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Ron Flockhart (racing driver)

Ron Flockhart
Born (1923-06-16)16 June 1923
Died 12 April 1962(1962-04-12) (aged 38)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality United Kingdom British
Active years 1954, 19561960
Teams Maserati, BRM, Connaught, Cooper, Lotus
Entries 14 (13 starts)
Championships 0
Wins 0
Podiums 1
Career points 5
Pole positions 0
Fastest laps 0
First entry 1954 British Grand Prix
Last entry 1960 United States Grand Prix

Ron Flockhart (16 June 1923, Edinburgh – 12 April 1962, Dandenong Ranges, Victoria, Australia) was a British racing driver. He participated in 14 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, achieving one podium finish and won the 24 Hours of Le Mans sportscar race twice.

Flockhart started competing in 1951 in a Joe Potts Formula 3 car. He purchased the famous ERA R4D from Raymond Mays and in 1953 had a very successful season, beating one of the works BRMs at Goodwood. He achieved podium finishes at Goodwood, Charterhall, Snetterton and Crystal Palace, as well as several hill climb successes.

In 1956, driving for the Scottish team Ecurie Ecosse, he won the 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans, sharing an ex-works Jaguar D-type with Ninian Sanderson. The following year he won again for the same team, this time sharing with Ivor Bueb, setting a distance record of 2,732.8 mi (4,398.0 km).

In the early 1960s the United Dominions Trust made plans to break the record for the time taken to fly from Sydney to London in order to gain publicity for its UDT Laystall racing team. A Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation-built Mustang World War Two fighter was purchased in Australia and Flockhart was engaged to make the attempt. Flockhart departed Sydney in the Mustang, registered G-ARKD, on 28 February 1961 and after several delays due to bad weather finally ended the attempt at Athens due to engine problems. Flockhart subsequently entered the London-Cardiff Air Race to be held in June that year but withdrew because G-ARKD was still in Athens. G-ARKD was abandoned and another CAC Mustang, registered VH-UWB, was bought in Australia for Flockhart to make a second attempt at the Sydney-London record. On 12 April 1962, while on a test flight in preparation for the record attempt, Flockhart crashed VH-UWB in poor weather near Kallista, Victoria and was killed.


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