John Turner
15 Sep 2008, 11:31
Received from Dr Charles Merfield, for which I am extremely grateful:-
Here is a brief bio of dad - I have only a couple of memories of his
racing and the cars from the end of his racing career, but I’m sure you
and the other 10-10ths will be able to fill in that information.
Derek Peter Merfield was born 27 November 1930 in Australia and died on
13 April 2003 in London, UK. By Profession he was a dental surgeon,
both general and hospital practice, as well as being a stalwart in the
local dental committee and teaching at postgraduate level. He was
highly successful in a number of other fields including motor racing in
his earlier years after arriving in the UK in 1957, as well as gliding
and somewhat safer photography later in life. He was an Associate of
the Royal Photographic Society, president of ‘The Camera Club’ in London
and a keen member of the Stereoscopic Society and held the role of
editor and printer of the society’s magazine for many years which he
took so seriously he trained in night classes as a printer. Never one
to sit still he also completed a degree in the History of Ideas in the
early 1990s as well as studying industrial architecture. His love of
the road and driving never left him and he always enjoyed his cars, both
the more practical such as the ‘family’ Ford Granada estate and the
rather more exciting Alfa Sud. He was the proud owner of a series of
camper vans, even if these were rather sedate compared to his racing
days. These started with a highly customised split screen VW which he
and his new wife Clare took on a world tour in the late 1960s. In later
life he toured widely round Europe in his own campers as well travelling
extensively around his native Australia, New Zealand and North America
in hired and friends machines, and was at his happiest driving around
the world visiting family and his many friends from his very full life.
Warmest regards and if I can do anything else please let me know
Charles
Charles has also kindly provided the following information:-
The photos the family have found of dad's racing are mixed up with
family pictures, so I have scanned the racing photos, and a range of
other racing material that we found, and put it all up on the web at
http://www.merfield.com/doc/
as it would be difficult to physically separate everything. The
original scans are high quality and are available from the website -
please feel free to copy them and use as you see fit. I won't keep the
site up forever, so when you and the other 10-10ths have copied what you
want please let me know and I'll take it down, no hurry 'though.
As I said previously we gave most of the racing material to the BRAC, I
think at their HQ at Thruxtron, though I have not been able to find any
emails or letters so it must of been done via phone. If you drop them a
line and ask if they have his cups then they will have all the other
memorabilia.
Regarding the ‘fraud’ Cortina, I have found a considerable amount
regarding the engine, including photos of it on the test rig. I suspect
the engineer who is in the photos is a chap called Steel Thurkleson
(correct spelling not guaranteed) who moved to the US - Los Angeles, we
don't have contact details. One of his other racing engineers is a chap
called Roy Wheeler, who is still working as a mechanic in London.
Here is a brief bio of dad - I have only a couple of memories of his
racing and the cars from the end of his racing career, but I’m sure you
and the other 10-10ths will be able to fill in that information.
Derek Peter Merfield was born 27 November 1930 in Australia and died on
13 April 2003 in London, UK. By Profession he was a dental surgeon,
both general and hospital practice, as well as being a stalwart in the
local dental committee and teaching at postgraduate level. He was
highly successful in a number of other fields including motor racing in
his earlier years after arriving in the UK in 1957, as well as gliding
and somewhat safer photography later in life. He was an Associate of
the Royal Photographic Society, president of ‘The Camera Club’ in London
and a keen member of the Stereoscopic Society and held the role of
editor and printer of the society’s magazine for many years which he
took so seriously he trained in night classes as a printer. Never one
to sit still he also completed a degree in the History of Ideas in the
early 1990s as well as studying industrial architecture. His love of
the road and driving never left him and he always enjoyed his cars, both
the more practical such as the ‘family’ Ford Granada estate and the
rather more exciting Alfa Sud. He was the proud owner of a series of
camper vans, even if these were rather sedate compared to his racing
days. These started with a highly customised split screen VW which he
and his new wife Clare took on a world tour in the late 1960s. In later
life he toured widely round Europe in his own campers as well travelling
extensively around his native Australia, New Zealand and North America
in hired and friends machines, and was at his happiest driving around
the world visiting family and his many friends from his very full life.
Warmest regards and if I can do anything else please let me know
Charles
Charles has also kindly provided the following information:-
The photos the family have found of dad's racing are mixed up with
family pictures, so I have scanned the racing photos, and a range of
other racing material that we found, and put it all up on the web at
http://www.merfield.com/doc/
as it would be difficult to physically separate everything. The
original scans are high quality and are available from the website -
please feel free to copy them and use as you see fit. I won't keep the
site up forever, so when you and the other 10-10ths have copied what you
want please let me know and I'll take it down, no hurry 'though.
As I said previously we gave most of the racing material to the BRAC, I
think at their HQ at Thruxtron, though I have not been able to find any
emails or letters so it must of been done via phone. If you drop them a
line and ask if they have his cups then they will have all the other
memorabilia.
Regarding the ‘fraud’ Cortina, I have found a considerable amount
regarding the engine, including photos of it on the test rig. I suspect
the engineer who is in the photos is a chap called Steel Thurkleson
(correct spelling not guaranteed) who moved to the US - Los Angeles, we
don't have contact details. One of his other racing engineers is a chap
called Roy Wheeler, who is still working as a mechanic in London.
