Eoin Young's Motormedia

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Eoin Young's Collector's Column no. 22

Barley Mow Down Under

It was just like the Barley Mow in West Horsley, lunching at a friendly pub with the good old boys from the good old days of motor racing. It was a generation thing. We enjoyed the company and the stories and they liked keeping up with the latest Grand Prix gossip. Sir Jack Brabham is 80 next Tuesday (April 2) and his birthday bash in Sydney is bringing his old racing mates out from Blighty. Tony and Pina Brooks visited New Zealand for the first time on their way to the Brabham birthday and had lunch with Chris and Tish Amon on the way. They also had lunch at my replacement for the Barley Mow – The Brewer’s Arms at Merivale in Christchurch – with a group of my motor racing mates who couldn’t believe that they were in the company of a quiet man, rated by Stirling Moss as one of the top track men of his time. Michael Clark flew down from Auckland for the lunch, said it was the most expensive meal he’d ever had…and thought it was well worth every penny! Gavin Bain brought along his D-Type and Tony climbed aboard for the traditional after-lunch snap. Ironic as it happened, because Tony had only ever been in a D-Type once before and that was a private test at Oulton Park. He had always been an Aston man in sports cars.

Eoin Young

To read previous columns click on the links below:

1. SCRAPBOOKS and THE EDDIE HALL PHOTO ALBUM MYSTERY

2. GOODWOOD CIRCUIT REVIVAL 2001

3. SPRING RACING IN NEW ZEALAND

4. TAZIO'S TORTOISE

5. "CHASING THE TITLE"- A 'must-read' book...

6. HERMANN BEATS THE TRAIN

7. OLD CAR IMAGININGS

8. NEW BOOKS, PRESCOTT AND GOODWOOD 2002

9. FIXING FORMULA ONE

10. CLASSIC RACERS, FORZA AMON! and COLIN CHAPMAN

11. MY NEW BOOK... & BERNIE'S NEW BOOK

12. SELLING AT GOODWOOD AND BUYING AT BEAULIEU

13. TARGA NEW ZEALAND, BRABHAM ON SCHUMACHER, AMON ON CLARK

14. IT STILL BEATS WORKING!

15. PUSHING BUTTONS; F1 DRIVER SHUFFLES

16. STILL OPEN FOR BUSINESS

17. EXCITING COLLECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHS IN WARSAW

18. BERTIE WOOSTER'S SUNBEAM

19. MY NEW BRUCE McLAREN BOOK

20. "FORZA AMON" COLLECTOR'S EDITION

21. DURANT RECORD BREAKING RUN

22. BARLEY MOW DOWN UNDER

23. MINTEX MAN - RELINED

24. FERRARI FIRST AND LAST

25. SCRIBE'S WALL OF FAME

26. STIRLING OR TAZIO TOPS?

Eoin Young is a New Zealander who left a bank job to join Bruce McLaren and help set up his racing team. More or less. He arrived in the UK in 1961 as a freelance journalist, covered the Formula Junior season with Denny Hulme, joined McLaren in 1962. Founder director of team. Established Motormedia 1966. Started weekly "Autocar" diary page in 1967 -- it ran until 1998. Covered CanAm, Indy and GP series. In 1979 established as a dealer in rare motoring and motor racing books and ephemera. Still trading with regular lists. Autobiography "It Beats Working" published in 1996. with its sequel "It Still beats Working" in 2003. After more than three decades based in the UK he has now returned to his native New Zealand.

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