Terry Fullerton (born 4 January 1953) is a British former

kart racer Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on full-size motor ...

and driver manager. Widely known for his rivalry with

Ayrton Senna Ayrton Senna da Silva (; 21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994) was a Brazilian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Senna won three Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles with McLaren, and—at the time of his death—held ...

, Fullerton won the

Karting World Championship The FIA Karting World Championship, officially known as the Mondokart.com FIA Karting World Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a kart racing competition organised by the CIK-FIA. Hosted annually since 1964, it is widely regarded as the ...

in 1973 with

Birel Birel S.p.A. of Lissone (near Milan, Italy) started building karts in the late 1950s after many years as a bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized b ...

. Born and raised in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England, Fullerton initially had ambitions to compete in

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 ...

prior to his brother's fatal motorcycle road racing accident in 1964, leading him to restrict his career to

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on fu ...

. In 1973, Fullerton won the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

with

, becoming the first British World Champion. Fullerton won the

Karting European Championship The FIA Karting European Championship, officially known as the Mondokart.com FIA Karting European Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a kart racing competition organised by the CIK-FIA. Alongside the Karting World Championship, it is one ...

four years later with Zipkart. From 1978 to 1980, Fullerton competed for DAP as the teammate of

; their fierce rivalry saw several 1–2 finishes in major competitions. Across his two-decade career, Fullerton was an eight-time British Champion, and four-time European Champion. Upon retiring from karting in 1984, Fullerton became a driver manager, coaching 2010 junior direct-drive World Champion and

Formula E Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is an open-wheel single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The racing series is the highest class of competition for electrically powered single-seater racing cars ...

World Champion

Jake Dennis Jake Dennis (born 16 June 1995) is a British racing driver, who competes in Formula E for Andretti Global, Andretti and serves as a factory driver for BMW in motorsport, BMW. Dennis won the 2022–23 Formula E World Championship with Andretti. ...

, two-time

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 ...

winner

Allan McNish Allan McNish (born 29 December 1969) is a British former racing driver, commentator, and journalist from Scotland. He is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, most recently in 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans, 2013, as well as a three-time wi ...

, two-time

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

winner

Dan Wheldon Daniel Clive Wheldon (22 June 1978 – 16 October 2011) was a British motor racing driver who won the 2005 IndyCar Series Drivers' Championship for Andretti Autosport, Andretti Green Racing (AGR). He won the Indianapolis 500 in 2005 Indianapol ...

, as well as Formula One drivers

Paul di Resta Paul di Resta (born 16 April 1986) is a British racing driver and broadcaster from Scotland, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Peugeot. Di Resta competed in Formula One between and . Born in Uphall and raised in Bathg ...

and

Anthony Davidson Anthony Denis Davidson (born 18 April 1979) is a British former racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One between and . In endurance racing, Davidson won the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2014 with Toyota. Born in Hem ...

Biography

Fullerton originally had ambitions to race in

Formula 1 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 ...

, but the intensity of his family's grief when his brother, Alec, died in a motorcycle racing accident at

Mallory Park Mallory Park is a motor racing circuit situated in the village of Kirkby Mallory, just off the A47 road, A47, between Leicester and Hinckley, in central England. Originally used for Grass track racing, grass-track until 1955, a new, basicall ...

in 1964, led him to restrict his career to karts. At 16 years old, Fullerton qualified, but failed to be selected for the British team to compete in the

in 1969. As he was also eligible to race under an Irish licence, he reached the World Championships in 1969 and 1970 but had limited success. In 1971, he began to compete on his British licence and finished 4th in the World Championships that year. He went on to become the first Briton to win the title in 1973.Terry Fullerton Interview
''Torque-online.co.uk'' (19 April 2010). Retrieved 26 June 2011. Fullerton raced for the Italian DAP factory team from 1978 until 1980, where his teammate was

. After winning the first final at the 1980 World Championship his engine broke down whilst leading the second final and he therefore finished third overall, behind Senna who came second overall. That same year (1980) Fullerton passed Senna on the very last lap of the Final to win the prestigious Champions Cup race at Jesolo (near Venice) in Italy. They were regarded by team manager Angelo Parilla as the best two drivers in the world. At a press conference at the

1993 Australian Grand Prix The 1993 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Adelaide on 7 November 1993. It was the sixteenth and final race of the 1993 Formula One World Championship. The 79-lap race was won by Brazilian Ayrton Senna, driving a McLar ...

, when asked which driver he had the most satisfaction racing against, Senna cited Fullerton.Senna’s Greatest Rival – Terry Fullerton Stars at Senna Movie Screening
Karting1.co.uk (6 May 2011). Retrieved 26 June 2011. The quote was included in the Senna documentary in 2010.Terry Fullerton – the Norwich man Ayrton Senna had to follow
''Eastern Daily Press'' Retrieved 26 June 2011. Fullerton won the British Junior Karting Championship in 1966, 1967 and 1968, with a total of 8 British Championship wins in a career spanning twenty years and devoted solely to karting. He also won the European Championship four times during his career. Having retired as a racing driver in 1984, Fullerton ran his own race team and then coached up-and-coming racing drivers including:

Indycar IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with the Indianapolis ...

driver Justin Wilson,

Force India Force India Formula One Team Limited, commonly known as Force India and later Sahara Force India, was a Formula One racing team and constructor based in Silverstone, United Kingdom, with an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 200 ...

driver

,Ayrton Senna's rivalry with Fullerton
Jordan F1 driver Ralph Firman, . ''Dailymotion'' (23 February 2011). Retrieved 26 June 2011. double

winner

, double

winner

and former F1 driver

. He regarded McNish and Davidson as his best students. Fullerton is still active as a manager and driver coach in karting (notably coaching three recent British junior champions - 2010

, 2011 Callan O'Keeffe & 2013

Jehan Daruvala Jehan Daruvala (Marathi language, Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA, ͡ʒeˈɦɑn daːruːvaːlaː born 1 October 1998) is an Indian racing driver who last raced in the Formula E for Maserati MSG Racing. He was a protégé of the Force India ...

) and now lives in

Melton Mowbray Melton Mowbray () is a market town in the Borough of Melton, Melton district in Leicestershire, England, north-east of Leicester and south-east of Nottingham. It lies on the River Eye, Leicestershire, River Eye, known below Melton as the Rive ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

with his wife and Daughter.

References

External links

Official page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fullerton, Terry 1953 births Living people Karting World Championship drivers Sportspeople from Melton Mowbray English racing drivers Racing drivers from London 20th-century English sportsmen