John Markey

Wendy Markey (left), John Markey (center), and Pink Stamps representative David Carter (Cartwright?)(right) at Silverstone, 5 July 1970.
Photo courtesy John Markey.

John Markey was born in 1938 in Liverpool. He first competed in motorsports in 1963 driving an 850 cc Mini. In 1966 he was Technical Manager of Fiat at Wembley and raced in England, and on the continent at Nurburgring driving an Emery GT. His career continued with a Diva Valkyr, Ginetta and Lotus 23 in 1967. In 1968 he raced a Gp6 Chevron at Oulton Park, Spa, Nurburgring, and Brands Hatch. During 1969 he campaigned a Formula 1 Cooper Maserati in Formula Libre until in 70 he started driving this Lotus 30/40 as Pink Stamps. Continued racing this car until 1973 at which time he was Great Britain Competition Head of BMW.

He raced for some years a BMW 2.0 liter powered Chevron P5 Sports Racer.

In 1986, he was employed at John Ashley motors, a BMW dealership and continued to race a Ginetta, Mazda powered in the Thundersports series. Interestingly, his engine mechanics are “Spike” Winters and Ken Brittain, the same engine builders John Willment had for the Lotus 30 originally. My wife and I (Richard Keyes) visited them in their shops in 1983. They are owners of the Engine Shop and B.B.W. Motorsport, located in Maids Moreton. They are campaigning a Colt from these shops near Silverstone. In 1989, he was working at a VW dealership as Head of Fleet Services.

Read John Markey’s comments on driving the Pink Stamps Lotus 30.

John works for for the automobile auctioneers H&H.

An excellent article on John can be found at International Excellence Magazine.

Sources:

Markey, John, Personal Interview by Richard Keyes at Markey’s home in Liphook, Hampshire, England, Aug. 7, 1986.  Also from John Markey’s notebooks.

Last Updated on January 29, 2021 by Kirk Keyes