Introduction
Ron Flockhart (16 June 1923, Edinburgh – 12 April 1962, Dandenong Ranges, Victoria, Australia) was a British racing driver. He participated in 14 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, achieving one podium finish and won the 24 Hours of Le Mans sportscar race twice.
Racing career
Flockhart started competing in 1951 in a Joe Potts Formula 3 car. He purchased the famous ERA R4D from Raymond Mays and in 1953 had a very successful season, beating one of the works BRMs at Goodwood. He achieved podium finishes at Goodwood, Charterhall, Snetterton and Crystal Palace, as well as several hill climb successes.
In 1956, driving for the Scottish team Ecurie Ecosse, he won the 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans, sharing an ex-works Jaguar D-type with Ninian Sanderson. The following year he won again for the same team, this time sharing with Ivor Bueb, setting a distance record of 2,732.8 mi (4,398.0 km).
Record flight attempts and death
In the early 1960s the United Dominions Trust made plans to break the record for the time taken to fly from Sydney to London in order to gain publicity for its UDT Laystall racing team. A Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation-built Mustang World War Two fighter was purchased in Australia and Flockhart was engaged to make the attempt. Flockhart departed Sydney in the Mustang, registered G-ARKD, on 28 February 1961 and after several delays due to bad weather finally ended the attempt at Athens due to engine problems. Flockhart subsequently entered the London-Cardiff Air Race to be held in June that year but withdrew because G-ARKD was still in Athens. G-ARKD was abandoned and another CAC Mustang, registered VH-UWB, was bought in Australia for Flockhart to make a second attempt at the Sydney-London record. On 12 April 1962, while on a test flight in preparation for the record attempt, Flockhart crashed VH-UWB in poor weather near Kallista, Victoria and was killed.
Racing record
Complete Formula One World Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | WDC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 | Prince Bira | Maserati 250F | Maserati 250F1 2.5 L6 | ARG | 500 | BEL | FRA | GBR Ret* | GER | SUI | ITA | ESP | NC | 0 | ||
| 1956 | Owen Racing Organisation | BRM P25 | BRM P25 2.5 L4 | ARG | MON | 500 | BEL | FRA | GBR Ret | GER | 14th | 4 | ||||
| Connaught Engineering | Connaught B | Alta GP 2.5 L4 | ITA 3 | |||||||||||||
| 1957 | Owen Racing Organisation | BRM P25 | BRM P25 2.5 L4 | ARG | MON Ret | 500 | FRA Ret | GBR | GER | PES | ITA | NC | 0 | |||
| 1958 | R.R.C. Walker Racing Team | Cooper T43 | Climax FPF 2.0 L4 | ARG | MON DNQ | NED | 500 | BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | POR | ITA | NC | 0 | |
| Owen Racing Organisation | BRM P25 | BRM P25 2.5 L4 | MOR Ret | |||||||||||||
| 1959 | Owen Racing Organisation | BRM P25 | BRM P25 2.5 L4 | MON Ret | 500 | NED | FRA 6 | GBR Ret | GER | POR 7 | ITA 13 | USA | NC | 0 | ||
| 1960 | Team Lotus | Lotus 18 | Climax FPF 2.5 L4 | ARG | MON | 500 | NED | BEL | FRA 6 | GBR | POR | ITA | 25th | 1 | ||
| Cooper Car Company | Cooper T51 | USA Ret |
* Shared drive with Prince Bira