Ken
Wharton

Ken Wharton was born in Smethwick on 21 March 1916. The British driver was a versatile competitor who took part in trials, hillclimbs and rallies, and also raced sports cars and single-seaters. He raced in the new 500cc Formula with a special of his own, and later acquired a Cooper.

He made his World Championship debut at the 1952 Swiss Grand Prix, which was run to Formula 2 regulations. He started from 13th on the grid and finished fourth. In 1952 he drove a Cooper and a Frazer-Nash and ended the year 13th in the championship. In 1953 he drove a Cooper, in 1954 a Maserati and in 1955 a Vanwall. In total he started 15 World Championship races.

Away from the Championship he won titles and events in other disciplines. He took the British Hill Climb Championship four years in a row, from 1951 to 1954, and was also British Trials Champion. With ERA he won the Brighton Speed Trials in 1954, 1955 and 1956, and in Fords he won the Tulip Rally in 1949, 1950 and 1952. On 4 July 1954 he shared a Jaguar D-Type with Peter Whitehead to win the Reims 12 Hours.

Wharton died on 12 January 1957 following a crash in his Ferrari Monza during a sports car race at the Ardmore Circuit in Auckland, New Zealand.

Source: Wikipedia, “Ken Wharton”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.