TotalMotorSport All the latest Motorsport news, race reports and photographs from around the world. Alms, Touring Cars, Formula One & Le Mans 24 Hours

<body> <Table Width="550" border="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" cellpadding="0"><TR><TD Width="35"><IMG SRC="//www.totalmotorsport.com/images/spacer.gif" WIDTH="35" HEIGHT="1"></td><td> <CENTER><Table border="0" width="100%"> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="5">LE MANS</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2">27/12/2000</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="4">Walter Hayes & John Cooper</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="3">A Sad Christmas</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="1">  </FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2"> They both made it to their late seventies and both stamped their mark on the history of motor racing – but both men succumbed to long illnesses over the holiday period.<BR> <BR> Hayes will be best remembered for initiating the most successful racing engine ever, the DFV F1 unit. Colin Chapman needed a modern engine to fit into the evolutionary Lotus 49, and a commitment from Ford made the Double Four Valve possible. Graham Hill undertook the development work, but Jim Clark toook it to its maiden win on its debut at Zandvoort in 1967. 153 more wins followed for variations on this theme.<BR> <BR> Walter Hayes joined Ford in 1962, and it was his decision making that created the Ford GT40 out of the Lola GT. That project eventually produced Le Mans wins in 1966, ’67, ’68 and ’69, the latter of course the closest finish in Le Mans history. By the end of ’69, the DFV had already powered Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart to F1 World Championships, but the DFV and derivatives carried on winning until the 1980s.<BR> <BR> Hayes’ racing story may not yet be concluded though. A spell (after his ‘retirement’) with Aston Martin saw the DB range continue, and the Newport Pagnell based company may yet have a say in chasing the laurels at Le Mans.<BR> <BR> John Cooper was just a year older, although his heyday came a decade sooner than Walter Hayes’. Ironically, his Coopers didn’t benefit from the success of the DFV – perhaps they were even eliminated from contention by it.<BR> <BR> Cooper’s 500cc cars were the best of the era, success in this class leading to Formula 1 accolades, initially with the same driver at the wheel. Stirling Moss created legends at the wheel of Rob Walker entered cars, but it was Jack Brabham who won Championships in the factory car.<BR> Cooper will be remembered for his ‘forward’ thinking in making front engined cars out of date, both in Formula 1 and at Indianapolis, but the population at large will know him for the Mini Cooper.<BR> <BR> That story is likely to continue into the new millennium, while the Cooper name continues on with the family-owned garage at Ferring in West Sussex. In a former role, the Editor had the pleasure of teaching John Cooper’s grandson. I treasure the signed copy of John Cooper’s biography that was given to me by Charlie Cooper.<BR> </FONT></TD></TR> </TABLE><BR> </CENTER> <BR><CENTER><font size="1" color="#808080" face="Tahoma">Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport</font></CENTER> </td> </tr> </table> </body>