Perhaps fittingly, rather than a Hawthorn, the tree is a Quickthorn, the label for which is now the only sign of the story behind the tree. In January 2009, to mark the 50th anniversary, a plaque was unveiled next to the tree, but by April of that year, it had disappeared.

Now that the quickthorn and the trees around it are more mature, it doesn’t stand out in the same way it did when it was planted. You could say that it fitted in a bit too well, becoming anonymous.

A fuller story, and directions for how to find the tree, can be found at Mike-Hawthorn.org.uk

Thanks to Gary Harman.

The post Found! – The Mike Hawthorn Memorial Tree first appeared on UKMotorTalk.

Cooper Special Number One – 1937 – Charles Cooper constructed this car for his son John’s 14th Birthday.

Ex-Works Triumph TR3A – 1957 – Works Competition Team car built for Monte Carlo Rally, and used extensively for recce and development work. Driven by Mike Hawthorn in the Ken Wharton Memorial Driving Test in November 1958.

Registered vehicles included:

Wolseley 6/90 Police Road Traffic car 1958
Standard Ten Van TT Garges Logo 1957
Standard Vanguard Phaze 1 1948
Ferrari Fantuzzi Spyder Competition Dino 1958
Triumph TR3A 1958
Triumph TR3A 1957
Triumph TR3A 1957
Lotus Eleven Si 1957
Lotus Eleven 1957
Lotus Eleven Si 1958
MK1 3.4 1957
MK1 3.4
MK1 1957
MK1 1959
MK1 3.8 1959
XK140FHC 1955
XR120 0TS 1949
XK120 FHC
MK V111 1958
MK 1X 1959
XR140 DHC 1955
XK120 OTS 1954
XR120 Roadster
MK V11
XK140 DHC
Cooper Special No 1 1937
Riley Special (superegerra) 1935
Citroen Light 15 Roadster 1939
Riley 12/4 Sprite 1936
Riley Kestrel 1934
Riley Kestrel 1937
Riley Ulster imp
Lancia Aprilia
Lancia Aurelia 2500 B20 series 6
Sunbeam 90 MK 111 1955
Sunbeam Talbot Alpine Roadster
Austin A35 1957
Austin Healey 1958 Sprite Mk1
Jaguar D Type 1955
Jaguar D Type 1952
Jaquar C Type 1951
Lotus Eleven 1956
Healey Silverstone 1950

The post Mike Hawthorn Grand Prix Of Farnham – Parade Vehicles first appeared on UKMotorTalk.

To view the route in Google Maps CLICK HERE

The post Parade Route – Mike Hawthorn tribute first appeared on UKMotorTalk.

Names like Stirling Moss, Tony Brooks and Peter Collins, and, finally in 1958, Britain had its very own and very first Formula One World Champion in Farnham’s Mike Hawthorn.

Sadly, like Nico Rosberg decades later, Hawthorn almost immediately, and to great surprise, announced he was to retire from the sport, a sport that had killed 5 drivers in that season, among them both of Hawthorn’s Ferrari team mates Peter Collins and Luigi Musso.

But he was not to enjoy his retirement or the fruits of his hard won World Championship. Just weeks later, and just a few miles from his home, the legendary Mike Hawthorn was killed in a road traffic accident when his Jaguar saloon left the road and hit a tree. An accident that remains unexplained to this day. He was just 30 years old.

In an era when many drivers lost their lives racing each season Stirling Moss commented he saw most of his fellow drivers every month at funerals!

Ironic then that one of  the finest and fastest drivers of his generation should lose his life on the road.

Well liked in the sport, and remembered as a warm and generous man, he was always immaculately dressed. He even wore a bow tie in the cockpit which became his sartorial trademark.

That championship winning 1958 season was an extraordinary one. Mike only actually won 1 race – the French Grand Prix on the old Rheims circuit, a race he had also won in 1953 when, as a rising star, he beat the legendary Fangio – but by dint of consistency, coming second in 5 of the others, he and Stirling Moss went into the Moroccan Grand Prix separated by the slimmest of margins.

In an extraordinary incident the race organisers attempted to disqualify Hawthorn for physically pushing his car, but friend and rival Moss spoke in his defence to the race officials, a stand which was to give Hawthorn the title and relegate Moss himself to that year’s runner up spot.

Years later I asked Stirling if he regretted his robust defence of his friend… “Never for a moment” was his reply.

Graham Benge

More about Total HTX Mike Hawthorn Grand Prix of Farnham

The post Mike Hawthorn first appeared on UKMotorTalk.