It is with great regret that we advise Members of the death of John Bamford at the age of 82. John had been in declining health for some time suffering from emphysema and latterly cancer. Although he regularly attended the British Grand Prix over the years after retiring from racing, he was unable to do so this year although he was allowed to attend the recent BRDC Classic event which gave him great pleasure in his dying days.
In the late 1960s John was one of the leading lights in the Worcestershire Racing Association which was formed by a group of like-minded enthusiasts in the Worcester area who regularly met in the Dog Inn at Harvington and concluded that, if they gave themselves a team name, they would be taken more seriously by trade suppliers, of tyres etc, which proved to be the case. Initially John acquired a Ginetta G12, powered by the 1.6 litre Lotus/Ford Twin Cam engine but soon realised that the Chevron GT, with its 2-litre BMW motor, was the way to go.
John’s first taste of Derek Bennett’s masterpiece was in the 1969 Trophy of the Dunes at Zandvoort in which he finished 12th overall and fourth in the ‘Chevron’ class with a borrowed B8, the 1968 version of the Chevron GT, before acquiring his own, year old B6 which was very little different from the B8. From the B6 onwards until he retired from race driving in 1972, John only ever raced Chevrons, proving to be very competitive among the Chevron contingent both in European and British races, particularly with a B19 in 1971 when he finished in the top 10 as often as not.
The daunting Vila Real road circuit in Portugal proved to be one of John’s favourites. In 1970, driving solo, he finished second overall in the 500ks behind only the Lola T70 Mk 3B of Teddy Pilette and Taf Gosselin whilst he returned a year later with his Chevron B19 to finish third overall and first of the 2-litres behind the Porsche 908/2 of Prince Jorge de Bagration and Mario Cabral’s Porsche 917. Sharing a B16 with WRA’s star driver John Burton, the two Johns were on for a strong result in the Imola 500 Ks until mechanical problems enforced retirement. John’s last race, entered as ever by the WRA, was the 1972 BOAC 500 at Brands Hatch when, sharing his Chevron B19 with Irish driver Brendan McInerney, the Anglo-Irish pairing finished eighth overall behind the factory teams from Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, JW Gulf and Abarth in this round of the World Sports Car Championship, and in doing so secured second place among the 2-litre cars headed only by the Lola T290 of Guy Edwards and David Hobbs.
After the notable BOAC 500 result, John retired from racing to take up offshore yacht racing together with John Burton who speaks highly of the contribution which John made to their successes on water.
Born and bred in Kidderminster, in the heart of the British carpet industry, John worked in the family business Morris Carpets until it was sold; in later years he gave his occupation as Corporate Entertainment Agent. He maintained his interest in motor racing and was a regular visitor to the BRDC Clubhouse. In many ways John epitomised the generation of semi-professional sports car drivers in the late 1960s/early ‘70s who competed in races around Europe and the UK, earning what start and prize money they could to enable them to continue. John in fact had a motor industry pedigree in that his mother’s maternal grandfather was David Citroen and also was for a time the British importer of Minerva cars, a Rolls-Royce rival built in Belgium.
The BRDC extends its most sincere condolences to John’s son Carl and daughter Sophie and their families. The funeral will take place at 11.30 on Thursday 17 September at the Parish Church of St John Baptist, Claines, near Worcester WR3 7RN