Innes Ireland

Template:Infobox Race Driver

Innes Ireland

Robert McGregor Innes Ireland (12 June 1930 – 22 October 1993), was a British military officer, engineer, and motor racing driver. He 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."

Ireland was born on 12 June 1930 in Mytholmroyd, Yorkshire, England, the son of a Scottish veterinary surgeon. His family returned to Kirkcudbright, Dumfries and Galloway, in 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.

Ireland's first serious year of auto racing was 1957, 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 and Austrian Grand Prix races, then finished the season with a victory in the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen.

Ireland upset Lotus boss Colin Chapman and the team sponsors by giving up his car to Stirling Moss of the rival Rob Walker team at the 1961 Italian Grand Prix. This led to him being arbitrarily sacked at the end of the 1961 season, even after winning the following race at Watkins Glen. Despite occasional successes, Ireland never again had a car to match his talent, and his last serious race was the Daytona 500 in 1967.

A talented writer, Ireland produced a classic autobiography, All Arms and Elbows (ISBN 0-85184-050-7), and worked as a journalist for the American Road & Track magazine, as well as skippering fishing trawlers in the North Atlantic. Towards the end of his life, he was elected president of the prestigious 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.

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 L4	MON	500	NED 4	FRA Ret	GBR	GER Ret	POR Ret	ITA Ret	USA 5		14th	5
1960	Team Lotus	Lotus 18	Climax 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 L4	MON DNS	NED	BEL Ret	FRA 4	GBR 10	GER Ret		USA 1			6th	12
		Lotus 18/21	Climax L4							ITA Ret
1962	UDT-Laystall Racing Team	Lotus 24	Climax 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 V8	MON Ret					GER Ret					9th	6
		BRP	BRM V8		BEL Ret	NED 4	FRA 9	GBR Ret		ITA 4	USA	MEX	RSA
1964	British Racing Partnership	Lotus 24	BRM V8	MON DNS	NED									14th	4
		BRP	BRM V8			BEL 10	FRA Ret	GBR 10	GER	AUT 5	ITA 5	USA Ret	MEX 12
1965	Reg Parnell Racing	Lotus 25	BRM V8	RSA	MON	BEL 13	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	NED 10	GER				NC	0
		Lotus 33	BRM V8								ITA 9	USA Ret	MEX DNS
1966	Bernard White Racing	BRM P261	BRM V8	MON	BEL	FRA	GBR	NED	GER	ITA	USA Ret	MEX Ret		NC	0

Non-Championship 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
1961	Team Lotus	Lotus 18	Climax 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 V8	CAP	BRX 3	LOM Ret	LAV	GLV 3	PAU	AIN Ret
		Ferrari 156									INT 4
		Lotus 24										NAP	MAL	CLP 1	RMS 3	SOL DNA	KAN 4	MED	DAN 3	OUL	MEX 3	RAN Ret	NAT
1963	British Racing Partnership	Lotus 24	BRM V8	LOM 3	GLV 1	PAU	IMO	SYR	AIN 2	INT 4	ROM		KAN	MED	AUT	OUL 13	RAN
		BRP										SOL 3
1964	British Racing Partnership	BRP	BRM V8	DMT 1	NWT Ret	SYR	AIN Ret	INT 12	SOL Ret	MED 3	RAN
1965	Reg Parnell Racing	Lotus 25	BRM V8	ROC	SYR Ret	SMT	INT	MED 5	RAN 6
1966	Reg Parnell Racing	Lotus 25	BRM V8	RSA Ret	SYR	INT
	Bernard White Racing	BRM P261	BRM V8				OUL 4

External links

• An Innes Ireland fan site

Preceded by: Jack Brabham

BRDC International Trophy winner 1960

Succeeded by: Stirling Moss

Preceded by: Gerald Lascelles

BRDC President 1992 - 1993

Succeeded by: The Lord Hesketh

This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Innes Ireland. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.