Driver deaths in British motorsport series

This article is about driver deaths in British domestic series. For drivers who have died at British circuits while competing in International series, see Driver deaths in motorsport.

Motorsport of any type, or at any level, is dangerous by its very nature. However the nature of the media often means that only deaths in high profile series, with mainstream TV coverage, are reported in the press. For example the tragic deaths of Dan Wheldon ^[1] and Marco Simoncelli ^[2] within a week of each other in 2011, received signifcant press attention while other recent deaths did not. This can give a misleading impression to the general public as to the number of deaths that occur in the sport as a whole. The below list shows drivers that have died racing in British national or club car racing series since 1970. The list only includes drivers to have died during a race and only those competing in British domestic series. The deaths are spread across the major existing cirucits in the country, with only Knockhill Racing Circuit, Rockingham Motor Speedway (opened 2001) and Croft Circuit (since reopening in 1996) having no recorded driver deaths in this period.

Year	Driver	Series	Circuit	Ref
1970	Dale Prochazka	Junior Formula Ford	Mallory Park	[3]
1970	Martin Brain	Clubman Series	Silverstone Circuit	[3]
1970	Chris Summers	Formula 5000	Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit	[3]
1970	Jim Merricks	Clubman Series	Brands Hatch	[3]
1971	Leigh Gaydos	British Formula Ford	Mallory Park	[3]
1971	Peter Hawtin	Formula 5000 Championship	Oulton Park	[3]
1971	Brian Tarrant	Jaguar Club Series	Thruxton Circuit	[3]
1972	Jack Smith	Unknown Single Seater Series	Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit	[3]
1973	Brian Hough	BARC Modified Sportscars	Thruxton Circuit	[3]
1974	Jon Thorne	Formula Ford/Monoposto Race	Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit	[3]
1974	Geoff Coles	Unknown Sportscar Series	Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit	[3]
1976	John Wingfield	Formula 5000 Championship	Thruxton Circuit	[3]
1976	Bob Toleman	Formula Ford	Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit	[3]
1976	Michael Giddings	Formula Ford	Brands Hatch	[3]
1978	Albert Corrieri	250cc International Kart GP	Silverstone Circuit	[3]
1980	Martin Raymond	Sportscar Championship	Brands Hatch	[3]
1980	Wendy Wathen	Club Mini Championship	Castle Combe Circuit	[3]
1982	Tony Williams	BARC MG Midget Championship	Thruxton Circuit	[3]
1983	Roger Joice	JDC Historic Championship	Silverstone Circuit	[3]
1984	Chris Poore	Superkart	Mallory Park	[3]
1985	Stephen Langton	Historic Race (F1 Meeting)	Brands Hatch	[3]
1987	Peter Rogers	British Formula Ford	Donington Park	[3]
1987	Aray Xavier	Snetterton Formula Ford Championship	Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit	[3]
1991	Paul Warwick	British Formula 3000 Championship	Oulton Park	[3]
1992	Gary Loebell	Oulton Formula Ford Series	Oulton Park	[3]
1992	Ian McArdell	British Formula Ford	Castle Combe Circuit	[3]
1992	Marcel Albers	British Formula 3 Championship	Thruxton Circuit	[3]
1993	Gordon Ellinor	Superkart +	Brands Hatch	[3]
1993	Kenton Owen	Superkart +	Brands Hatch	[3]
1997	Peter Ruddler	JCC Jaguar Challenge	Oulton Park	[3]
1999	Neil Shanahan	British Formula Ford Championship	Oulton Park	[3]
2000	Tim Miller	Clubman Series	Oulton Park	[3]
2001	Nic Fairman	750mc Caterham 7 Championship	Mallory Park	[3]
2001	Steve Bell	BARC Mini Miglia Championship	Silverstone Circuit	[3]
2002	Keith Griffiths	BRSCC Alfa Romeo Championship	Mallory Park	[3]
2002	Mark Williams	BARC BMW Challenge	Thruxton Circuit	[3]
2002	Stefan Gilboy	Sports and GT +	Cadwell Park	[3]
2002	Tony Clinkard	Sports and GT +	Cadwell Park	[3]
2003	David Heynes	BRDC Historic Sportcar (F1 Meeting)	Silverstone Circuit	[3]
2004	Darren Needham	John Cooper Challenge	Silverstone Circuit	[3]
2004	Kevin Lloyd	Renualt Clio Cup (BTCC Meeting)	Thruxton Circuit	[3]
2004	Len Thompson	Lagonda Rapier Vintage Championship	Cadwell Park	[3]
2005	Peter Deardon	British Superkart Championship	Brands Hatch	[3]
2006	Richard Weavers	British Superkart Championship	Silverstone Circuit	[3]
2008	Barry Westmoreland	Historic Sports	Cadwell Park	[3]
2010	Jeff Leadley	MSVR GT Cup Championship	Thruxton Circuit	[3]

+ = Multiple drivers to have died in the same incident (see previous/following entry)

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at} [3] MotorSportMemorial.org Motorcycle deaths (retrieved 8 November 2011)

External links

• [http://www.motorsportmemorial.org/Motorsport Memorial Homepage, searchable database on Motorsport deaths