Bert Hadley

Herbert Lewis "Bert" Hadley (* 1910 in Birmingham ; † July 1993 ) was a British test and racing driver .

Career

Bert Hadley joined the Austin Motor Company in 1926 at the age of 16 and began working as a mechanic in the Experimental and Racing Cars division. He became a test driver at the beginning of the 1930s and was one of the Austin works drivers from the middle of this decade. In 1937 he contested his first 24-hour race at Le Mans and in the same year, together with Charles Dodson in an Austin 7, he finished seventh in the 12-hour race at Donington . As a test driver and engineer was involved in the development of all Austin models of this period,

At the beginning of the Second World War he applied to fly with the Royal Air Force , but was turned down because of his age. Later worked in the British Ministry of Social Affairs and was responsible for coordinating the means of production in the Midlands during the war .

After the end of the war, he resumed his racing activities and was 17th in the RAC Tourist Trophy in 1951 and eleventh overall in Le Mans in 1953 . His last race appearance was in Le Mans in 1955 , where he finished 15th together with Ken Richardson on a Triumph TR2 .

In 1995, two years after his death, his son Clive started the Bert Hadley Memorial Championship , an event for historic hill climbs with Austin 7 models.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1937	Austin Motor Company	Austin 7	Charles Dodson	failure	Engine failure
1950	Leslie Johnson	Jaguar XK120S	Leslie Johnson	failure	Clutch damage
1951	Jowett Cars Ltd.	Jowett Jupiter R1	Charles Goodacre	failure	Power transmission
1952	Jowett Cars Ltd.	Jowett Jupiter R1	Tommy Wise	failure	Leak in the oil tank
1953	Nash-Healey Inc.	Nash-Healey Sports	Leslie Johnson	Rank 11
1955	Standard Triumph Ltd.	Triumph TR2	Ken Richardson	Rank 15

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
1953	Nash-Healey	Austin-Healey 100 Nash-Healey Sport	SEB	MIM	LEM	SPA	ONLY	RTT	CAP
				DNF	11
1955	Standard Motor Company	Triumph TR2	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	TAR
						15th

literature

• Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissèdre, Alain Bienvenu: 24 heures du Mans, 1923–1992. Éditions d'Art, Besançon 1992, ISBN 2-909-413-06-3 .

Web links

• About Bert Hadley
• Bert Hadley at Racing Sports Cars

Individual evidence

1. ^ Donington 12 Hours 1937
2. ^ RAC Tourist Trophy 1951