Stuart Nigel Lewis-Evans (20 April 1930 – 25 October 1958) was a British racing driver from England. He participated in 14 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 19 May 1957. He achieved two podiums, and scored a total of 16 championship points. He also achieved two pole positions.
| Born | 20 April 1930 Luton, Bedfordshire, England |
|---|---|
| Died | 25 October 1958 (aged 28) East Grinstead, Sussex, England |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  British |
| Active years | 1957 – 1958 |
| Teams | Connaught, Vanwall |
| Entries | 14 |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 2 |
| Career points | 16 |
| Pole positions | 2 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First entry | 1957 Monaco Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1958 Moroccan Grand Prix |
Early life
editStuart Lewis-Evans was born in Luton, Bedfordshire, but largely grew up in Kent, where his father, Lewis "Pop" Lewis-Evans, owned and ran a garage business.[1] Pop Lewis-Evans had previously been a mechanic for the well-known racing driver Earl Howe, but had not previously raced himself.[1] On leaving school, Lewis-Evans was apprenticed for three years to Vauxhall Motors, back in Bedfordshire, before he was called up for National Service. During this time he served as a motorcycle despatch rider for the Royal Corps of Signals.[2]
Career
editLewis-Evans began racing in 1951 with a Cooper 500 Formula 3 car, encouraged by and sometimes racing against his father.[3] He achieved many wins and podia and continued to race in 500s until 1956, with the engines prepared by Francis Beart during the later years,[4] including a 1-2 victory at Nurburgring in May 1954 with Stirling Moss in Coopers, with Moss, first, in a Beart Cooper and Lewis-Evans, second, in a Cooper with a Beart-prepared engine.[5]
In 1957, he won the 1957 Glover Trophy, run to Formula One rules at Goodwood. In his first championship Formula One race, the 1957 Monaco Grand Prix, Lewis-Evans finished fourth in an inferior Connaught Type B, beaten only by multiple winners Fangio and Brooks, and Masten Gregory in one of the dominant Maserati 250F cars. This performance brought him to the attention of Tony Vandervell, owner of the rising Vanwall team, and by the next Grand Prix Lewis-Evans was driving the third Vanwall. The 1957 Vanwall was fast when its engine held together, but not always reliable. Lewis-Evans achieved his best finish for Vanwall when he was 2nd at the year's non-championship Moroccan Grand Prix. He took pole position at the final World Championship event, the Italian Grand Prix, but had to retire with engine problems.
The 1958 Formula One season would prove to be a much better year, at least initially, for the entire Vanwall team. Principal drivers Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks took three victories each, and Lewis-Evans added to the team's points haul with podium finishes in the Belgian and Portuguese events. He also took pole position at the Dutch Grand Prix, but failed to finish in the race. This was not his only retirement of the year – indeed his only other finish, although points-scoring, was a fourth place at the British Grand Prix.
Lewis-Evans crashed heavily at the dusty Ain-Diab Circuit during the season-ending Moroccan Grand Prix. His car's engine seized and sent him lurching into barriers at high speed, where it burst into flames. He was airlifted back to the UK, but died of his burns in hospital six days after the accident.[6] His death cast a pall over Vanwall's victory in the 1958 International Cup for F1 Manufacturers, an achievement to which Lewis-Evans had contributed significantly. Vandervell never fully recovered from Lewis-Evans's death and withdrew from motorsport at the end of 1958.
Racing record
editComplete Formula One World Championship results
edit(key; Grands Prix in bold indicate pole position)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | WDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | Connaught Engineering | Connaught Type B | Alta Straight-4 | ARG | MON 4 |
500 | 12th | 5 | ||||||||
| Vandervell Products Ltd. | Vanwall | Vanwall Straight-4 | FRA Ret |
GBR 7 |
GER Ret |
PES 5 |
ITA Ret |
|||||||||
| 1958 | Vandervell Products Ltd. | Vanwall | Vanwall Straight-4 | ARG | MON Ret |
NED Ret |
500 | BEL 3 |
FRA Ret |
GBR 4 |
GER DNA |
POR 3 |
ITA Ret |
MOR Ret |
9th | 11 |
Non-Championship Formula One results
edit(key)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | Connaught Engineering | Connaught Type B | Alta Straight-4 | NZL | BUE | GLO | SYR | BAR | INT | NAP | AIN | VAN | CAE | SUS | BRS 2 |
AUS |
| 1957 | Connaught Engineering | Connaught Type B | Alta Straight-4 | BUE | SYR | PAU | GLV 1 |
NAP Ret |
||||||||
| Vandervell Products Ltd. | Vanwall | Vanwall Straight-4 | RMS 3 |
CAE | INT | MOD | MOR 2 | |||||||||
| 1958 | Connaught Engineering | Connaught Type B | Alta Straight-4 | BUE | GLV 5 |
SYR | ||||||||||
| British Racing Partnership | Cooper T45 | Climax Straight-4 | AIN 5 |
INT 7 |
CAE 5 | |||||||||||
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "Stuart Lewis-Evans". 500race.org. 500 Owners Association. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
- ^ "Looking Back on Stuart Lewis-Evans". Motor Sport. Vol. 60, no. 12. December 1984. pp. 1462–1464. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
- ^ The Radnorian
- ^ Clew, Jeff (1978). Francis Beart - a single purpose. Sparkford, Somerset: Haynes. pp. 150, 159. ISBN 0-85429-236-5.
- ^ Clew, Jeff (1978). Francis Beart - a single purpose. Sparkford, Somerset: Haynes. p. 152, photo. ISBN 0-85429-236-5.
- ^ Motor Sport, December 1958, pp.821 & 824.
- ^ Small, Steve (2000). Grand Prix Who's Who (Third ed.). Travel Publishing. p. 347. ISBN 978-1-902007-46-5.
- ^ a b "All championship race entries, by Stuart Lewis-Evans". ChicaneF1. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
- ^ "Stuart Lewis-Evans – Involvement Non World Championship". StatsF1. Retrieved 5 May 2022.