A warm welcome from the Web's most visited and comprehensive tribute / information site for 1958 World motor racing Champion John Michael (Mike) Hawthorn (not Hawthorne) or 'The Farnham Flyer' as he was often known. We sincerely hope that you find your time here is a useful and pleasant experience - we currently have 160 web pages of information for you to browse. This currently equates to over 900 printed A4 pages!

We know people are finding the site very enjoyable from the many Readers Comments we've been sent. Now into our fourth year, the site has been a great success, becoming No 1 in the major search engines when looking for Mike Hawthorn.
 
In 2008, the success of this site initiated the production of the best-selling book 'Mike Hawthorn Golden Boy', the first edition of which sold out inside a few months. Many visitors helped in its production for which we thank everyone.

We have to thank everyone who helped us achieve this along with all those who purchased the book (now reprinted and still available!) and gave it such kind comments, both press and personal.

While looking around, you may find you have information that would be useful to others if seen here - if so please Contact Us - as many, many people already have - with your information and we'll do our best to add it to the site at some future date.

You'll find that the 160 pages here include information on many of the marques that Mike drove such as Ferrari, Jaguar, Vanwall, BRM etc and there are many images of these marques. There is also a list of all the cars he drove in his career. Plus details of cars he owned such as his Alfa Romeo 8C and Ferrari 212, Lancia Aurelia and later his Jaguar XK140 DHC and Jaguar Mk 1 saloon. Did you know Mike was a pilot and flew his own Aircraft?

Young and very talented West Country artist Paul Dove, who painted the cover image for the Mike Hawthorn Golden Boy book, has created a number of new Mike-related artworks. These include several 'Pub signs' that 'might' have existed at some time past. These were on show at Race Retro in 2009 although all were sold very early on the first day!

We have a dedicated page for Paul Dove with some background and examples of his Hawthorn work so please have a look and support Paul if you are looking for something.

We have done our best to try and establish that all images and videos shown here are either very likely in the public domain or that we have established the copyright owner (where this is possible) and/ or have permission to reproduce them from our many contributors, especially other Hawthorn fans.

We are also using Google Earth © where this is useful - such as in pinpointing where the fatal 1959 crash occurred.

We have a large section on Mike's Tourist Trophy Garage that was located in East Street, Farnham - the basic structure is still all there but with a different facade! If you have any memories and especially any images of it back in the '50s and later please contact us.

Picture shows Mike Hawthorn at his Tourist Trophy Garage watching some welding work by Bill Field on a modified exhaust system for their enhanced version of the Jaguar Mk 1 while an Austin-Healey BN1 in for repair stands in the background

We have many examples of Paintings on the site. Here is Michael Turner's painting of Mike Hawthorn's victorious Jaguar D-type, XKD 505, leading the Mercedes of Juan Fangio through Whitehouse corner at Le Mans in 1955

If you want to make a virtual visit to Mike's grave, please do so to remember him. If anyone went to the actual location on the day, we'd be pleased to share your images here.
We have a page for Mike's Grave and show you via Google Earth where it is located if you wanted to visit it as many do.

It is regularly maintained and generally carries fresh flowers.

We have a comprehensive two-part report covering the events on the day of Mike's death - if you can add anything to it, do please let us know via our Contact page.

We are updating the site as time allows so please do return to check out changes. We encourage you to leave your own Comments if you enjoyed your visit here.

We were particularly pleased to receive a nice thank you in our early days from well known Author and motorsport guru, Doug Nye, himself an expert on Mike, via the Nostalgia Forum on the Atlas F1 Bulletin Board.

You can Register with us! This came from suggestions by people using the site (and there are a lot more visits than we expected!) - you can access some larger images after logging on and we also have extra member-only facilities and articles.

Mike in his Cooper Bristol, 1952

We have much already-known and even more NEW unique material on the site - with lots more given us by Mike's fans who have contacted us since we first went live back in 2006. Many are from Farnham where his home was - including people who worked at Mike's Tourist Trophy Garage with him back in the 1950s. And, we are working on resurrecting a copy of the film of the 1955 crash that has been lost for some time. This has now materialised as a DVD about the crash that you can purchase here.

We look at Mike's life from start to its tragic end and try to cover everything on the way. We have an extensive Memorabilia section, including Model cars. Then there are images from 1950 through 1959 and a special section on Paintings of Mike. Plus all his career Race Results - and a lot more, 160 pages currently!

There are links to other sites and articles on subjects such as recreations of his Jaguar Mk 1, registration VDU 881, that he sadly died in on the 22nd January 1959 after a major crash plus info on the recreated cars that have been built. We look at his life and death, the funeral and grave, plus memorials in detail and also analyse the disaster at Le Mans in 1955. We have a full Site Map to help you find your way around.

One of the many newspaper headlines from the period of Mike's fatal crash

The above photo shows Mike enjoying himself with Jack Hawkins and others - he is receiving a cocktail cabinet presented to him at the Cafe Royal, London, from the National Sporting Club in January 1959. This was only 60 hours before he died.
 
The question is - does anyone know what happened to the Cocktail Cabinet? Did it ever arrive at Mike's home or did the National Sporting Club retain it - or does someone out there own it now?

Please use our Enquiries page if you know the answer! You can see the preview news video this still came from at our British Pathe Archive link. There is also coverage of his death there.

Win Percy, seriously injured in 2003, took Nigel Webb's recreation of Mike's Jaguar Mark 1 3.4L, VDU 881, up the famous hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on each of the three days of the event (July 11/12/13 2008). The car had been fitted with hand controls especially for Win as shown below - everyone was delighted to see Win in such good spirits and back on the track after his accident and subsequent operation that went very wrong...

Mike's personal School Tuck Box surfaces after 50 years

We have been given access to Mike's personal wooden Tuck Box that he used at school in the 1940s, complete with its large collection of Cigarette Cards. It has been stored for 50 years and this is its first public viewing since Mike died. Read More....

In January 2008 and again in 2009 as World Champion, British Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton was presented with the coveted Hawthorn Memorial Trophy at the Motor Sports Association's Night of Champions at the Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall in London. It was first presented in memory of Mike Hawthorn who sadly died a few months after his great 1958 victory, 1958 being the 50th Anniversary year. Did you know there was a second original version of this trophy?

Tourist Trophy Garage

We need any photos of the Tourist Trophy Garage in East Street Farnham, especially views of the complete forecourt as it was anytime between 1953 and 1959, and any interior views of the workshop and facilities. See our TT Garage page for those we already have.

Were you a customer during Mike's tenure maybe or did you even work there? Again, let us know if so - five former TT Garage employees have contacted us so far as a result of seeing this site!

Mike Hawthorn was a keen home-movie guy and was often seen at events armed with, I think, a Bell and Howell 8mm camera. He's seen above, along with his trademark cap, filming Stirling Moss at Goodwood before the Glover Trophy in April 1955. But none of these films or the camera(s) seem to have survived!

We know from an eye-witness that his mother burnt many of them in the back garden of his Farnham house after he died, along with lots of other historical material. Do YOU know if any film survives somewhere? Please Contact Us if so.

October 2009: We were thrilled to be at this year's Goodwood Revival (18th-20th September) where the event featured their traditional period garage, this time made out as a part facsimile of the original wooden 1935 Tourist Trophy Garage that was located not far from the later one in East Street, Farnham. Those involved with this site worked closely with Goodwood staff to ensure that the final result is what everyone would expect from a Goodwood period set!


You can read all about it on our dedicated page with plenty of photos..

Coming too late for inclusion in the book, we were contacted by and then recently interviewed ex-Police Constable Tony Keefe - he was PC 155 back in 1959 - and he tells that he was the first police car on the scene of Mike's fatal crash after a midday call on the police radio, along with PC Doug Brazier. Tony was also the reporting officer at the inquest (see newspaper reports).

And, amazingly, he still has his handwritten police pocketbook with five pages of as-it-happened pencilled notes of what he saw when he arrived at the tragic scene that morning outside Guildford, including his memories of his first look inside the car. There are a number of surprises in his account, elements of which differ from the currently established sequence of events of that day. And, with his original police pocket book notes available to back it all up, it will make a very interesting story for the new edition of our Mike Hawthorn book.


After he had finished his duties at the scene, he helped direct traffic while the wreck of Mike's Jaguar Mk1, VDU 881, was hauled on to the Coombs Garage transporter that had arrived from just up the road.

One of the police photographers took this excellent and never-before-seen photo of Tony at the scene directing traffic ...


You can read the story all about Mike's fatal crash and events leading up to it in detail on this site. There is a lot more information and photographs in our Golden Boy book on Mike.

The Mike Hawthorn Memorial Museum

November 2009: Some of you will know of or have heard rumours of a new museum dedicated to Mike. This has been created by fan Nigel Webb and you can read all about it HERE. It is private but the possibility of future visits is explained on the page.

April 2009: We have a page dedicated to the Hawthorn tree planted in Mike's memory back in 1999 that had a plaque erected next to it early in 2009. Now, a few months later, that engraved brass memorial plaque has been stolen from the site in Onslow Arboretum although the thief left the wooden base behind. What is our world coming to? If anyone has information on its whereabouts or the identity of the thief, please contact us or Guildford police. Atlas F1 have a thread on this plaque here

June 2009: This 1:43 model of VDU 881 has been released by SMTS and is distributed (exclusively?) by Grand Prix Legends - we have an example. However, first impressions are very poor with the model having a distorted body shell and displaying many inaccuracies - including use of a Jaguar Mk 2 grill - that should never ever have got through to production.


There is a discussion on this model with more photos on the Atlas F1 Nostalgia Forum.

A very well attended memorial service was held for Mike Hawthorn on Sunday 25th January 2009 at St Andrews Church in Farnham, close to the 50th Anniversary of his death. It was a big success with over 500 people at the church, 5000 people in the streets of Farnham and coverage by major media. Stirling Moss, Damon Hill (seen above at the service), Tony Brooks and other celebrities attended, drove some of the 70 1950s cars afterwards, and laid wreaths privately at his graveside.


You can find more details and a full report on our Memorial Service page.

The BBC also have a news page for the event.

January 22nd 2009 was the 50th Anniversary of Mike's death on the A3. Fans worldwide remembered him around midday and gathered by his grave in West Street, Farnham. You can read much more about his death on this site.

L-R: Tony Bailey, Murray Walker and Paul Skilleter

On November 20th 2008, the book that was inspired by this site and its fans and worldwide visitors was launched in Farnham, Surrey, Mike's hometown. A BBC News crew covered the event live via satellite and motorsport commentator Murray Walker was there with a message from Lewis Hamilton. You can see more including video coverage on the Book Launch home page.

And on Monday 3rd November 2008 at 7.00pm, the BBC One UK show included a four minute item which payed tribute to Mike near the anniversary of his World Championship win date 50 years ago. Murray Walker chats to Author Tony Bailey at Brooklands during filming

Murray Walker fronted it with involvement from Sir Stirling Moss. Site members helped the BBC with interviews and reference material from the new book and elsewhere for the programme. The coverage is available via the BBC iPlayer for a while and also on this site. You can see some BBC video and photos from the filming here:

Sadly, back in 1981, a 7500+ signature petition failed to get the new Farnham Sports Centre named after Mike. See our archive photos and info on this event from the past.

Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton for his fantastic Championship win! Like Mike Hawthorn back in 1958, 50 years ago, he took the title by one point, also becoming the youngest ever world champion.

Lewis will also win the Hawthorn Memorial Trophy for the second year running. See our Book Launch page below for a personal greeting from Lewis and videos. Lewis was also kind enough to send a greetings message to the launch of the book on Mike written by the creator of this site with help from all its visitors.

A celebration was held, 50 years to the day of Mike Hawthorn's World Championship win, on October 19th 2008 at the Barley Mow in Tilford, one of Mike's favourite pubs. We have lots of photos from the event.

Studio 88 (Graham and Michael Turner) released a limited edition (100 only) print to celebrate the 2008 50th anniversary of Mike's World Championship win. You can find more details HERE

Redhill Roofing re-roofed the Mike Hawthorn Sports Pavilion at Farnham Park in 2008! Good news as the current state of the place was just appalling considering who it's meant to commemorate... There were also moves in 2009 to have the memorial plaque erected that should have been there from day one but nothing seems to have happened...

We met with ex Tourist Trophy Garage Fitter, Frank Swan - Frank worked there from 1950 - 1954 and has many memories and photos of that time. Read Frank's Story for more information.

And we have a page all about the Tourist Trophy Garage Transporter that was used to move Mike's Cooper-Bristol around in the early 1950s.

Our account of Mike's Funeral has been updated with a detailed report on the proceedings including a list of mourners plus new photographs from a former Tourist Trophy Garage employee who was there. Plus detail of Mike's Will and the value of his estate from the Probate document.

DID A SHOT KILL MIKE? - this staggering question was asked by a national newspaper back in 1959 after Rob Walker discovered evidence of mysterious accidents at the location where Mike crashed. Read all about it here ....

We also have an extract from Paul Skilleter's book about Norman Dewis, Jaguar's Chief Test Engineer, where Norman discusses what it was like working with Mike and other 50s drivers.

Memorial plaque for Mike

A Marble Plaque in memory of Mike was unveiled in his home town of Mexborough on Saturday 16th December 2006 at midday. A classic car display was part of the celebration and a crowd assembled at 11.30am with the plaque being placed on the side of the Intersport shop, at the corner of High Street and Hope Street, at noon. Read the full stories with Videos!

At the event, Jean Ireland (nee Jean Howarth, Mike's fiancee at the time of his death) said:

"Being born in Yorkshire made him a cut above the others as shown in his determination to be the best in his field. Although he left Yorkshire as a small boy, he still remained a Yorkshireman at heart. And before he asked my father for my hand, he reminded him that he was a true-born Yorkshireman. So my father gave us permission to marry"

An armband worn by Mike Hawthorn

MIKE HAWTHORN WORLD'S CHAMPION 1958
Mike's World Champion BRDC badge from our Memorabilia section