Peter Harry Sutcliffe (born 1 December 1936), a British textile manufacturer from

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

, was active in

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing that uses sports cars with two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be either purpose-built Sports prototype, sports prototypes, which are the highest level in sports car racing; or grand to ...

until 1967. Between 1959 and 1967 he won the 1964

Prix de Paris Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who a ...

at the

Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also us ...

, and the 1965

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; ) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa after Durban. It was named in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. The town was named in Zulu after King ...

3 hours.IMCA
/ref> He raced in

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC () is a British manufacturer of Luxury car, luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Headed from 1947 by David Brown (entrepreneur ...

Jaguar D-Type The Jaguar D-Type is a sports racing car that was produced by Jaguar Cars Ltd. between 1954 and 1957. Designed specifically to win the Le Mans 24-hour race, it shared the straight-6 XK engine and many mechanical components with its C-Type ...

and E types, Shelby Cobra Daytona,

Ford GT40 The Ford GT40 is a high-performance mid-engined racing car originally designed and built for and by the Ford Motor Company to compete in 1960s European endurance racing. Its specific impetus was to beat Scuderia Ferrari, which had won the pr ...

s and works Ferrari 330P4s.

Racing career

After starting to race in the 1950s, his career was interrupted by

national service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

. In 1960–61, before he returned in 1962, to race a Jaguar D-Type.''The epitome of a great British sports car, the Jaguar D Type. Here, Peter Sutcliffe is doing well over 100mph'
Tony Gardiner: ''Motor Racing at Goodwood in the Sixties'', Veloce Publishing Ltd, 2002
From

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

, he took part in events that counted towards the

World Sportscar Championship The World Sportscar Championship was the world Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing series run for sports car racing, sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), from 1953 World Sportscar Championship, 1953 t ...

, like the 1000km Nürburgring. In 30 starts, between 1959 and 1967, he scored two overall wins, the 1964

Grand Prix de Paris The Grand Prix de Paris is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 2,400 metres (about 1½ miles), an ...

at the

with a

Jaguar E-Type The Jaguar E-Type, or the Jaguar XK-E for the North American market, is a British FMR layout, front mid-engined sports car that was manufactured by Jaguar Cars, Jaguar Cars Ltd from 1961 to 1974. Its sleek appearance, advanced technologies, ...

, and the 1965

Springbok Series The South African Springbok Championship Series (known as the Shell plc, Shell Drivers Cup in 1970 and the Castrol Springbok Series in 1971) was a sports car racing series based in Southern Africa. The series ran from 1965 until 1973. The series w ...

3 hours'' with a privately entered

.Englishman Peter H. Sutcliffe (UK) of Huddersfield owned chassis 1009 and GT112 - Ronnie Spain ''GT 40: An Individual History and Race Record'', MotorBooks/MBI Publishing Company, 2003

Google Books He also took part in the last race event at Germany's Solitudering in July 1965, the XIII Grosser Preis der Solitude, where he drove the

Formula 2 Formula Two (F2) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009 to 2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name returned aga ...

Brabham BT10 Cosworth of David Prophet Racing. However, he crashed in his only ''

monoposto An open-wheel car is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, Sports car racing, sports cars, Stock car racing, stock cars, and Touring car racing, touring car ...

'' race. Sutcliffe was called by the

Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari (; ), currently racing under Scuderia Ferrari HP, is the racing division of luxury Italian auto manufacturer Ferrari and the racing team that competes in Formula One racing. The team is also known by the nickname "the Pranc ...

to share one of the four Ferrari 330P4 (Chassis #0860, #19) with factory driver Günter Klass in the

1967 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 35th 24 Hours of Le Mans, Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 10 and 11 June 1967. It was also the seventh round of the 1967 World Sportscar Championship. Dan Gurney and A. J. Foyt, driving a Ford GT40 ...

. After

Lorenzo Bandini Lorenzo Bandini (21 December 1935 – 10 May 1967) was an Italian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Bandini won the 1964 Austrian Grand Prix with Ferrari. In endurance racing, Bandini won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in , as w ...

had been killed and

Mike Parkes Michael Johnson Parkes (24 September 1931 – 28 August 1977) was a British racing driver and engineer, who competed in Formula One at six Grands Prix from to . In endurance racing, Parkes won the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1964 with Ferrari. ...

had been badly injured in F1 races, the Scuderia had planned that Leo Cella would drive the powerful 4-litre, but the Italian rally driver refused to drive the big sportscar after a long test run at Modena circuit. The fine race of Klass and Sutcliffe had an end after 296 laps on the 19th hour due to engine failure. A week later, Sutcliffe scored his only pole position, at the Trophée d'

Auvergne Auvergne (; ; or ) is a cultural region in central France. As of 2016 Auvergne is no longer an administrative division of France. It is generally regarded as conterminous with the land area of the historical Province of Auvergne, which was dis ...

Louis Rosier Louis Claude Rosier (; 5 November 1905 – 29 October 1956) was a French racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . In endurance racing, Rosier won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in in a privateer Talbot-Lago T26C- ...

Circuit Charade near

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, , ; or simply ; ) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population of 147,284 (2020). Its metropolitan area () had 504,157 inhabitants at the 2018 ...

, in 3:37,6" with a Ford GT40. He finished second in the race, behind Paul Hawkins, and ahead of

Jo Schlesser Joseph Théodule Marie Schlesser (18 May 1928 – 7 July 1968) was a French Formula One and sports car racing driver. He participated in three World Championship Grands Prix, including the 1968 French Grand Prix in which he was killed. He score ...

, both also driving GT40s. Sutcliffe was hired again by Ferrari to drive one of the 330P4 12-cylinder prototypes at the 6 hours BOAC 500 at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts ...

later in the year, finishing fifth, now paired with

Ludovico Scarfiotti Ludovico Scarfiotti (18 October 1933 – 8 June 1968) was an Italian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Scarfiotti won the 1966 Italian Grand Prix with Ferrari. In endurance racing, Scarfiotti won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and ...

as Klass had been killed at Mugello the weekend before.

Races

*1963: Sutcliffe crashed a

at the

Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit Snetterton Circuit is a motor racing course in Norfolk, England, originally opened in 1953. Owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation since 2004, it is situated on the A11 road (England), A11 road north-east of the town of Thet ...

*1964:

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

Aston Martin DP214 with Mike Salmon *

1965 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 33rd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 19 and 20 June 1965. It was also the twelfth round of the World Sportscar Championship. After the disappointing results of the previous year's race, Ford retu ...

Scuderia Filipinetti Scuderia Filipinetti (also French name ''Ecurie Filipinetti'') was a Switzerland, Swiss motor racing team that competed in sports car racing and occasionally in Formula One between 1962 and 1973. It was founded by Georges Filipinetti (1907-1973) t ...

Shelby Cobra Daytona with Peter Harper, DNF *

1966 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 34th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 18 and 19 June 1966. It was also the seventh round of the 1966 World Sportscar Championship season. This was the first overall win at Le Mans for the Ford GT4 ...

Mk. I 4.7L V8, DNF * 1966 Rothmans 12 Hour International Sports Car Race, Peter Sutcliffe Racing

, with

Frank Matich Francis Anthony Matich (25 January 193511 May 2015) was an Australian racing car driver. A highly successful motor racing competitor in the 1960s and 1970s, Matich built his own range of Matich sports cars and open wheel cars, mainly to sup ...

, 2nd behind

Jackie Stewart Sir John Young "Jackie" Stewart (born 11 June 1939) is a British former racing driver, sports broadcasting, broadcaster and motorsport executive from Scotland, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "the Flying Scottish people, Scot" ...

and Andy Buchanan ( Ferrari 250LM)

Notes

References

External links

Peter Sutcliffe profile at racing database

Photo of Peter Sutcliffe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutcliffe, Peter (Race Driver) 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers 12 Hours of Reims drivers World Sportscar Championship drivers English racing drivers Ferrari people Sportspeople from Huddersfield Racing drivers from Yorkshire 1936 births Living people 20th-century English sportsmen