Thomas Raymond Mays (1 August 1899 – 6 January 1980) was an auto racing driver and entrepreneur from

Bourne, Lincolnshire Bourne is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies on the eastern slopes of the limestone Kesteven Uplands and the western edge of the Fens, 11 miles (18 km) north-east of Stamford, 12 mile ...

, England. He attended

Oundle School Oundle School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for pupils 11–18 situated in the market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire, England. The school has been governed by the Worshipful Company of Grocers of the City ...

, where he met

Amherst Villiers Amherst Villiers (1900–1991) was an English automotive, aeronautical and astronautic engineer and portrait painter. He designed a land speed record-breaking car for Malcolm Campbell, and developed the supercharged "Blower Bentley", driven b ...

, leaving at the end of 1917. After army service in the

Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

in France, he attended

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

, taking his first win at Brooklands while an undergraduate.

Racing career

Mays was one of the principal people behind the development of the motor racing stables of

English Racing Automobiles English Racing Automobiles (ERA) was a British racing car manufacturer active from 1933 to 1954. Prewar history ERA was founded by Humphrey Cook, Raymond Mays, and Peter Berthon in November 1933 and established in Bourne, Lincolnshire, next ...

(ERA) and

British Racing Motors British Racing Motors (BRM) was a British Formula One motor racing team. Founded in 1945 and based in the market town of Bourne in Lincolnshire, it participated from 1951 to 1977, competing in 197 grands prix and winning seventeen. BRM wo ...

(BRM). The workshops of each firm were established, in turn, behind the family home on Eastgate Road in Bourne. Mays raced for some thirty years, competing in various cars: a Speed-model 1½-litre Hillman, two 1½-litre

Bugatti Automobiles Ettore Bugatti was a German then French manufacturer of high-performance automobiles. The company was founded in 1909 in the then-German city of Molsheim, Alsace, by the Italian-born industrial designer Ettore Bugatti. The cars w ...

s, an unsuccessful supercharged AC, the Vauxhall-Villiers, Mercedes, Invictas, Rileys and ERAs. Mays was renowned for competing at

Shelsley Walsh Shelsley Walsh is a small village and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, on the western side of the River Teme. For administrative purposes it is presently located in the Teme Valley ward of the county’s Malvern Hills district. In the 2011 ...

, racing there in the early 1920s with a pair of Brescia Bugattis, known as 'Cordon Bleu' and 'Cordon Rouge'. He developed his cars with superchargers through Amherst Villiers and this association continued from AC to the Vauxhall-Villiers and then the famous 'White Riley', that eventually became the starting point for ERA. In 1929, Raymond Mays entered the Vauxhall-Villiers at Shelsley Walsh fitted with twin rear wheels; according to Mays "the first time that any car had competed at any hill climb so equipped." He broke the hill record and this innovation was widely copied in the years to come. Mays made his mark on the track in such events as the 1935 German Grand Prix (scene of a famous victory of

Tazio Nuvolari Tazio Giorgio Nuvolari (; 16 November 1892 – 11 August 1953) was an Italian racing driver. He first raced motorcycles and then concentrated on sports cars and single-seaters. A resident of Mantua, he was known as 'Il Mantovano Volante' ( ...

), sharing his ERA with

Ernst von Delius Ernst von Delius (29 March 1912 – 26 July 1937) was a racing driver from Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Ru ...

. The ribbon which came with the wreath which was part of the prize for this event is to be seen at the Raymond Mays room in Bourne Heritage Centre. Reflecting on his career in his 1969 Desert Island Discs appearance, he considered his favourite race to be his victory earlier in the same year in the voiturette class of the Eifelrennen, beating out such entries as the private ERA of

Dick Seaman Richard John Beattie Seaman (4 February 1913 – 25 June 1939) was a British Grand Prix racing driver. He drove for the Mercedes-Benz team from 1937 to 1939 in the Mercedes-Benz W125 and W154 cars, winning the 1938 German Grand Prix. He died o ...

to take the chequered flag. Mays was one of ERA's most notable drivers, winning the

British Hill Climb Championship The British Hill Climb Championship (BHCC) is the most prestigious Hillclimbing championship in Great Britain. Hillclimbing in the British Isles has a rich history, for example, the hillclimb held at Shelsley Walsh, in Worcestershire, England is t ...

in its first two years, 1947 and 1948 and also the

Brighton Speed Trials The Brighton Speed Trials, in full The Brighton National Speed Trials, is commonly held to be the oldest running motor race. The first race was held 19–22 July 1905 after Sir Harry Preston persuaded Brighton town council to tarmac the surface ...

in 1946, 1947, 1948 and 1950 in his black

ERA R4D The ERA R4D, built by English Racing Automobiles, is the last development of this classic voiturette racing car, the only D-Type ever built. Originating as R4B in 1935, the car was rebuilt as a C-Type by modifying the front end of the chassis fra ...

. He stopped driving racing cars at the end of the 1950 season. In the 1950s and 1960s Mays produced and marketed tuning equipment for British Ford four- and six-cylinder engines, including an alloy cylinder head designed by Mays's ERA and BRM associate

Peter Berthon Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

.''The Times'', 20 January 1971: Peter Berthon report of death. These parts were fitted to Ford, A.C., and

Reliant Reliant Motor Company was a British car manufacturer based in Tamworth, Staffordshire, England. It was founded in 1935 and ended car production in 2002, the company had been known as "Reliant Motor Company" (or RMC for short) until the 1990s ...

cars. Mays described these events and others to

Roy Plomley Francis Roy Plomley, ( ; 20 January 1914 – 28 May 1985) was an English radio broadcaster, producer, playwright and novelist. He is best remembered for devising the BBC Radio series ''Desert Island Discs'', which he hosted from its inception i ...

in ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usu ...

'' on 25 October 1969. Mays wrote three books, ''Split Seconds'', ''BRM'' and ''At Speed''.

Racing record

Complete European Championship results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

Bibliography

* ''Split Seconds: My Racing Years'' by Raymond Mays "ghosted" by Dennis May, G.T. Foulis & Co. Ltd. 1951. 306 pages. * ''B.R.M.'' by Raymond Mays and Peter Roberts. (Cassell & Co. Ltd., 35, Red Lion Square, London W.C.1. 30s.) 1962. 240 pages. *
ERA R4D - The Autobiography of R4D by Mac Hulbert

External links

The Bourne web site

* Photograph from 1956 on flickr

T W Mays & Son Limited, Bourne
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mays, Raymond 1899 births 1980 deaths People from Bourne, Lincolnshire People educated at Oundle School Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English racing drivers Brooklands people British hillclimb drivers Brighton Speed Trials people European Championship drivers Formula One team owners Grand Prix drivers