The Mechanic's Gallon

The Mechanic's Gallon

By Gary Critcher
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The Mechanic's Gallon episodes

  • Robin Day, Part 1 of 3

    Our guest this time is Robin, a 15 year F1 veteran. Robin was born in Uganda and was brought up in Kenya. Straight after his apprenticeship with British Leyland he decided to build and sell his own motorbike. In 1978 he was poached by McLaren. He worked on the first MP4 and with driver Andrea de Cesaris.

    There are memories of John Watson's British Grand Prix win and his 'light bulb moment' at Zandvoort.

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

    Audio podcast is here.




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  • Ed Taylor, part 3 of 3
    Part 3 sees Ed back in F1 running the Yamaha Engines truck for Brabham and then Jordan. It was into Historic F1 with BMTR tyres and finally he teamed up with European Minardi running their two-seater F1 cars.
    Podcast can be downloaded here, watch the interview on YouTube


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  • Ed Taylor, part 2 of 3
    This part sees Ed working at Leyton House March running with Judd engines. He
    tells how the truckies made a little extra money at the end of the season,  how
    he finished with Leyton House and then back into F3000 with Bromley
    Motorsport. 

    Podcast can be downloaded here, watch the interview on YouTube.


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  • Ed Taylor, part 1 of 3

    This week we speak to Ed Taylor whose first job in motor racing was in F1 with tyre supplier Goodyear. He tells us what was put into the tyres instead of air, what it was like when he attended his first tyre test at Silverstone, setting up the stillborn Benetton Trussadi project and when that didn't work out it was into F3000 with Middlebridge Racing.

    Podcast can be downloaded here, watch the interview on YouTube.




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  • Doug Garner

    Today we chat with Gold Leaf Team Lotus mechanic Doug Garner who tells us

    about how he got started working for Lotus Cars before being poached by the race
    team next door to work on his first race car, the type 56 Indycar. 

    After Indy

    1968 he moved on to the F3 team to work on the 41X with John Miles driving. For
    1969 it was back to Indy with the type 64 and drivers Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt
    and Mario Andretti. After that it was into building and racing the legendary
    Lotus 72 in 1970.

    You can listen to the recording here or watch Gary's interview with Doug on YouTube.




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  • Doug Garner on Lotus and F1, recorded September 2021
    In the first of a new series of interviews Gary talks with Doug Garner who was at Lotus from 1966 working on the Lotus Elans, moving into the race workshop at the end of 1967 and was straight at work on the Lotus 56 turbine Indycar! His first race car. After 1969 he moved on to the Formula 1 team working on the Lotus 72. Download the recording here, or watch the interview on YouTube.
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  • Pete Briggs Part 2
    Part two continues Pete’s story with the Honda Civic championship, into the Honda CRX series then in 1991 set up a new team in Formula 3. He was then approached by Adrian Reynard to run their F3 team with Gil de Ferran. Then it was into F3000 but without a driver! But it was turned round when Tom Kristensen came on board, finally coming to an end in 1998 when he sold out to Paul Stoddart.

    Download the recording here.



    After the obligatory cup of coffee, here's Pete digging into some old book or other

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  • Pete Briggs Part 1
    Pete Briggs started off 1968 helping out around the workshop of the Winkelmann Racing Formula 2 team. Gradually working his way up to through 1969 and by a roundabout way into Formula 1 in 1970 with the fledgling March Racing team. 1971 was in Formula 2 followed by a switch to the Matchbox Team Surtees F2 team. Then it was back to Formula 1 with March in 1973 before returning again to Team Surtees in 1976 all the way to the teams demise in 1979. In 1980 he bought a Honda road car dealer franchise from John Surtees.

    Download the recording here.



    Just after our recording session, me on the left and Briggsy on the right.
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  • Eammon Fullalove
    This interview features metal guru Eammon ‘Chalkie’ Fullalove, from his start as a delivery boy with a butchers shop in his native Ireland, to his move to Britain and getting a job with Team Lotus in 1965. We follow him through seeing his first race car (the Lotus 38, no less), organising the Lotus F1 truck, his work on the 1966 and 1967 Indycars, his first visit to a race meeting, Indy 1967, to do which he had to forge his date of birth on his passport! Follow him through that year’s disastrous Indy and then 1968 and 1969. He moved to the McLaren Indy team in 1970 and then worked in the US for years plying his trade with several Indycar teams, including AJ Foyt’s.

    Download the recording here.



    Our recording session in the 'Shed Of All Knowledge', that's me on the left and Chalkie on the right.
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  • Beaky Sims Part 2
    Part 2 starts with a quick look at 1972 but then we dive back into the late 60's and his experiences with Jim Clark and Jochen Rindt, then it's on to 1971 with March Racing but in F5000 in the States with Skip Barber. Beaky then moved to Hesketh Racing in 1974, so we finish up with a few stories of James Hunt.

    Download the recording here


    At our recording session, Beaky on the left and me on the right.


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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…