4 replies to this topic

[mab01uk]

December MiniWorld reports that Richard Newton the founder of Newton Commercial sadly died on September 2nd:- 
"Richard served his apprenticeship at Morris Motors in Cowley, then spent a year at the BMC Competitions Department at Abingdon. He was also a champion in the British Karting team. He moved on to Downton Engineering as Sales Manager to Bunty and Daniel Richmond. Later he moved to Germany to manage the Wooding Hamburg racing team who ran Mini Coopers and then Ford Escort BDAs in the European championship, which were developed in conjunction with Broadspeed in the UK. On returning to England in the mid-1970s Richard spent several years with Serck Services before setting up Newton Commercial with his wife Vera in 1979. Even after retiring, Richard remained a guiding presence—like the grandfather of the company."
https://www.facebook...77247453011568/

Edited by mab01uk, 01 November 2025 - 01:25 PM.

[Spider]

Extraordinarily well grounded back ground and 'up-bringing'. Very sad to hear of this.

[r.tec]

Oh,what a bad news. I had a long relation to Richard because since 1969 I was a Wooding follower when in the German motor magazine "auto, motor & sport" appeared a track test of the 1968 Wooding-Gp-2-Mini that came runner-up in the German circuit championship driven by Christian Schmarje.

 

On one of the many shows I visited for many years I asked him at his Newton Commercial booth if he was the race manager of Wooding in Hamburg. I wrote with him many times later and send me all the Wooding catalogues he had of this times and also all the photos he had. I had some Wooding stickers remade which I send to him and he send me a magazine article where his Wooding lookalike Mini was featured with my stickers on it. Every now an then we exchanged so emails and I was about to sending him a notice asking how he

 

 

was going on. Now this is obsolete. I am very sad. The conversation with him was always gratifying for me and I had the impression for him too.

 

Tomorrow I will go to the attick an look for his first letter he send to me when I asked what he could remember from his time in Hamburg.

 IMG_0066.jpg   91.43K   1 downloads

For now only some pictures

 05_Salzburg 1969 1st Place kl.jpg   125.09K   1 downloads

Richard, Don Wooding, Prince Leopold of Bavaria, Dieter Baaz (Technical chief), Salzburgring 1969

 12_Transporter 1971 02 kl.jpg   88.36K   2 downloads

Richard with the new transporter, 1971

 19_Jochen.Rindt Show 1971 Essen Dieter Glemser & Jackie Stewart kl.jpg   36.61K   2 downloads

Dieter Glemser Touring car driver, German champion and ETCC champion, Jackie Stewart, Don Wooding, Richard Newton, Jochen-Rindt-Racing Car Show, Essen, 1971

[mab01uk]

Oh,what a bad news. I had a long relation to Richard because since 1969 I was a Wooding follower when in the German motor magazine "auto, motor & sport" appeared a track test of the 1968 Wooding-Gp-2-Mini that came runner-up in the German circuit championship driven by Christian Schmarje.

 

On one of the many shows I visited for many years I asked him at his Newton Commercial booth if he was the race manager of Wooding in Hamburg. I wrote with him many times later and send me all the Wooding catalogues he had of this times and also all the photos he had. I had some Wooding stickers remade which I send to him and he send me a magazine article where his Wooding lookalike Mini was featured with my stickers on it. Every now an then we exchanged so emails and I was about to sending him a notice asking how he was going on. Now this is obsolete. I am very sad. The conversation with him was always gratifying for me and I had the impression for him too.

 

Great photos and information on Richard Newton, many thanks for posting.

(If possible could you also post your photos and info on the similar thread I have started on the Mk1 Forum, as I think members there will also find your post of interest.

Edited by mab01uk, 31 October 2025 - 07:59 PM.

[r.tec]

Now the very first letter (internet and electronic mail was still in its infancy) I received from Richard. Later on every time I found something new about the Wooding topic  we exchanged our opinions.

This now is some sort of historic artefact to honour Richard's decease. Still cannot believe it happened but we will all face the faith earlier or later.

 

 1992-08-31 Richard Newton p01.jpg   37.6K   9 downloads

 

 1992-08-31 Richard Newton p02.jpg   40.34K   7 downloads

 

 1992-08-31 Richard Newton p03.jpg   30.28K   4 downloads

 

On my own (non-commercial) homepage I wrote something about the Wooding history but I hesitated including photos that may be copyrighted. And of course I wrote it in the German language but that should not be a problem nowadays.

 

Hope you like it and will remember the achievements of Richard Newton.

 

Kind regards,

Helmut

Edited by r.tec, 01 November 2025 - 01:25 PM.