John Nicholson RIP

[Terry S]

I am surprised there has been no mention on this forum of the recent passing of John Nicholson.

A great NZ export. Won in Formula Atlantic, and offshore power boats. Competed in Formula 1.

But greatest claim to fame was as a DFV engine builder

Google "John Nicholson" for a very good Obituary

[kiwi285]

Really sad to hear that as he was obviously a very talented man although, as with most motor racing Kiwis, he flew under the radar as it wasn't rugby and therefore of no consequence.
Condolences to all hid family and friends.

[Neville Milne]

Like a surprising number of Kiwis, in the fringe car and car-racing industries, John spent time with Motor Specs, in their engine re-conditioning facility in Auck. As I recall he ran the 'jobbing' part of their shop...in back of the 'production' shop. I was 'loaned' to him for some weeks in order to become more familiar with their crank grinding and reclaiming operation...an easy task-master....he was not...probably annoyed that he had me under foot.
John....even in those days, was a perfectionist...took no short-cuts and did things the 'right' way.
Condolences to family and friends

[BMCBOY]

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[Dave Williamson]

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In the late 1960's I was foreman in charge of 22 guys in that "jobbing" part of Engine Rebores in Union St Auckland - where John was manager at the time.
He was smart, slick and did not tolerate idiots. He always thought deeply about a problem before he acted ....and was always correct with any decisions he made.
We had a dynamometer room at the back of the workshop, built with corrugated iron walls and roof. When testing an engine at full power, the noise inside was beyond belief. It was even louder when John was running in a race engine for one of his (2) race cars. He would manually tune it as it screamed away, whilst never wearing any sort of hearing protection!
I went twice to the Nicholson McLaren works in the UK in later years and John was still the same - thoughtful and quiet and was always glad to see me.

He certainly deserves far more recognition of the fact : that much of Bruce McLaren's success was because of John Nicholson's engines... powerful.....and reliable.

RIP John

[928]

how many peope worked at nicholson mclaren engines doing rebuilds, or was he on his own?

[Grant Sprague]

I had not really heard much about John until I arrived in London in the mid 70,s, I started to read auto sports, during my lunch times, John was way way up there with his connections in F1 & an engine builder [driver] , very highly respected , was mentioned often in that Mag for his many attributes as a kiwi . , RIP John .

[Terry S]

Recommended you have a read of this obituary and tribute

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/obituary-john-nicholson-1941-2017-955653/

http://www.mclaren.com/formula1/inside-the-mtc/tribute-to-john-nicholson/

He was truly a very talented and skilful person. As a Kiwi motor racing export I would put him up just behind McLaren, Hulme and Amon.

It therefore seems a shame to me that he has had so little recognition on this forum.
I started this thread as no Kiwi had, and that was a month ago.

There have been only SIX replies in total, and 3 of them were only in last couple of days.

To date it has had only a miserable 414 views.

Another thread showing pretty photos, but few descriptions, has had over 527,000 views.

Gives the sense of priorities for viewers of this forum.

[khyndart in CA]

Terry,
I put this together about John Nicholson last year as I certainly appreciated all that he had achieved.
I also mentioned his passing at my thread so perhaps I took some of the viewers from your thread.

May 2016
I do not know how it is today but back in the sixties and seventies many NZ mechanics would finish an apprenticeship and head off to be involved in racing in all parts of the world and most would gain valuable knowledge and then return while others would stay away and do very well. One of those would be John Nicholson who grew up in Wanganui and helped run his father's engine rebuilding business before moving to the Wellington area where he started out in racing at the same time as Graham McRae.
I remember seeing John drive his Lotus 27 around Pukekohe and finish the 1968 NZGP in ninth place and this was only his seventh race overall which included Chris Amon and Jim Clark in their prime !


(Jan. 6. 1968 .

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In 1969 John had made his way to England and due to lack of funds he did not race but instead got a job at McLaren's where he used his engine building knowledge to help George Bolthoff build the 1969 Can-Am engines and he also spent some time in the States, based in Detroit. When he came back to England, Bruce McLaren used Nicholson's driving ability to do some of the initial testing of the M8D Can- Am car.
Bruce then needed someone to build the Cosworth DFV Formula One engines and after some brief training with Cosworth, John had the very important job of being responsible for McLaren's F 1 engine program. This was to lead to John branching out and establishing the best Cosworth DFV engine business.
Nicholson McLaren Engines (NME) was founded in 1972 by John Nicholson to maintain the Cosworth DFV engines for McLaren Racing.
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July 1973. Silverstone.
After the British F 1 Grand Prix had finished their was a brief shower and then the track dried out for the last event of the day which was the Formula Atlantic Championship race. I had met up with a group of fellow Kiwis from the "Trafalgar Club" and I thought I would impress the women present with my knowledge of motor racing and even though there had been the big F1 crash started by Jody Scheckter and the big saloon car crash involving the Dave Mathews Capri that day, I told them that racing was getting safer and to come into the stands that were getting empty, for a good view of the start. Also in the field were 3 Kiwis; John Nicholson, David Oxton and Jim Murdoch. Plus cars built by Nicholson;the Lyncar-Nicholson for John and David Oxton and Alan McCall built Tui BHs for Murdoch and Tom Walkinshaw. The field also included future F1 drivers ;Tom Pryce and David Purley (who just two weeks later would bravely try to save the life of Roger Williamson ) plus John Nicholson.
Anyway we all settled in at the grandstand after the start and as the cars accelerated past us three of the first five cars touched and one cartwheeled past us and pieces were flying everywhere. It was a scary moment for all of us but fortunately no one was hurt. But the girls in our group had had enough and left me to watch the race alone!
It was an exciting race won by John Nicholson that day from Colin Vandervell, Geoff Friswell, David Purley and David Oxton was 5th.
So John Nicholson built engines won the Formula Atlantic race and Peter Revson's F1 winning McLaren M 23 also had a Nicholson built Cosworth DFV engine. This was a good day for John.
: 1973 Formula Atlantic field.jpg Views: 304 Size: 105.6 KB
A very talented Formula Atlantic field.
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John Nicholson although busy with a very successful engine building business, still found time to enter Formula One in a Lyncar chassis # 006 during the 1974 and 1975 seasons. He did not have much success but you have to admit, it was a good looking car.
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09-22-2017, 03:34 PM #96


Sad news regarding John. That club of old NZ racing drivers and mechanics is growing way too rapidly.
RIP John.
I am glad we put some words together about John last year.( posts 58 to 66 )


( Ken Hyndman )

Terry I put this together again in case you did not see it last year.
This is a sad enough occasion and I think we should move on and not pick on the TRS viewers.
From what I knew about John Nicholson he would not have wanted a big fuss made about him.
He was a very quiet and humble man.
RIP John and all you other fine people in the great racing clubhouse above.
Well done and thanks for all the memories.
(Ken Hyndman )

p.s. I am thrilled we finally have a Kiwi back in Formula One this weekend. The first since 1984. Geez I was spoilt at the 1973 British Grand Prix when 4 Kiwis were in the field. (Hulme, Amon, Ganley and McRae.)

[Grant Sprague]

Thank you Terry & Ken , what a great read , I never knew all this . Take into account though , John spent many years in UK & went quiet , but people in my era will remember some stuff , but not many as I said I learnt more about him while living there & at one point living next to Hounslow where he operated from , I was in Isleworth, Middlesex. The McLaren factory was not far from there as well a place called Colnbrook which I visited to get work during my first winter there but the season had ended & staff were on a holiday or being put off. What fantastic years they were for us kiwi mechanics , John was a stayer .