreating a Masterpiece (August ‘23) [Here’s one I made earlier…]. Allen Millyard built his own Honda Six replica in his garage, in less than a year and for, I imagine, considerably less than £200,000.
It goes to show there are more ways than one way to achieve your ambitions.
Simon Wilson, by email
In the July article Veloce’s Virtual Reality it states that James Baldwin was “given £800,000 for a full season’s racing in British GT”. I know James well and am one of a number of people trying to help him with his career. While World’s Fastest Gamer did fund a Covid-affected 2020 in BGT, and the lower level races for James to obtain his licence, this was estimated to be significantly less than £800k. James used the opportunity to win first time out, set three pole positions, achieve four podiums and drove away from the field from pole at Brands Hatch. The rest of the funding was never forthcoming. As a result James is now racing for AMG in ESports while trying to raise the budget to get back in a GT3 car. This is not to complain about WFG who gave James his break in GT3, but I wanted to correct any view that James had received a lot of money and not achieved much with it; the opposite is the case.
Niels Roberts, Tonbridge
Frank Barnard raced Jack Jones’s Alexis at Brand Hatch in the 1980s –
Daughter Kate was impressed but Barnard had been involved in a near-miss
