Matthews, Dave

[ted vinson]

There was a Capri driver in the 70s called Dave Matthews, he drove in the British Touring Cars in the seventies: I think he was sponsored by Lindrick Motors. I was at the British Grand Prix in 1973 when he had a big crash. Does anybody have any recollections of this driver?

[Steve Wilkinson]

I first remember Dave being succesful in 1971 driving the Team Broadspeed Castrol 1.3 Escort. He won the Up to 1300 RAC Touring Car Race (Rd 2) at Oulton Park. I also saw him win his class in Rd 4 at Silverstone. I was at Croft for Rd 7 where Dave took the 1300 class and finished SIXTH overall! A week later at Silverstone in the GP meeting he again took the 1300 class. I was at Rd 9 - Oulton- where he took another class win.
In 1972 he moved into a 1.8 Broadspeed Escort RS1600 and I saw him win his class at Rd 2 Oulton Park on a streaming wet track. Dave was on top form when I saw him next at Silverstone in April. He took THIRD place overall in the Escort as well as the classs (Rd4). The next time I saw Dave he was battling round Brands at the GP meeting. His door-handle to door-handle battle with Dave Brodie was the highlight of the Saloon car race. Brodie just took the class win and Second place with Matthews third. Rd 7 at Pulton saw Matthews in fine form again taking SECOND place overall behind Gardner in the all conquering Camaro. Despite the Brodie/Matthews pairing they could only take 3rd in class at the Silverstone Tourist Trophy, but they did set fastest lap in class. Rd 9 at Mallory and another second place for Matthews once again behind Big Frank in the Camaro.
1973 and the Broadspeed Capri proved fragile. However at Silverstone it was on the pace. The shunt was horrific. Matthew's Capri was in collision with Dave Brodie's Escort just after Abbey. The cars crashing heavily into the bridge. Matthews car was airbourne and was a complete write off.

[JJ Jet Plane]

Dave Matthews returned to the sport in the early '90s as an enthusiastic supporter of his son James's racing. James Matthews finished runner-up in British FRenault in '93, then won the British and European titles in '94 (that year, in the British series, he matched Alain Prost's record of 11 wins in any FRenault championship). For various reasons James never won a race in two seasons of British F3 ('95 and '96) and faded away from the sport. Dave stayed involved though: he invested in Manor Motorsport (the team with which James had so much success in FRenault), enabling it to make the move into Formula 3 in 1999 and win titles with Marc Hynes ('99) and Antonio Pizzonia (2000). Matthews Sr is based in the West Indies these days but as far as I know is still a part-owner of Manor.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

It's truly horrible to see, but quick action from the marshals saved Matthew's life, along with Brodie and Gavin Booth, who was also trapped inside a burning Mini. I'm doing research into old BSCC racers for my next 'project', which you should see on here, and ran into this. How Matthews escaped is beyond me. Just look where the engine is...

[Unit 2 Racing]

I was standing very close to this. Amazed we did't loose one or more drives that day.

[Clive Brown]

Did Mathews hit Brodie up the back, or vice-versa? As I recall it (I was at the meeting) one was slipstreaming the other down the straight when they came upon Gavin Booth's Mini.

What was the sequence of events?

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Originally Posted by Unit 2 Racing

I was standing very close to this. Amazed we did't loose one or more drives that day.

Apparently the cars were also on fire, can you recall anything?

[Unit 2 Racing]

I don't recall a fire.

I think they were both trying to lap Gavin Booth.

[JimW]

I was marshalling there and helped to deal with the aftermath. That incident still stays in my mind as one of the most violent I have ever seen. I seem to recall that it was Mathews' car which was, briefly, on fire (but it might have been Brodie's). Whichever it was formed the subject of a Graviner advertisement shortly afterwards - they made the Firewire system with which it was equipped.

That would have been a memorable day except that some F1 driver took out most of the field at the startline. ;-)

Regards

Jim

[morninggents]

I seem to recall that Gavin Booth's Mini had spun at Abbey and Dave Matthews with Dave Brodie right behind both had nowhere to go. I believe that Gavin Booth was the most seriously injured of the three. An horrendous crash that all were lucky to survive.

[grantp]

Digging up a very old thread ....

It seems that Dave and James and the family are soon to be related to the Middletons via marriage to Pippa.

Nice pad in West Indies too, apparently.

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Biscuits In A Red Bull

It's truly horrible to see, but quick action from the marshals saved Matthew's life, along with Brodie and Gavin Booth, who was also trapped inside a burning Mini. I'm doing research into old BSCC racers for my next 'project', which you should see on here, and ran into this. How Matthews escaped is beyond me. Just look where the engine is...

I had not seen these pictures before.

Makes me wonder if being partly out of the car (or indeed mostly out of the car) was a better option in this instance than being held inside it.