Roy Salvadori 1922 - 2012

Roy Salvadori had died at the age of 90. He was a successful all-rounder, who won races in many different forms of racing, but never managed a victory in a Formula 1 World Championship event, although he finished fourth in the title race in 1958, behind Mike Hawthorn, Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks.

Born to Italian parents at Brentwood, Essex, in 1922 he spent his childhood in London and worked in his father’s refrigeration business before deciding to move into the motor trade in 1946. he began his career as a kerbside trader in the infamous Warren Street, where he crossed paths in the years that followed with a young Bernie Ecclestone, who was a close friend. In later years Salvadori set up a garage in Tolworth. He had wanted to get into racing in the 1930s but the war got in his way, but in 1946 he raced various machines, notably an MG and a Riley he had acquired from Hector Dobbs. He then bought an Alfa Romeo P3 and raced it to fifth in the Grand Prix des Frontieres at Chimay in Belgium. This was replaced other cars, notably an ex-Prince Bira Maserati, which was destroyed in an accident at the Curragh in 1949. By 1951 he was racing a Frazer-Nash for Tony Crook, but he crashed heavily at Silverstone and suffered serious head injuries, although he was back in action in 1952 with a Formula 2 Connaught.

In 1953 he co-drove an Ecurie Ecosse-entered Jaguar C-type to second in the Nurburgring 1000km and then began an association with the works Aston Martin team that lasted until for the next seven years. At the same time he raced F1 Maseratis for Syd Greene, and won and scored many good results in British F1 events. In 1955, a 250F took Salvadori to second place in the Daily Express Trophy at Silverstone and victory in both the Glover Trophy at Goodwood and the Daily Telegraph Trophy at Aintree.

In 1957 Salvadori signed to drive for the factory BRM team in Formula One, but he was not happy with the cars and failed to qualify for the Monaco Grand Prix. Salvadori quit the team, concentrating instead on racing for Aston Martin in sports car races and for Cooper in Formula Two. He was then invited to race F1 with Vanwall, standing in for the injured Tony Brooks and finally became a member of the Cooper factory F1 team. Salvadori ran fourth in the British Grand Prix at Aintree before stopping near the end with a split gearbox casing, but was able to salvage fifth by pushing his car over the line. In 1958 he finished second in Germany, third in Britain and fourth in both Holland and Italy, while also winning the Gold Cup sports car race at Oulton Park, but his greatest triumph came the following year at Le Mans when he shared victory in the 24 Hours in an Aston Martin with Carroll Shelby. The Formula 1 Aston Martin was not a success although Salvadori drove one to second place in the Daily Express Trophy at Silverstone. He was third at Le Mans in 1960, sharing an Aston Martin with Jim Clark and then moved to race for the Yeoman Credit Racing Team, alongside John Surtees, winning races in the Tasman Series and later in Europe. The 1962 season would be his last in F1 and began with a nasty accident in a Cooper at Warwick Farm in Australia, which left him with temporary paralysis on the left side of his face for a time. He raced in F1 with the Bowmaker team but had another big accident in the summer when a tyre blew on the Jaguar he was racing at Oulton Park and the car somersaulted into the lake. After that he concentrated on sports car, GT and saloon car races, usually driving for Tommy Atkins, although he also helped John Wyer with the development of the Ford GT40. He retired from racing in 1965 at the age of 41 although he went on to become the team manager of the Cooper-Maserati team, until he decided in 1968 to concentrate on his car businesses.