Hi again - now Roy's funeral has taken place, Andrew Fordyce and myself thought it right to post up a more fitting obituary, giving a small insight into Roy's life. I share it below for those who knew Roy, who had heard of Roy, or are just kindred spirits in the GT40 world.
The photos are just a few snaps that jumped out at us, Roy not usually being one that was easily captured on camera...
Obituary: Roy Smart
Paul Thompson and Andrew Fordyce were both active members in the GTD40 Car Club and spent many happy afternoons together editing the Club Magazine between racing. Sadly the best (and funniest) bits often ended up on the cutting room floor as unprintable and that was before we waited to receive the famous “Chairman’s comments” on our work. They remember an old friend.
Andrew: “If you were born between the World Wars you grew up in austerity Britain. Here ambitious men often found that the only way forward was along a path they created for themselves.
We lost one of those men when Roy Smart died at the end of January. He was the archetypal self made man, single minded and determined to the core. A man that hated being idle and loved nothing better than building and creating.
He built businesses and once he had succeeded at those he built his beloved GT40s and the engines that went in them. He never, ever built them following any design guidelines but his own. He made them light and he made them powerful and at a time of life when his peers were putting on their slippers and reminiscing his foot was always flat on the throttle.
He’d been a tank driver in the Army and was one of the most press on road drivers I ever rode with. He knew the width of his 3 series to the millimetre and certainly loved a “bit of oppo” down Kent’s leafy lanes.”
“That’s right” Paul continues “There was a journey he once made in his Cosworth, bringing a friend and his girl-friend back from a day out at a motor racing event. He told me that she was “chat chat chat” all the way and it was driving him mad as he could not concentrate on his driving. So, he speeded up and she quietened a bit, so he speeded up some more, and she became even quieter. He said the journey home ended up as one of the fastest, but quietest he’d ever made. Knowing just how fast that would have been, I can’t imagine how the friends felt as they got out of the car upon arrival!
I first met Roy some 26 years ago, whilst on a GTD40 car club trip to the Nurburgring when I shared a drive with Malcolm MacAdam. Roy being Roy, he did the full trip on his own. He was a maverick when it came to getting things done, nothing would deter him, such was his drive.
Both Malc and I remember that trip well. We crested one particular rise at speed, only to be confronted by Roy, mid-track, facing us in his 40, also still at speed but recovering from what turned out to be a full 720 degree spin! I recall his startled passenger looking somewhat white from that experience.
From this initial meeting, Roy tasked me with installing fuel injection on his GT40 and a long lasting friendship was forged. He had an amazing ability to engineer solutions to most mechanical problems and was always innovative, pushing boundaries of what can be done and how it could be achieved.
His engine builds were legendary, as anyone who has driven a ‘Smart’ powered 40 can testify and numerous friends whom he took out in his 40, or he let drive it for that matter will confirm that his cars were never lacking in performance.
I learned so much from Roy, about mechanical engineering, performance tuning, history, life, the list is endless. We would spend countless hours in his workshop or den, most weekends either fettling the cars and engines or producing new parts to try on track or test on the road. All the time we would listen to Glenn Miller’s Big Band sounds and many other such tunes from the 40s to 60s and Roy would reminisce and tell me of his early life stories, and what a life he’d had.
He had travelled the world doing all manner of engineering work. From running quarries and building works in Egypt, to re-engineering oil refineries in South Africa, demolition, heavy-transport, race team management, he’d done it all.
His motorsport activities also started at an early age, when he was an avid motorcyclist and visited the Isle-Of-Man on two-wheels many years before we finally returned there to compete in the 40s on four. His ability to engineer parts saw his race motorcycle have many innovative lightweight components that he had machined from magnesium incendiary bomb casings he had collected after the end of the war!
Let’s not forget, Roy competed in an age when Brands Hatch circuit ran anti-clockwise and long leather trench-coats and stitched crash helmets were the chosen protective clothing.
Settling in Kent but still working full time at his engineering works, Roy set to building model helicopters, live steam trains, boats and then at 60+, built and learned to fly a full-size helicopter, such was his drive and enthusiasm for all things mechanical.
He went on to build several GT40s and many performance parts for fellow enthusiasts, all the time encouraging new club members to take their cars on the track. At the height of the competitive period, the GTD40 Car Club would field as many as thirteen entries at sprints and hill climbs across the UK.
The Club attracted a broad spread of people of all ages taking part and all were younger than Roy, yet it was often Roy leading the field and many a driver would aspire to match his records. The Brighton Speed Trials was one event where he excelled, with his car taking the Dave Wilson Memorial Trophy no less than nine times over the years for fastest GT40 and where it also saw him run the first sub 12 second run for a normally aspirated 40 in 2004 at 11.83s, beating a Ferrari F40, Ferrari F50 and Lamborghini Diablo in the process.
As an aside, Roy was also elected the chairman of the GTD40 Car Club, a role he commanded in his own, often controversial, but always considered manner. Roy was never slow in coming forward to voice his opinions on whatever subject he desired, be it social injustice, immigration, local council matters, politics, nothing was held back from the man whose political positioning had on occasion been described as being somewhat to the right of Genghis Khan! A real pet hate of his was the pot-holed condition of the roads local to him and he regularly took the council to task over them.
One person to get the sharp end of his wit was non other than Jeremy Clarkson, who once commented in a Sunday paper that an elderly pipe and slippers generation should not be on the roads.
Roy wrote back, challenging Mr Clarkson to a timed lap or two of Goodwood motor circuit, an offer that Jeremy did actually respond to, thanking Roy for his offer but one he refused due to other commitments, adding that his comment was purely to get a reaction. Had he taken to the track, he’d have been shown the reaction too...!
I was lucky enough to have competed in Roy’s 40s for more than ten years and the blend of his mechanical performance enhancements, together with modern electronic engine management gave us the edge over many other drivers. In 2002 Roy’s 40 won eight out of ten events entered coming second in the other two.”
“Those of us that travelled round the sprint and hill climb circuit from ’90 to ’08 with our 40s had a lot of fun together,” said Andrew. “Roy was always there at the heart of it, encouraging and helping us. I really miss that infectious laugh, his warmth and that “can do” way of getting things done. Our group all still good friends and Roy will be both sorely missed and fondly remembered by us all.”
Roy is survived by his wife Val and daughter Jane. Our thanks to both of you for lending him to us for the odd weekend so that he could brighten our days up as well as yours.
Rest In Peace.
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A few pictures.