Bob
Gerard

Bob Gerard, whose full name was Frederick Roberts Gerard, was born in Leicester on 19 January 1914. He began competing in 1933, taking a Riley Nine to the MCC Land's End Trial and winning a Premier Award at his first attempt. Through the rest of the 1930s he kept entering trials and sprints, and with a Riley Sprite he also took up circuit racing, at Donington Park and Brooklands among other places.

Towards the end of the Second World War he bought an ERA and, from 1946, raced the R14B, which he rebuilt for circuit use. Between 1947 and 1949 he won the Empire Trophy three years running and the Jersey Road Race twice. He finished third in the first British Grand Prix in 1948 and second the following year, each time behind Maserati drivers. For 1949 he was awarded the British Racing Drivers' Club Gold Star.

In the Formula One World Championship he started races with ERA in 1950 and 1951. At the 1950 British Grand Prix he came sixth, just missing out on points despite starting from 13th on the grid. He then drove Coopers in 1953, 1954, 1956 and 1957. In all he made eight starts and scored no championship points. Only twice did he finish a World Championship race in the top ten in a Cooper: in 1954 and at the 1957 British Grand Prix, his last World Championship race. In 1957 he moved up to the new mid-engined Cooper T43.

In Britain, Gerard won many races during the 1950s at most of the country's circuits. The owners of Mallory Park named the circuit's most prominent bend after him. He kept racing into the 1960s, in a Turner sports car, and entered cars for up-and-coming drivers into the 1980s. Gerard died on 26 January 1990 in South Croxton, Leicestershire.

Source: Wikipedia, “Bob Gerard”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.