Innes Ireland
Born | Robert McGregor Innes Ireland 12 June 1930 Mytholmroyd, West Riding of Yorkshire, England | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Died | 22 October 1993 Reading, Berkshire, England | (aged 63)||||||||||
Formula One World Championship career | |||||||||||
Nationality | British | ||||||||||
Active years | 1959–1966 | ||||||||||
Teams | Lotus, BRP, BRM | ||||||||||
Entries | 53 (50 starts) | ||||||||||
Championships | 0 | ||||||||||
Wins | 1 | ||||||||||
Podiums | 4 | ||||||||||
Career points | 47 | ||||||||||
Pole positions | 0 | ||||||||||
Fastest laps | 1 | ||||||||||
First entry | 1959 Dutch Grand Prix | ||||||||||
First win | 1961 United States Grand Prix | ||||||||||
Last win | 1961 United States Grand Prix | ||||||||||
Last entry | 1966 Mexican Grand Prix | ||||||||||
|
Lieutenant Robert McGregor Innes Ireland (12 June 1930 – 22 October 1993) was a British military officer, engineer, and motor racing driver, with 1 Championship and 8 non-Championship Formula 1 race victories, and several sports car wins including one Tourist Trophy. Ireland was a larger-than-life character who, according to a rival team boss, "lived without sense, without an analyst, and provoked astonishment and affection from everyone."[1]
Early life
[edit]Ireland was born 12 June 1930 in Mytholmroyd, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, the son of a Scottish veterinary surgeon. His family returned to Kirkcudbright, Scotland during his youth, and he trained as an engineer with Rolls-Royce, first in Glasgow and later in London. Commissioned as a second lieutenant in the King's Own Scottish Borderers,[2] he served with the Parachute Regiment in the Suez Canal Zone during 1953 and 1954.[3] In 1955 he transferred to the Territorial Army and was promoted to lieutenant,[4] and in 1958 he was placed on the Reserve of Officers.[5]
Racing career
[edit]Ireland began racing a Riley 9 in 1954. His first year of nationally competitive events was 1957,[6] by which time he was running a small engineering firm in Surrey. Success in sports car racing saw him make his Formula One debut for Team Lotus in 1959. In 1960 he won three non-championship Formula One races and finished fourth in the World Drivers Championship. Badly injured in the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix, Ireland recovered to win the Solitude Grand Prix and Flugplatzrennen races, then finished the season with a victory in the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. He was sacked at the end of the season as team boss Colin Chapman considered Jim Clark a better bet.[7]
Ireland entered the 24 Hours of Daytona using a Ferrari, with motorcycle racer Mike Hailwood as intended co-driver, but broke down with gearbox problems after 3+1⁄2 hours, before Hailwood was scheduled to participate.[8]
Ireland was encouraged by Bill France, founder of NASCAR, to participate in the 1967 Daytona 500, one of the last races of his career, where the V8 engine of his year old Dodge exploded outside the stands.
Ireland worked as a journalist for ESPN for several F1 races in the late 1980s as well as the American Road & Track magazine, Autocar magazine, and skippering fishing trawlers in the North Atlantic. Towards the end of his life, he was elected president of the British Racing Drivers' Club, which post he still held at the time of his death from cancer on 22 October 1993, at Reading, Berkshire, England.
Writing
[edit]A talented writer, Ireland produced a classic autobiography, All Arms and Elbows (ISBN 0-85184-050-7). Marathon in the Dust, published in 1970 is Ireland's account of the grueling 1968 Daily Express London-Sydney Marathon, which Ireland completed with 2 friends, fellow F1 competitor Michael Taylor and British bobsledder Andy Hedges in a Mercedes Benz 280 SE.
Personal life
[edit]On 30 October 1954 Ireland married Scarborough schoolteacher Norma Thomas. They had two daughters before divorcing in 1967. He then married Edna Humphries also in 1967. Ireland married his third wife Jean Mander (née Howarth), a former fashion model, on 11 June 1993 at Newbury register office. Jean had been engaged to Mike Hawthorn at the time of Hawthorn's death in 1959. Ireland also had a son who died in 1992.
Racing record
[edit]Complete Formula One World Championship results
[edit](key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | WDC | Pts. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1959 | Team Lotus | Lotus 16 | Climax FPF 2.5 L4 | MON | 500 | NED 4 |
FRA Ret |
GBR | GER Ret |
POR Ret |
ITA Ret |
USA 5 |
14th | 5 | |
1960 | Team Lotus | Lotus 18 | Climax FPF 2.5 L4 | ARG 6 |
MON 9 |
500 | NED 2 |
BEL Ret |
FRA 7 |
GBR 3 |
POR 6 |
ITA | USA 2 |
4th | 18 |
1961 | Team Lotus | Lotus 21 | Climax FPF 1.5 L4 | MON DNS |
NED | BEL Ret |
FRA 4 |
GBR 10 |
GER Ret |
USA 1 |
6th | 12 | |||
Lotus 18/21 | ITA Ret |
||||||||||||||
1962 | UDT-Laystall Racing Team | Lotus 24 | Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 | NED Ret |
MON Ret |
BEL Ret |
FRA Ret |
GBR 16 |
GER | ITA Ret |
USA 8 |
RSA 5 |
16th | 2 | |
1963 | British Racing Partnership | Lotus 24 | BRM P56 1.5 V8 | MON Ret |
GER Ret |
9th | 6 | ||||||||
BRP Mk1 | BEL Ret |
NED 4 |
FRA 9 |
GBR Ret |
ITA 4 |
USA | MEX | RSA | |||||||
1964 | British Racing Partnership | Lotus 24 | BRM P56 1.5 V8 | MON DNS |
NED | 14th | 4 | ||||||||
BRP Mk1 | BEL 10 |
FRA Ret |
|||||||||||||
BRP Mk2 | GBR 10 |
GER | AUT 5 |
ITA 5 |
USA Ret |
MEX 12 | |||||||||
1965 | Reg Parnell Racing | Lotus 25 | BRM P56 1.5 V8 | RSA | MON | BEL 13 |
FRA Ret |
GBR Ret |
NED 10 |
GER | NC | 0 | |||
Lotus 33 | ITA 9 |
USA Ret |
MEX DNS | ||||||||||||
1966 | Bernard White Racing | BRM P261 | BRM P60 1.9 V8 | MON | BEL | FRA | GBR | NED | GER | ITA | USA Ret |
MEX Ret |
NC | 0 |
Non-championship Formula One results
[edit](key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)
- ^1 The Parnell Lotus driven by Ireland in 1965 and 1966 was a written-off 25 rebuilt around a 33 monocoque.
Complete British Saloon Car Championship results
[edit](key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)
Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Pos. | Pts | Class |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1962 | Ford Motor Company | Ford Zodiac Mk 3 | C | SNE | GOO | AIN | SIL ? |
CRY | AIN | BRH | OUL | 17th | 9 | 2nd |
1964 | McKechnie Racing | Ford Cortina Lotus | B | SNE | GOO | OUL | AIN | SIL 7 |
CRY | BRH | OUL | 27th | 2 | 11th |
Source:[9]
|
24 Hours of Le Mans results
[edit]Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1960 | Team Lotus | John Whitmore | Lotus Elite Mk. 14 | S 2.0 | 0 | DNS | DNS |
1962 | UDT Laystall Racing Team | Masten Gregory | Ferrari 250 GTO | GT 3.0 | 165 | DNF | DNF |
1963 | David Brown Racing Dept. | Bruce McLaren | Aston Martin DP214 | GT +3.0 | 59 | DNF | DNF |
1964 | Maranello Concessionaires | Tony Maggs | Ferrari 250 GTO | GT 3.0 | 328 | 6th | 2nd |
1965 | Ford Advanced Vehicles | John Whitmore | Ford GT40 | GT 5.0 | 72 | DNF | DNF |
1966 | F.R. English Ltd. \ Comstock Racing | Jochen Rindt | Ford GT40 Mk I | S 5.0 | 8 | DNF | DNF |
NASCAR: Grand National
[edit]Daytona 500
[edit]Year | Team | Manufacturer | Start | Finish |
---|---|---|---|---|
1967 | Ray Fox | '66 Dodge Charger | 20 | 27 |
References
[edit]- ^ Robert Newman (2014). Motor Racing Heroes: The Stories of 100 Greats. Veloce Publishing Ltd. pp. 202–. ISBN 978-1-84584-748-7.
- ^ "No. 40087". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 February 1954. p. 696.
- ^ "Innes Ireland". Historic Racing. 22 October 2006.
- ^ "No. 40688". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 January 1956. p. 412. Correcting "No. 40565". The London Gazette (Supplement). 23 August 1955. p. 4799.
- ^ "No. 41477". The London Gazette (Supplement). 22 August 1958. p. 5207.
- ^ "All Results of Innes Ireland". www.racingsportscars.com. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
- ^ Doug Nye (1978). Theme Lotus. Motor Racing Publications. p. 49.
- ^ "Hailwood home". Motorcycle News, 16 February 1966, p.1. Accessed 20 April 2024
- ^ de Jong, Frank. "British Saloon Car Championship". History of Touring Car Racing 1952-1993. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
External links
[edit]- An Innes Ireland fan site at the Wayback Machine (archived 26 October 2009)
- Information about Innes Ireland
- King's Own Scottish Borderers officers
- British Parachute Regiment officers
- English mechanical engineers
- English Formula One drivers
- Racing drivers from Yorkshire
- Team Lotus Formula One drivers
- British Racing Partnership Formula One drivers
- Reg Parnell Racing Formula One drivers
- Bernard White Racing Formula One drivers
- Formula One race winners
- 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
- 12 Hours of Reims drivers
- World Sportscar Championship drivers
- 20th-century British businesspeople
- British non-fiction writers
- British male journalists
- People from Mytholmroyd
- Sportspeople from Calderdale
- 1930 births
- 1993 deaths
- Engineers from Yorkshire
- 20th-century non-fiction writers
- Military personnel from Yorkshire
- Ecurie Ecosse drivers
- 20th-century British Army personnel
- English racing drivers
- Scottish racing drivers