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John S.McDonnell. RIP
It is with great sadness that I report that my old friend John McDonnell has passed away on the 23rd December 2011.
I met John when he was working for David Piper as a race engineer in 1969 and that is about the only name you might need on a CV as David would not have had him preparing his cars like the Lola T70 and Porsche 917 had he not been a first class engineer. John also worked with Mike d’Udy.  The list of drivers who were successful in cars John had prepared included, Chris Craft, Dickie Attwood, Trevor Taylor, Brian Redman and many others.
John came to help me with our Lola T70 in 1970, his first job was to prepare the car for a 9 hour race in Kyalami in South Africa. Not only did John check over the whole chassis but he also rebuilt the 5 litre Chevrolet Traco engine. The car ran like a train for the whole 9 hours, we won the class, my co-driver, Jackie Pretorius was terrific and it was a very successful race thanks to John’s immaculate preparation.
John and I worked together for the whole of 1972 in France where I was to benefit again from John’s skills. Winning the 24 hour 2 litre class at Le Mans was a highlight of many successes that year.
John’s love of France was assured after a year there and he was a frequent visitor long after my racing career had ended. John and I continued to travel to France together on photo shoots. Before semi retiring John ran a kitchen business in West London where his famous parties where just sensational. He will be missed by many for his joie de vivre and great sense of humour. John RIP.
Photo: Jacques Barichella.