Former Cooper F1 and Lola Works driver Tony Maggs passed away during June, aged 71.

South African Tony Maggs was born into a family with strong military connections and a glittering array of medals to prove it. Expected to follow an army career and subsequently take over the family farm Maggs rebelled and at the age of twenty two travelled to England with the intention of becoming a racing driver.

Domiciled in Notting Hill with fellow South African Louis Jacobsz the would be racers bought a pair of second hand Lotus Elevens and toured the race tracks of England competing in Club events. Their racing was funded by Cliff Davis who employed the pair to collect repossessed cars at £1.00 a time.

Returning to South Africa with an ex. Ecurie-Ecosse Tojeiro Jag, Maggs competed in the winter series but without great success. His big break came the following year when having returned to Europe he was invited to Join Ken Tyrell’s Formula Junior Team of Cooper – BMC’s. The season saw Maggs tie with Jo Siffert for the European FJ Championship and take part in two F1 races in John Ogier’s Lotus.

1962 saw Tony elevated to Cooper No. 2 when Brabham left to establish his own team and with Bruce Mclaren leading the pair gained some excellent results including a second place for Maggs in the French GP. Several seasons of solid performances followed with Maggs driving an eclectic mix of cars, often mixing GP, saloon and GT in one meeting as was the way in those days.

In 1963 Eric Broadley was building the Lola Mk6GT which was to have such a profound effect on sportscar racing. The cars’ first race, after many setbacks in development was to be the Silverstone BRDC Daily Express Trophy Meeting. Eric’s first choice driver was Hugh Dibley but Hugh surprised Broadley by not being available for the Silverstone event. Instead, Eric chose his good friend John Surtees, who had driven the Bowmaker Lola F1 car the previous season with promise, resulting in a move to Ferrari. Because some trademark Lola last-minute development work was still required, John only enjoyed limited practice in the Mk6. The GT was not competitive in practice - it was 11.6 seconds behind pole sitter Roy Salvadori in the 2.7 litre Cooper Monaco and Lola’s efforts were further disrupted when Ferrari disagreed with the idea of their man helping a rival team. Consequently Eric had to find another driver at very short notice. Into the fray came Tony Maggs, a friend of John Surtees, who only found out that his services were required when he heard his name over the Silverstone loudspeaker system. Because he had not so much as driven one lap at the car, Tony was to start from the back of the grid, but when the flag went down his progress was impressive. With a best lap speed of 100.35mph, against eventual winner Roy Salvadori's best lap of 107.74, Maggs finished a very creditable 5th, and third in class. The Lola's debut had been a success, and Eric's drive back to Bromley gave him great hopes for the future.

Two weeks after Silverstone, the same prototype, this time with a breathed on 262ci (4.2 litre) motor sporting a set of downdraught Weber 48IDAs, was loaded onto the Midland Racing Partnership transporter to tackle the 1963 Nürburgring 1000km. At Silverstone, Tony Maggs had impressed Eric, who had invited him to take on the 'Ring and Eric was happy for Tony to choose his co-driver, fellow South African sports car racer Bob Olthoff.

During practice, the Lola spent more time under the wrench than on the track. A wheel worked loose, there were major carburation problems and 'several other irritations'. However, the car qualified 9th on the grid, with a practice time of 10m 0.1s, compared with the John Surtees/Willy Mairesse pole-sitting Ferrari 250P of 9m 13.1s.

Fortunes did not improve in the race itself. With the gearbox pushed to its limits on the Nürburgring bends, it stuck in second when Bob Olthoff was at the wheel, resulting in a very slow 'in lap' and an angry Eric, who though that Bob had lost the car somewhere on the circuit.

Later on the right-hander Brunnchen, Tony Maggs lost a wheel for a second time. This wedged into the wheel well, and Tony slowed to a halt. Using some of the most ingenious repair work in race history, Tony jacked the car up using a 12ft long tree branch as the jack, a small rock as a fulcrum and other heavier rocks as ballast on the branch, to ensure that the GT remained off the ground while he refitted the wheel. Using other rocks to hammer the errant nut back on the car, Tony returned to the pits for the team to tighten it further.

Sportscar victory came his way later that year when co-driving David Piper’s Ferrari in the Rand Nine Hours at Kyalami. Sadly Maggs lost his place in the Cooper Team the following year, 1964 and could only find a ride in the Centro-Sud BRM. Tony made the best of it and managed a fourth and sixth place for his best F1 outings of the year although the highlight was probably a second win in the Kyalami Nine Hours with David Piper.

The following year marked Maggs retirement following a sad incident when a young spectator in a prohibited area was hit by Maggs car following an on track incident. Distraught at what had happened Tony immediately gave up motor sport. As far as participants and fans were concerned Tony Maggs simply disappeared.

From 1965 Maggs undertook a number of business ventures including the family farm until it was sold in 1980. Without need to work Maggs indulged his passion for wildlife and began a new animal farming venture. In 1994 he was interviewed for a motoring magazine and asked “If there were a choice between racing in historics at Killarney or paddle skiing at Hermanus what would you choose?”

Without hesitation Maggs replied “Paddle skiing”.

With thanks to Andre Loubser and Rob Beddington for the text and photos.



Tony Maggs concocts a makeshift jack to replace the wheel on his Lola Mk Vl at Nürburgring 1000K’s, 1963.



Tony Maggs (left) and current owner of the Lola MkVl Allen Grant reminisce on the cars history during 2004.