Eoin S. Young (9 June 1939, Cave, New Zealand – 5 September 2014,

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

New Zealand) was a motoring

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

who wrote an ''Autocar'' column for some 30 years starting in 1967. After first working in a bank in

Timaru Timaru (; mi, Te Tihi-o-Maru) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to ...

and writing motor sport columns for the ''Timaru Herald'', he moved to the UK in 1961. He initially worked with

Denny Hulme Denis Clive Hulme (18 June 1936 – 4 October 1992), commonly known as Denny Hulme, was a New Zealand racing driver who won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship for the Brabham team. Between his debut at Monaco in 1965 and his ...

for the Formula Junior series in Europe, and then in 1962 he became

Bruce McLaren Bruce Leslie McLaren (30 August 1937 – 2 June 1970) was a New Zealand racing car designer, driver, engineer, and inventor. His name lives on in the McLaren team which has been one of the most successful in Formula One championship history, ...

's secretary, ghosting his column for ''

Autosport ''Autosport'' is a global motorsport publishing brand headquartered based in Richmond, London. It was established in 1950 at the same time as the origins of the Formula One World Championship. Autosport began life as a weekly magazine in 1950 ...

''. In 1964 McLaren founded his own racing organisation, Bruce McLaren Racing Ltd, and appointed Young as director. When McLaren stepped up to Formula 1 in 1966, Young decided to return to journalism full-time. His weekly Formula 1 column with ''Autocar'' magazine, ‘From The Grid’, would run for 31 years and be syndicated at its height to seven other magazines worldwide. In 1971 he authored Bruce McLaren's biography, ''McLaren: The Man and His Racing Team''. In 1976 he wrote ''Against All Odds'' with

James Hunt James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993) ''Autocourse Grand Prix Archive'', 14 October 2007. Retrieved 4 November 2007. was a British racing driver who won the Formula One World Championship in . After retiring from racing in ...

, the story of the British

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

driver's only F1 championship, In 2003, he authored ''Forza Amon!'', a biography of

Chris Amon Christopher Arthur Amon (20 July 1943 – 3 August 2016) was a New Zealand motor racing driver. He was active in Formula One racing in the 1960s and 1970s, and is widely regarded as one of the best F1 drivers never to win a championship Grand ...

, and in 2007 ''Memories of the Bear'', a biography of Denny Hulme. He wrote columns and articles for many publications including ''Cars for the Connoisseur'' (UK), ''F1 Racing'' (UK), ''Victory Lane'' (USA), ''NZ Classic Car'' (New Zealand), ''Autosprint'' (Italy) and ''Am Klassiek'' (the Netherlands). He also wrote for the web-based motor sport magazine pitpass.com. He returned to New Zealand and became ill in July 2014; he died on 5 September 2014.Biodata on Eoin Young
mclaren.com; accessed 5 September 2014.

Selected bibliography

*''McLaren Memories'' *''The Amazing Summer of '55: The Year of Motor Racing's Biggest Dramas, Worst Tragedies and Greatest Victories'' *''Memories of the Bear: A Biography of Denny Hulme'' *''Jim Clark and his most successful Lotus'' *''Bruce McLaren: The Man and His Racing Team'' *''James Hunt: Against All Odds'' (by Young, James Hunt and David Hodges) *''It Beats Working: My Thirty Five Years Inside Motor Racing'' *''It Still Beats Working: My Forty Years of Motor Racing Fun'' *''Forza Amon!: A Biography of Chris Amon'' *''Power and Glory: 1952-73 v. 2: History of Grand Prix Motor Racing'' (by Young and William Court) *''Classic Racers: New Zealand's Grand Prix Greats''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Eoin 2014 deaths 1939 births Motoring journalists New Zealand journalists New Zealand people of Irish descent Formula One journalists and reporters McLaren people New Zealand motorsport people