Timmy Mayer
Born | Dalton, Pennsylvania, USA | February 22, 1938
---|---|
Died | February 28, 1964 Longford Circuit, Tasmania, Australia | (aged 26)
Formula One World Championship career | |
Nationality | American |
Active years | 1962 |
Teams | Cooper |
Entries | 1 |
Championships | 0 |
Wins | 0 |
Podiums | 0 |
Career points | 0 |
Pole positions | 0 |
Fastest laps | 0 |
First entry | 1962 United States Grand Prix |
Last entry | 1962 United States Grand Prix |
Timothy Andrew Mayer (February 22, 1938 – February 28, 1964) was a racecar driver from Dalton, Pennsylvania in the United States. He participated in one World Championship Formula One Grand Prix, on October 7, 1962. He retired with ignition failure and scored no championship points.
Career
Mayer's older brother Teddy was one of the founders of the McLaren team, with Bruce McLaren. Both brothers traveled from the United States to Europe in the early 1960s with future grand prix winner Peter Revson. The McLaren team's first championship series entries were for the 1964 Tasman Series, running Timmy Mayer and team-leader McLaren in custom-built Cooper T70 cars. However, Mayer was killed in practice for the final race of the series, at Longford, Tasmania, when he lost control at over 100 mph and spun and hit a tree next to the course. His car disintegrated, and wreckage narrowly missed young children who were spectators. Mayer died instantly from the impact. There was a memorial stone placed on the side of the road where Mayer had died, but it was moved, and is now to be seen, with his helmet, at the Country Club Hotel in Longford.
In his eulogy of team mate and friend Tim Mayer, Bruce McLaren wrote: "The news that he had died instantly was a terrible shock to all of us, but who is to say that he had not seen more, done more and learned more in his few years than many people do in a lifetime? To do something well is so worthwhile that to die trying to do it better cannot be foolhardy. It would be a waste of life to do nothing with one's ability, for I feel that life is measured in achievement, not in years alone."
Racing record
SCCA National Championship Runoffs
Year | Track | Car | Engine | Class | Finish | Start | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1962 | Cooper | Formula Junior | 1 |
Complete Formula One World Championship results
(key)
Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | WDC | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1962 | Cooper Car Company | Cooper T53 | Climax Straight-4 | NED | MON | BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | ITA | USA Ret |
RSA | NC | 0 |
Complete Tasman Series results
Year | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Rank | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1964 | Cooper T70 | LEV 2 |
PUK 3 |
WIG 8 |
TER 2 |
SAN 4 |
WAR 3 |
LAK Ret |
LON DNS |
4th | 23 |
- Articles lacking sources from November 2007
- 1938 births
- 1964 deaths
- 20th-century American racing drivers
- American Formula One drivers
- Cooper Formula One drivers
- Tasman Series drivers
- People from Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania
- Racing drivers from Pennsylvania
- Racing drivers killed while racing
- Sport deaths in Australia
- Accidental deaths in Tasmania
- SCCA National Championship Runoffs winners
- American auto racing biography stubs
- Formula One people stubs