Roy Pierpoint

Roy Pierpoint (born 1929 in Weybridge) was a British racing driver who drove in saloons and sports cars.

Racing career

His first race was in 1949, at a BARC meeting driving a Fiat 1100 special, which he built himself: "very neat was Pierpont's (sic) F.I.A.T. 1,100 with aerodynamic but not all-enveloping bodywork, two Amal carburetters, a neat silencer in its straight exhaust pipe and an oil-cooler ahead of the main radiator." He finished seventh in a 3-lap handicap.[1]

Pierpoint raced very little after that until 1961. In 1962 he drove in several events including the BRDC Trophy at Silverstone, the Guards Trophy and the Brands Six Hour Race where he finished third in his class alongside Bruce Halford. Also that year, he achieved some success at Hill Climb events. He continued in sports car racing in 1963 and 1964, again in the Guards Trophy. In 1968 he was in the Nürburgring 1000 km race in a Ford GT40, but did not finish. Two years in 1968 and 1969 in Denmarks Jyllands-Ringen, with two wins from four races.

He was best known for his time driving in the British Saloon Car Championship, with a total of fourteen race wins. In his first year in 1965, he won the Championship for Alan Mann Racing, driving a V8 4.7-litre Ford Mustang: "After a struggle throughout 1965 against the Austin Mini-Cooper S of Warwick Banks,.." [2] The championship was won after a protest against the car of Jack Brabham, which was found to have illegal modifications. He raced a Ford Falcon the following year, which was not competitive enough to defend his title. He stuck with the Falcon for another three years. In 1968 he finished fifth on points and in 1969 he finished third in the championship. He spent two more years in the BSCC, but did not come close to winning the title in a Chevrolet Camaro.

gollark: Did we do that?
gollark: We're bridged to IRC and indirectly minetest.
gollark: I have magic powers obviously?
gollark: But still.
gollark: ++magic py len(bot.guilds)

References
  1. Motor Sport, September 1949, Pages 351,-353. See also: Crystal Palace Official Programme, National Car Race Meeting, Page 11, 5 September 1964.
  2. Racing Car Show 1966, Official Catalogue and Guide, Page 11.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Jim Clark		 British Touring Car Champion
1965		 Succeeded by
John Fitzpatrick
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.