Tony Maggs

With only a handful of races in an Austin Healey in South Africa behind him, Maggs came to England in 1959 to gain experience and his talent was quickly recognised, Tony soon progressing to a Formula 2 Cooper. He returned in 1960 to race a variety of machines, finishing third in the Vanwall Trophy in a Cooper, and doing well in the Formula Junior Gemini.

His big break came in 1961, when Ken Tyrrell signed him for a season of Formula Junior with his Cooper, young Tony winning eight races and sharing the European FJ title with Jo Siffert. He also made a steady start in Grand Prix racing with Louise Bryden-Brown’s Lotus 18, impressing the Cooper team, who signed him as number two to Bruce McLaren.

Always consistent, Maggs scored some fine placings over the next two seasons in a team that was slowly losing its competitive edge, but he was not retained for 1964 and joined up with Centro Sud to race their elderly BRM cars, even getting among the points on two occasions. With no real F1 prospects in sight, Maggs undertook a programme of Formula 2 in an MRP Lola and sports cars in David Piper’s Ferrari GTO, the pair winning the Rand 9 Hours at Kyalami.

After handling Parnell’s Lotus in the 1965 South African GP, Maggs raced abroad for the last time, taking second place in the Rome GP and fourth at both Oulton Park and Pau in MRP’s F2 Lola, and third place in the Sebring 12 Hours with Piper in his Ferrari 250LM.

Tony had planned to race the Surtees Lola in Formula 2, but when he crashed his Brabham in a national race at Pietermaritzburg a small boy who was standing in a prohibited area was unfortunately hit and killed, and a distraught Maggs immediately retired from racing to concentrate on farming.