Lance
Macklin

Lance Macklin was born in Kensington on 2 September 1919. His father, Noel Macklin, founded the car makers Invicta and Railton. Macklin was educated at Eton College and volunteered for the Royal Navy in 1939, where he worked on motor gun boats. After the war he became a racing driver. He made an impression at the 1948 Grand Prix des Frontières and went on to sign for Aston Martin. He also raced in the Spa 24 Hours, where he finished fifth.

In 1950 he took fifth place at Le Mans alongside George Abecassis, the owner of HWM. A year later he finished third overall there for Aston Martin. Abecassis brought him into HWM, and in 1952 Macklin won the BRDC International Trophy with the team.

He made his Formula One World Championship debut with HWM in May 1952 and stayed with the small team until 1954, though it could not match the works teams. He started five races in 1952, all six in 1953 and one in 1954. In 1955 he drove for Maserati and started one of his two entries. In total he had 15 entries and 13 starts, without a podium finish.

At the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans, Macklin was caught up in the accident that killed Pierre Levegh and 83 spectators. He was unhurt, but the event affected him deeply. At the Tourist Trophy in Dundrod he then crashed himself while avoiding an accident in which Jim Mayers and William T. Smith died. Soon afterwards Macklin retired from racing. He died in Tenterden on 29 August 2002.

Source: Wikipedia, “Lance Macklin”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.