{"id":498236,"date":"2019-06-17T11:50:43","date_gmt":"2019-06-17T11:50:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=81592"},"modified":"2024-04-14T02:06:25","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T02:06:25","slug":"founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Founding McLaren Mechanic Wally Willmott Passes Away"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Wally Willmott, at Winton, in 2010.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wally Willmott, the first man hired by Bruce McLaren when he started his racing team, has died at the age of 78.<\/p>\n

An auto electrician by training, Willmott raced and hillclimbed a 500-cc Cooper in his native New Zealand, until an accident put a stop to his activities.<\/p>\n

Having got to know Bruce, in 1962, he travelled to England to take up a job as a mechanic for the High Efficiency Motors team, who ran Bruce\u2019s Cooper in non-championship F1 races. The car was called into action for works Cooper driver Tony Maggs to use at Monaco \u2013 where Bruce won the race with Wally in attendance at his first Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Wally subsequently joined the Cooper works team. In 1963, Bruce began to put together his own team to race in the inaugural Tasman Series, in 1964. Wally was engaged as his mechanic, and was later joined by Tyler Alexander.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Bruce McLaren, in the 2.5-liter Cooper, during the 1964 Tasman Series.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The fledgling team built up two Coopers with 2.5-liter engines and shipped them to New Zealand, where they were to be raced by Bruce and his American teammate Timmy Mayer. Bruce won the New Zealand GP, after many years of trying, but tragedy struck at the Longford round in Tasmania when Mayer was killed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Bruce McLaren and Wally Willmott seen testing the Cooper T70, at Goodwood, in September 1963.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As Bruce\u2019s plans began to gather momentum, Wally was involved in the construction of the first McLaren M1A sportscar, and then the first M2A single-seater, which was used as a Firestone test hack.<\/p>\n

He was a key part of the team when it first entered Grand Prix racing, in 1966, with the M2B, when one of his tasks was to try to turn the Ford V8 Indy engine into an F1 contender.<\/p>\n

Wally was far more than a mechanic, as his racing experience allowed him to shake down cars when the team went testing at Goodwood. He remained with McLaren until early 1968, the year that the team scored its first Grand Prix victory at Spa.<\/p>\n

He spent some years in Australia pursuing various activities, including building camera car equipment for use by movie productions.<\/p>\n

Eventually he returned to New Zealand. He pursued his love of sailing and after a break of many years he took up racing again back in New Zealand, competing with a Brabham BT21 in historic racing, while also preparing cars for others to his trademark high standard. He was also closely involved in the making of the acclaimed McLaren documentary.<\/p>\n

All at McLaren mourn his passing and send their\u00a0condolences to his family, friends and all who worked with him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wally Willmott, the first man hired by Bruce McLaren when he started his racing team, has died at the age of 78. An auto electrician by training, Willmott raced and hillclimbed a 500-cc Cooper in his native New Zealand, until an accident put a stop to his activities. Having got to know Bruce, in 1962, he travelled to England to take up a job as a mechanic for the High Efficiency Motors team, who ran Bruce\u2019s Cooper in non-championship F1 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":714483,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263,255,18114],"tags":[76,18435,18105],"class_list":["post-498236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-car-culture","category-news","category-people","tag-mclaren","tag-people","tag-people-news"],"yoast_head":"\nFounding McLaren Mechanic Wally Willmott Passes Away<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Noted mechanic and historic racer, Wally Willmott, the first man hired by Bruce McLaren when he started his racing team, has died at the age of 78.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Founding McLaren Mechanic Wally Willmott Passes Away\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Noted mechanic and historic racer, Wally Willmott, the first man hired by Bruce McLaren when he started his racing team, has died at the age of 78.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Supercars.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Supercars.net\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-06-17T11:50:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-14T02:06:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/wilmott-e1560796933199.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1641\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"648\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casey Annis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casey Annis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Casey Annis\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/02825f2c90f727d91e873a83f18cbd9f\"},\"headline\":\"Founding McLaren Mechanic Wally Willmott Passes Away\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-17T11:50:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-14T02:06:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":475,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/wilmott-e1560796933199.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"McLaren\",\"People\",\"People News\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Car Culture\",\"News\",\"People\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\\\/\",\"name\":\"Founding McLaren Mechanic Wally Willmott Passes Away\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/wilmott-e1560796933199.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-17T11:50:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-14T02:06:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/02825f2c90f727d91e873a83f18cbd9f\"},\"description\":\"Noted mechanic and historic racer, Wally Willmott, the first man hired by Bruce McLaren when he started his racing team, has died at the age of 78.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/wilmott-e1560796933199.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/wilmott-e1560796933199.jpeg\",\"width\":1641,\"height\":648},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Founding McLaren Mechanic Wally Willmott Passes Away\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Supercars.net\",\"description\":\"Exotic and Supercar news, information, pictures and videos\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/02825f2c90f727d91e873a83f18cbd9f\",\"name\":\"Casey Annis\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/CaseyMonaco-1-293x293.jpeg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/CaseyMonaco-1-293x293.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/CaseyMonaco-1-293x293.jpeg\",\"caption\":\"Casey Annis\"},\"description\":\"Casey M. Annis is the Founder and Editor of Vintage Racecar\\\/Vintage Roadcar magazine, the Petersen Museum\u2019s Finish Line and Petersen Quarterly, Alfa Owner, and The Oily Rag magazines. He founded Parabolica Publishing in 1997 after a career in biology, anatomy and neurobiology. Along with this passion for automobiles Casey is a long distance open-ocean paddleboard racer who\u2019s competed in the 32-mile Catalina to Manhattan Beach race and the 32-mile Molokai to Oahu race. Casey contributes and writes about the world of vintage road and race cars.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/vintageracecar.com\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/caseyannis-2\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Founding McLaren Mechanic Wally Willmott Passes Away","description":"Noted mechanic and historic racer, Wally Willmott, the first man hired by Bruce McLaren when he started his racing team, has died at the age of 78.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Founding McLaren Mechanic Wally Willmott Passes Away","og_description":"Noted mechanic and historic racer, Wally Willmott, the first man hired by Bruce McLaren when he started his racing team, has died at the age of 78.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\/","og_site_name":"Supercars.net","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Supercars.net\/","article_published_time":"2019-06-17T11:50:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-04-14T02:06:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1641,"height":648,"url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/wilmott-e1560796933199.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Casey Annis","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@supercars_net","twitter_site":"@supercars_net","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Casey Annis","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\/"},"author":{"name":"Casey Annis","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/02825f2c90f727d91e873a83f18cbd9f"},"headline":"Founding McLaren Mechanic Wally Willmott Passes Away","datePublished":"2019-06-17T11:50:43+00:00","dateModified":"2024-04-14T02:06:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\/"},"wordCount":475,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/wilmott-e1560796933199.jpeg","keywords":["McLaren","People","People News"],"articleSection":["Car Culture","News","People"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\/","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\/","name":"Founding McLaren Mechanic Wally Willmott Passes Away","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/wilmott-e1560796933199.jpeg","datePublished":"2019-06-17T11:50:43+00:00","dateModified":"2024-04-14T02:06:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/02825f2c90f727d91e873a83f18cbd9f"},"description":"Noted mechanic and historic racer, Wally Willmott, the first man hired by Bruce McLaren when he started his racing team, has died at the age of 78.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/wilmott-e1560796933199.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/wilmott-e1560796933199.jpeg","width":1641,"height":648},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/founding-mclaren-mechanic-wally-willmott-passes-away\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Founding McLaren Mechanic Wally Willmott Passes Away"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/","name":"Supercars.net","description":"Exotic and Supercar news, information, pictures and videos","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/02825f2c90f727d91e873a83f18cbd9f","name":"Casey Annis","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/CaseyMonaco-1-293x293.jpeg","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/CaseyMonaco-1-293x293.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/CaseyMonaco-1-293x293.jpeg","caption":"Casey Annis"},"description":"Casey M. Annis is the Founder and Editor of Vintage Racecar\/Vintage Roadcar magazine, the Petersen Museum\u2019s Finish Line and Petersen Quarterly, Alfa Owner, and The Oily Rag magazines. He founded Parabolica Publishing in 1997 after a career in biology, anatomy and neurobiology. Along with this passion for automobiles Casey is a long distance open-ocean paddleboard racer who\u2019s competed in the 32-mile Catalina to Manhattan Beach race and the 32-mile Molokai to Oahu race. Casey contributes and writes about the world of vintage road and race cars.","sameAs":["https:\/\/vintageracecar.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/author\/caseyannis-2\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}