Brian Henton

Brian Henton (born 19 September 1946 in Castle Donington, Leicestershire) is a former racing driver from England. He won both 1974 British Formula Three Championships and the 1980 European Formula Two Championship. He participated in 38 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 19 July 1975, but never scored any championship points.

Brian Henton

Henton after winning a Formula Vee race in 1971
Born	(1946-09-19) 19 September 1946
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	British
Active years	1975, 1977, 1981–1982
Teams	Lotus, non-works March, Boro, Toleman, Arrows, Tyrrell
Entries	37 (19 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	1
First entry	1975 British Grand Prix
Last entry	1982 Caesars Palace Grand Prix

Henton (nicknamed "Superhen" in the British racing press) came from a modest council house background and did not start racing until he was 23. On winning the minor British Formula Vee championship in 1971, ever-conscious of the value of public relations, he announced that he was going to be World Champion. This aim eluded him, but he enjoyed a successful career in Formula Three and Formula Two.

Henton's F1 debut came in 1975 for Lotus, theoretically a good drive but the team was in turmoil with the Lotus 72 finally uncompetitive and its replacement the Lotus 76 a failure, so nothing concrete was achieved. Between 1975 and 1978 he mixed Formula One and Formula Two drives (including a spell in a private March for his own British Formula One Racing Team), never quite establishing himself in either category, but clinched the 1980 F2 championship for Toleman, who took him into F1 for 1981. The first Toleman-Hart was something of a disaster, overweight and underdeveloped, and Henton only managed to qualify once. Unfruitful outings for Arrows and Tyrrell in 1982 led to no more success, though he did set the fastest lap at the British Grand Prix - Henton is the only driver in Formula One history to have set a fastest lap without ever scoring a championship point.

Perhaps fittingly, his last Formula One outing was at the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch in April 1983, which also turned out to be the last non-championship F1 race in the modern era.[1]

Following his retirement from the sport, he returned to running a car dealership and later moved into property development and in recent years has diversified into other areas, notably engineering. He has occasionally driven at historic events and holds equestrian events at his home in Ingarsby Hall, Leicestershire.[2]

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	14	Pos.	Pts
1974	March Racing Team	March 742	BMW	BAR	HOC	PAU	SAL	HOC	MUG 6	KAR	PER	HOC	VAL					22nd	1
1975	Brian Henton	March 752	Hart	EST	THR 8	HOC 3	NÜR 10	PAU DSQ	HOC Ret	SAL 13	ROU	MUG Ret	PER					11th	10
	Wheatcroft Racing	Wheatcroft 002	Ford BDA											SIL 3	ZOL	NOG	VAL
1976	Wheatcroft Racing	Wheatcroft R26	Abarth	HOC	THR DNS	VAL	SAL	PAU	HOC	ROU	MUG	PER	EST	NOG	HOC			NC	0
1977	Netherton & Worth Boxer Cars	Boxer PR276	Hart	SIL DNS	THR 1	HOC 5	NÜR 9	VAL	PAU 9	MUG	ROU	NOG	PER	MIS	EST			10th	12
	Ardmore Racing	Chevron B40	Hart													DON 7
1978	Brian Henton	March 782	Hart	THR Ret	HOC 17	NÜR 5	PAU Ret	MUG 15	VAL 8	ROU 14	DON 11	NOG Ret	PER 6	MIS 11	HOC Ret			16th	3
1979	Toleman Group Motorsport	Ralt RT2	Hart	SIL 3	HOC 4	THR Ret				PAU Ret	HOC Ret	ZAN 5	PER DSQ	MIS 1	DON 4			2nd	36
		March 782					NÜR 2	VAL Ret	MUG 1
1980	Toleman Group Motorsport	Toleman TG280	Hart	THR 1	HOC 2	NÜR 2	VAL 1	PAU 3										1st	61
		Toleman TG280B							SIL NC	ZOL 2	MUG 1	ZAN 12	PER 2	MIS 2	HOC

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Points
1975	John Player Team Lotus	Lotus 72F	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	ESP	MON	BEL	SWE	NED	FRA	GBR 16	GER	AUT DNS	ITA	USA NC				NC	0
1977	Team Rothmans International	March 761B	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW 10														NC	0
	British Formula One Racing Team	March 761						ESP DNQ	MON	BEL	SWE	FRA	GBR DNQ	GER	AUT DNQ
	HB Bewaking Alarmsystemen	Boro 001														NED DSQ	ITA DNQ	USA	CAN	JPN
1978	Team Surtees	Surtees TS20	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	MON	BEL	ESP	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT PO^‡	NED	ITA	USA	CAN		–	–
1981	Candy Toleman Motorsport	Toleman TG181	Hart 415T 1.5 L4 t	USW	BRA	ARG	SMR DNQ	BEL DNQ	MON DNPQ	ESP DNQ	FRA DNQ	GBR DNQ	GER DNQ	AUT DNQ	NED DNQ	ITA 10	CAN DNQ	CPL DNQ			NC	0
1982	Arrows Racing Team	Arrows A4	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	RSA DNQ	BRA DNQ	USW Ret															NC	0
	Team Tyrrell	Tyrrell 011					SMR Ret	BEL Ret	MON 8	DET 9	CAN NC	NED Ret	GBR 8	FRA 10	GER 7	AUT Ret	SUI 11	ITA Ret	CPL 8

^‡ Henton drove Rupert Keegan's No. 18 Surtees during practice for the 1978 Austrian Grand Prix but was not officially entered for the race.

References

1. 8W The last of the non-championship races
2. OldRacingCars.com | Drivers | Where are they now?

External links

• Formula One World

Sporting positions
Preceded by Ian Taylor	British Formula 3 Championship BARC Series Champion 1974	Succeeded by Gunnar Nilsson
Preceded by Tony Brise 1973 BRSCC North Central Lombard Series Champion	British Formula 3 Champion BRSCC Series Champion 1974	Succeeded by None
Preceded by Tony Brise 1973 BRSCC JPS Series Champion
Preceded by Marc Surer	European Formula Two Champion 1980	Succeeded by Geoff Lees