Peter Brown

Peter Brown worked as a Rootes development engineer / another source called him a Rootes management trainee.

At 14 January 2010, Peter Brown wrote:

I started racing the Fraser Imps in 1965 when I was working for Norman Garrad and drove for Fraser at week ends. In those early days I had a lot of breakdowns as my car was used as a 'test car' for any modifications.
I joined the Rootes Group in 1962 as a pupil and after the first year working my way through the various factory departments I was mainly doing sales and public relations in Devonshire House London, before joining Norman Garrad at Ryton, Coventry.
[...]
Best regards
Peter

Peter Brown - Alan Fraser Racing Team- results 1965

	1 Peter Brown; Fraser Imp where? 1965 - which race? photographer? source? (nothing on rear) photo supplied by Peter Brown
	2 Peter Brown; Fraser Imp, competition # 221 where? 1965 - which race? photographer? source? (too glued to paper to see rear) photo supplied by Peter Brown
	3 Peter Brown; Fraser Imp, Hillman Imp, competition # 126 where? 1965 - which race? Maybe winning at Oulton Park? photographer? source? (too glued to paper to see rear) photo supplied by Peter Brown
	4 Peter Brown; Fraser Imp, Hillman Imp, competition # 221 where? ; 1965 - which race? photographer? source? (too glued to paper to see rear) photo supplied by Peter Brown
	5 Peter Brown; Fraser Imp, Hillman Imp, competition # 221 where? ; 1965 - which race? photographer? source? (too glued to paper to see rear) photo supplied by Peter Brown
	6 Peter Brown; Fraser Imp Brands Hatch, rounding Clearways; 1965 - which race? photogr: Evan Selwyn - Smith (for B.R.S.S.C.) I2/33/13; © Ted Walker photo supplied by Peter Brown
	7 Ray Calcutt (comp. #258) & Peter Brown in Fraser Imps Brands Hatch, approaching Druids Bend; 1965 - which race? photographer? source? (no copyright on rear) photo supplied by Peter Brown
	Ray Calcutt (comp. #48) & Peter Brown (comp. #49); Fraser Imps Brands Hatch, Oct. 24, 1965 photographer? 'Imps to the fore'. - magazine or newspaper clipping supplied by Peter Brown
	Ginger Payne, Ray Calcutt, Ian McDougall, Harry Martin, Peter Brown, Roger Nathan, Tony Taylor, Nick Brittan and Nick Cave (Brands Hatch, Oct. 24, 1965) photographer? 'One-litre saloons rounding Clearways' - magazine or newspaper clipping supplied by Peter Brown
	9 Brands Hatch. Peter Brown, a Fraser Hillman Imp, competition # 161 where? 1965 - which race? photographer? source? (no copyright on rear) photo supplied by Peter Brown
	10 Brands Hatch. Peter Brown in a Fraser entered Hillman Imp, competition # 126 when? 1965 - which race? photographer? Source? (no copyright on rear) photo supplied by Peter Brown
	11 Croft, Sunday 15 August 1965. Peter Brown, Fraser entered Hillman Imp, competition # 66 photogr.: Vikki Lincoln. Source? photo supplied by Peter Brown bought from 'Autokit', Stafford
	12 Crystal Palace, 31 July 1965. Peter Brown, Hillman Imp, competition # 74 photogr: © Ted Walker. Bought by Peter Brown. photo supplied by Peter Brown
	13 Mallory Park, Sunday 18 July 1965. Ray Calcutt, comp. #48, finished 2nd in a Fraser Hillman Imp photographer? source? photo supplied by Peter Brown
	14 A very young Peter Brown where? when? photographer? source? photo supplied by Peter Brown
	15 A very young Peter Brown where? when? photographer? source? photo supplied by Peter Brown
	16 Peter Brown, Alan Fraser & Ray Calcutt where? when? photographer? source? photo supplied by Peter Brown
	17 Peter Brown, Alan Fraser, Ray Calcutt & John Griffiths (Engineer) where? when? photographer? source? photo supplied by Peter Brown
	18 John Griffiths ? (Fraser's engineer) at work Brands Hatch? 24 October 1965? photographer? source? photocopy supplied by Peter Brown

Race reports from Autosport or Motoring News

where?, when? in 1965

Competition in the third race, an Ilford Films Championship round, was very fierce. On front row of the grid were three Hillman Imps, the Fraser car of Ray Calcutt, Bill McGovern in the Paul Emery entry and Roger Nathan. Calcutt made a very good start. But Nathan wasn't to be out of it and was soon up the leader's exhaust pipe. This must have been the closest dice of the day, although it was not to last. On the completion of the fourth lap Calcutt went straight into the pits with a broken crank, leaving Nathan with a handsome lead. The interest then switched to the battle for second place between McGovern, Alan Harvey (Mini-Cooper S) and Pete Brown in the second Fraser car. Brown's car had only just been finished overnight, and seemed to appear from nowhere with the demise of Calcutt. The final order was McGovern, Harvey, Brown and Ian McDougall (S). Ian Mitchell had been up with them but went out right at the end.
[source: Autosport or Motoring News]

Alan Fraser, who entered the eminently successful 1-litre Hillman Imps in saloon car racing for Ray Calcutt and Pete Brown last season, is to receive works backing from Rootes. In addition to running an extensive programme of production car racing, Frase will race other Rootes models in suitable events, which would seem to us to mean Sunbeam Tigers.
[source: Autosport or Motoring News]

where?, when? in 1965

Both of the two fancied competitors in the second up-to-1-litre saloon race were almost immediately in trouble for Pete Brown (Fraser Imp) wetted a plug on the line, while Dave Matthews'Mini never had a full complement.
[source: Autosport or Motoring News]

Mallory Park, 18 June 1965

The front line was impervious. In pole position was Ray Calcutt in the Fraser car and alongside him ex-Mini man Bill McGovern in the Emery GT Imp and Roger Nathan, despite water pump trouble in practice. As usual in this class of racing, things were very close with Calcutt just having the edge over Nathan at the start. Alan Harvey in the Tim Conroy prepared Autocadia-entered Cooper S was also close in attendance. Nathan really piled on the pressure, but Calcutt held the lead until half-distance when when the crank broke, but kept the Fraser flag flying. and when they finished, Nathan had a commanding lead from McGovern, Harvey and Brown.

Saloon cars up tp 1-litre - 8 laps

1. R. Nathan (Hillman Imp) 8min.29.8 sec. (70.05 m.p.h.)
2. W. McGovern (Hillman Imp)
3. A. Harvey (Austin Cooper)
4. P. Brown (Hillman Imp)

Fastest lap: Nathan, 62.4 sec. (71.54 m.p.h.)
[source: Autosport or Motoring News]

Sunday 18 July 1965, Mallory Park

A Clubman's race meeting, organised by the B.A.R.C., run on the short circuit, incorporating the dreaded chicane, which starts in the middle of the Lake Esses and cuts across to come out at the base of the Devil's Elbow. Spins were fairly numerous.

Ian McDougall winning the small car disc by a whisker from Ray Calcutt, Ian Mitchell and Pete Brown.

Promptly at 2 p.m. the small saloons came out for the first race, a qualifying round in the Spring Grove Championship series. Missing from the line-up was Nick Brittan, who had the misfortune to have a tappet adjusting screw come undone, damaging the rocker gear. Even without Brittan, the line-up for this race saw just about everybody who is anybody in 1-litre saloon car racing, with names like McDougall, Ross and Mitchell in the Minis, and the two Alan Fraser entered Imps of Ray Calcutt and promising new-comer Pete Brown.

Ian McDougall in the Broadspeed Mini made a tremendous star, leading into the first corner folowed by Calcutt and Ian Mitchell's Team Charles Clark car; Peter Brown was rather slow away and at the end of the first lap was sixth behind the leading trio, Mac Ross and Jacks. By the second lap Brown had stormed past Jacks and two laps later he was by Ross as well. The first three palces, however, remained the same. The racing was fast and furious the whole time. Pete Brown finally managed to claw his way up behind Mitchell's Mini, and at the finish was only four-tenths of a second behind. So close were the first four cars that a mere 1.2 seconds saw them all across the finish line.

Lydden, 26 September 1965

Great stuff was expected in the second race for an 'impvasion' had arrived on the little 0.705-mile circuit to tackle local favour Philip Hogben's Anglia - the Alan Fraser entered Imps of Ray Calcutt and Peter Brown and Roger Nathan's similar car. After one lap, Calcutt, Brown, Hogben and Nathan were nose-to-tail, with the last-named taking third spot after two laps and then disputing the issue with Brown for second spot. Unfortunately, once again it was not Nathan's day - the ex-Autosport champion has had a year of rotten luck - and the Imp expired in the fifth lap.
Nathan's departure let the two Fraser cars circulate unhampered - especially after Hogben had done it all wrong out of the hairpin on the third lap.
[source: Autosport]

Silverstone, 9 October 1965

A 7-lap scratch race for saloon cars up-to-1,000cc promised well, nor were we disappointed. The first four places were occupied by a frenzied mob comprising the two Fraser Imps of ex-policeman Calcutt and Brown. Nathan's converted Imp and Digby in the Cave A40. Nathan tried all he knew to beat the opposing Imps, trying to pass outside them at Beckett's, boxing in Brown when he could, only to blow up while in second place, a lap from the finish. So Calcutt won, at a rousing 76.92 m.p.h., from Digby, both drivers setting the saloon-car class lap record to 78.44 m.p.h. Brown's Hillman Imp was third, the Rootes cars staving off an enormous field of B.M.C Minis, from which Heaven's Austin Cooper S emerged in fourth place. After this, these saloon cars went home by trailers, the Imps included!
[source: Autosport or Motoring News]

Silverstone, 9 October 1965

Lord Rootes would surely have been heartened to see the front row of the grid for 1-litre saloon cars with the only three Imps in the race holding the first three positions. It was pole position man Pete Brown in the Fraser Imp leading in the early stages from team mate Calcutt's similar car with Roger Nathan third. A new interloper in this class was Harry Digby in Mick Cave's A40, now fitted with an F3 engine, and he soon began to press the battling Imps. The leading foursome dicing in typical 1-litre style swapped and changed positions, but it was Calcutt who yet again showed his superiority, with Digby second and Brown third, with Nathan drawing into the pits with water pouring from places it shouldn't, a head gasket having blown.
Behind this first place battle about 10 Minis diced and it was R.K. Heavens who made the front.

Saloon car race up-to-1-litre - 7 laps

1. R. Calcutt (Hillman Imp) 8min 46.8sec. (76.92 m.p.h.)
2. H.B. Digby (Austin A40)
3. P. Brown (Hillman Imp)
4. R.K. Heavens (Austin Cooper S)

Fastest lap: Calcutt and Digby, 1min. 13.8sec (78.44 m.p.h.) (new record)
[source: Autosport or Motoring News]

Brands Hatch, Sunday 24 October 1965

The rain began to fall in earnest just before the start of The Ilford Films saloon car race. Ginger Payne's A40 was in pole position, flanked by the Imps of Ray Calcutt and Roger Nathan. At the drop of the flag, Payne went into the lead, followed by Calcutt, while Nathan grappled with the gear lever and dropped back. Harry Martin, in Bob Burnard's Mini-Cooper, forged through from row 5 of the grid with ridiculous ease and took the lead on lap two, leaving Payne and Calcutt dicing for second.
Payne retired with engine bothers on lap 4, leaving Calcutt 2nd, but Nathan was closing rapidly and on lap 6 took him.
The rain was taking its toll: Nick Brittan in his Anglia had done a spectacular loop-the-loop at Paddock; then the dicing trio of Ian McDougall (Mini), Peter Brown (Imp) and Mike Cave (A40) came to a crunching, banging stop at the bottom of Paddock, but they all resumed at varying speeds. That crunch elevated Taylor's Imp to 4th, which he held to the end. The race ran out with Harry Martin a comfortable winner, followed by the three Imps of Nathan, Calcutt and Taylor.

Ilford Films Trophy 'A'
Saloon car up-to-1,000 c.c.

1. H. Martin (Morris-Cooper), 11 min.28.4sec. (64.84 m.p.h.)
2. R. Nathan (Hillman Imp)
3. R. Calcutt (Hillman Imp)
4. A.D. Taylor (Hillman Imp)

Brands Hatch, Sunday 24 October 1965

The rains came for the 1,000 c.c. Ilford Films saloon race, leaving the track in a treacherously slippery state. And with this class of race so hotly contested, it seemed that something would happen.
Ginger Payne in the Baldyne A40 took the initial lead, followed by Ray Calcutt (Imp) and - up from the fifth row of the grid - Harry Martin (Mini-Cooper). Roger Nathan (Imp) and Nick Brittan (Anglia) both made poor starts and were sixth and eigth respectively at the end of the opening lap. [...]
By lap four Payne had retired, Calcutt had taken over second place, Nathan was hot on his tail and Brittan, Ian McDougall (Mini), Peter Brown (Imp), Tony Taylor (Imp) and Mike Cave (A40) were close behind. On the next tour Cave had taken Taylor and was after Brown; on lap six Brittan did a spectacular roll; two tours, on lap 8 later McDougall, Brown and Cave played ring-a-ring-a-roses at Paddock, so Taylor moved into 4th spot with Minidrivers Parkinson and Trigg dicing for 5th position. McDougall resumed competition just behind these two, while Brown continued much later and Cave gave up.
Martin's team-mate Paul Watson had just moved into 8th from a back-row position when his Mini went all sideways out of Paddock and smote the bank and rolled at Pilgrim's Rise, slightly injuring two journalists.
Harry Martin won by 7.4 secs. from Nathan, who had moved by Calcutt on the 6th tour. Taylor fourth.
[source: Autosport or Motoring News]

Alan Fraser's successful pair of Imps have made quite an impact on the 1 litre class this season in the hands of Ray Calcutt and Peter Brown. Alan is a Rootes main dealer, and it has been suggested that he is running a thinly disguised works entry. 'Absolute nonsense' , says Alan. 'It's an entirely private venture.'
Peter Brown is a Rootes management trainee, and Ray is a police driver.
[source: Autosport or Motoring News]

Crystal Palace, 19 December 1965

The first of the two 10 lap Spring Grove Championship Saloon Car Races of the day was for the up-to-1,000 cc cars.
Calcutt's Imp (comp. # 73) led a bunch of four or five cars to finish third overall, some way behind the leading two: Nick Brittan's Ford Anglia and Ralph Wilding's Cooper S.
Peter Brown's Imp was having a wonderful scrap with Jack Payne's A40. It passed him on lap 4 yet spun at North Tower on lap 5 to drop back a place, yet still managed to finish 6th overall.
Roger Nathan's bad luck seems to continue, as although his Imp had gone quite well in practice, it never got going on four cylinders and retired early in the race.
[source: Motoring News, Thursday, December 23, 1965]

Peter Brown; info not Imp related