In this section of the website we have uploaded some notes from a presentation written at the time which we thought would be of interest, and a bit of fun for you to see. They show how even back then we were dedicated to our customers and our staff, but also have some interesting views into our entrance into F1 racing and the cost of cars in the 70’s.
Take a look below to see what was happening at Hexagon 40 years ago, and enjoy some retro photographs in our dealer gallery.
MOTOR RACING
Apart from football, motor racing is the largest spectator sport in the country.
In addition to the many millions who are sufficiently enthusiastic to go to the track to see the race ‘live’, it is given regular coverage in most of the national press as well as the many motoring journals.
Outside Britain there is an even more enthusiastic following, and motor racing is the national sport of Italy. The motor racing enthusiast tends to be reasonably young and active and, in as far as statistics can tell, has a higher than average spending rate.
In this country there are many motoring journals. Motor racing gets reasonable (but never enough!) coverage on TV and radio, and the glamour of the sport has promoted several main feature films starring people such as Paul Newman and Steve McQueen. However almost as important as the direct coverage is the mass of point-of-sale and what advertising agencies call ‘below the line’ items such as car-stickers, T-shirts, flags, banners etc.
Sponsorship of motor racing is taken extremely seriously by a small but increasing number of companies. Apart from those involved directly in the industry such as the major fuel and tyre companies, there are organizations such as John Player and Marlborough cigarettes. Other successful promoters are Elf, Brooke Bond Oxo, Polytoys, STP, Yardley and Match box toys.
Without the help of any major PR or publicity outlets, and up against some really big names such as John Player, Lotus, Marlborough, BMW etc, Hexagon and Watson were given over 12 column inches and 2 pictures in the press and a place in the record books.
It is interesting to speculate what our total column inches would have been had many of the motoring journals not been on strike for the coverage of the race.
THE RACING PROGRAMME
The racing programme can be divided into 2 parts: European and World.
The European season would include the following Grand Prix’s Spain Monaco, Belgium, Holland, Framce, Germany, Austria, British, Swedish and Italian events plus non-championship Silverstone, Oulton and Brands Hatch events. The average European crowds are well in excess of 100,000 and most get full TV coverage. For instance in Monaco 160,000 people crowd into the tiny principality for a whole week of festivity and the whole race is televised. The German GP can have as many as 250,000 people spread over the 14 miles course. Again the Germans enjoy full TV coverage.
A World season includes Mexico, Aregntine, South Africa, Canada and USA. The latter two being the most lucrative from both coverage and an entry point of view. We feel a world season offers far more coverage without being vastly more expensive.
The idea is to have a one car driver team and concentrate 100% of our energy in seeing the car finish in the first 6 and thus gain championship points. A one car team has definite advantages for both team and driver; he knows he is getting the best possible car and the team have no divided loyalty and can spend time getting the car right. We anticipate that the team would comprise of 1 girl and 1 team manager, two mechanics and 1 transporter driver/ assistant mechanic. Team organization would be by Hexagon administrative staff and a two car transporter would be acquired so that in the event of an accident a second car could be run.
We feel that if business expertise is applied in motor racing, success will be a lot easier than under the normal shambles that most F1 teams seem to operate. We have proved we can do it at Brands. We now look forward to proving it was no fluke…
Provisional dates 1973
January 16 Argentine
March 3 South African
April 29 Spanish
May 20 Belgium
June 3 Monaco
June 17 Dutch
July 1 French
July 14 British
August 4/5 German
August 19 Austrian
August 25/26 Swedish
September 9 Italian
October 7 US Canada
October 21 US Watkins Glen No 2
JOHN WATSON THE DRIVER
John Watson is just 26 years old and hails from Ulster, Northern Ireland He was the son of a garage proprietor and consequently was brought up thinking motor cars. His father was also a racing driver. John took up racing seriously in 1970 when he bought a new Brabham to campaign in European F2 Events, unfortunately due to a puncture early in the year the car was involved in an accident and was not run again until 1971 when he was generally acknowledged as the most successful private entry.
In 1972 John began to make a real mark springing to dame in the Rothmans 50,000 when until mechanical failure he was lying third, he eventually finished sixth. He then went to Phoenix park with the March 721, set a new lap record but unfortunately the car suffered from severe brake problems and he didn’t finish the race.
Then came the opportunity, both Watson and Hexagon were waiting for; The JPS Victory meeting at Brands Hatch where until the track fried out and our wet tyres were then a distinct disadvantage John was lying in third place again, eventually finishing sixth in what was universally acknowledged as a completely uncompetitive motor car.
He also awarded second place in this year’s Grosvenor Awards. The Grosvenor Awards go to those drivers from Britain or the Commonwealth who in the opinion of the judges show outstanding promise in the early development of their racing careers having regard to the cars and facilities at their disposal.
MIKE EARL - TEAM MANAGER
It is important that a racing driver has the right relationship with he Team Manager. This enables a car to be sorted very quickly so that practice sessions can be spent trying to go fast round a circuit rather than correcting problems. Mike and John are good friends and have worked up a relationship enabling John’s observation’s to be quickly transferred to the car with the minimum of delay.
Mike has been a team manager since 1966, his most notable successes being the Church Farm Formula 5,000 can when Peter Getting won the formula 5.000 championship and then in 1970 in Formula 2 when Derek Bell was runner up in the European F2 Championship. Mike also helped Hexagon in the JPS race at Brands Hatch.
VENTURING INTO FORMULA 1
In 1971 Hexagon decided to go into motor racing in a very small way both to gain experience and publicity. We in fact took second place in the JCB championship in our first full season of racing.
The historic formula was chosen because it offered the possibility of racing on a limited budget without pressure or the necessity of immediate success. We felt that groundwork without pressure was necessary to assess what potential there was for the future.
After establishing to our own satisfaction that there was adequate foundation for the making of an exciting racing team, we decided to embark on a serious study of Formula 1 racing. With a small amount of experience from Historic racing, it was decided to investigate the possibility of moving on to bigger and better things. The pictures show some aspects of our first really serious entry into this highly specialized world of top professionals.
Although time was not on our side, it was an ideal opportunity to test our team under real pressure and to our credit we all came out with flying colours.
John Watson drove an extremely confident race holding 3rd position for a while and finishing 6th.
Nevertheless, the most important outcome of the exercise was not our final positions at the end of the race but our absolute satisfaction that we had all the ingredients for a highly successful Formula 1 team for the coming year.
