Rollo Feilding

2/8/1943 - 23/3/1995

Record updated 14-Apr-08

Viscount William Rudolph Michael (Rollo) Feilding (later 11th Earl of Denbigh, 9th Earl of Desmond) raced in Formula 3 and sportscars in the 1960s in the UK as well as in Portugal and South Africa.

Viscount William Rudolph Michael (Rollo) Feilding (later 11th Earl of Denbigh, 9th Earl of Desmond) raced in Formula 3 and sportscars in the 1960s in the UK as well as in Portugal and South Africa.

In 1965 he raced at the 1000 km Nürburgring with Peter Clarke in Peter's Ferrari 250 GTO unfortunately the car broke a con rod and retired. Peter didn't even get to drive. At the 12 hour race at Reims, Peter started but a broken starter motor meant retirement before Rollo got behind the wheel.

In 1966 he finished 8th in the Formula 3 BRSCC Les Leston Championship with 12 points. In the summer he travelled to Portugal with his Brabham Ford BT18 finishing 7th in the GP Portugal at Cascais. He then came 4th in the F3 race at Vila Real. His next overseas foray was in November in South Africa. He raced with Peter Clarke in the Ninth Rand Daily Mail Nine Hour Endurance Race at Kyalami in Peter's Ferrari 275 LM (5895) winning the Group 4 class and finishing 7th overall.

He raced in the RAC Sports Car Championship in 1967 and at the end of the year once again headed to South Africa. Driving the Drummond Racing Ferrari 250 LM with Trevor Blokdyk. However in the race, coming out of the Leeukop Bend which leads onto the ½-mile long main straight where top speeds reached 162 mph (261 kph), the Drummond Ferrari, with Rollo at the wheel, bursts into flames. Rollo  drove the car off the road and jumped out, but the fire could only be extinguished after doing extensive damage. Next came the Cape Continental 3 Hour race on the 18th of November. In the Cape Continental 3 Hour race, Rollo posted a DNF in the Ferrari 250 LM (6053). In practice Rollo had found that the Ferrari LM was grossly overgeared for the small Killarney circuit and tried new gear ratios. However these proved too low, so he went back to the original set-up for the race. On lap 8 he spun, dropping back and finally retiring with a split oil cooler. From there they travelled to Mozambique  for the Lourenco Marques 3 Hour race. Driving the Drummond Ferrari 250LM, Rollo had his motor partially rebuilt to cure the bent valves found after the race in Cape Town. In the race he lost 15 laps wth ignition trouble, but came back to finish fifth. the last race of the year was the Pietermaritzburg Dickie Dale's 3 Hours at Roy Hesketh on December 26th. Rollo once again had valve problems and trailing in at the back of the field.

He put an entry in for the 1986 Le Mans 24 Hour race in Alain De Cadenet's Scodec-Diva Martin Valkyrie but it was not accepted.