Peter Hawthorn Ashdown (born 16 October 1934 in Danbury, Essex)[1] is a former motor racing driver. He drove in a single Formula One World Championship Grand Prix, racing a Cooper.
| Born | 16 October 1934 Danbury, Essex, England, UK |
|---|---|
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  British |
| Active years | 1959 |
| Teams | non-works Cooper |
| Entries | 1 |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 |
| Career points | 0 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First entry | 1959 British Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1959 British Grand Prix |
Ashdown had trained as a vehicle mechanic, and had been a few years in the Royal Air Force when he started racing. First seen in a Dellow with a Ford 10 engine,[2] he continued around 1955 to race in a Lotus Mark IX as a privateer, not being part of any particular racing team.[3]
Prior to Formula One, he was one of the leaders of the British Formula Junior scene, but an accident at Rouen-Les-Essarts in 1958, in which he broke his collarbone, considerably hampered his career.[4]
He continued racing, and competed in a Formula Two (F2) Cooper-Climax entered by Alan Brown at the 1959 British Grand Prix at Aintree. He finished in 12th position, third of the F2 cars and six laps down.[5]
From there he drove a Formula Junior Lola and many small-engined sports cars, winning his class in the 1960 and 1962 1000km of Nürburgring. On the latter occasion at the Nordschleife, he and the co-driver Bruce Johnstone scored the debut win for Lotus 23 in the 1L Sportscar class with a 997cc Cosworth Mk.III as a semi-works entry (Ian Walker Racing), while the other semi-works (Essex Racing Stable) Lotus 23 of Jim Clark crashed on lap 12 of the 44 lap race.[6][7]
He retired in 1962 and focused his efforts on a Vauxhall dealership in Essex.[3]
Complete Formula One World Championship results
edit(key)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | WDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Equipe Alan Brown | Cooper T45 (F2) | Climax Straight-4 |
MON | 500 | NED | FRA | GBR 12 |
GER | POR | ITA | USA | NC | 0 |
Source:[5]
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References
edit- ^ "Drivers: Peter Ashdown". ChicaneF1.com. Retrieved 27 November 2007.
- ^ a b Forgotten F1 Drivers, Peter Ashdown, last accessed on 26 February 2023.
- ^ a b Peter Ashdown, Motorsport Magazine, last accessed on 26 February 2023.
- ^ "Driver: Ashdown, Peter". Autocourse Grand Prix Archive. Retrieved 27 November 2007.
- ^ a b Small, Steve (1994). The Guinness Complete Grand Prix Who's Who. Guinness. p. 37. ISBN 0851127029.
- ^ racingsportscars.com. "Nürburgring 1000 Kilometres".
- ^ Balme, Julian (2012). Ian Walker Racing, The Man and His Cars (1st ed.). Coterie Press. ISBN 9781902351476.
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