With great regret we have to inform Members of the death of Nick Cussons who passed away suddenly and peacefully on 5 May. Nick was 85 years of age and had been a BRDC Full Member since 1993.
A grandson of Alexander Tom Cussons, who, early in the 20th century, had founded the highly successful soap manufacturing business of which the Imperial Leather brand continues to be the best-known, Nick was able to indulge his enthusiasm for cars and motor racing whilst at Oundle School. One of his earliest cars was a Cooper Monaco T49 with which he enjoyed some success in club racing in the early 1960s, becoming a mainstay of the Manchester and Merseyside motor racing fraternity of the time, centred around Oulton Park and Aintree race circuits. Another luminary of the group was the late Natalie Goodwin, Nick’s cousin.
However, it was not so much the Cooper as an Aston Martin DB4GT which captured Nick’s imagination and with which he enjoyed several strong results in 1962. According to legend, Nick saw the Aston on a trailer at a motorway service area, sought out the owner and persuaded him that he should sell the car to him on the spot. The deal having been done, Nick kept the DB4GT for many years, racing it extensively with a best result of second place in a Nottingham Sports Car Club event at Silverstone. The car was one of a handful of special lightweight DB4GTs originally built by the factory for John Ogier’s Essex Racing Stable and driven with great gusto by such as Innes Ireland, Roy Salvadori and Tony Maggs. During his ownership, Nick was able to fulfil his ambition to obtain the registration number DB4 after spotting it on a Ford Zephyr, again deploying his charm and persuasive powers to prevail upon the Zephyr’s owner to part with his car complete with its iconic registration number.
While retaining the Aston, for 1965 Nick replaced the Cooper Monaco with one of the increasingly popular Lotus-Ford 23Bs with which he enjoyed success in British national racing before taking delivery of Ford GT40 #1021 at the end of the year, ready for the 1966 season. In fact, Nick himself only raced the car occasionally, preferring to invite the likes of Brian Redman, Mike Spence and Richard Bond to take the wheel for international races. Nick himself was second in a national race at Oulton Park at the end of July and the following month had a noteworthy pair of results in an international meeting at Croft, finishing eighth in a strong field in the main race of the day, the Wills Trophy before coming home third later in the day in the Croft Benefactors’ Cup. The GT40 was then sold to Ed Nelson who would share it with the late Colin Crabbe for the end of year races in South Africa.
In 1969 Nick acquired ‘2 VEV’, the ex-Essex Racing Stable/John Ogier Aston Martin DB4 Zagato which has been immortalised in later years by images of Jimmy Clark during the 1962 RAC Tourist Trophy, as the great Scottish driver wrestled the booming Aston round Goodwood before tangling with race leader John Surtees’s Ferrari 250GTO. Nick kept the car for two years during which time he raced it extensively in appropriate events with an historic flavour, taking victories at Silverstone, Oulton Park and the Wiscombe Hillclimb and was also a member of the winning Aston Martin Jubilee team in the 1970 750 Motor Club 6 Hour Relay race at Silverstone.
Staying faithful to Aston Martin but looking to return to modern sports car racing, Nick acquired a Lola T70GT Mk 3 powered by a 5.1 litre Aston Martin V8 engine, a combination which had originally been essayed by John Surtees in 1967 without success. Nick took in a full season of the Interserie with modest results on the few occasions that the car finished a race. Eighth place at the Österreichring and 10th at Hockenheim in 1972 were the best finishing positions. In 1973/74 Nick raced and enjoyed success with another famous Aston – 5 NBP, the ex-works/Michael Salmon Project 214 evolution of the DB4GT.
In 1992, Nick was able to borrow back ‘2 VEV’ from its then owner to contest a full season in the FIA Historic GT Championship, finishing second at Montlhery, third at Zandvoort and with solid finishes in the other Championship races around Europe Nick won the title, an achievement which enabled him to become a BRDC Full Member the following year. In the later 1990s and early 2000s Nick continued to compete with reasonable success in historic races, driving a variety of marques (Jaguars, Lotus Elan and a Ford Falcon) throughout Europe.
In the early 1970’s Nick moved to the Isle of Man and met his second wife Issy. Nick continued to compete with the Aston and a modified Triumph TR4 in local events such as the Manx Classic. Nick encouraged the Manx postal service to include an image of “2 VEV” in a set of four postage stamps celebrating Manx motor sport. They were also at the heart of the small nucleus of BRDC Members in the Island. Nick was a genial host, always welcoming visitors, particularly those with BRDC connections, maintaining a keen interest in the sport and visiting the BRDC Clubhouse whenever he could. He was also one of the driving forces behind the Milntown Motors Showcase Museum, participating in the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run with the Museum’s 1900 New Orleans.
To Issy and to Nick’s two children by his first marriage, Emily and Ben, and to their wider circle of friends and relations, the BRDC extends its deepest condolences on their sudden loss of a great character. Nick’s funeral has already taken place.
