Fast On Water Magazine Issue 26 by Roy Cooper

Published by Fast On Water Publications 2020

Editor’s note As you will see from the front cover, this issue is dedicated to Andy Elliott. The shock of his passing has affected all who knew him – a larger than life character with a natural talent for racing powerboats, his skill and enthusiasm for the sport was a joy to all who knew him and saw him race. I hope that the articles, photos and memories in this issue, go some way to showing how much he was loved and how very much he will be missed.

All articles and photographs are copyright All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission. Editor Roy Cooper

Contributors Ken McCrorie Chris Davies Keith Whittle Roy Cooper

Cover photo: Andy Elliott

In Fond Memory of Andy Elliott Andrew Clive Elliott was born on 7th December 1955. His father, Ron, had been twice class winner at the Chasewater 24 hour and along with Andyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mother, Mary, they had given help and encouragement to Andy, who started racing Juniors in 1969.

British Champion; 2nd in T2 European Championship and runner-up in F4 National Championship; F4 European Champion; F4 World Champion and F4 winner at the Paris six hours (and was 4th overall). He took it a little easier in 1984, becoming F3 World Champion, which he achieved again in 1989 and 4th overall in F3 National Championships. In 1985 he won the T1 and T2 National Series, was 2nd in the T1 European Championship; 3rd in T1 World Championship; 7th overall in F3 World Series; 4th in F3 Paris six hours. 1990 saw him move up to Formula 1, where he finished 2nd in the World Championship to John Hill.

Andy, his mum and dad and their trophies

Andy was a super-intuitive driver who had an incredible feel for the boat and could get the best from whatever class of boat he raced.

Andy was British Junior Champion in 1969, '70,'71 and '72. He went on to be world champion in every other circuit class except Formula 1.

In 1980 he was runner-up in the T2 World Championship at Bristol. 1981 saw him win the T2 British Monohull Championships, which he did again in 1982. That year also saw him become the T2 World Champion and Winner of the F4 British Grand Prix.

The following article is compiled from those that appeared in Powerboat 84 and Powerboat 85 Yearbooks.

1983 saw him win both the T1 & T2 World Sprint Championship, along with becoming T2

Andy Elliott started racing when he was 12, when his parents, two previous powerboat 2

racers, gave him a boat for Christmas. Andy was British Junior Champion for the next four years. He also achieved the junior speed record at fourteen – ‘a daring thirty miles per hour,’ he recalls. He had to retire at sixteen, as he couldn’t afford the step up into the seniors.

Grimshaw’s persistent hopes for Andy in the 750cc powered monohull class began to pay off. Unfortunately, his triumph was shortlived as he blew his engine the following year and yet again could not afford to replace it. Nevertheless, the points he had earned in early season still got him third place in the British Championship, behind two Suzuki

A draughtsman by trade, Andy scraped and saved until, at twenty-one, he could afford to try again. ‘I bought an old Bristol boat and a Mercury engine for about £500 and did a year of club meetings plus the occasional national. That was good fun but at the first meeting of the following year I blew the engine up.’ Andy couldn’t afford to replace the engine so he spent the season watching from the sidelines. The following year he was approached by Brian Grimshaw, Johnson dealer and former driver. Grimshaw was organising a team sponsored by Jetcem and he offered Andy a ride.

drivers. Young Andy had certainly begun to show his potential and the new Yamaha team in 1981 considered him the man to beat. Little did they know that Jetcem had withdrawn their sponsorship and that he didn’t even have an engine. ‘I wasn’t even considered for the team because they thought I would be racing the new Johnson 60 HP. I would have been if I could have afforded it! I started off the year as mechanic to Billy Field, who had been my mechanic for the last two years. That really made me feel bad – here was my mechanic going racing when I couldn’t afford to! Anyway, we turned up at the first meeting, at Fairford, and no one could understand what I was doing. Where was my boat? They all asked me.’

The Jetcem Team ‘I had to supply a motor and propeller which I couldn’t afford but there was no way I was going to turn down an offer like that. I obtained a loan from my company. I think Brian would now admit he was a little doubtful of my potential. I had relatively little experience and he had never seen me race. My early positions didn’t boost his confidence much either. I was getting fourteenth, fifteenth, even eighteenth places. The Suzuki team was winning everything at that time. Our best Johnson driver was Mick Chick and he was mostly taking thirds.’

Nottingham 1981

‘But at the next club meeting at Iver, they realised I wasn’t joking and Phil Duggan, one of the Yamaha team, persuaded Bill Brown and Gavin Shaw from Yamaha to offer me a ride in their spare boat. I used that until I nose-dived it about five races later and smashed in the decking. I asked Yamaha if I could use their engine on my boat, and I got four firsts, eleven seconds and one third.’ Andy had established his reputation as a winner but he knew that monohull racing wouldn't attract a large sponsor and his dream of becoming a professional driver was still a long way off.

Grand Prix, an international event with a strong field of Danish entrants. Nobody believed it but they can’t have been more surprised than I was! I was so used to driving a monohull without any power trim that I hardly used the trim buttons – when I did it was usually the wrong way!’ Andy won one more Formula 4 race in 1982 before the fouryear-old kes-cat needed major repairs. Andy started 1983 without a sponsor. One of the highlights of the season was the Rolatruc Grand Prix at Bristol, where Andy won all four of the classes he entered. ‘I won’t do it again but it was an experience I shall never forget and perhaps it got me noticed!’

He was beginning to beat Mick Chick in 1982 but a week after the famous Bristol event, Chick, one of Andy’s closest friends as well as team-mate and competitor, was killed in a club race. The close competition they had had was not replaced. The only real contention for Andy’s first places was from Clive Chapman, but only once during the remaining twelve races did the 20-year-old Chapman take the leading position from Andy. ‘We had some great battles,’ said Andy, ‘he was quicker than me but his boat was very light and temperamental. He would get away faster than me at the start, but I’d always catch him in the end.’ Clive never returned to racing after the death of his father, Colin Chapman.

Dave Burgess, designer and builder of Roger Jenkins’ World Championship winning Formula 1 rig, was itching to build an extremely light and fast Formula 4 cat for Andy to race at the European Championships at Chasewater. But there was no sponsorship so Andy had to tell Burgess to hold fire. He continued to notch up results in his old Kescat, until Peter Zivvy of Kazed Doors and the instigator of Saint Racing offered to buy the Burgess for Andy. With his new rig Andy went on, not only to win the European Championships at Chasewater, but the next seven Grands prix in a row, including the world Championships at Hobro, Denmark. The end of the season brought Andy his biggest coup. First, he took his boat to Paris and along with his team-mate, Ken McCrorie, lasted out the entire six hours without a problem from the Yamaha engine. They beat all Formula 3 boats and came fourth overall. And to finish the season on a high note, Andy borrowed a T1 monohull and engine from Bristol boats and in his first T1 ride of the season, went out and beat all competitors to win the World Sprint Championships.

With the help of Phil Duggan, Andy won sponsorship from Bobcat to compete in Formula 4. ‘I bought a boat, got an engine off Yamaha and came eleventh in my first race. I came fifth in the next two and won the British

Andy raced in Formula 3 in 1984, winning the world championship that year. In 1985 he came 7th in the F3 world series, along with winning both the T1 and T2 national championship, 2nd in T1 European

Bristol 1985

championship and 3rd in T1 world championship. Andy moved to F1 in 1990; only missing out on the world championship by one point.

Andy returned the following season alongside Price but after a problematic season he was replaced at the Qatar Team. For the past three years Andy has been part of the Owen Jelf F2 Racing Team, where more often than not he’s been Owen’s radioman. Those extra set of eyes on the water have not only become mandatory in the UIM F2 World Championship but also provide the all important link with the UIM F2 Race Director in timing control and often play a crucial role in the outcome of the Grand Prix.

The following is taken from the F1 H2O website. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates – 2nd of June, 2009 - The long sorting out of a number two driver to defending World Champion Jay Price on the 2008 Team Championship winning Qatar Team has been settled as outstanding English veteran Andy Elliott will link up with the driver whom he has known for over 20 years as they head off for the next round of the 2009 U.I.M World Championships.

Andy was all set to attend the final two races in Portugal this year and had he been there he would have seen Owen Jelf win the penultimate round and finish the 2020 season with third overall in the World Championship. As a mark of respect to their colleague the team had ‘Thanks Andy’ written on the sponson of Owen Jelf’s BaBa hull, a true mark of a legend.

Unfortunately, Andy crashed in practice for the 2009 St. Petersburg Grand Prix. ‘While the Qatar Team were enjoying their number one driver's success they also were hoping for the quick recovery of their second driver Andy Elliott who crashed heavily in this morning’s practice and was in hospital recovering from injuries sustained in his massive flip down on the north end of the circuit as he was preparing for his 137th career F1 start for the two time former winner.’ St. Petersburg, Russia – Saturday, August 8, 2009.

Andy very sadly passed away on 26th August 2020.

1969,'70,'71 and '72 - British Junior Champion. 1980 - Runner-up T2 World Championship, Bristol. 1981 - Winner T2 British Monohull Championships. 1982 – T2 National Champion; T2 World Champion; F4 Winner British Grand Prix. 1983 - World Sprint Champion, T1; British Champion, T2; World Sprint Champion, 2nd in T2 European Championship, Runner-up in F4 National Championship; F4 European Champion, F4 World Champion, F4 winner Paris six hours. 1984 - F3 World Champion; 4th overall in F3 National Championships. 1985 - Winner of T1 and T2 National Series; 2nd in T1 European Championship; 3rd in T1 World Championship; 7th overall in F3 World Series; 4th Paris six hours, F3. 1986, ’87 and ’90 Runner-up F3 world championship 1990 – Runner-up F1 world championship (missing out by 1 point) 5

As we grew older, it was now time to go out to pubs and clubs. A typical weekend would be to meet at The Horse and Groom, have some small beers – wasn’t cool to drink pints, then over to either The Pantiles (nightclub) or further afield to a club in Guildford called Cinderella / Rocker Fellows. On one occasion we met at The Horse & Groom, then jumped into Billy’s love bus – a VW campervan. It was Billy, Andrew, Steve, me and couple of other lads. On the way Billy would play his Saturday Night Fever tape which we all sang along to. Arriving at the club it would be drinks at the bar then we would lose Andrew as he disappeared off to try and find a girl or girls to talk to. I have to say I have listened to some of his chat up lines, which worked, but when I used them I would get blank look from the girl as if to say “ what are you on”, then they would walk away.

A Tribute to Andrew Ken McCrorie In 1966, I first met Andrew and the Elliott family, it was clear even at this early age the whole family were competitive, but more about this later. Both of us became members of the Bracknell Boys Club, where we would both enjoy playing indoor five aside football, badminton and cross country running. This is where Andrew started to play Ping Pong. At school he was a member of the Chess club and he also played squash with another great friend, Steve Runham. We both bought racing bikes and did some 10-mile time trials. We even rode from Bracknell to the boat club at Iver.

At the end of the evening we would meet outside but no Andrew! “Don’t worry I know where he is” Billy told us. As we approached the camper Billy knocked on the door. “You in there Andrew?” “Give me a minute”, then the door would slide open with Andrew smiling. “Just got to take Susan back to her car “

Andrew’s sisters remember me having to run alongside Andrew as he cut the grass, but his father thought it would be a good idea to buy a 2nd lawn mower so I could help Andrew cut all the lawns and orchards, which we did nearly every week during the summer months.

We jumped in the van and Andrew reappeared. “Did you all have a good evening?”

His sisters where now heavily into their ponies / horses, so Ron (father) had an idea to build a stable block. As always, the plans were drawn on the back of a fag packet. Work commenced with Andrew and myself set to digging the footings, then dig the trenches for the drains. In fact, we just kept digging for many months which changed into a couple of years. We also mixed up tons of concrete, it was a huge project which kept us both busy most weekends and during school holidays. Each day Ron would set us a task which had to be completed before he got home. It certainly didn’t hurt us in fact it made us both psychically strong and kept us off the streets!

“Clearly not as good as yours!” As we drove home Andrew would fall asleep, we just kept asking ourselves “How does he do it?”

At this stage, Andy’s middle sister, Maxine had started ballroom dancing and was competing at national level, so you see they were a very competitive family.

LMBRC Junior line up including Ken and Andy

Moving on to some racing stories. In 1982 I got the chance to race in F4. Peter Zivy wanted to have his own race team with drivers he could promote. Andrew would drive the monohull and I would drive the catamaran, both boats painted black with Saint Racing and Kazed Doors decals. Both looked really smart and professional.

Andrew. They could not believe how these 2 lads from the UK, with this small boat and a 2cylinder engine could beat all the French drivers! They started to measure the boat, stripped the engine and found everything was as per the rule book. Attention was then turned onto us, they tested us for alcohol and drugs again we were squeaky clean! The little boat with the 2 lads from Bracknell came really good that day.

Peter had a wish that Andrew and myself would go and compete in the last race of the season in Paris which was the 6 hour endurance race. The plan was to race Andrew’s F4 boat with the ever-faithful Yamaha 2 cylinder engine.

Andrew is now racing F1 and in his first season lost the championship by 1 point, but he proved to himself and many others he was very capable in driving a F1 boat. As the seasons went on the biggest problem he had was the lack of good serious sponsorship. I truly believe if the sponsorship had come along he would have won the F1 world championship a number of times. He had huge talent which was evident from those early days racing his junior boat. He was one of the best drivers in the world.

Paris was the season’s final battleground for the major engine manufactures Mercury and OMC. The factories would bring their best drivers from around the world to compete. It was huge event with over 50 boats – F1, F3 & F4. As you walked down the pits the teams were all getting prepared to do battle on Sunday, as you got to the F4 boat area most of these boats were French boats. However, most of them were like ‘Chicken Sheds’, then you came to our very small boat, which wasn’t designed for endurance racing but it looked good and we felt good.

Let’s go to 1998, I had been racing world F3 for a few years at the start of the race I found myself behind the other driver (Steve Hill) who could also win the championship. We’d been racing for a number of laps, when Steve turned over at the pit turn. As I got back to the dock, Andrew jumped onto the boat and opened the canopy, “It’s going to be a restart for 10 more laps, I worked out you need to now finish in the top 5 – this is it, go for it”

Andrew would start the race. The flag dropped and there was almighty roar of horsepower. The course was around 2 miles long. As the first of the F1 boats came back towards us they were flying, next came some of the F3 boats but in amongst was Andrew in his F4 boat. I was gob smacked! How the heck was he so far up the field? But he was and to be honest the boat looked good. Andrew came back to the dock to refuel and change over to me to drive. “Drive it flat out and get the nose up, don’t pin turn – it’s fun!” Off I went and sure enough it ran really well. Towards the end of the race it was clear we would be first home in the F4, but when the race finished we had lapped all the other F4 boats twice and many of the F3 boats. Overall we had finished in the top 5, only to be beaten by 4 F1 boats. Then the fun started, the French organisers impounded the boat with me and

After 10 laps, which seemed to be more like 110 laps, I finished 2nd. Driving back to the dock the team were jumping around and waving, Andrew was there waving the union jack. I jumped out of the boat to cheers and clapping. Next thing Andrew’s shouting at me “come on I’m going to drive you on your lap of honour”. Before I could say anything, he pulled me onto the boat, he jumped into the driving seat and fired the engine for the lap. Thinking back, it was a lot to take in but my best mate who got me into racing powerboats was now driving me on my lap of honour, he had given me a world champion status. 7

We all know he suffered a horrendous accident in Russia, but through the love and care from Michele, Patricia and Maxine and their respective partners he made a full recovery. I saw Andrew in this period. Powerboating had really hurt him physically, but he bounced back for a few more races before retiring.

At the end I told Andrew his garden looked good, he told me he wanted to build a big outhouse with sliding glass doors across the front of the building , it would be big enough for a ping pong table and of course a bar. “Andrew you have the money just treat yourself.” With that I left. On the day Andrew fell ill, at around 17:45, I had a call from Andrew “Hello Ken, how are you?” Then he tells me, “There’s a Porsche car up a tree with the driver still in it. I’m stopping to help.” The phone goes dead. 15 mins later Andrew calls back. “Did you see the pictures I sent you? Drivers OK. Sorry got to go running late for an appointment.” That was my last conversation with him.

In later years Caroline & I had bought a house in Marlow which had a big garden. The plan was hatched to build a new house. If you ever watch Grand Designs, quite often the build goes over budget, which also happened to us. I spoke with Andrew and explained the situation, he asked what we needed to finish the house, I gave him a figure to which he replied“, I can double that if you want it?” Not only did he help us to finish the building work he also came over many times to help varnish the floors then spent a whole weekend helping us to move in – the cost to us was Roast Dinners and invites to stay over at weekends – what a true friend.

This is such a sad time, but when you feel down and sad just remember how privileged we all are to have known Andrew, either as a loving, caring brother, or a best mate who was like the brother I never had, or as Andrew your true friend. I loved Andrew and I always will.

I last saw Andrew during lockdown. I called on a Friday and told him I wanted to cycle over to see him the next day. When I arrived I got the big smile, we sat in the garden talking about this and that which then lead onto racing.

Finland 2009 8

Andy tussling with Clive Chapman at Stewartby 9

‘Awright Chrissy' A Tribute by Chris Davies A personal tribute to my very good friend Andy Elliott who passed away peacefully this morning.

the back seat and promptly fell asleep. By the time we stopped for ‘petit dejeuner’ I’m not sure what was whiter, my face or my knuckles but we all survived.

Back in 1992 when I arrived in Chalon-surSoane at the UIM F1 Grand Prix of France, it suddenly dawned on me that making friends with as many drivers as quickly as possible would be the key to my success plus longevity as their official photographer. So, when I was greeted with ‘awright Chrissy boy, how are you getting on’ my tough task began to feel achievable.

A couple of years later we had become really good friends and at that time Andy was working in Windsor at a phone store owned by Carlos Maidana. We were both due to fly out to Abu Dhabi the following morning for the season finale and he said pop along to the store to collect a spare house key. As I was standing outside, I heard a voice say ‘Chris, what are you doing here?’ It turned out to be a former girlfriend of mine and when she heard that I was due to fly out to the UAE the following morning to go to a race it must have impressed her enough because she then invited me along to her local wine bar followed by an Indian at a nearby curry house. The following morning, in typical Andy style, he announced that we just needed to collect some new sponsorship boat decals on route to Heathrow! Even today I still have no idea how we made that BA flight; Andy certainly knew how to live by the seat of his pants.

It was Andy Elliott that had asked the question, a racer I had photographed on a couple of occasions previously, usually when he was collecting an award at the London Boat Show. I knew a bit about him, and I had often heard people say that he would be quick even if he’d been given a bath tub to race, after all he had won a World Championship in nearly every class he’d raced. With Castrol International as one of my UIM F1 clients, Andy’s name was on my list of sponsored drivers and he would often ask for a couple of extra transparencies for his own sponsorship deals which I was happy to supply. In exchange he offered me overnight accommodation at his house in Bracknell each time I flew out of Heathrow to a race somewhere. On one such occasion he said rather than drive down to Chalon with Parky (David Parkinson), the UIM F1 Promoter, how about I went with him and Richard Wood, ‘it would be a laugh’ he said. Then about 1am in the morning we were on outskirts of Reims when Andy pulled over and said that him and Woody needed some kip and it was my turn to drive. Firstly, I had never driven abroad before and to make matters more entertaining for me we were towing Ron Koch’s Burgess raceboat, this certainly was going to be a totally new experience. ‘Don’t forget the overtaking lane is on the left, wake us up when you get to Dijon’ and with that he climbed over into

As you can gather by now there was never a dull moment with Andy, he was the sort of guy who would be up for anything. When we were in Pattaya for the Grand Prix of Thailand, Eric Michell from FMTV and I planned to give Andy a ‘special treat’ involving several ‘young ladies’ from the local area. As Andy went back to his room for a quick shower, the first two ladies knocked on his door which he opened just wearing a towel and a broad smile. By the time Eric and I burst into his room from our hiding place along the corridor, Andy was surrounded on his bed by a very fine harem. In the flash of my camera his towel was whipped away by one of the young ladies and amid the howls of laughter Andy could be heard asking ‘Please don’t show Fred, please don’t show Fred Hauenstein’ the Mercury Racing Technical Director. 13

By this time, I had moved into a house just around the corner from Andy and we would often meet up at ‘Racquets’ the local sports club for nothing more strenuous than a coffee and a chat. On one occasion Andy announced that Staples, the office supplies company were going to open a huge new store in

noises as we requested roast duck, chicken chow mein and beef with oyster sauce. That night Andy said that it was about time that I made her ‘an honest women’. Unbeknown to him I had almost sealed the deal over a romantic meal for two half way up the Eifel Tower the previous night, only to lose my bottle at the crucial moment! I did eventually get married to the young lady I bumped into outside the phone store and Andy always took great delight saying, ‘it wouldn’t have happened without his involvement’.

Reading and that he was going to be involved with their promotion and could I help out? Now I had visions of his raceboat with Staples branding all over it and him wearing a Staples branded Sparco race suit. In fact, it turned out that his and mine involvement was actually just going around factory units in Reading asking for a business card for the person who brought their company stationery. It felt like it could have been a story line from the tv series ‘Only Fools & Horses’ but if it meant he could go racing then that was all that mattered to the both of us.

Then just over a year ago Andy and I took the train together down to Poole to attend the funeral of RaceBoat International Editor/Publisher David Sewell who for many years had championed Andy’s cause. Following the service, a few of us gathered on Poole Quay for some ‘lite’ refreshment. Sitting in the sun drinking way too much Stella, we both agreed that Dave had lived an eventful full on life and I suppose exactly the same could be said about Andy. In a world of taciturn men, some taking themselves way too seriously and many appearing to have lost their ability to enjoy themselves Andy, with the smile of the eternal naughty schoolboy who was having fun rather than wilting under the gaze of the others, certainly had a different approach to life and that’s what we all loved about him. RIP Champ.

One time when the UIM F2 World Championships took place in Épinay-surSeine in the northern suburbs of Paris we all met up one night in a Chinese restaurant. When we tried to order food, the waiter couldn’t understand a word we were saying. In the end it was my then girlfriend, who I had bumped into back Windsor who saved the night by making various animal Richard Woods with Andy

Andy in his Junior days

Tributes to Andy

Kay Marshall The boat racing family has lost one of its nicest kids in Andrew Clive Elliott – a large hole has been left in all our hearts.

Keith Whittle RIP Andy I don’t even know where to start. The Powerboat World has lost one of its true legends and my best mate. I met Andy back in the 80s when I was racing Hydroplanes and he was racing T850. We would quite often meet at Dover where he would be off to race in Europe and we would be off somewhere else. Andy was one of the most gifted drivers in the sport and turned out to be one of the great natural Catamaran drivers of his time, he could drive from the seat of his pants and rarely had accidents. He won World and European championships in almost every class he raced except F1 which he lost by 1 point in his first attempt in 1990. One of the main reasons I helped Andy was for his complete passion for the sport. He would do whatever it took to race. His best friend, Visa/MasterCard, would keep him going through the season and then he would work like hell to pay it back in the off season, to this day I do not know how he managed it but he always did. One story I would like to share is when we went Johor Bahru in Malaysia in 2001. He was running a 2ltr. In those days the team was Andy driver, me and Richard Wood. The engine had done one race too many and needed help, so we stripped the engine and checked it over, the conclusion was it needed everything – crank, pistons, con rods etc. So I went up to Andy and said what’s your budget for this engine - usual answer not a lot. We looked at the pistons, crank and rods again and said ok this will go again, this will go again and this will go again so we put the engine together and he only went and came third, this was one of his favourite stories of which there are many. Thank you for all the help and advice you gave Sam with his journey to F2 and, also my F2 record campaign. From all at Team Powertech and the Whittle family, race in peace.

Jan de Vreng Being a former powerboat racer myself and multi world champion, I first met Andy in 1979 and although we were competitors and later even teammates (we raced the “Paris 6-hours” several times together) we became lifelong friends. We would on occasion meet-up outside 21

racing events. I can recall such an occasion which took place some 37 years ago. Enjoying a well-deserved vacation in Marbella with friends, we drove to Seville to aid and give encouragements to Andy who was racing there. After the race Andy joined up with us to spend a couple of days in Marbella. One night, Andy and I decided to “hit” the town and ended up in some pub called the Navy Bar in Puerto Banús. It was November and thus quiet with few guests in the bar, yet a doorman present! On entering the bar we noticed the barkeeper who was trying to impress two lovely ladies at the bar. On seeing us young handsome men, the ladies quickly shifted their attention to us. The barkeeper was not amused and within 3 minutes Andy and I were removed from the premises. Three years ago Andy visited the Netherlands once again, which he frequently did. This time he stayed over with Ronald den Hartog (F4 racer). During his visit we made a canal tour through Amsterdam on Ronald’s sloop. He was so impressed and surprised by the views from the canals looking up at the buildings that over and over again he would say; “WOW, look at those beautiful houses and church spires, amazing” and always ending up saying; “if I ever leave England I would want to live here”

On our canal tour Andy would often greet and joke with people along the embankment. Coming across a group of females he shouted; “hello girls, how’s your day today?”. Their response was quite timid and Andy turned around to us and said; ”they must be bloody tourists”. In fact, when seeing Andy outside England I would always call him jokingly a “bloody tourist”. That evening whilst enjoying a dinner in a village nearby Amsterdam we recalled our racing days memories, complementing, praising each other. Andy telling me I was the better driver and I telling him he was the better driver. We were acknowledging our achievements in the sport. For me proof that Andy was a true friend. To summarise Andy; a friend, a talented and successful sportsman, an exuberant personality, friendly and just. R.I.P. Andy 22

Pelle Brolin The legend has gone but the memories live on! Our best friend, God Bless you Andy. Bill Seebold One thing about Andy is he was a true Racer at Heart, Lived, Breathed and Dreamed about it. Leo Molendijk Andy was one of a kind and a very nice person. I could never say no to him, whether it was about arriving with empty batteries or showing that he was never really organised, but then we would always try to help him out because it was Andy. Roy Cooper While compiling this issue of the magazine I spoke to many people who knew Andy and it was obvious from all, the love and respect they had both for the man and the racer.

Andy Elliott – The Uncut Diamond BY CHRIS DAVIES ON 19TH SEPTEMBER 2020

Earlier on this year the motorsport world lost the legendary figure of Sir Stirling Moss OBE, described by many of his rivals as “the greatest driver never to win the F1 World Championship”. Speaking with those who had gathered at the Easthampstead Park Crematorium it felt as if the powerboat racing community were paying their respect to his waterborne equivalent – Andy Elliott. In his eulogy, Ken McCrorie spoke about his lifelong friendship with Andy, referring to him as the ‘Brother’ he never had. The pair would be team-mates for several seasons including racing in the Formula Four class at the notorious Bristol Docks. Later on, when McCrorie was on the verge of winning the UIM F3 World Championship, Andy was there to give him the advice he needed to secure the title, in fact it was Andy, a former F3 World Champion himself, who jumped into the cockpit to drive his victorious friend on their celebratory lap. Also there to pay his respect was Pelle Brolin, who had flown in from Stockholm. The Swedish racer said that Elliott had a burning desire in powerboat racing that was just so infectious. He spoke about the time they first met back in 1982 at the SE(F4) World Championships held in Hobro, Denmark. “I arrived in the pits towing a boat I had borrowed from Christian Molgaard and the first person to greet me there was Andy. There was I, a mere rookie standing with the World Champion who was taking a genuine interest in me and what I was doing. Yes, you could have said that he was checking out the opposition, but I was no threat, in fact I crashed out and he comfortably won the title that year. Andy was always quick on water and even quicker to share advice and help, a real diamond.” Dene Stallard, who was Brolin’s F1 team-mate remembers seeing Elliott racing in Exeter Docks, “He won as usual and partied as usual” said Stallard. “I thought this guy knows how to enjoy racing, so I tried to copy him, but I just didn’t have the stamina to keep up.” Throughout most of Andy’s F1 racing career he ran a British built Burgess hull and to Dave Burgess he will always be a winner.

“It didn’t matter what Andy drove, he always raced it 100%” said Burgess. “He is a legend and his achievements will live on for many years. Away from racing he was a good friend, a pleasure to spend time with and should be remembered as the person who pioneered pizza without tomato sauce.” Burgess hulls were also the choice of Jonathan Jones who spoke about the loss of a true friend. “The sport has lost a huge character” said the Welshman, who also said that Elliott was both incredibly talented and incredibly fair to race against. To this day Jones is still amazed how Elliott kept racing with little or no budget. “Andy was a true survivor; one thing is for sure and that was he knew how to set the boat up and make the most of his inferior equipment to then go out there and secure good result”. Jones said that Scott Gillman was a huge fan and would often give Andy his spare engine parts so he could get out on the water. “Andy was so well liked and respected by those up and down the F1H2O pit lane.” Brolin might have described Elliott as a diamond but only a few diamonds are perfect; most of them have inclusions or imperfections. One man who worked tirelessly to help polish out these flaws was Gordon Sutherland who described him as ‘the life and soul of the powerboat party.’ Working with Andy for several race seasons Sutherland can recount many a tale including the time they were sat on the pontoon during ‘Free Practice’ at an F1 Grand Prix somewhere overseas. “Andy had a huge box of propellers and he loved trying each one till we had gone through the entire box. He then said I’ve got the perfect prop for this course, so I asked him where it was, and he replied I’ve left it back in my house.” Richard Wood is someone that also knew all about the ‘highs and lows’ of racing with Elliott, in fact ‘Woody’ brought his first race boat from him back in 1987. “It was a T1 that Andy had raced and most of my early boats were ones he had competed in. If he wasn’t racing, he would come and help me out over the race weekend. So it was only fair that I went away and crewed for him. Perhaps the happiest time we had together was when Andy was racing in the F3 World Championship. One time we were driving to Sarnico in Northern Italy. Non-stop until we got to the Swiss Italian border, so you can imagine how we smelt by then. Andy pulled over by a river and we lathered up with a bar of soap 27

and plunged into the ice-cold water to rinse off. It was only when we climbed back out that we saw a truckdrivers shower block on the other side of the carpark. We had some real good laugh’s and went everywhere together even when we weren’t racing, he was just so very special”. “There will never be another like him” said Keith Whittle. “A true friend, a fantastic racer who loved watching Sam, my son go racing. He would offer him advice about all aspects of racing. Such a great loss not only to our team but to the whole of powerboat racing.” In this modern sporting age when honours are bestowed upon sportsmen and women perhaps if Elliott had ridden a bike to Olympic glory or won a tennis grand slam, then Sir Stirling Moss might not have been the only Knight of the Realm we said goodbye to this year. RIP ACE.