Trevor Taylor

Trevor Taylor (26 December 1936 – 27 September 2010) was a British motor racing driver from England.

Early career
Trevor Taylor was born in Sheffield, the son of a garage owner from Rotherham. He began his racing career in 500 cc Formula Three racing, initially in a Staride and later a Cooper-Norton. Ten victories in 1958 earned him the British Formula Three Championship. After a frustrating year in 1959 spent with his own Formula Two Cooper, he received an invitation to run his Lotus 18 as a second works car for 1960. He finished equal first in the Formula Junior championship with Jim Clark, although he competed in two more races that counted towards the championship than Clark who was already driving regularly for Team Lotus in Formula One. Taylor went on to win the title on his own account in 1961. At the end of 1961 Taylor got a regular Formula One drive with Team Lotus and proved competitive with Clark and Moss in the South African series in December 1961.Taylor often proved competitive in non championship F1 races and performed well in the following years SA F1 races and shared a win with Jim Clark in the Mexican GP in 1962. However the significance of these non championship victories can be exaggerated, because Team Lotus in the 1960s contested top single seat races around the world and could often provide competitive cars for a two car team, in non championship racing in SA, NZ, Australia and Nth America in a way no other team could rival, and high class opponents like Moss, G. Hill were often racing inferior, ill prepared cars. In many of these races, Jim Clark just backed off after significant rivals had slowed or retired and Clark would slow, so he and Taylor crossed the line in tandem and on a number of occasions he let Trevor Taylor win.

Formula One career
Taylor participated in 27 (plus 2 where he failed to qualify) World Championship Formula One Grands Prix. He made his debut on 18 July 1959, in the British Grand Prix held that year at Aintree, driving a privately entered 1.5 litre Cooper T51 but did not qualify. He was second in the 1962 Formula One season opening Dutch Grand Prix, having passed Scuderia Ferrari driver Phil Hill after a long duel.The 156 Ferraris of Hill and Baghetti being very unsuited to the circuit. In the 1962 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps Taylor was running second to Clark, fending off the attacks of Ferrari driver Willy Mairesse, when he missed a gear change. Mairesse brushed Taylor's Lotus and both drivers crashed. Taylor continued with Team Lotus in 1963, and on the fast Rheims circuit in the 1963 French GP, Taylor repeated the form he had shown at Spa the previous year, strongly contesting 2nd place with Jack Brabham, until his Lotus retired late in the race. But as at Spa the previous year Taylor's strong run does not necessarily reflect more than the vast superiority of the Team Lotus chassis in 1962 and 1963 and the Team Lotus cars were one of only very few with competitive Climax V8 engines,(most customer Climax V8s being well down on horsepower compared with Lotus works units) and the fast circuits that were a difficult challenge during the 2.5 litre cars were significantly easier for drivers during the low power 1.5 litre formula, as long as it didn't rain. Taylor was rarely competitive on tight circuits, and generally other than the ultra fast Reims, Spa and Italian slipsteam circuits, qualified in the upper midfield only on easier tracks like Watkins Glen and Kylami and team owner Colin Chapman suggested Taylor take a sabbatical after the end of the 1963 season. After another unsuccessful season with the British Racing Partnership in 1964 Taylor withdrew from Formula One competition.

During his career he achieved one podium finish, and scored a total of eight championship points. He also participated in numerous non-Championship Formula One races during this time, and won several in 1962 and 1963. Taylor is credited with inventing the yellow stripe that ran down the middle of Team Lotus cars during the 1960s.

After 1964 Taylor enjoyed lesser forms of racing, and tested a Cosworth Formula One car in 1969 which was entered for Grands Prix but did not race.In that the opening year of F5000, Trevor Taylor was a strong contestant in the Guards Championship winning F5000 rounds in a Surtees TS5 in the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Ireland and finished runner up to Peter Gethin in the 1969 F5000 series. Taylor died at the age of 73 after contracting cancer.

Complete Formula One World Championship results
(key)

Non-Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)