Brian Lewis, 2nd Baron Essendon

Hugh Eaton and Brian Lewis' Talbot AO90 at the 1930 Le Mans 24 Hours

Baron Brian Edmund "Bug" Lewis (born December 7, 1903 in London , † July 18, 1978 in Lausanne ) was a British nobleman and racing driver .

family

Brian Lewis was the only son of Frederick Lewis, 1st Baron Essendon (1870-1944) and his wife Eleanor Harrison († 1969). His sister Frieda (1898–1979) was married to the British fighter pilot of the First World War Ian Napier (1870–1944). Brian Lewis married Mary Duffil, a widow from the United States in 1938 .

Racing career

Brian Lewis studied at Pembroke College at the University of Cambridge and worked in the 1920s for Furness, Withy & Co. , a shipping company where his father was managing director.

At the end of 1927 he began motor sports and became a successful men's driver in the 1930s . He had his first racing appearance in the Coupe Georges Boillot in 1927 , where he competed in a Bugatti and retired. Lewis celebrated his greatest successes at Brooklands and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans . At the Weybridge racetrack , he finished third in the Brooklands 500-mile races in 1933, 1935 and 1936. In 1931 he reached second place on a Talbot AV105, narrowly beaten by Clive Dunfee and Cyril Paul in a Bentley Speed ​​Six reported by Woolf Barnato . In 1929 he made his debut at Le Mans, where he competed a total of seven times. He finished this 24-hour race three times, including two with Tim Rose-Richards as a partner, in third place overall.

After his father's death in 1944, he inherited his peer title. Brian Lewis lived in Switzerland for many years after World War II , where he died in 1978.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1929	Fox & Nicoll	Lagonda 2 liter speed	Tim Rose-Richards	failure	Cylinder damage
1930	Fox & Nicoll	Talbot AO90	Hugh Eaton	3rd place and class win
1931	Arthur Fox & Charles Nicholl	Talbot AV105	Johnny Hindmarsh	failure	Chassis broken
1932	Arthur Fox	Talbot AV105	Tim Rose-Richards	Rank 3
1933	Arthur Fox	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 LM	Tim Rose-Richards	Rank 3
1934	AA Rigby	Singer 1½ liter Le Mans	Johnny Hindmarsh	Rank 7
1935	Earl Howe	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300	Earl Howe	failure	Cylinder damage

Web links

Commons : Brian Lewis, 2nd Baron Essendon  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Brian Lewis at Historic Racing (English)
• Brian Lewis at Racing Sports Cars (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Coupe Georges Boillot 1927
2. ↑ Brooklands 500 Mile Race, 1931