A Time to Race: The J.A.Pearce Story

In less than a decade John Pearce rose from apprentice welder to essential pit crew for two intrepid Le Mans entries, built Deep Sanderson & Peerless cars, established a speed shop, designed & manufactured the MAGNA wheels which graced some of the most exotic and potent cars in the world, became a Formula 1 constructor, built up two factory GT40s and raced another, owned several illustrious Ferraris, and then vanished, leaving a cloud of billowing tyre smoke in his wake, thick with acrid rumours and poisonous gossip spat from those it engulfed. Wispy remains of that cloud linger and continue to polarise opinions of Pearce half a century later. A Time to Race chronicles a search for truths buried deep within the murky and labyrinthine catacombs that underpin the entrancing façade of 1960s motor racing.

About the Author :
I was seven years old when John Pearce's 1967 Formula 1 car was unveiled at the London Racing Car Show in Olympia's National Hall. I remember the day well, but only because the news programmes were dominated by Donald Campbell's failed Water Speed Record. I was transfixed by footage of Bluebird skimming across Coniston Water at 300MPH; the cameraman struggling desperately to keep Campbell's boat in frame. Despite the visual drama of Bluebird somersaulting, what left the greatest impression was Campbell's matter of fact live commentary of his own demise. I had found my first hero of motorsport. A few weeks later, as part of a classmate's birthday party, we were ferried to the cinema to see the film Grand Prix, in which I saw the J.A.Pearce Cooper-Ferrari on its debut race at Brands Hatch, but it was around 45 years later that I realised it, or even knew that the car existed. In 1978, a college friend encouraged me to start reading Motor Sport magazine and effectively introduced me to my second hero of motorsport, Denis Jenkinson. From that point onwards, it was DSJ's commentary on Formula 1 races that I anticipated far more eagerly than the BBC's coverage, and it was he who persuaded me in 1985 of the inevitability that the young arrivista Ayrton Senna would become my third hero of motorsport. In the cathartic moments which followed Senna's crash at Imola, when the unimagined became undeniable, the part of my identity that was my passion for Formula 1 was snatched away, and I felt no compulsion to prevent it. Happily, my love for motorsport was rekindled by going to Le Mans for the first time to see the return of MG to top level racing in 2001. Despite neither of the MG-Lola EX257 prototypes finishing the race, by the end of it I was hooked; the sheer scale of the event, its palpable historical significance, the speed differentials, the inevitable tragedies and triumphs as they unfold and the general bonhomie that permeates throughout. It's a place for heroes. As works manager at the Cooper Car Company through its rise to prominence in Formula 1, Roy Golding rubbed shoulders with many of the names that helped shift Britain's position to the centre of international motorsport. Not only did he employ John Pearce while there, he later worked for him in manufacturing the famous MAGNA wheels, but neither of those associations ended well! Mike Stow's colourful memories of his experiences in 1960s motorsport proved invaluable in helping to bring a level of authenticity to John Pearce's story which would otherwise have proved impossible to create. In his youth, Mike was first introduced to John Pearce through their mutual friend David Bueb, soon after David's father (Ivor) died from the injuries he sustained when he crashed his BRP Cooper-Borgward at Clermont-Ferrand. As a young Royal Navy pilot, Mike introduced his childhood friend Robs Lamplough to flying, and Lamplough reciprocated by introducing Mike to motor racing. Mike could just about afford to enter his own cars in Formula 2, Formula 3 and then Formula Atlantic races, but walked away from competition after his friend Graham Coaker (the co-founder of March Engineering) died after a crash during practice for a Formule Libre race at Silverstone in a car which he'd accepted as a pay-off when Mosley, Rees and Herd pushed him out of the company. Mike remembers events, people and even racing car chassis numbers with laser-like accuracy and has no regard for those who continue to distort history to suit their vested interests or egos.

Review :
If you like detective stories, then you will find Roger Butt's biography of J.A. Pearce a fascinating read. This story has everything, from conspiracy theories to Great Train Robbers, large sums of money appearing from nowhere against a backdrop of Formula 1 racing and some of the biggest names in motorsport... one lurid tale after another surfaced over the several years Roger spent on his detective work... with top names from the worlds of motorsport and crime. What Roger Butt has done is to pare away the fact from the fiction to produce what can only be described as a major work of investigative journalism. Gaynor Cauter (Editor: Jaguar Drivers' Club Magazine)