Kenny Acheson

Kenneth Henry Acheson (born 27 November 1957) is a British former racing driver from Northern Ireland who competed for RAM Racing in the 1983 and 1985 Formula One seasons. He completed only one of his three race starts, finishing in 12th position in the 1983 South African Grand Prix. In 1985, he was a substitute for Manfred Winkelhock, who was killed in a sportscar race during the season.

Career

Early career

Born in Cookstown, Acheson's father, the owner of an Ulster brickworks, raced in the 1970s on motorcycles and in Formula Ford.

In 1976, Acheson had a test in his father's old Crosslé FF1600 at the local Kirkistown Circuit and in no time was lapping within three seconds of the lap record. He entered his first race later in the year, once again at Kirkistown driving his father's FF1600 Crosslé. He acquitted himself pretty well and his father agreed to buy a new Crosslé for the 1977 season if Kenny quit smoking.

So, equipped with new machinery, Acheson won the 1977 Northern Ireland FF1600 Championship.

Further success and Formula 1

For 1978, Acheson moved to England to contest three of the Formula Ford series. Driving one of Alan Cornock's Royales with RMC sponsorship, he won 29 races and all three championships. He also picked up a Grovewood Award at the end of the year.

Moving up to Formula 3 in 1979, Acheson began with a second-hand Ralt but soon ordered a new March 793 in an effort to be more competitive. However he failed to take any Championship wins though he set the fastest lap at the F3 support race for the 1979 British Grand Prix and won three non-championship races.

For 1980, Acheson joined up with Murray Taylor Racing at Stone in Oxfordshire, to contest the Vandervell British F3 Championship. By mid-season Acheson was leading the Championship from Stefan Johansson who was driving for Project Four Racing. But then Johansson acquired a new Ralt RT3 and closed the gap. At the last race of the Championship, Kenny made a small mistake and Johansson took the title.

Moving up to Formula 2 in 1981, Acheson joined Docking Spitzley Racing driving a Toleman TG280. However his season ended prematurely with a big accident while racing for the lead with Michele Alboreto around the French street circuit at Pau. Running wheel to wheel, Alboreto left Acheson nowhere to go and he crashed heavily, his car ending up in a tree. With both his legs badly broken he was lucky to survive.

Nevertheless, Acheson returned in 1982 with the Ralt Honda team, finishing seventh in the European Championship.

Acheson was given a works F2 drive with Maurer Motorsport in 1983 and, later in the year, made his F1 debut in one of John McDonald's RAM March F1 cars with RMC sponsorship RAM March F1 car. In seven races, he failed to qualify the cumbersome car on every occasion before he finally made it onto the grid for the South African GP.

Without a drive in 1984, Acheson returned to the RAM team as to replace Manfred Winkelhock who had tragically been killed racing a Kremer Porsche 962C at Mosport Park. With the more competitive Hart-powered RAM 03, he qualified for both the Austrian and Italian GP but his funds dried up and that was the end of his F1 career.

Later career

Acheson also had a brief flirtation with CART that year. He was entered for the Indy 500 in a Lola T800 Cosworth but didn't drive. He then crashed his March 83C Cosworth at the Meadowlands before failing to qualify for Elkhart Lake and crashing in practice at Laguna Seca in the Skoal Bandit Lola T800 Cosworth.

For the next few years, Acheson made his living in Japan where he raced for Kunimitsu Takahashi's Advan-backed Alpha team in Formula 3000 and sports cars. He won the Japanese Sportscar Championship in 1987 and on the back of that, moved back to Europe in 1988 with Sauber-Mercedes and was due to drive at Le Mans, but the team pulled out in practice.

Acheson embarked on a full season with Sauber-Mercedes in 1989 and took a fine second at Le Mans that year driving with Mauro Baldi, the pair going on to win at Brands Hatch and Spa.

At the end of 1989, Acheson was dropped by Sauber despite his performances and instead moved to Nissan for 1990 for the WSPC season. At Le Mans he retired the R90CK with a gearbox failure during the warm-up lap.

For Le Mans in 1991, Acheson was part of the Silk Cut Jaguar team, finishing third in the XJR12. In 1992, he was back at Le Mans, this time with Toyota driving the Tony Southgate designed TS010 and scoring another second, though the following year he failed to finish. When the sportscar World Championship ended, Acheson switched to GT racing in Japan with the SARD team. This led to a final visit to the Sarthe in 1995, when he drove the SARD MC8R, retiring after just 14 laps when the car suffered a total brake failure.

In 1996, Acheson went to the Daytona 24 Hours with the Newcastle United football team liveried Lister Storm, sharing the car with Geoff Lees and Tiff Needell. In the dying moments of the race his Lister was destroyed in a violent crash when he was hit by a slower car. Luckily, he walked away from the scene, and he also decided to walk away from racing altogether.

Racing record

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Pos.	Pts
Template:F2	Docking Spitzley Team Toleman	Lola T850	Hart	SIL 19	HOC Ret	THR Ret	NÜR 6	VLL 10	MUG 15	PAU Ret	PER	SPA	DON	MIS	MAN 3		15th	5
Template:F2	Ralt Racing Ltd.	Ralt RH6/82	Honda	SIL Ret	HOC 13	THR 2	NÜR 4	MUG 6	VLL 14	PAU 5	SPA 10	HOC 11	DON 10	MAN Ret	PER Ret	MIS Ret	7th	12
Template:F2	Maurer Motorsport	Maurer MM83	BMW	SIL Ret	THR 10	HOC 10	NÜR 9	VLL 11	PAU 2	JAR Ret	DON 8	MIS	PER	ZOL	MUG		10th	6

Japanese Top Formula Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos.	Pts
1981	Suzuki Racing	Toleman TG280	Hart	SUZ	SUZ	SUZ	SUZ	SUZ Ret							NC	0
1982	Ralt Racing Ltd.	Ralt RH6/82	Honda	SUZ	FUJ	SUZ	SUZ	SUZ 15	SUZ 4						12th	10
1985	Advan Sports Nova	March 85J	Honda	SUZ 4	FUJ 3	MIN 6	SUZ Ret	SUZ 5	FUJ 1	SUZ 4	SUZ 8				3rd	66 (69)
1987	Advan Sports Tomei	March 87B	Cosworth	SUZ 8	FUJ 16	MIN	SUZ 10	SUZ 15	SUG Ret	FUJ 7	SUZ Ret	SUZ Ret			15th	8
1988	Team Kitamura	March 87B	Mugen-Honda	SUZ 8	FUJ Ret	MIN 9	SUZ 15	SUG Ret	FUJ 14	SUZ	SUZ				NC	0
1989	Team LeMans	Reynard 89D	Mugen-Honda	SUZ	FUJ	MIN	SUZ	SUG Ret	FUJ 14	SUZ	SUZ				NC	0
1991	Ad Racing Team	Reynard 91D	Mugen-Honda	SUZ EX	AUT	FUJ	MIN	SUZ	SUG	FUJ	SUZ	FUJ	SUZ	FUJ	NC	0

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Pts
1983	RAM Automotive Team March	RAM March 01	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	BRA	USW	FRA	SMR	MON	BEL	DET	CAN	GBR DNQ	GER DNQ	AUT DNQ	NED DNQ	ITA DNQ	EUR DNQ	RSA 12		NC	0
1985	Skoal Bandit Formula 1 Team	RAM 03	Hart 415T 1.5 L4t	BRA	POR	SMR	MON	CAN	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT Ret	NED DNQ	ITA Ret	BEL	EUR	RSA	AUS	NC	0
Source:

American Open-Wheel racing

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

CART PPG Indy Car World Series

Year	Team	Car	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Pos.	Pts	Ref
1984	WIT Promotions	47	March 83C	Cosworth DFX V8t	LBH	PHX	INDY	MIL	POR	MEA 28	CLE	MCH									40th	0
	H&R Racing	82	March 84C										ROA DNQ	POC	MDO	SAN	MCH	PHX
	Forsythe Racing	33	Lola T800																LAG DNQ	CPL

Complete World Sportscar Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Class	Car	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos.	Pts
1985	John Fitzpatrick Racing	C1	Porsche 956B	Porsche Type 935 2.6 F6t	MUG	MNZ Ret	SIL									NC	0
			Porsche 962C					LMS DNQ	HOC	MOS	SPA	BRH
	Richard Lloyd Racing		Porsche 956 Gti										FUJ Ret	SHA
1986	Team Ikuzawa	C1	Tom's 86C	Toyota 4T-GT 2.1 L4t	MNZ	SIL	LMS	NOR	BRH	JER	NÜR	SPA	FUJ Ret			NC	0
1987	Advan Alpha Nova	C1	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type 935 3.0 F6 t	JAR	JER	MNZ	SIL	LMS	NOR	BRH	NÜR	SPA	FUJ 11		NC	0
1988	Team Sauber Mercedes	C1	Sauber C9	Mercedes-Benz M117 5.0 V8 t	JER	JAR	MNZ	SIL	LMS DNS	BRN	BRH	NÜR	SPA	FUJ 5	SAN	NC	0
1989	Team Sauber Mercedes	C1	Sauber C9	Mercedes-Benz M117 5.0 V8 t	SUZ 2	DIJ 3	JAR 5	BRH 1	NÜR 2	DON 2	SPA 1	MEX Ret				4th	97 (105)
1990	Nissan Motorsports International	C	Nissan R89C	Nissan VRH35Z 3.5 V8 t	SUZ Ret											9th	11
			Nissan R90CK			MNZ 7	SIL Ret	SPA 3	DIJ 21	NÜR 9	DON 4	CGV 5	MEX 4
1991	Silk Cut Jaguar	C2	Jaguar XJR-12	Jaguar 7.4L V12	SUZ	MNZ	SIL	LMS 3	NÜR	MAG	MEX	AUT				24th	12
1992	Toyota Team Tom's	C1	Toyota TS010	Toyota RV10 3.5 V10	MNZ	SIL	LMS 2	DON	SUZ Ret	MAG						16th	15

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1985	Template:Flagicon John Fitzpatrick Racing	Template:Flagicon Dudley Wood Template:Flagicon Jean-Louis Schlesser	Porsche 962C	C1	-	DNQ	DNQ
1988	Template:Flagicon Team Sauber Mercedes	Template:Flagicon Klaus Niedzwiedz	Sauber C9-Mercedes	C1	-	DNS	DNS
1989	Template:Flagicon Team Sauber Mercedes	Template:Flagicon Mauro Baldi Template:Flagicon Gianfranco Brancatelli	Sauber C9-Mercedes	C1	384	2nd	2nd
1990	Template:Flagicon Nissan Motorsports International	Template:Flagicon Martin Donnelly Template:Flagicon Olivier Grouillard	Nissan R90CK	C1	0	DNF	DNF
1991	Template:Flagicon Silk Cut Jaguar Template:Flagicon Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Template:Flagicon Teo Fabi Template:Flagicon Bob Wollek	Jaguar XJR-12	C2	358	3rd	3rd
1992	Template:Flagicon Toyota Team Tom's	Template:Flagicon Pierre-Henri Raphanel Template:Flagicon Masanori Sekiya	Toyota TS010	C1	346	2nd	2nd
1993	Template:Flagicon Toyota Team Tom's	Template:Flagicon Pierre-Henri Raphanel Template:Flagicon Andy Wallace	Toyota TS010	C1	212	DNF	DNF
1995	Template:Flagicon SARD Co. Ltd.	Template:Flagicon Alain Ferté Template:Flagicon Tomiko Yoshikawa	SARD MC8-R-Toyota	GT1	14	DNF	DNF
Source:

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos.	Pts
1986	Eddie Jordan Racing	March 86B	Ford Cosworth	SIL	VLL	PAU	SPA	IMO	MUG	PER	ÖST Ret	BIR	BUG	JAR	NC	0