Taso Mathieson

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Thomas Alastair Sutherland Ogilvy ('Taso') Mathieson (July 25, 1908, Glasgow – October 12, 1991, Vichy) was a racing driver. He entered races between 1930 and 1955, mainly in Bugattis and Maseratis.

Racing career

The first race 'Taso' Mathieson entered took place at Brooklands in 1930 and was restricted to Lagondas. He established his first victory during an Easter Bank-Holiday BARC Open Meeting at March 28, 1932 in the class Norfolk Senior Mountain Handicap in 1932, driving a supercharged Officine Meccaniche (OM). He won three other races in 1932 and 1933 in Bugattis and broke the lap record for 2-litre cars at Snaefell Mountain Course ('Mountain Circuit') on the Isle of Man, with an average speed of 72.15 mph (116.11 kph).

Because of health problems, Mathieson was unable to enter any races in 1934, so his Bugatti was driven a few times by Chris Staniland. In 1938 Mathieson was back in racing, taking 3rd place at Chimay with a Bugatti Type 57S. He drove at Le Mans in 1938 in a 4-litre Talbot with F. E. Clifford and in 1939 in a 4-5-litre Talbot with Luigi Chinetti, but both times they were forced to retire due to mechanical problems.

Mathieson was one of the first, if not the first, Briton to race again in Continental Europe after World War II after buying a 3-litre Maserati in 1946. In 1950 he bought a 2-litre Frazer Nash Le Mans in which he scored a class victory at Le Mans that year together with Dickie Stoop. Mathieson also had a role in Formule One in 1950, although this is debated. Some say that he entered his car, so that Leslie Johnson could drive the 1950 British Grand Prix, while others say that English Racing Automobiles (ERA) was the entrant, because Johnson had purchased the car manufacturer three years before.

In 1951 he was running third in the Targa Florio in the Frazer Nash he bought the year before when the fan belt broke. Further in the season, he finished second in Senigallia and fourth in Oporto. In 1952 he bought a Ferrari in which he finished 6th place overall and first in the 3-litre class in the Targa Florio and in 1953 he won his class at Roubaix and Bressuire in a 2-litre Maserati. Mathieson's last race was at Brands Hatch in 1955 in a Maserati.

Personal life

Mathieson married in 1947 to Mila Parély, a French actress.

After 25 years Mathieson concentrated on his writing and his collection of photographs. He wrote various authoritative books, including Grand Prix Racing 1906-1914, and wrote several articles in the French magazine Le Fanauto in 1979 and 1980.

References

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