The late John Bilton

JAMES THACKER writes: “I noticed an obituary in the Daily Telegraph last Saturday 29th October for John Bilton. I apologise for repeating this to those of you who already know about John’s sad passing but I anticipate a few may not be aware of this.. John Bilton was the navigator for Alec Poole in his Mk 1 Sprite TZA 238 for about three years on club rallies, Motoring News championship events and two International rallies, the Circuit of Ireland and the International Welsh Rally in 1964. I sadly never met John but spoke to him on the phone many times and corresponded by email. over a period of about 20 to 25 years. John’s sheer enthusiasm for TZA 238 and its part in motorsport, together with fascinating anecdotes , was one of the timely catalysts to my deciding to make a start rebuilding TZA with Kim Johnson in 2012.. John had an amazing power of recalling all the details of TZA 238 both in rally and race specification [engines, bodywork, front ends, wheels etc] as if it was just yesterday. Alec of course moved on to compete successfully in many other cars in his professional career and naturally only remembered things from a broader perspective. One very much senses that this era in John’s life was clearly very enjoyable and truly memorable for him . In the December 2016 Sebring Sprite latest news website there is a copy of part of an email sent to me from John Bilton with, among other things, an anecdote saying how Tom Walkinshaw became interested in starting his racing career in a Sprite having seen TZA 238 being driven by Alec Poole at Ingliston in 1965 or 1966. I wrote to John’s daughters, Kirsty and Hannah, and they were very pleased to hear from me and volunteered that there were photos of TZA around the house. I think John was particularly proud of their 9th overall place on the Welsh Rally as it was very rare for a Sprite to do that well against Mini Cooper S’s and Cortina’s etc in that era. He sent me a copy of the official results sheet and this is shown on the TZA 238 Sebring Sprite website He pointed out that Autosport somehow got the result wrong in their publications, demoting Alec and him several places ! A lovely man who enjoyed his motorsport; my sympathies are very much with his family and close friends. James”