Innes Ireland
BornRobert McGregor Innes Ireland
(1930-06-12)12 June 1930
Mytholmroyd, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Died22 October 1993(1993-10-22) (aged 63)
Reading, Berkshire, England
Formula One World Championship career
NationalityUnited Kingdom British
Active years1959–1966
TeamsLotus, BRP, BRM
Entries53 (50 starts)
Championships0
Wins1
Podiums4
Career points47
Pole positions0
Fastest laps1
First entry1959 Dutch Grand Prix
First win1961 United States Grand Prix
Last win1961 United States Grand Prix
Last entry1966 Mexican Grand Prix
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years1958–1959, 1962–1966
TeamsTeam Lotus
Ecurie Ecosse
UDT-Laystall Racing Team
Aston Martin
Maranello Concessionaires
Alan Mann Racing
Comstock Racing
Best finish6th (1964)
Class wins0

Lieutenant Robert McGregor Innes Ireland (12 June 1930 – 22 October 1993), was a British military officer, engineer, and motor racing driver, with 1 Championship and 8 non-Championship Formula 1 race victories, and several sports car wins including one Tourist Trophy. Ireland was a larger-than-life character who, according to a rival team boss, "lived without sense, without an analyst, and provoked astonishment and affection from everyone."[1]

Early life

Ireland was born 12 June 1930 in Mytholmroyd, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, the son of a Scottish veterinary surgeon. His family returned to Kirkcudbright, Scotland during his youth, and he trained as an engineer with Rolls-Royce, first in Glasgow and later in London. Commissioned as a lieutenant in the King's Own Scottish Borderers, he served with the Parachute Regiment in the Suez Canal Zone during 1953 and 1954.[2]

Racing career

Ireland began racing a Riley 9 in 1954. His first year of nationally competitive events was 1957,[3] by which time he was running a small engineering firm in Surrey. Success in sports car racing saw him make his Formula One debut for Team Lotus in 1959. In 1960 he won three non-championship Formula One races and finished fourth in the World Drivers Championship. Badly injured in the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix, Ireland recovered to win the Solitude Grand Prix and Flugplatzrennen races, then finished the season with a victory in the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. He was sacked at the end of the season as team boss Colin Chapman considered Jim Clark a better bet.[4]

He was encouraged by Bill France, founder of NASCAR, to participate in the 1967 Daytona 500, one of the last races of his career, where the V8 engine of his year old Dodge exploded outside the stands.

He worked as a journalist for ESPN for several F1 races in the late 1980s as well as the American Road & Track magazine, Autocar magazine, and skippering fishing trawlers in the North Atlantic. Towards the end of his life, he was elected president of the British Racing Drivers' Club, which post he still held at the time of his death from cancer on 22 October 1993, at Reading, Berkshire, England.

Writing

A talented writer, Ireland produced a classic autobiography, All Arms and Elbows (ISBN 0-85184-050-7). Marathon in the Dust, published in 1970 is Ireland's account of the grueling 1968 Daily Express London-Sydney Marathon, which Ireland completed with 2 friends, fellow F1 competitor Michael Taylor and British bobsledder Andy Hedges in a Mercedes Benz 280 SE.

Personal life

On 30 October 1954 Ireland married Scarborough schoolteacher Norma Thomas. They had two daughters before divorcing in 1967. He then married Edna Humphries also in 1967. Ireland married his third wife Jean Mander (née Howarth), a former fashion model, on 11 June 1993 at Newbury register office. Jean had been engaged to Mike Hawthorn at the time of Hawthorn's death in 1959. Ireland also had a son who died in 1992.

Racing record

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 WDC Pts.
1959 Team Lotus Lotus 16 Climax FPF 2.5 L4 MON 500 NED
4		 FRA
Ret		 GBR GER
Ret		 POR
Ret		 ITA
Ret		 USA
5		 14th 5
1960 Team Lotus Lotus 18 Climax FPF 2.5 L4 ARG
6		 MON
9		 500 NED
2		 BEL
Ret		 FRA
7		 GBR
3		 POR
6		 ITA USA
2		 4th 18
1961 Team Lotus Lotus 21 Climax FPF 1.5 L4 MON
DNS		 NED BEL
Ret		 FRA
4		 GBR
10		 GER
Ret		 USA
1		 6th 12
Lotus 18/21 ITA
Ret
1962 UDT-Laystall Racing Team Lotus 24 Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 NED
Ret		 MON
Ret		 BEL
Ret		 FRA
Ret		 GBR
16		 GER ITA
Ret		 USA
8		 RSA
5		 16th 2
1963 British Racing Partnership Lotus 24 BRM P56 1.5 V8 MON
Ret		 GER
Ret		 9th 6
BRP Mk1 BEL
Ret		 NED
4		 FRA
9		 GBR
Ret		 ITA
4		 USA MEX RSA
1964 British Racing Partnership Lotus 24 BRM P56 1.5 V8 MON
DNS		 NED 14th 4
BRP Mk1 BEL
10		 FRA
Ret
BRP Mk2 GBR
10		 GER AUT
5		 ITA
5		 USA
Ret		 MEX
12
1965 Reg Parnell Racing Lotus 25 BRM P56 1.5 V8 RSA MON BEL
13		 FRA
Ret		 GBR
Ret		 NED
10		 GER NC 0
Lotus 33 ITA
9		 USA
Ret		 MEX
DNS
1966 Bernard White Racing BRM P261 BRM P60 1.9 V8 MON BEL FRA GBR NED GER ITA USA
Ret		 MEX
Ret		 NC 0

Non-championship Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
1957 Equipe Endeavour Cooper T43 F2 Climax FPF 1.5 L4 BUE SYR GLV NAP RMS CAE INT
Ret		 MOD MOR
1959 Team Lotus Lotus 16 F2 Climax FPF 1.5 L4 GLV AIN INT
11		 OUL
Lotus 16 Climax FPF 2.5 L4 SIL
Ret
1960 Team Lotus Lotus 18 Climax FPF 2.5 L4 BUE
Ret		 GLV
1		 INT
1		 SIL
Ret		 LOM
1		 OUL
Ret
1961 Team Lotus Lotus 18 Climax FPF 1.5 L4 LOM
Ret		 GLV
5		 PAU BRX
9		 VIE AIN
10		 SYR
Ret		 NAP LON SIL KAN
Ret		 MOD
DNQ
Lotus 21 SOL
1		 DAN
2		 FLG
1		 OUL
Ret		 LEW VAL RAN NAT RSA
1962 UDT-Laystall Racing Team Lotus 18/21 Climax FPF 1.5 L4 CAP BRX
3		 LOM
Ret		 LAV GLV
3		 PAU AIN
Ret
Ferrari 156 Ferrari 178 1.5 V6 INT
4
Lotus 24 BRM P56 1.5 V8 NAP MAL CLP
1
Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 RMS
3		 SOL
DNA		 KAN
4		 MED DAN
3		 OUL
Ret		 MEX
3		 RAN
Ret		 NAT
1963 British Racing Partnership Lotus 24 BRM P56 1.5 V8 LOM
3		 GLV
1		 PAU IMO SYR AIN
2		 INT
4		 ROM KAN MED AUT OUL
Ret		 RAN
BRP Mk1 SOL
3
1964 British Racing Partnership BRP Mk1 BRM P56 1.5 V8 DMT
1		 NWT
Ret		 SYR
BRP Mk2 AIN
Ret		 INT
Ret		 SOL
Ret		 MED
3		 RAN
1965 Reg Parnell Racing Lotus 25 BRM P56 1.5 V8 ROC SYR
Ret		 SMT INT MED
5
Lotus 25/331 BRM P60 2.0 V8 RAN
6
1966 Reg Parnell Racing Lotus 25/331 BRM P60 2.0 V8 RSA
Ret		 SYR INT
Bernard White Racing BRM P261 BRM P60 1.9 V8 OUL
4
^1 The Parnell Lotus driven by Ireland in 1965 and 1966 was a written-off 25 rebuilt around a 33 monocoque.

Complete British Saloon Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pos. Pts Class
1962 Ford Motor Company Ford Zodiac Mk 3 C SNE GOO AIN SIL
?		 CRY AIN BRH OUL 17th 9 2nd
1964 McKechnie Racing Ford Cortina Lotus B SNE GOO OUL AIN SIL
7		 CRY BRH OUL 27th 2 11th
Source:[5]

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
1960 United Kingdom Team Lotus United Kingdom John Whitmore Lotus Elite Mk. 14 S 2.0 0 DNS DNS
1962 United Kingdom UDT Laystall Racing Team United States Masten Gregory Ferrari 250 GTO GT 3.0 165 DNF DNF
1963 United Kingdom David Brown Racing Dept. New Zealand Bruce McLaren Aston Martin DP214 GT +3.0 59 DNF DNF
1964 United Kingdom Maranello Concessionaires South Africa Tony Maggs Ferrari 250 GTO GT 3.0 328 6th 2nd
1965 United Kingdom Ford Advanced Vehicles United Kingdom John Whitmore Ford GT40 GT 5.0 72 DNF DNF
1966 United Kingdom F.R. English Ltd. \ Comstock Racing Austria Jochen Rindt Ford GT40 Mk I S 5.0 8 DNF DNF

NASCAR: Grand National

Daytona 500

Year Team Manufacturer Start Finish
1967 Ray Fox '66 Dodge Charger 20 27

References

  1. ↑ Robert Newman (2014). Motor Racing Heroes: The Stories of 100 Greats. Veloce Publishing Ltd. pp. 202–. ISBN 978-1-84584-748-7.
  2. ↑ "Innes Ireland". Historic Racing. 22 October 2006.
  3. ↑ "All Results of Innes Ireland". www.racingsportscars.com. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  4. ↑ Doug Nye (1978). Theme Lotus. Motor Racing Publications. p. 49.
  5. ↑ de Jong, Frank. "British Saloon Car Championship". History of Touring Car Racing 1952-1993. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
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