Peter Hawthorn Ashdown (born 16 October 1934 in

Danbury, Essex Danbury is a village in the City of Chelmsford district, in the county of Essex, England. It is located northeast of Charing Cross, London and has a population of approximately 6,500. It is situated on a hill above sea level. The city of Dan ...

) is a former

motor racing An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

driver. He drove in a single

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

World Championship Grand Prix, racing a Cooper. Ashdown had trained as a vehicle mechanic, and had been a few years in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

when he started racing. First seen in a Dellow with a Ford 10 engine, he continued around 1955 to race in a

Lotus Mark IX The Lotus Mark IX (1955) was an aluminium-bodied sports racing car manufactured by Lotus Engineering, Lotus Engineering Ltd. About thirty of the Mark IX sports racing cars were made. It was closely related to the Lotus model Lotus Mark VIII, M ...

as a

privateer A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...

, not being part of any particular racing team.Peter Ashdown
Motorsport Magazine, last accessed on 26 February 2023. Prior to Formula One, he was one of the leaders of the British

Formula Junior Formula Junior was an international single-seater auto racing, motor racing category that existed between 1958 and 1963. Devised by Italian motorsport promoter Count Giovanni "Johnny" Giovanni Lurani, Lurani, the formula was created as an ac ...

scene, but an accident at

Rouen-Les-Essarts Rouen-Les-Essarts was a motor racing circuit in Orival, Seine-Maritime, Orival, near Rouen, France. From its opening in 1950, Rouen-Les-Essarts was recognized as one of Europe's finest circuits, with modern pits, a wide track, and spectator gra ...

in 1958, in which he broke his collarbone, considerably hampered his career. He continued racing, and competed in a

Formula Two Formula Two (F2) is a type of Open-wheel car, open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009 FIA Formula Two Championship season, 2009 to 2012 FIA Formula Two C ...

(F2) Cooper-Climax entered by Alan Brown at the 1959 British Grand Prix at

Aintree Aintree is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. Historically in Lancashire, it lies between Walton and Maghull on the A59 road, northeast of Liverpool city centre. In 2011 the parish had a p ...

. He finished in 12th position, third of the F2 cars and six laps down. From there he drove a

Lola Lola may refer to: Places * Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama * Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States * Lola Prefecture, Guinea * Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture * Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands People * Lol ...

and many small-engined sports cars, winning his class in the 1960 and 1962 1000km of Nürburgring. On the latter occasion at the Nordschleife, he and the co-driver Bruce Johnstone scored the debut win for

Lotus 23 The Lotus 23 was designed by Colin Chapman as a small-displacement sports racing car. Nominally a two-seater, it was purpose-built for FIA Group 4 racing in 1962–1963. Unlike its predecessors Lotus 15 and 17, the engine was mounted amidsh ...

in the 1L Sportscar class with a 997cc Cosworth Mk.III as a semi-works entry ( Ian Walker Racing), while the other semi-works ( Essex Racing Stable) Lotus 23 of

Jim Clark James Clark (4 March 1936 – 7 April 1968) was a British racing driver from Scotland, who competed in Formula One from to . Clark won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles with Lotus, and—at the time of his death—held the ...

crashed on lap 12 of the 44 lap race. He retired in 1962 and focused his efforts on a

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( , ) is an area of South London, within the London Borough of Lambeth. Named after a medieval manor called Fox Hall, it became well known for the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. From the Victorian period until the mid-20th century, Va ...

dealership in Essex.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

( key)

References

1934 births Living people English racing drivers English Formula One drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers People from Danbury, Essex Sportspeople from Essex World Sportscar Championship drivers 20th-century English sportsmen {{England-autoracing-bio-stub