I am proud and excited to announce that Mr Roy Gillett is to give the GT40 and Sussex Area Lotus Group a talk about his involvement with GT40s and Le Mans in 1968. The evening begins with a film about the Gulf Racing GT40s of the JW Automotive team at the 1968 Le Mans, starting at 7:30 pm on Wednesday, 8th May 2013 at the Silvermere Golf Club, Cobham, Surrey.
Roy's talk will begin at approximately 8:30 pm with a short beer and loo break in the middle.
Roy was a motor racing nut back then and shared a famous 'motor racing and rallying flat' in Kilburn back in the '60's . One of his flat-mates was Chris Lambert who
raced Brabhams in Formula 3 and then F2 from 1965. He was Roy's best friend and he acted as his mechanic and general dogsbody when he started and continued to assist even when he had a professional
spannerman in Formula 2. Sadly he was killed in July 1968 in that terrible summer that took Jim Clark, Mike Spence and Jo Slescher as well. It was a fairly notorious accident involving Clay Reggazoni at
Zandvoort. Roy was devastated by Chris's death but Bob Leggett who was Chris's manager at the time was brilliant. He said Roy had to choose between walking away from motor sport which he loved, in which
case Roy would despise it, or he could stay as involved as possible as quickly as possible and get over Chris's death. He had contacts with JW and used to help put an 'extended' team together for them each
year for the 24 hour races. Le Mans was in September that year because of the French student riots in June and Bob offered Roy the chance to join the JW Gulf pit crew for the Le Mans race, being placed in charge of the Rodriguez and Bianchi winning GT40!
The rest of Roy's fascinating story will be told by him at the next Surrey & Sussex club night on Wednesday, 8th May 2013 from 7:30 pm onwards.
I hope GT40 members can fetch their cars in order to show support for the evening a create a display of club cars in front of the golf club.
This is open to all friends and family of both the GT40 and Lotus clubs, so please come and enjoy a fascinating evening.
Andrew: Chairman of GT40 Enthusiasts Club - Front Page
Roy's talk will begin at approximately 8:30 pm with a short beer and loo break in the middle.
Roy was a motor racing nut back then and shared a famous 'motor racing and rallying flat' in Kilburn back in the '60's . One of his flat-mates was Chris Lambert who
raced Brabhams in Formula 3 and then F2 from 1965. He was Roy's best friend and he acted as his mechanic and general dogsbody when he started and continued to assist even when he had a professional
spannerman in Formula 2. Sadly he was killed in July 1968 in that terrible summer that took Jim Clark, Mike Spence and Jo Slescher as well. It was a fairly notorious accident involving Clay Reggazoni at
Zandvoort. Roy was devastated by Chris's death but Bob Leggett who was Chris's manager at the time was brilliant. He said Roy had to choose between walking away from motor sport which he loved, in which
case Roy would despise it, or he could stay as involved as possible as quickly as possible and get over Chris's death. He had contacts with JW and used to help put an 'extended' team together for them each
year for the 24 hour races. Le Mans was in September that year because of the French student riots in June and Bob offered Roy the chance to join the JW Gulf pit crew for the Le Mans race, being placed in charge of the Rodriguez and Bianchi winning GT40!
The rest of Roy's fascinating story will be told by him at the next Surrey & Sussex club night on Wednesday, 8th May 2013 from 7:30 pm onwards.
I hope GT40 members can fetch their cars in order to show support for the evening a create a display of club cars in front of the golf club.
This is open to all friends and family of both the GT40 and Lotus clubs, so please come and enjoy a fascinating evening.
Andrew: Chairman of GT40 Enthusiasts Club - Front Page
