Mike Thackwell

[Paddockman]

Can Anyone tell me \whether Mike Thackwell is still in anyway involed in Motorsport?

[kipper]

I think Mike Thackwell retired in the late '80s and has had little or no involvement with motorsport since. I believe he has since worked as a teacher.

[Nivola]

from what I know/read he did a total walk out of motorsport job. Last I knew he was a school teacher. ( why did I never have a teacher like mike! )

[ghinzani]

I believe he was a publican on the south coast since the teaching job. He should still be racing, perhaps DTM or Sportscars after many GP and Indycar wins - in a proper world! I'd love to see him in GP Masters, but apparently he is very disillusioned with racing, udnerstandable really. His sister married David Brabham.

[Russfeld]

The way thats written it makes it sound like he's 'off' racing because of his sister's choice! :-)

[cds_uk]

Yeah i heard he was running a pub down on the south coast aswell, what a shame he never got a fair crack of the whip, he could have given Prost, Senna and the rest of them a real fright, and he was so cool with it, a real hero that got away in my opinion.

[TomS]

does anyone know where?

[ensign14]

Originally Posted by ghinzani

II'd love to see him in GP Masters, but apparently he is very disillusioned with racing, udnerstandable really.

I've heard this, and of course he should have had better chances as a dominant driver in lower formulae, but F1 was better to him than many others - a GP debut at 19 and a one-off drive when he was still in his early twenties. There was no reason why he should not have made a decent living from the sport. One wonders whether he had too much too soon? "If I hadn't seen such riches I could live with being poor..."

[mountainstar]

There was an article on him in 1997 or so in F1 Racing. Not only was he a teacher, but also a helicopter pilot, a miner, a bartender and so on. Retired from racing in 1988 I believe. I remember a few years back he drove his old F2 car at the twin ring motegi in Japan for some historic event.

[chunterer]

He's righjt up there on my list of 'unfulfilled talents - those who never made it' which was the basis for as thread i started couple years ago.

In mid 80's he was rated by some as one of the top 5 drivers in the world and he wasn't even in F1!

He could get in a car at short notice, which was often the case for his last few drives like the Hotz Lola in '86 and the recalcitrant Ralt RT22 of 1988 and get on the limit of that cars' capabilities straight away.

He sufferred in '82 after a nasty F2 shunt in which he broke an ankle and/or leg and i think ge was concussed and took a long time to recover fully - that may well have hindered his progress to F1.

If it wasn't for that then it could arguably have been him winning '82 or '83 F2 title instead of the likes of Dr Palmer and he might have cemented a Williams or Tyrrell drive as a result?

Somebody somewhere is bound to come out and say he probably weasn't good enough otherwise he would have done it in the end but he was always one of the quickest and smoothest drivers at the time and miles better than a load of people who subsequently went on to achieve moderate or much success at the top.

In many ways Tom Kristensen reminds me of Mike, in terms of career path at least and also not making it to F1. The difference being is that TK has ground out a salaried career in other forms of the sport, wheras Mike just got fed up with it... how this guy was never picked up by a decent F1 team i'll never know - perhaps he's just got better in the last few years or something and by then he was considered a bit too 'old?'

[Woolley]

I remember seeing him at Donington in the first season of F3000. He definitely had the ability to acheive more than he did.

[foreversideways]

I think he still holds the record as the youngest GP driver at the age of 19 in 1980 at the Canadian GP. He was entered in a third Tyrrell and i cant remember if he took the race or had to hand his car over. As i remember he really was the real deal just frustrated by circumstances. I don't think he has anything to do with motor sport now as you never hear of him.

[kipper]

I believe that Thackwell, as the third driver, was forced to hand his car over to (I think) Jarier after a race stopping accident.

[chunterer]

Yes, that's the story Kipper.

His career was a strange case of circumstances, or lack of them.

As a fan i think he would have been up there with the top guys like Prost, Senna and Mansell in the 80's and early 90's, but the team bosses must've thought otherwise as he never got offered a proper race deal that i'm aware of?.

[foreversideways]

Yes on recollection i think you are right.

[Grandslammer]

Wasn't it that Thackwell and Team mate Daly had a first lap accident,neither taking the re-start

[mike777]

Hi i run mike thackwell at rushen green racing in the late 1978 when he first come over from australia, after his racing stopped he went on to work in a school then to fly helicopters, his sister did some motor racing in the late 80's or at the start of the 90's in tin tops (think she was ok).He stated with me down at thruxton at scorpion racing school in the late 1977 and moved with me to norfolk.