Chris Meek
Motor racing driver
CHRIS MEEK, a businessman well-known for his love of motor racing in general, and Ferraris in particular, has died.
Chairman of the Titan Group property firm in Leeds and the owner of the Mallory Park racing circuit in Leicestershire, he died last Saturday after a long battle with cancer. He was surrounded by family and friends.
Mr Meek, who was always coy about his age, achieved more than 500 race wins during an illustrious racing career covering Formula 2, Formula Atlantic, Formula Libre, Formula Ford, Formula 3, Saloons and GT cars.
He was also seven-time production car champion and gained the highest number of lap records of any other driver at the time.
In 1983 he bought Mallory Park, a racing circuit in the Leicestershire countryside, to continue and promote motorsport.
Mr Meek leaves a widow, Svetlena, to whom he was married for more than 17 years, and two sons, Nikita, 21, and Charlie, 10. Svetlena said: “Chris was a wonderful husband, a great father and a dear friend.
“The years we were together will be cherished and remembered forever. It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to a real sporting hero and a true gentleman.”
She said that he was so reluctant to reveal his age that the order of service at his funeral would not reveal how old he was.
In 2005, The Yorkshire Post reported how Mr Meek had taken delivery of his 40th Ferrari. There were plenty of admiring glances as a dozen of the finest Ferrari sports cars lined up outside a Leeds restaurant.
Passers-by stopped to take pictures on their camera phones, a young boy could barely control his glee and owners of more modest motors could only look on in awe... and not a little jealousy.
But for Mr Meek it was just another day in his love affair with the Italian sports car maker. Mr Meek had taken delivery of his 40th Ferrari, the new and much anticipated £130,000 F430 – the first to arrive in Leeds.
He bought his first Ferrari in 1971 and owned dozens of different models in the subsequent years, including an Enzo which has a top speed of 217mph.
However, he was not a collector of Ferraris and usually only ever had one or two models in his garage. At the time his other car was a Volkswagen Golf GTI and his wife, Svetlana, drove a Maserati.
Specialist car dealer JCT600 Brooklands hosted a gathering of Ferrari owners in 2005 to say thank you for their custom. The assembled motors would set you back close to £2m – if you could persuade the owners to sell, which is unlikely.
Mr Meek and celebrities were among those who attended the event at the Flying Pizza restaurant in Roundhay, Leeds.
From Alwoodley, Leeds, the industrialist said his love centred on their “performance, sophistication and acceleration”.
At the time, he said: “It’s the sheer joy of the handling, the acceleration. It’s the feeling of safety. When you turn into a corner, even at a very fast speed, you are relaxed and don’t have to fight the car.
“A lot of other sports cars look great but you don’t have the same confidence as you do in a Ferrari. And I have driven virtually all modern and old sports cars. I would have a Ferrari for the sheer exhilaration.”
Asked if there was a downside to owning a Ferrari, he said that petrol consumption could be a bit high. “The jealously (that used to exist) has gone. Young guys shout ‘I love your car’ and ask how I afford it. I just tell them ‘work hard and you can have one’. I have never had someone scratch my car. We have become more like America.”
Mr Meek said the fastest he had driven in a Ferrari was 217mph – which happens to be the top speed of the Enzo model. He declined to say where and when, but he does currently have a clean driving licence.
“A Ferrari feels absolutely safe at speed – road holding is the best. The first thing I do when I get in a Ferrari is turn off the electronics (such as traction control), so then I am in control.”
“At 217mph, if the car feels safe and you are comfortable you feel great. I have driven motorbikes at more than 185mph and that feels more like 300mph.
The British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC) paid tribute to Mr Meek this week.
He became a Full Member of the BRDC 20 years ago in 1996 and had just been accepted as a Life Member.
The BDRC said that after racing motorcycles in the mid1950s, he began racing on four wheels in 500cc Formula 3 with a car which recorded appearance being at his local circuit of Brough in 1956.
He soon switched to sports car racing with Lotus Types IX and X followed by an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce and an Elva Courier. With the Elva Chris won the 1960 Gold Flake Trophy at Phoenix Park.
A return to single-seaters saw him racing the ultra low Formula Junior Elva 300 in 1962 before switching allegiance in 1964 to Ginetta with whose G4 he enjoyed considerable success at national level. In the late 1960s Mr Meek entered a number of 1600cc Formula 2 events but his cars were uncompetitive and his only classified finish was ninth in the BARC 200 at Thruxton with a Brabham BT10.
After a few races with a Chevron-BMW B8 as a member of the TechSpeed team, he moved into Formula Ford 1600 with a Titan Mk 6 entered by his property company Titan Properties Ltd. In 1970 with the Titan and in 1971 with a Tate of Leeds-sponsored Lotus 69F Mr Meek won the BRSCC Northern Formula Ford Championship. The Tate support continued into Formula Atlantic with a Brabham BT38, a March 712 and then a Motul M1, with Mr Meek winning a British Championship round at Snetterton.
Mr Meek was continuing to race extensively at this time, principally in production sports cars such as a De Tomaso Pantera, Lotus Europa, a TVR 1600M, MG Midget and a Panther Lima. Between 1973 and 1980 Mr Meek won six production sports car championships.
Always a colourful, flamboyant character, Mr Meek owned a number of Ferrari road cars over the years and was not reticent about exploring their full potential. He also had a succession of spectacularly quick road bikes.
The funeral will take place at St Anne’s Cathedral, Leeds, on June 3.