Trevor Taylor (racing driver)

This article is about the British racing driver. For the Canadian politician, see Trevor Taylor (politician).

Trevor Taylor

Born	(1936-12-26)26 December 1936
Died	27 September 2010(2010-09-27) (aged 73)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	British
Active years	1959, 1961–1964, 1966
Teams	Lotus (incl. non-works), BRP, Shannon, non-works Cooper
Entries	29 (27 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	1
Career points	8
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1959 British Grand Prix
Last entry	1966 British Grand Prix

Trevor Taylor (26 December 1936 – 27 September 2010) was a British motor racing driver from England.

Early career

Trevor Taylor was born in Sheffield, the son of a garage owner from Rotherham. He began his racing career in 500 cc (30.5 cu in) Formula Three racing, initially in a Staride and later a Cooper-Norton. Ten victories in 1958 earned him the British Formula Three Championship. After a frustrating year in 1959 spent with his own Formula Two Cooper, he received an invitation to run his Lotus 18 as a second works car for 1960. He finished equal first in the Formula Junior championship with Jim Clark, although he competed in two more races that counted towards the championship than Clark who was already driving regularly for Team Lotus in Formula One. Taylor went on to win the title on his own account in 1961. At the end of 1961 Taylor got a regular Formula One drive with Team Lotus and proved competitive with Clark and Moss in the South African series in December 1961.

Formula One career

Taylor participated in 29 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, qualifying for 27 of them. He made his debut on 18 July 1959, in the British Grand Prix held that year at Aintree, driving a privately entered 1.5-litre Cooper T51 but did not qualify. In 1961 he was thirteenth at that year's Dutch Grand Prix, his only World Championship drive that year. He was second in the 1962 Formula One season opening Dutch Grand Prix, his only World Championship podium finish. He led early in the Belgian GP at Spa and after his teamleader Clark passed he engaged in a torrid duel with Willy Mairesse who was impassioned before his home crowd. Following in Taylors slip steam, Mairesse, clipped the extension of Taylor Type 24 gearbox going uphill from Stavelot, when Taylor missed a gear, and while neither suffered serious injury both were lucky to survive the high speed encounter and neither, ever drove as well again. Taylor said that while, Mairesse generally tried too hard and was over eager for Championship honours, on this occasion, Mairesse was driving well and with precision and it was not his fault.

At the end of 1962 shared with Jim Clark the car and victory in the non championship Mexican GP had a win and a second place at two non-championship events in South Africa confirming his place with Team Lotus in 1963, but after a handful of top three finishes in non-championship events, his best World Championship result was sixth place in the opening race at Monaco, and thereafter he was rarely competitive, although on the fast Rheims circuit, in the French GP, he was running second when he retired at two thirds distance, and had he completed the distance it is entirely possible, as in non championship races he would have staged a dead heat with Clark, and possibly have been awarded victory for having started furthur back on the third row. Taylor admitted his confidence was shaken by two serious accidents at Spa and Enna-Pergusa. Team owner Colin Chapman suggested Taylor take a sabbatical after the end of the 1963 season. After an unsuccessful season with the British Racing Partnership in 1964, Taylor withdrew from Formula One competition.

During his career he achieved one podium finish, and scored a total of eight championship points. He also participated in numerous non-Championship Formula One races during this time and won three, including one shared with Clark, in 1962 and 1963. Taylor is credited with inventing the yellow stripe that ran down the middle of Team Lotus cars during the 1960s.

After 1964 Taylor enjoyed lesser forms of racing, and tested a Cosworth Formula One car in 1969 which was entered for Grands Prix but did not race.In that the opening year of F5000, Trevor Taylor was a strong contestant in the Guards Championship winning F5000 rounds in a Surtees TS5 in the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Ireland and finished runner up to Peter Gethin in the 1969 F5000 series.

Taylor died at the age of 73 after contracting cancer.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	WDC	Points
1959	Ace Garage (Rotherham)	Cooper T51	Climax Straight-4	MON	500	NED	FRA	GBR DNQ	GER	POR	ITA	USA		NC	0
1961	Team Lotus	Lotus 18	Climax Straight-4	MON	NED 13	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	ITA	USA			NC	0
1962	Team Lotus	Lotus 24	Climax V8	NED 2	MON Ret	BEL Ret		GBR 8	GER Ret					10th	6
		Lotus 25					FRA 8			ITA Ret	USA 12	RSA Ret
1963	Team Lotus	Lotus 25	Climax V8	MON 6	BEL Ret	NED 10	FRA 13	GBR Ret	GER 8	ITA	USA Ret	MEX Ret	RSA 8	17th	1
1964	British Racing Partnership	BRP 1	BRM V8	MON Ret	NED					AUT Ret	ITA DNQ			22nd	1
		BRP 2				BEL 7	FRA Ret					USA 6	MEX Ret
		Lotus 24						GBR Ret	GER
1966	Aiden Jones / Paul Emery	Shannon	Climax V8	MON	BEL	FRA	GBR Ret	NED	GER	ITA	USA	MEX		NC	0

Non-Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21
1959	Ace Garage (Rotherham)	Cooper T51 F2	Climax Straight-4	GLV	AIN NC	INT	OUL	SIL 9
1961	Team Lotus	Lotus 18	Climax Straight-4	LOM	GLV	PAU Ret	BRX Ret	VIE	AIN 19	SYR	NAP	LON	SIL 9	SOL 9	KAN	DAN	MOD	FLG	OUL Ret	LEW	VAL
		Lotus 21																				RAN 2	NAT Ret	RSA Ret
1962	Team Lotus	Lotus 21	Climax Straight-4	CAP 1	BRX 10	LOM Ret	LAV	GLV
		Lotus 24	Climax V8						PAU 11	AIN 5	INT 10	NAP	MAL	CLP Ret	RMS Ret	SOL 3	KAN	MED
		Lotus 25																	DAN 6	OUL Ret	MEX 1‡	RAN 2	NAT 1
1963	Team Lotus	Lotus 25	Climax V8	LOM DNA	GLV	PAU 2	IMO 9	SYR WD	AIN 3	INT 3	ROM	SOL Ret	KAN 2	MED Ret	AUT	OUL Ret	RAN 10
1964	British Racing Partnership	Lotus 24	BRM V8	DMT Ret	NWT 3	SYR
		BRP 1					AIN Ret	INT Ret	SOL	MED Ret	RAN

^‡ Win shared with Jim Clark, who took over the car after being disqualified for a push start.

External links

• Trevor Taylor profile at The 500 Owners Association