KEEPING THE SPIRIT ALIVE SINCE 1999
George Abecassis
21/3/1913 - 18/12/1991
Abecassis began racing in 1935 and enjoyed some success before WWII driving an Alta. After the war he joined up with John Heath at Hersham and Walton Motors in Surrey. He raced one of their HMW cars in the Swiss Grand Prix at Bremgarten in 1951 and 1952. He won his class at Le Mans with Lance Macklin in 1950.
George Abecassis died 30 years ago, he was 78
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Born in Chertsey, Surrey, Abecassis began racing in 1935 in a modified Austin Seven but really made a name for himself when he switched to driving one of Geoffrey Taylor's improved voiturette Altas. It was a genuine single-seater with all-independent suspension and in club racing during 1938 and 1939, Abecassis enjoyed considerable success including winning the 1939 Imperial Trophy Formula Libre race. WWII brought a temporary end to racing and Abecassis joined the Royal Air Force. He became a member of the elite Moon Squadrons, flying Lysanders he ferried secret agents in and out of Occupied France.
After the war, when racing resumed, he earned the destinction of being the man who won the last race held in England before the war and the first to be held immediately after it.
Having raced an Alta before the war, he took delivery of the first Alta Grand Prix car in 1948, debuting it in the British Empire Trophy. The car was quick but unreliable and retired two laps in with a broken gearbox. He crashed at Bremgarten and failed to finish in either of its other two races that year. He only raced three times in 1949, finishing just once.
George was running a small engineering company at the time working on performance cars and, with the Alta proving less than successful, George went into partnership with John Heath at Hersham and Walton Motors in Surrey. HW Motors intitially built an Alta engined sports car and then a dual purpose machine that could be raced in both open wheel and sports car competitions called an HWM.
Expanding into Formula 2 in 1950 HMW gave a young Stirling Moss his first outings in Grand Prix. Abecassis drove an HMW in two Grands Prix, both in Switzerland in 1951 and 1952, but the team relied more on Moss and Lance Macklin.
Abecassis also raced sports cars for Aston Martin with some success, winning his class with Macklin at Le Mans in 1950.
He also finished second in Sebring 12 Hours in 1953, partnered by Reg Parnell.
Unfortunately Heath was killed during the Mille Miglia in 1956 and Abecassis quit racing to concentrate on running HWM. He also became the Facel Vega agant for the UK, aided in part by the fact that he was married to the daughter of the chairman of Aston Martin, Sir David Brown.
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Maurice Farman 1877 - 1964 -
Aldo Franchi 1882 - 1920 -
Ken Wharton 1916 - 1957 -
Chico Godia 1921 - 1990 -
Truman Fontell Flock 1921 - 1952
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Philip Fotheringham-Parker 1907 - 1981
Fotheringham-Parker was a wealthy amateur driver who participated in the 1951 British Grand Prix driving a privately-run Maserati 4CL. He once survived going over the top of the banking at Brooklands in an Alvis Silver Eagle. -
Roy Salvadori 1922 - 2012
Salvadori raced for the factory teams of Cooper, Aston Martin, Vanwall, BRM and Connaught. He also drove F1 Ferrari Maserati, Cooper - Maserati and Connaught for private entrants. His best result in the FIA F1 World Championship was 4th in 1958 behind Mike Hawthorn, Moss and Brooks.
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Richard John Beattie Seaman 1913 - 1939
Seaman was one of if not the greatest British pre-war Grand Prix driver. He famously drove for the Mercedes-Benz team from 1937-1939, winning the 1938 German Grand Prix in the W125 car. He was killed while leading the the 1939 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. In the wet, he crashed into a tree on lap 22. -
Arthur Owen 1915 - 2000
Arthur Owen started competing in hill climb events in the Channel Islands during the mid 1950s. He made one Grand Prix appearance, the 1960 Italian Grand Prix. Driving a private 2.2-liter Cooper-Climax he went out with suspension damage. -
Ken McAlpine 1920
A member of the McAlpine engineering dynasty, Kenneth was a keen amateur who became the major benefactor of the Connaught team, racing their Formula 2 A-Type car in selected Grands Prix between 1952 and 1955.