Taso Mathieson

Mathieson made his comeback in racing in 1938 on a Bugatti 57S

Thomas Alastair Sutherland Ogilvy "Taso" Mathieson , also TASO Mathieson (born July 28, 1908 in Glasgow , † October 12, 1991 in Vichy ) was a British racing driver and author.

Career in motorsport

Taso Mathiesen began his career in club racing in Scotland and England in the early 1930s . He celebrated his first successes on the Brooklands racetrack , where in March 1932 he won the Easter Bank-Holiday BARC Open on a 2.3-liter Officine Meccaniche . This was followed by further victories in Brooklands, all of which he achieved in Bugatti racing vehicles . In addition to the starts in circuit races, Mathieson was also active as a mountain racer at the beginning of his career . During the second half of 1935 Mathieson fell seriously ill and had to give up racing for a few years.

In 1938 he returned to the race tracks and made his comeback on a Bugatti Type 57S with a third place at the Grand Prix des Frontières in Chimay . In the same year he made his debut in the Le Mans 24-hour race . He was there four times in the 24-hour race . He achieved his only placement in the final classification when he last participated in 1950 , when he and partner Dickie Stoop finished ninth in the overall standings on a Frazer Nash Mille Miglia and achieved a class victory.

After the end of World War II , Taso Mathieson was one of the first British people to return to racing in mainland Europe in 1946. In 1951 he was in third place for a long time at the Targa Florio . Before he could hand over the Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica to his teammate Jacques Pollet , the V-belt tore and the car broke down. In 1952 , driving alone that year, he finished sixth in the Targa. This time a Ferrari 195S was the car.

Mathieson remained active as a driver until 1955 and wrote motorsport books about the early days of racing in the years that followed. He died after a long illness at the age of 83 in Vichy , where he had lived since the mid-1970s. He was married to the French actress Mila Parély until his death .

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1938	Norbert-Jean Mahé	Talbot T150C	Freddie de Clifford	failure	Ignition damage
1939	Luigi Chinetti	Talbot T26	Luigi Chinetti	failure	accident
1949	Mrs. RP Hichens	Aston Martin DB1	Pierre Maréchal	failure	Fatal accident in Maréchal
1950	HJ Aldington	Frazer Nash Milla Miglia	Dickie Stoop	9th place and class win

Web links

• Taso Mathieson at Historic Racing

Individual evidence

1. ^ Targa Florio 1951
2. ^ Targa Florio 1952
3. ↑ On the death of Taso Mathieson