Sunday

1st of March – 40 years ago: Graham Hill finishes the 1969 South African Grand Prix in 2nd place behind winner Jackie Stewart. What record did he break that day?

1/3/2003, Ian Ferguson Connell dies

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Ian Connell founded the Monaco Motor and Engineering Co. Ltd. with Peter Monkhouse in 1935, a Watford-based car sales and maintenance business. He raced an ERA R6B during the 1937 and 1938 seasons, including the 1938 Donington Grand Prix, before turning to sports car racing with a Darracq and, in 1939, took part in the Le Mans 24h race in Rob Walker’s Delahaye, finishing 8th. After WW2 Connell continued racing for some years while working for several companies as a Chartered Secretary before ending up as Chief Accountant of Decca Radio and Television.

Born: 15th of October 1913 in Singapore;
Died: 1st of March 2003 in Chippenham, UK, aged 89.

1/3/1987, Wolfgang Seidel dies

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Wolfgang Seidel was a keen competitor, mainly in sports cars, and occasionally took in Grands Prix for a decade. His debut in the World Championship came with a private Veritas RS in the 1953 German Grand Prix and rounding it off in the 1962 season with the British and the German Grand Prix, at the wheel of his own Lotus-BRM 24, and finally a one-off in an Emeryson 1004-Climax, entered by Ecurie Maarsbergen at the Dutch GP the same year. In between those events he tried a wide variety of cars ranging from a Scuderia Centro Sud Maserati 250F to Rob Walker’s Cooper T43. His best placing was ninth in the 1960 Italian Grand Prix in his own Cooper t45-Climax. In sports car racing mostly competing with Porsches, Seidel’s most outstanding success was winning the 1959 Targa Florio with Edgar Barth.

Born: 4th of July 1926 in Düsseldorf, Germany;
Died: 1st of March 1987 in Munich, Germany, aged 60.

1/3/1984, Peter Doublas Conyers Walker dies

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Peter Walker was a Herefordshire-based gentleman farmer and a pre-war ace who won at Brooklands and Donington. He drove in 3 Grands Prix, notably taking the 1.5-liter supercharged BRM V16 to 7th in the 1951 British Grand Prix despite being half roasted in the cockpit. The same season saw him win Le Mans for Jaguar, sharing a C-type with Peter Whitehead. He also won the Goodwood 9 Hours race twice and retired from racing after crashing an Aston Martin at Le Mans in 1956. Sadly Peter Walker ended up as an alcoholic derelict in the streets and hostels of east London.

Born: 7th of October 1912 in Leeds, UK;
Died: 1st of March 1984 in Newtown, UK, aged 71.