Stuart Lewis-Evans

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Stuart Nigel Lewis-Evans (20 April 1930 – 25 October 1958) was a British racing driver, who competed in Formula One at 14 Grands Prix from Template:Ifnumber to Template:Ifnumber.

Born in Luton and raised in Kent, Lewis-Evans served in the Royal Corps of Signals before starting his racing career in 1951, driving a Cooper 500. After winning the non-championship 1957 Glover Trophy, he debuted in Formula One at the Template:F1GP with Connaught. Lewis-Evans contested five further Grands Prix in Template:Ifnumber with Vanwall, taking his maiden pole position at the Template:F1GP before retiring with engine issues.

Retaining his seat for Template:Ifnumber, Lewis-Evans also retired from pole at the Template:F1GP, before taking his maiden podiums in Belgium and Portugal. During the season-ending Template:F1GP at Ain-Diab, Lewis-Evans collided with a barrier after an engine seizure, suffering fatal burns. He ended his career with two pole position, two podiums, and 16 championship points, finishing the season ninth in the World Drivers' Championship.

Early life

Lewis-Evans was born in Luton, Bedfordshire, but largely grew up in Kent, where his father, Lewis "Pop" Lewis-Evans, owned and ran a garage business.[1] Pop Lewis-Evans had previously been a mechanic for the well-known racing driver Earl Howe, but had not previously raced himself.[1] On leaving school, Lewis-Evans was apprenticed for three years to Vauxhall Motors, back in Bedfordshire, before he was called up for National Service. During this time he served as a motorcycle despatch rider for the Royal Corps of Signals.[2]

Career

Lewis-Evans began racing in 1951 with a Cooper 500 Formula 3 car, encouraged by and sometimes racing against his father.[3] He achieved many wins and podia and continued to race in 500s until 1956, with the engines prepared by Francis Beart during the later years,[4] including a 1–2 victory at Nurburgring in May 1954 with Stirling Moss in Coopers, with Moss, first, in a Beart Cooper and Lewis-Evans, second, in a Cooper with a Beart-prepared engine.[5]

In 1957, he won the 1957 Glover Trophy, run to Formula One rules at Goodwood. In his first championship Formula One race, the 1957 Monaco Grand Prix, Lewis-Evans finished fourth in an inferior Connaught Type B, beaten only by multiple winners Fangio and Brooks, and Masten Gregory in one of the dominant Maserati 250F cars. This performance brought him to the attention of Tony Vandervell, owner of the rising Vanwall team, and by the next Grand Prix Lewis-Evans was driving the third Vanwall. The 1957 Vanwall was fast when its engine held together, but not always reliable. Lewis-Evans achieved his best finish for Vanwall when he was 2nd at the year's non-championship Moroccan Grand Prix. He took pole position at the final World Championship event, the Italian Grand Prix, but had to retire with engine problems.

The 1958 Formula One season would prove to be a much better year, at least initially, for the entire Vanwall team. Principal drivers Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks took three victories each, and Lewis-Evans added to the team's points haul with podium finishes in the Belgian and Portuguese events. He also took pole position at the Dutch Grand Prix, but failed to finish in the race. This was not his only retirement of the year – indeed his only other finish, although points-scoring, was a fourth place at the British Grand Prix.

Lewis-Evans crashed heavily at the dusty Ain-Diab Circuit during the season-ending Moroccan Grand Prix. His car's engine seized and sent him lurching into barriers at high speed, where it burst into flames. He was airlifted back to the UK, but died of his burns in hospital six days after the accident.[6] His death cast a pall over Vanwall's victory in the 1958 International Cup for F1 Manufacturers, an achievement to which Lewis-Evans had contributed significantly. Vandervell never fully recovered from Lewis-Evans's death and withdrew from motorsport at the end of 1958.

Racing record

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key; Grands Prix in bold indicate pole position)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 WDC Points
Template:Ifnumber Connaught Engineering Connaught Type B Alta Straight-4 ARG MON
4Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		500 12th 5
Vandervell Products Ltd. Vanwall Vanwall Straight-4 FRA
RetScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		GBR
7Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		GER
RetScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		PES
5Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		ITA
RetScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Template:Ifnumber Vandervell Products Ltd. Vanwall Vanwall Straight-4 ARG MON
RetScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		NED
RetScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		500 BEL
3Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		FRA
RetScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		GBR
4Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		GER
DNA 		POR
3Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		ITA
RetScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		MOR
RetScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		9th 11
Source:[7][8]Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Non-Championship Formula One results

(key)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
1956 Connaught Engineering Connaught Type B Alta Straight-4 NZL BUE GLO SYR BAR INT NAP AIN VAN CAE SUS BRS
2Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		AUS
1957 Connaught Engineering Connaught Type B Alta Straight-4 BUE SYR PAU GLV
1Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		NAP
RetScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Vandervell Products Ltd. Vanwall Vanwall Straight-4 RMS
3Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		CAE INT MOD MOR
2Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
1958 Connaught Engineering Connaught Type B Alta Straight-4 BUE GLV
5Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		SYR
British Racing Partnership Cooper T45 Climax Straight-4 AIN
5Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		INT
7Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 		CAE
5Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Source:[8][9]Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

See also

References

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  1. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ The Radnorian
  4. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ Motor Sport, December 1958, pp.821 & 824.
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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External links

Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/checkTemplate:Succession box/check Formula One fatal accidents
19 October 1958 (Date of accident)
25 October 1958 (Date of death) Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
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