This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Mike Hawthorn is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
Nationality  British |
|
| Formula One World Championship career | |
|---|---|
| Active years | 1952 - 1958 |
| Teams | LD Hawthorn, AHM Bryde, Ferrari, Vanwall, BRM |
| Races | 47 (45 starts) |
| Championships | 1 (1958) |
| Wins | 3 |
| Podium finishes | 18 |
| Career points | 112.64 (127.64)1 |
| Pole positions | 4 |
| Fastest laps | 6 |
| First race | 1952 Belgian Grand Prix |
| First win | 1953 French Grand Prix |
| Last win | 1958 French Grand Prix |
| Last race | 1958 Moroccan Grand Prix |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
|---|---|
| Participating years | 1953, 1955 – 1958 |
| Teams | Jaguar Cars Scuderia Ferrari |
| Best finish | 1st (1955) |
| Class wins | 1 (1955) |
John Michael Hawthorn (April 10, 1929 - January 22, 1959) was a racing driver, born in Mexborough, Yorkshire, England, and educated at Ardingly College, West Sussex.
Contents |
Biography
Hawthorn made his Formula One debut at the 1952 Belgian Grand Prix, finishing an impressive 4th place. He would later win his first Grand Prix, at only the 9th attempt, when he won the 1953 French Grand Prix at Reims.
In 1955, Hawthorn was the winner of the 24 hours of Le Mans race, despite being involved in the terrible crash that killed 82 spectators.
He was the winner of the 1958 Formula One Championship. With only one win that year against four wins of Stirling Moss, he benefited greatly from the gentlemanliness of Moss as shown at the Portuguese Grand Prix of Porto. Hawthorn was disqualified for pushing his car, against the rules, on the way to a second place finish. Moss interceded on Hawthorn's behalf and the decision was ultimately reversed. Those second place points at Porto contributed to Hawthorn winning the championship with a season total just one point more than that of Moss. After winning the title, Hawthorn immediately announced his retirement from Formula One.
Death
A matter of only months later, on January 22, 1959, Hawthorn died in an automobile accident on the A3 Guildford bypass. He was driving his British Racing Green highly tuned Jaguar 3.4-litre sedan (now known as the 3.4 Mark 1 etc). What happened that day is still a mystery, suggested causes being driver error, mechanical failure, or blackout. The crash has been ascribed to combination of high speed, bad weather, competitiveness and impulsiveness. Rob Walker's 300 SL Mercedes was ahead of him. Perhaps Hawthorn pushed his car to pass Walker's. Hawthorn's Jaguar, nicknamed "the Merceater" was heavily modified for high power and speed. "No Kraut car could overtake or outaccelerate" Hawthorn's (these are the words in his biography Challenge Me The Race). Based on examination of the mechanism, the crash might have been the result of a stuck throttle. However there is evidence that Hawthorn had recently become subject to blackouts that are now thought to have been the cause of his retirement from racing, and that might have caused the accident and the stuck throttle symptoms. The evidence is examined in detail in a web site dedicated to Mike Hawthorn and in a new book 'Golden Boy' about his life.[1]
In Farnham, the town where he lived up to the time of his death, there is a street named Mike Hawthorn Drive (off Dogflud Way). It was also in this town that Hawthorn ran The Tourist Trophy Garage. Jaguars, Rileys, Fiats and Ferraris were serviced and sold from there.
Complete World Championship Results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)
* Indicates Shared Drive
Hawthorn Memorial Trophy
The Hawthorn Memorial Trophy has been awarded to the most successful British or Commonwealth F1 driver every year since 1959.2
References
- ^ a b Up until 1990, not all points scored by a driver contributed to their final World Championship tally (see list of pointscoring systems for more information). Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.
- ^ "Button receives Hawthorn Trophy", racecar.com (2007-07-08). Retrieved on 16 July 2007.
External links
- The Mike Hawthorn Tribute Site Over 100 pages about the first British World Champion. Information is regularly updated and added.
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Lance Macklin |
BRDC International Trophy winner 1953 |
Succeeded by José Froilán González |
| Preceded by José Froilán González Maurice Trintignant |
Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1955 with: Ivor Bueb |
Succeeded by Ron Flockhart Ninian Sanderson |
| Preceded by Juan Manuel Fangio |
Formula One World Champion 1958 |
Succeeded by Jack Brabham |
| Records | ||
| Preceded by Alberto Ascari 34 years, 16 days (1952 season) |
Youngest Formula One World Drivers' Champion 29 years, 192 days (1958 season) |
Succeeded by Jim Clark 27 years, 188 days (1963 season) |
|
|||||
|
||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Hawthorn, Mike |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hawthorn, John Michael |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | English racing driver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 10, 1929 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mexborough, Yorkshire, England |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 22, 1959 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | A3 Guildford bypass |
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 3 November 2008, at 14:52.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Mike Hawthorn".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.