Hawkins, Paul

[PaulSands]

"Hawkeye" - Paul Hawkins bio - Any good? It looks a bit light on pages at 170, especially as I assume 10 or so of those will be used up on pictures

My first horrible memory of motor racing as a 6 year old and the drive back from Oulton in 1969

[Andrew Kitson]

I remember hearing it on the car radio as we were on our way back from a meeting, maybe Snetterton.

[TimD]

I've got the book and I'm enjoying it. I think it may be a first effort from the author as I've not seen anything mentioning him. It is quite a small book but less than £17 for a short-run hardback biography is pretty darn good.

And the content of the book itself? Well, a first thing that one notices is that it's not terribly linear and this can be a disadvantage in a biography. The circumstances of the Oulton Park tragedy are gently glossed over, which is a pleasant surprise in this day and age. What really comes through though is the author's obvious knowledge of his subject. In many respects, it reads like Eoin Young's McLaren biography and as I've had that proudly on my shelves for decades, I am happy to give "Hawkeye" the thumbs up.

[Peter Mallett]

For those of us who don't know I got this from www.silhouet.com

Hawkins, Paul (Aus) Hawkeye
b 12/10/1937 (Melbourne) - d 26/5/1969 (Oulton Park)

1964 - 2nd in Rand GP (John Willment), won Rhodesian GP (F2 Brabham)
1965 - 3 F1 GP (1 John Willment, 2 DW Racing). 0 points. Crashed into Monaco
harbour in his F1 Lotus.
1966 - Won F2 Eifelrennen (Alexis)
1967 - Drove Ford GT40. Won Targa Florio (Porsche), Paris 1000km (John Wyer).
1968 - Won Monza 1000km (John Wyer)
1969 - Killed when crashed Lola T70 into tree during Tourist Trophy at
Oulton Park

[mickj]

Thanks Tim and Peter for update. I had better go and check at the book shop and see if my copy of 'Hawkeye' has arrived here in Aus.

[nicanary]

Another late posting from me, but Hawkeye was a favourite of mine.

In the Rheims 12-hours of 1967 he shared Jackie Epstein's Lola T70 - the race started at 12 noon and ended obviously at midnight.

In the dark Hawkeye smashed the outright lap record - I'm talking 3-litre GP cars here. After the race a reporter asked our hero how he'd done this - a baffled Paul replied "I got lights dunn'I?". Priceless.

[nicanary]

I know, I know.

At least JYS has dyslexia, I have only senility. In my haste I transposed the start/finish times, rendering the anecdote rather pointless.

Lola T70s did not usually last that long.

[Andy Clegg]

I heard about Hawkeye's accident while at School. A "hero" of mine.

[Al Weyman]

I knew Paul well when I worked for Roger Nathan Racing at Fortis Green road and Paul had a workshop in the establishment. I remember coming into work on the Monday morning and hearing the news it was heart breaking, what a loss what a great character. I was actually talking with him about joining his team and used to buy all his old tyres from him and resell them out of Autosport to earn a few extra bob. I also bought a set of Borrani Mag Alloys from the road going GT40. I better not tell about the Christmas party at Grand Prix Metalcrafts workshop as I may get banned from the forum lol!

[Andy Clegg]

Nice to hear that story Al.

[nicanary]

Originally Posted by Andy Clegg

I heard about Hawkeye's accident while at School. A "hero" of mine.

Those Aussie drivers of the time were a piece of work and then some. (Gardner,Muir,Hawkins).

Mark Webber seems to be a really nice guy, but he's not really in the same league. Gee,thanks Bernie.