Trevor Taylor

Trevor Patrick Taylor (26 December 1936 – 27 September 2010) was a British racing driver from Sheffield whose career carried him from 500cc Formula Three to a works drive alongside Jim Clark at Team Lotus. He contested 29 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, qualifying for 27, and recorded one podium finish and eight championship points.

Driver Bio

Nationality	British
Birthplace	Gleadless, Sheffield, Yorkshire, UK
Born	26 December 1936
Died	27 September 2010
First Grand Prix	1959 British Grand Prix
Last Grand Prix	1966 British Grand Prix
Years Active	1959–1966
Current/Last Team	Shannon

The son of a garage owner from Rotherham, Taylor began racing in the wonderfully stripped-back world of 500cc Formula Three, first with a Staride and later a Cooper-Norton. He quickly proved his ability, rattling off ten victories during 1958 to become British Formula Three Champion.

A move into Formula Two with his own Cooper brought a frustrating 1959 season, although Taylor also made his first attempt at Formula One that year. He entered the 1959 British Grand Prix at Aintree on 18 July in a privately run 1.5-litre Cooper T51, but failed to qualify.

His fortunes changed with Lotus. Taylor’s Lotus 18 was effectively brought into the works fold for 1960, and he finished equal first with Jim Clark in the Formula Junior championship, albeit having contested two more scoring races than his Scottish rival. Taylor removed any ambiguity the following year by winning the 1961 Formula Junior title outright.

By the end of 1961 he had earned a regular place with Team Lotus. Taylor demonstrated his potential during the South African series that December, proving competitive against both Clark and Stirling Moss. His only World Championship appearance of 1961 had produced 13th place at the Dutch Grand Prix, but much bigger things followed in 1962.

Taylor began the 1962 Formula One season with the finest World Championship result of his career, finishing second in the Dutch Grand Prix. He then showed serious pace at Spa, leading the Belgian Grand Prix early before Clark came through. Taylor became locked in a fierce battle with local favourite Willy Mairesse, whose more powerful Ferrari 156 was particularly potent on the climb from Stavelot.

The duel ended in a frightening high-speed accident when Mairesse, running in Taylor’s slipstream, clipped the rear of the Lotus. Both men were extremely fortunate to escape serious injury. Taylor later resisted blaming his rival, arguing that although Mairesse could sometimes be over-eager, on this occasion the Belgian had been driving accurately and the collision was not his fault.

There was more success before 1962 was over. Taylor shared both the car and victory with Clark in the non-championship Mexican Grand Prix, while a victory and second place in two South African non-championship races helped secure his Lotus seat for 1963.

The following season proved much tougher. Taylor collected several top-three results in non-championship races, but his best World Championship finish was sixth at the season-opening Monaco Grand Prix. There were still flashes of considerable speed: at the rapid Reims circuit he was running second in the French Grand Prix before retiring around two-thirds of the way through.

Two major accidents, however, had taken their toll. Taylor later acknowledged that crashes at Spa and Enna-Pergusa had damaged his confidence. Lotus boss Colin Chapman suggested he take a sabbatical after the 1963 season before returning to the team, but Taylor preferred to keep racing and looked elsewhere for a Formula One drive.

He joined the British Racing Partnership for 1964, but the season brought little reward. At its conclusion Taylor stepped away from regular Formula One competition, ending his World Championship career with one podium and eight points. He had also been a prolific participant in non-championship Formula One events, winning three of them across 1962 and 1963, including the shared Mexican success with Clark.

Taylor also left a small but memorable visual mark on Team Lotus history. He is credited with coming up with the yellow stripe running down the centre of the team’s cars during the 1960s, creating a distinctive addition to the famous Lotus racing colours.

Leaving Formula One did not mean leaving racing. Taylor continued competing in other categories and, in 1969, even tested the unusual Cosworth Formula One car. The machine was entered for Grands Prix but ultimately never raced, denying Taylor an unlikely return to the World Championship.

Instead, he became one of the leading lights of the newly established Formula 5000 scene. Driving a Surtees TS5 in the 1969 Guards Championship, Taylor won rounds in the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Ireland. His four victories carried him to second in the championship behind Peter Gethin, providing an impressive late-career reminder of the speed that had originally taken him to Lotus.

Taylor died in 2010 at the age of 73 after suffering from cancer. Although his Formula One career never quite fulfilled the promise of that second place in the 1962 Dutch Grand Prix, his wider record tells a much richer story: British F3 champion, Formula Junior champion, Grand Prix podium finisher, non-championship F1 winner and F5000 title contender. For a time, Trevor Taylor was the man sharing the Team Lotus garage with Jim Clark — and he had the speed to make his own mark.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

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

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
1968	Ken Shepperd	McLaren M2B	Climax V8	ROC	INT WD	OUL
1969	Team Surtees	Surtees TS5 F5000	Chevrolet V8	ROC	INT	MAD	OUL 4
1970	Team Surtees	Surtees TS5 F5000	Chevrolet V8	ROC	INT 12
	Doug Hardwick	Lola T190 F5000				OUL 5
1971	Malaya Garages	Leda LT25 F5000	Chevrolet V8	ARG	ROC	QUE	SPR	INT Ret	RIN	OUL Ret	VIC Ret
1972	Leda Engineering	Leda LT27 F5000	Chevrolet V8	ROC	BRA	INT Ret	OUL	REP	VIC

Teammates & Qualifying Head-to-Head

Teammate	Years	Races	Qualifying H2H
Jim Clark	1961, 1963	19	–
Peter Arundell	1963	1	–
Pedro Rodriguez	1963	2	–
Innes Ireland	1964	8	–