Bill Stone

[Michael Clark]

Our mate lost his battle with the dreaded 'C' in the early hours of this morning.

The funeral will be on Friday at 3pm - Pukekohe Presbyterian Church.

Godspeed my friend

[pallmall]

We have been expecting it, but a shock never the less.

RIP Bill.

[RGM]

A sad day indeed Bill was a great bloke at least he does not have to suffer any more.

[bob homewood]

Rest easy ,old friend

[Russ Cunningham]

Illness may have caught up with Bill but it did'nt damper his spirit one little bit.

A bloody good bloke - whoever witnessed his 2nd or 3rd placing in the very wet FF event at Hampton Downs last year, witnessed a man with talent and spirit.

Rest in peace,

Russ Cunningham

[Michael Clark]

Here is what I posted earlier today on TNF

He was there at the start of March, Reynard and BAR - he raced Coopers and a Brabham in NZ before heading off to seek his fortune in Europe in 1968.

A McLaren M4A in F3 form wasn't his best move (that came when he married Susanne Mallock) but the BT21 showed his promise behind the wheel.

Sadly Bill has gone - his struggle to beat the dreaded cancer ended this morning peacefully. He hung on a lot lot longer than the medics had predicted - he remained 'Mr Positive' throughout the ordeal - always firm of handshake and unwavering in his optimism.

Bill rebuilt a Mallock Mk6B and raced it hard it historic races here. In January 2011 he drove a Formula Ford at the Chris Amon Festival - he last raced a FF in 1970, a March 708 he'd modified so much it was nicknamed 'Starch'.

His great buddy Martin Lucas offered Bill his Lotus 69. I was unable to compete because my Crossle had a problem - but it was worth not being out there just to watch Bill. It rained..and rained and rained. Bill was a fair way down the grid but as the race went on and rain got harder, the magic came out. He was over 70 and fighting cancer yet he just picked off car after car. When it was over, Bill - with the #24 he'd raced with since the 60s, was second.

It was the drive of the meeting.

Godspeed my friend

[bob homewood]

Interesting at the Pukekohe Car Club 50th Reunion which was help a few weeks ago ,Bill was there on the Friday night and over the weekend there was some old film footage playing and on there was Bill back in the days when he had the "big engined "Cooper FJ car racing at the Pukekohe Car Club Tuakau grass track meeting and also at a couple of gravel hill climbs with it ,back then he just put a couple of Town and Country tyres on the rear of it gave it his best shot and got on with the job, he was that sort of guy

[Kiwiboss]

A great motorsport legend that i didn't know personally but have read about, RIP Bill.

It goes to show we must get on with life, do as much classic racing as possible and probably not grumble so much. Our end will come one day too.

Dale Mathers

[RogerH]

The passing of a great guy who at the track always had a smile and a bit of helpful advice. A sad day.

[bob homewood]

Yes Dale As I wrote recently

One day there will only be photos and memories
Of us all left there to see

[jamie]

Goodby BILL old racing mate,No more Grass tracks or Western Springs just Memories RIP Jamie A

[Neville Milne]

I knew Bill for over 60 years; we both grew up on farms in Pukekohe East; our fathers became good friends sharing interests in fishing, hunting and, in their spare time, farming. In those days, Bill's dad, Ben, was the 'go-to' guy in that area, whenever anyone had some form of farm machinery that needed repair. The Stones were amongst the earliest settlers in that area.
There was always some vehicle or another for Bill to drive and to tear around in........I still have pictures of Bill (in his teens) with his early 20's Fiat chassis; apple-crate seating and an inverted bath-tub as a make-shift bonnet
What may not be so widely known, is that Bill had a wide range of interests, outside of his second love..... of motor sport ( his first love, of course, being Susanne)
I last saw Bill and Susanne when they were entertaining and educating some High School kids from Auckland, about the history and the pitched battle that involved the Pukekohe East Presbyterian Church,,,still standing and right across the road from the Stone's old farm. Bill demonstrated to the students, an old muzzle-loading rifle that he owned....for many of them it was a first-time experience and the high-light of their visit.
Bill was such a generous fellow; multi-talented; hard-working. In his own way he represented all that was good about being a Kiwi...with none of the bad........it seemed he could do anything he set his mind to accomplish, if it were humanly and humanely possible.
Bill was a good friend and I shall miss him.
Neville Milne

[bob homewood]

Nev I am sure we all will miss him ,I'm glad now that you made that last visit of yours when you did and I think having seen a couple of those early photos they deserve a place in this thread

[Michael Clark]

Neville you are sure right about his wide range of interests. One of the last times I saw Bill he showed my photos of the various pistols and other antique forearms he has owned - a passion he had but that a lot of his 'motor racing friends' had no knowledge of.

[stubuchanan]

Nev I am sure we all will miss him ,I'm glad now that you made that last visit of yours when you did and I think having seen a couple of those early photos they deserve a place in this thread

I'm not sure this one is as early as the photos you were thinking of, but Bill was a keen hill climb competitor in the earlier 1960's, and this picture is from a 1965/66 Auckland Car Club Bombay climb in the 'Big Engine' Cooper Ford. I'm not sure what date, but there may have been one J. E. Aislabie in a bobtailed Cooper there as well.



Stu

[Powder]

His great buddy Martin Lucas offered Bill his Lotus 69.

Amon Festival Jan 2011.

Malcolm.

[Trakshots]

Bill Stone. Levin 1968

[Milan Fistonic]

I'm not sure this one is as early as the photos you were thinking of, but Bill was a keen hill climb competitor in the earlier 1960's, and this picture is from a 1965/66 Auckland Car Club Bombay climb in the 'Big Engine' Cooper Ford. I'm not sure what date, but there may have been one J. E. Aislabie in a bobtailed Cooper there as well.



Stu

No way of knowing if this is the event shown in your photo but Bill Stone shared fastest time of the day at the 14th November 1965 Chamberlain Road hillclimb driving number 24 in Class I (0 - 1500cc Racing Cars).

He shared a time of 38.0sec with R. Maddox, a name I don't remember.

[GeebeeNZ]

Milan, I worked with Bob Maddox until he retired about 4 years ago. I understand he owned the Ron Learnan built RGR 500 in 1965 and later owned a Cooper 500.

[David McKinney]

Yes and no, Geeb. By this time the RGR was usually entered as a Cooper, as it was by later owners