1. John Coombs was a British racing driver and racing team owner.
16 Facts About John Coombs
1. 2.
The owner of a Jaguar dealership in Guildford, Coombs began racing in 1949 with a Cooper, fitted with an engine from a Rover 10.
3.
John Coombs graduated to Formula Three and campaigned a JBS in 1951, and later a Cooper-Norton and a British-built Erskine Staride.
4.
John Coombs achieved the lap record at Fairwood Circuit, which still stands as the circuit was redeveloped into Swansea Airport in the late 1950s.
5.
John Coombs won at Thruxton again in 1953 in the Staride.
6.
Also in 1953, John Coombs earned a test at Snetterton with the Connaught Engineering factory team, alongside Roy Salvadori, Jack Fairman and Ian Stewart.
7.
John Coombs progressed to a Cooper-Bristol and a Lotus Eleven, but found that his business commitments were compromising his driving career.
8.
John Coombs therefore decided to give up driving and concentrate on preparing cars for other drivers.
9.
John Coombs began by running a Lotus 15 in sports car racing for Ron Flockhart and Roy Salvadori with some success, before switching to a pair of Cooper Monacos, his drivers including Jack Brabham and Bruce McLaren.
10.
In 1961 John Coombs used the new Jaguar E-Type, and by the following year, Graham Hill had joined his list of drivers.
11.
John Coombs bought a Ferrari 250 GTO and lent it to Jaguar at the end of 1962 to help them prepare a new lightweight E-Type, which found success with Hill at the wheel.
12.
John Coombs' team was by now racing Jaguar saloons, the E-Types, two Ferrari GTOs and an Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato.
13.
In 1964, John Coombs expanded his operation to include Formula Two, running a Cooper-Cosworth for Graham Hill.
14.
For 1968, and with support from Ken Tyrrell, Coombs prepared Matras for Stewart and Johnny Servoz-Gavin, the latter winning the 1969 European Formula Two Championship.
15.
John Coombs switched back to a Brabham in 1970, for Stewart and Jack Brabham himself.
16.
John Coombs continued his interest in racing cars, preparing historic cars for use at the Goodwood Revival until shortly before his death in a Monaco hospital, aged 91.