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Tommy "Slim" Borgudd 1946-2023







Swedish Formula 1 driver Slim Borgudd, who also worked as a session musician for 1970s supergroup ABBA, has died at the age of 76.

Borgudd started 10 races in 1981-82 with the ATS and Tyrrell teams, with a best finish of sixth at the 1981 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, in what Autocourse described as a "steady drive".

A late bloomer, Borgudd's Formula 1 debut didn't come until the age of 34.

He was also a professional drummer, working with a number of Swedish groups, including ABBA, who he knew though his friendship with Björn Ulvaeus. Borgudd ran ABBA stickers on his Formula 1 car.

Less than a year after his debut, his Formula 1 career came to an abrupt end when he was dumped by the Tyrrell team three races into the 1982 season when his sponsorship money ran out.

Borgudd also briefly drove in the British Touring Car Championship in the 1990s, and enjoyed a great del of success in truck racing. He won the European Championship in FIA Truck Racing in 1995.

In 2022, Borgudd was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease.

"So sorry to hear Slim Borgudd has died," motor racing author Richard Jenkins wrote.

"A charming, engaging man, he was in fine form in June 2022, but sadly he became ill thereafter. Our 2 hr chat for the Tyrrell book was a real delight & I'm glad his memories are recorded for posterity."

Slim Borgudd in his ATS at the 1981 British Grand Prix.

It has not been good news for our past F1 drivers of late. We have lost some good names in the last few months, including Philippe Streiff, Patrick Tambay, Jean-Pierre Jabouille and now Slim Borgudd. .

RIP Slim Borgudd

This Bio from his own Slim Racing website....

Slim has led a life in which motor racing and music have been inextricably linked. He first started watching motor racing in 1959 and the sight of Sterling Moss at the Karlskoga circuit in Sweden left a deep and lasting impression on him. Around the same time he started playing music and then, aged just 16, he joined the Merchant Navy.

The nickname “Slim” was acquired when playing an impromptu gig at a club during a stopover in New Orleans; only he can tell the story!

In 1965 he joined and played drums for a popular "blues" outfit, the Lea Riders Group, and in 1968 went on to form a new group, named Made in Sweden, together with two other highly respected Scandinavian musicians. It was also in 1968 that Slim’s racing career really started taking shape.

While playing in London, he was befriended by jazz legend, Chris Barber, who also had an active interest in motorsport. Slim bought from Chris an old Lotus 22 and shipped it back to Sweden where he began to campaign very successfully in Club Championships.

He continued to play in a number of active groups including "Solar Plexus, which still retains something of a cult status to this day, and played session music with a number of different groups and artists including Alexis Corner, Teddy Wilson, Cornelius Wreswiijk, Monica Zetterlund, Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, even the Danish Philharmonic Orchestra and, of course, ABBA.

Slim has a very extensive racing pedigree that is impossible to do it justice in any brief summary. He has competed at the highest levels in single-seater, sportscar, touring car and truckracing series.His race statistics between 1968 and 2009 are outstanding with 125 wins,119 other podium finishes and 68 fastest laps, from a total of 379 races.

Amongst other highlights he won the Scandinavian Cup Formula Ford Championship, Swedish Formula3 and the European Formula3 Toyota Cup Championships, secured third in the FIA European Formula3, was FIA Nordic Cup Touring Car Champion, drove for ATS and Tyrell in Formula1(1981-82), won the special 25 Hour Willhire Race at Snetterton and was four times FIA European Truck Racing Champion.

http://www.slimracing.co.uk/history.htm

I dare say he had an amazing life.

RIP.

Always thought Slim was a bit under-rated in his drives and potential.

RIP, Slim.

A good friend of mine in the UK now owns and drives the March 793 that Slim drove in 1980.

This was Slim in the car at Monaco that year.


Sadly it looked less pristine later in the race

Slim Borgudd was the same age as my younger two grandparents and I can't imagine them departing the Planet Earth just yet. 77 is really still quite young.

Borgudd did a lot of truck racing after F1 and there is an interview with him here if you want to hear him speak:


By the way, how do you pronounce "Borgudd"? Asking for a friend.

How Karl Edward Tommy Borgudd became known as Slim Borgudd?

Karl Edward Tommy Borgudd was born and brought up on the island of Oland in the Baltic Sea – a long way from Monte Carlo and even further from the jazz clubs of New Orleans. Yet these two places not only combine his talents for music and motor racing but also set the scene for an extraordinary adventure.

Let’s start with the music as this is where he became known as ‘Slim’ Borgudd, the man who went on to play with BB King, drum his way into the pop charts with Abba and then make it on to the Grand Prix grid with ATS and Tyrrell. Leaving school at 14 he sailed away from Sweden for a life at sea, stashing his drum kit in his cabin. One night, in New Orleans, Tommy and his shipmates went to see Memphis Slim and Willie Dixon play the blues. But the legendary bluesmen were short of a drummer, asking if anyone could help them out.

“This lad’s a drummer, my mates called out, so I found myself up on the stage behind the drum kit. Incredible – I was 15, and I’m playing with my heroes. So from that day on they called me Little Slim, and that became Slim.”

Great story I thought.
from Motorsport Magazine.

R.I.P Justin Owen, 1996-2023

RIP Justin Owen.

Bill Buckle 1926-2023


Bill Buckle winning in the Buckle Coupe at Gnoo Blas near Orange in 1959.
Image: Bucklecoupe.com.au

The automotive world has been saddened by the passing of Bill Buckle on May 9 at the age of 96. He was a manufacturer, racer and automotive figure in Australia. Buckle was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australian in 2014.

Buckle started in the family’s growing automotive dealership after the death of his father in 1947. The dealership thrived with the new post-war brands such as Armstrong-Siddeley, Borgward, Goliath, DeSoto and Citroën.

With a spare parts department, Buckle moved into service and then sales. That led to an interest in motor sport, and he had many successes at Mount Druitt and Bathurst.

His interest and attendances at overseas Grand Prix and club events led to the creation of the Buckle Coupe and local adaptation of the Goggomobil.

The Zephyr-powered Buckle Coupe, which the then 29-year-old launched in the mid-50s, was not a great commercial success. The engine was bored to 3.0 litres and fitted a Raymond Mays head. Overdrive was fitted to the standard three-speed gearbox. It was a great lightweight race car and often beat the better-known brands.


Bill Buckle in Bathurst, New South Wales, where he’d delivered a Buckle Coupe to customer Frank Bloomfield circa 1958. Image: Bucklecoupe.com.au

The Buckle Coupe proved enormously successful with him and several other drivers. It had GT Class hillclimb records and many circuit lap records including Bathurst, Gnoo Blas, Catalina Park, Sandown and Lowood.

The Goggomobil variants were more successful, but the make ultimately lost its marketplace to the BMC Mini which then prompted Buckle to produce a fastback version of the British car which was called the Mini Monaco.

Buckle raced four times in the endurance race at Bathurst, firstly with Brian Foley in a Citroen for a tenth outright in 1964. He returned for the next three years in Toyota Corollas with Neil McKay, Alan Mottram and Dick Thurston respectively.

Retiring from racing, Buckle backed future Bathurst winner Bob Morris on his debut in 1968. Morris went on to win the Great Race in 1976 with Englishman John Fitzpatrick and won the 1979 Australian Touring Car Championship as a privateer, fending of Peter Brock and the Holden Dealer Team.

Buckle was also prominent in the world of yachting, for which in 2015 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award through Sailing Australia.

https://www.speedcafe.com/2023/05/11/bi ... 1926-2023/


Bill Buckle..... Australia's greatest automotive industry treasure?


Weighing just 865kg, the Buckle Coupe could hit 160km/h and of the 20 cars built, 16 were involved in various forms of competition including iconic Bathurst. (Photo credit bucklecoupe.com.au)


Bill Buckle made one very special lightweight version of his Coupe. Its ventilated lighter body hid a tubular chassis and its engine had a tuned cylinder head with triple carburettors. (Photo credit bucklecoupe.com.au)


Bill started off in the automotive industry by forging niche expertise in manufacturing processes during the mid 1950s including composite materials, at a time when the technology was relatively unrefined.

With lightweight bodywork and a front-engine, rear-wheel drive, the Buckle Coupe was a competent racer. Bill takes victory at the Gnoo Blas circuit, New South Wales. (Photo credit bucklecoupe.com.au)

With significant advancements in fibreglass production, Buckle produced fibreglass bodies for Goggomobil, and another car that was not only penned by his hand but also shared his name.

While only 20 Buckle Coupes were ever completed, the car was a competent racer and road car, at one stage holding every hill-climb and lap record for the GT class at circuits along the east coast of Australia, including those at Bathurst, Orange, Catalina Park, Sandown and Lowood.

Many classic Australian car fans will fondly recall the Goggomobil Dart, which was designed and produced by Buckle on home soil after he traveled to the company’s hometown of Dingolfing in Bavaria and convinced Hans Glas his quality was up to scratch.


The iconic Goggomobil Dart


With rapidly developing composites techniques Mr Buckle was also able to design the glass ‘Sportsroof’ under the Auto Sun and Air division, that was licenced and patented in several markets overseas and for which he received an Australian Design Award in 1977.

More than 5000 Goggomobil cars were made in Australia and during that time Buckle expanded his automotive footprint, acquiring Borgward, Goliath, Lloyd Hartnett, Hillman and Humber vehicle distribution rights, and necessitating the foundation of Bill Buckle Autos in 1961.

His next venture saw the creation of a right-hand drive conversion business in Sydney’s Brookvale, which allowed Australian rev heads to get into previously unattainable exotic American cars such as Buicks, Cadillacs, Lincolns, Mustangs, Thunderbirds, Corvettes, Firebirds and Camaros.

With business booming, Buckle then took the plunge as one of the first Australian distributors of a Japanese car brand, acquiring the rights to sell Toyota vehicles such as the Crown, Tiara and 700 in 1964 - a bold business move that would pay off.

Sales initially started slow but steady with about five to 10 Toyotas sold each month, but within 10 years that figure had blossomed to 150 per month.

Before the Bill Buckle Auto group was sold to AP Eagers in 2008 the company had grown substantially, picking up Subaru, Volkswagen, Jaguar and Land Rover franchises in the process.



RIP Bill Buckle




The Goggomobil Dart became a bit of a star in TV ads from Yellow Pages to Classic Car Insurance. There is always one at the various classic car / historic race meetings.









Edit: I found this wonderful shot from back in the day from Phillip Island -

....‘these guys would turn up to every Phillip Island meeting and lift the Goggomobil Dart out of the Holden Ute and have a great day competing in the events’…

May 12, 1973.

50 years on since Art Pollard crashed fatally in a practice run at Indy. He'd just turned 46 years of age the week prior.

RIP, Art.

May 15, 1982.

The appalling shunt of Gordon Smiley while attempting to qualify for the Indy 500. Surely, he never felt a thing.

The provincial motto for Quebec is, 'Je me souviens'. In English, 'I remember'. Quite so.

RIP, Gordon.

OTD in 1986 we lost Elio de Angelis.

John wrote: ↑1 year ago OTD in 1986 we lost Elio de Angelis.

@erwin greven posted mention of this along with a link to a great tribute article about Elio in the On this Day thread in the Nostalgia area here: viewtopic.php?f=32&p=447481#p447481

Well-known Australian race driver Jim McKeown passed away at the age of 85 one week ago

Australian motor sport lost another of its legendary figures with the passing of Jim McKeown at the age of 85.

Renown for his exploits in Ford Cortinas and Porsches, McKeown had a long history of racing in Improved Production, but his career began in the 1950s.

It started with a Austin Healey that he raced and hillclimbed in Victoria before he teamed up George Roberts in the Armstrong 500 at Phillip Island in 1962 for a Class D victory in their VW Beetle. When the race moved to Bathurst, they again teamed up for a third in class.

[...]

https://www.speedcafe.com/2023/05/23/vale-jim-mckeown/