The Mechanic's Gallon

The Mechanic's Gallon

By Gary Critcher
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The Mechanic's Gallon episodes

  • Chris Hessey - recorded October 2025

     Download the audio here - coming soon on YouTube - 62 mins.

    Our guest this time is Chris Hessey who had a thirty year career in Formula One. Chris is unusual in that he never worked in the lower formulae, he jumped straight into Grand Prix racing from being a master mechanic in a garage. We go from 1984 with Ram Automotive through Leyton House March, Simtek, Williams, Pacific Grand Prix, Benetton finally ending up in Formula E with Virgin Racing.





     
     






    1 hr 3 min
  • Peter Warr of Lotus

    Download the audio here, also on the YouTube Channel

    Here is an excerpt from the interview we filmed with Peter Warr for my Lotus 72 documentary. These are the pieces where he's not talking about the 72! Peter (or PEW as he was known) was the Team Lotus Team Manager as well as at Walter Wolf Racing. But before that, he worked at Lotus very early on. He also tells us one of the ways that Jim Clark won the Indy 500 in 1965, pay driver Alex Soler-Roig at Clermont-Ferrand in 1970 and Dave Walker in F3 in 1971. The interview was conducted by Steve Holter.






    9 min
  • Dave Brodie, recorded in April 2016

    Download the audio here, also on the YouTube channel

    I met the Brode just twice, the first time was to film this interview (April 2016) for my Lotus 72 documentary. The connection to that was that he was Ronnie Peterson's best friend, and indeed, at his wedding to Barbro was not only his chauffeur but also his Best Man!In this interview I cut virtually nothing out, the Brode was such a skillful storyteller that we needed no re-takes.Ronnie is my favourite Grand Prix driver and as the interview drew to a close both the Brode and I knew how it was going to end, we both finished with tears in our eyes.RIP Brode, thank you for your time and patience. 


    28 min
  • Peter Burns, part 1 of 2, recorded 23rd January 2023

    Download part 1 of the audio here 

     Our guest this time is Peter Burns, who, although not on the front line in the pitlane, still wracked up 35 years in motorsport. After being involved with the organisation of the inaugural Dubai Grand Prix in 1983, he then worked for McLaren in Formula One, being in at the very start of hospitality provided by the teams for their sponsors. In this role he got to know very well people like Alan Prist, Ayrton Senna, David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen.

    Having been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 2017, Peter is now working with Parkinson's charities, in 2021 he was part of a team who swam the Solent to the Isle Of Wight, raising £47,000. This year they will again swim, this time around the Isle Of Wight! For more information and if you'd care to donate, please visit their website at www.positivelyparkinsons.co.uk

    The Grand Prix Trust is a charity formed over 30 years ago by Jackie Stewart to help former F1 employees when times are hard. Both Peter and I are involved with them. Please visit their website at www.grandprixtrust.com

    You can also watch it on Gary's YouTube channel.



    54 min
  • Ron Tauranac


    Another interview from our archive, this time with the late Brabham and Ralt designer Ron Tauranac. Notoriously reticent to be interviewed, I heard from him after I sent him a copy of the interview, he said he wished he had said more! Ron is interviewed by my friend Alan Morgan.

    Audio podcast is here.

    You can also watch the interview at https://youtu.be/pPHC1JY0kW4

    33 min
  • Robin Day, part 3 of 3

    In part 3 Robin tells us what it was like to work for Bernie, working on the BT55 then on to Leyton House March in 1987. Then it was a move to Indycar but still with March, back to the F3000s then lastly six months at Pacific Grand Prix in 1993.

    All three parts of the interview are also on YouTube at https://tinyurl.com/mryh6f8x

    Audio podcast is here.



    0 min
  • Robin Day, part 2 of 3

     Part 2 continues with the McLaren move to Woking and the extra workload courtesy of Mr. de Cesaris. Then it was testing with Niki Lauda, the drivers strike at Kyalami, switching to Brabham then back to McLaren then another return to Brabham and running Stirling Moss in the car at Brands Hatch.

    All three parts of the interview are also on YouTube at https://tinyurl.com/mryh6f8x

    Audio podcast is here.



    0 min

About The Mechanic's Gallon

From the publisher's feed

I came upon the phrase ‘the mechanic’s gallon’ a while ago. Lotus in the 60’s were trying to save weight and make the car as light as possible, inc. putting as much fuel in the car at the start of the…