Ian
Ashley

Ian Ashley was born in Wuppertal on 26 October 1947 and raced as a British driver. His racing career began in 1966 with a course at the Jim Russell Racing School. He moved up to Formula 5000 in 1972 and was running at the front there in 1973.

He made his Formula One debut in 1974, when he was entered for Brabham and Token and started two races. In 1975 he was entered once for Frank Williams Racing Cars but did not start. In 1976 he contested one race for BRM, and in 1977 he was entered five times by Hesketh and started once. His eleven entries therefore produced four starts, with no wins or podiums. He had serious crashes in practice for the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring and in practice for the 1977 Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport Park. After the Mosport accident he never started another Formula One race.

Ashley made his CART debut at Miami in 1985. In 1986 he was entered for the Indianapolis 500, but his car never appeared on track. That year he made three CART starts, finishing ninth at Mid-Ohio and 28th in the championship standings. In 1987 he raced at Miami again but retired with drivetrain trouble. He also made a single Indy Lights start at Pocono, finishing sixth.

After Formula One, Ashley worked as a pilot of executive jets in the United States. In 1993 he returned to racing, driving a Vauxhall in the British Touring Car Championship. He then briefly raced sidecar outfits, followed by a spell in the TVR Tuscan Challenge. In November 2009 he drove an Elden MK8 in the Walter Hayes Trophy at Silverstone, his first Formula Ford outing in more than 40 years.

Source: Wikipedia, “Ian Ashley”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.