Dave Charlton

Dave Charlton

Nation:	South Africa
Automobile world championship
First start:	1967 South African Grand Prix
Last start:	1975 South African Grand Prix
Constructors
1967  Ecurie Tomahawk 1968 Scuderia Scribante 1970 Scuderia Sribante 1971 Motor Racing Developments and Gold Leaf Team Lotus 1972 and 1973 Lucky Strike Scuderia Scribante 1974 and 1975 Lucky Strike Scuderia Scribante
statistics
World Cup balance:	-
Starts Victories Poles SR 11 - - -
World Cup points :	-
Podiums :	-
Leadership laps :	-

David William "Dave" Charlton (born October 27, 1936 in Brotton ; † February 24, 2013 in Johannesburg ) was a South African racing driver . He won the South African Formula 1 Championship six times in a row (1970 to 1975) and also took part in some races of the Formula 1 World Championship.

Childhood and youth

Charlton first grew up in Yorkshire . At the age of 10 he emigrated with his parents to Springs in South Africa .

Career

After an initial phase in club races, which he contested with an Austin Healey , from 1962 Dave Charlton competed in the largest South African monoposto championship, the South Africa Major League. In the early 1960s he drove a Lotus 20 with a 4-cylinder Climax engine. With this car he registered for the Grand Prix of South Africa in East London , but was eliminated in the pre-qualification.

In 1967, Charlton and Aldo Scribante founded Scuderia Scribante , which initially had a Brabham BT11 with a Repco engine. With this vehicle, Charlton dominated the South African Formula 1 Championship and drove the 1967 and 1968 Grand Prix . The strong performance enabled Charlton to take a test with the Cooper factory team in 1968, but he did not get a work contract. At the 1968 Brands Hatch 6 Hours , he drove a Lola T70 ; Team partner was the Canadian Craig Fisher . The duo dropped out after an accident. His greatest success in sports car racing was overall victory in the 1971 Goldfields 3-hour race , a race in the Castrol Springbok Series. After 115 laps he won with co-driver John Hine in a Chevron B19 .

1970 drove Charlton at the Grand Prix of South Africa for Scribante the former Joakim Bonnier owned Lotus 49C .

In the following year , Charlton was twice given the opportunity to use a works car in world championship races. At the South African Grand Prix he drove a BT33 for Brabham and in Great Britain at Silverstone he was in the third works Lotus . Charlton finished both races early; at Silverstone it failed after an engine failure.

In 1972, with a lot of money from the new sponsor British American Tobacco ( Lucky Strike ), Scuderia Scribante purchased a Lotus 72 with which Charlton won the South African Formula 1 championship. He also registered for four world championship races in the 1972 Automobile World Championship , but this time he no longer drove for works teams. In France he missed the qualification. In South Africa , Great Britain and Germany he started the race, but was eliminated early. In 1974 the Lotus was replaced by a McLaren M23 , with which Charlton continued to be successful. Again he won the domestic monoposto championship. The end of Charlton's dominance came in 1976 when a strong opponent appeared on the race tracks in the young Ian Scheckter , the brother of Jody Scheckter .

In 1978, Charlton lost its main sponsor. Although he continued to race until the early 1980s, especially in the South African Formula Atlantic Championship , which replaced the local Formula 1 championship from 1976; but he could no longer build on his great successes.

statistics

Statistics in the automobile world championship

general overview

season	team	chassis	engine	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	nice Race laps	Points	WM-Pos.
1965	Ecurie Tomahawk	Lotus 20	Ford R4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1967	Scuderia Scribante	Brabham BT11	Climax	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1968	Scuderia Scribante	Brabham BT11	Climax	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1970	Scuderia Scribante	Lotus 49C	Cosworth DFV	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1971	Brabham	Brabham BT33	Cosworth DFV	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	lotus	Lotus 72D	Cosworth DFV	1	-	-	-	-	-
1972	Scuderia Scribante	Lotus 72D	Cosworth DFV	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1973	Scuderia Scribante	Lotus 72D	Cosworth DFV	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1974	Scuderia Scribante	McLaren M23	Cosworth DFV	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1975	Scuderia Scribante	McLaren M23	Cosworth DFV	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
total				11	-	-	-	-	-	0

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10
1968	Sid Taylor Racing	Lola T70	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	ONLY	SPA	WAT	ZEL	LEM
					DNF

literature

• Ken Stewart, Norman Reich: Sun on the Grid. Grand Prix and Endurance Racing in Southern Africa . London 1967. ISBN 1-870519-49-3

Web links

Commons : Dave Charlton  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Image: Dave Charlton
• Dave Charlton at Racing Sports Cars

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Dave Charlton - The end of an era. IOL Motoring, February 25, 2013, accessed February 26, 2013 . 
2. ^ 1968 Brands Hatch 6 Hours
3. ↑ 3-hour race at Goldfields 1971