© The Cahier Archive
April 10 is the birthday of Mike Hawthorn, the UK's first Formula One World Champion driver, pictured here celebrating after winning his first Grand Prix in France in 1953.
Born in Mexborough, West Riding of Yorkshire in 1929, Hawthorn made his Formula One debut at the 1952 Grote Prijs van Belgie on the legendary Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps and went on to finish in fourth place. Famous for wearing a bow tie while racing, Hawthorn would go on to make 45 starts in Formula One in total. He amassed four pole positions, 18 podiums and three race wins before his final race in 1958 in Morocco immediately after having clinched that year's FIA drivers world championship title with Ferrari.
Hawthorn also won the 1955 les 24 Heures du Mans after replacing Stirling Moss in the Jaguar team. An inspired drive early in the race saw Hawthorn set a lap record of 122.388mph during a three-hour pitched duel with Juan Manual Fangio. However Hawthorn was also in the middle of one of the worst accidents in motor sport history, when his move into the pit lane inadvertently caused Lance Macklin's Healey to swerve into Pierre Levegh's Mercedes, sending the car hurtling into the main spectator area with the loss of 85 lives including Levegh. The fatalities were blamed on inadequate safety standards for track design.
Tragically Hawthorn himself died just months after retiring from Formula One when his modified 1958 Jaguar 3.4-litre saloon VDU 881 clipped a 'Keep Left' bollard dividing the two carriageways of the A3 Guildford bypass, causing Hawthorn to lose control and crash into a tree. He was just 29 but remains an indelible part of Formula One history and legend.
