Dave Walker (racing driver)
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| Nation: |
 Australia
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| Automobile world championship | |||||||||
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| First start: | Dutch Grand Prix 1971 | ||||||||
| Last start: | 1972 USA Grand Prix | ||||||||
| Constructors | |||||||||
| 1971-1972 Lotus | |||||||||
| statistics | |||||||||
| World Cup balance: | no World Cup placement | ||||||||
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| World Cup points : | - | ||||||||
| Podiums : | - | ||||||||
| Leadership laps : | - | ||||||||
David "Dave" Walker (born June 10, 1941 in Sydney ) is a former Australian automobile racing driver .
Career
Young Dave Walker was working as an accountant in Australia when friends introduced him to motorsport. Walker took part in a hill climb for fun and found pleasure in his new pursuit.
In 1962 Walker came to Great Britain and hoped with exaggerated enthusiasm for a contract as a driver with Brabham , as the two-time Formula 1 world champion Sir Jack Brabham was his compatriot. The young man was taught better and had to return to his homeland without having achieved anything.
Now Walker began to plan his career more seriously. He drove in Australia in various junior classes before coming back to Europe in 1966 and entering Formula 3 . In 1968 and 1969 he drove for two seasons in Formula Ford and in 1970 became a works driver for Lotus in order to compete for the team in the British Formula 3 championship . He won the Lomback Championship in 1970. In 1971 he triumphed in the Shell and Forward Trust championships (British Formula 3 was divided into a winter and a summer series in the early 1970s) and was thus three times British Formula 3 champion.
These successes earned Walker a place on the Lotus Formula 1 team. He made his debut at the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort . Walker drove the Lotus turbine car, the Lotus 56 with the four gas turbines from Pratt & Whitney . Walker was only 22nd in training, but his team boss Colin Chapman saw a great chance for the race , because it was pouring rain : Listen, Chapman passed his recruits, you have the chance of your life today, you can get one for all time Make names. But follow my orders: Take it easy for the first ten laps. Then you automatically come forward. With a furrowed brow, Chapman registered that Walker (sic) had already overtaken eight cars by the fifth lap; he had new, not yet worn brake pads. When Walker braked 250 m before the Tarzan curve, the turbine lotus slid straight ahead into the mesh fence. Chapman was furious after the race and Walker mourned this lost opportunity until the end of his career.
What followed was a frustrating 1972 season at the Lotus 72 . Walker finished fifth in the non-World Cup race in Brazil, but team-mate Emerson Fittipaldi became world champion and Walker didn't score a single World Championship point. He was in the top ten only once. In Spain he was left with no petrol in the tank with three laps to go, but was classified ninth.
At the end of the year he lost his contract with Lotus. The descent followed. In 1973 he drove Formula 2 for GRD, again without success. In 1974 Walker had two car accidents. He broke his hand once and a leg in the second accident.
He came back in 1975, competed in 2-liter sports car races and drove in Formula 5000 . In 1976 he returned to Australia to continue racing in Formula Atlantic for a few more years .
literature
- Steve Small: Grand Prix Who's Who, 3rd Edition . Travel Publishing, London 2000, ISBN 1-902007-46-8
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Heinz Prüller : Grand Prix Story 71 and the men who lived it. Verlag Orac et al., Vienna et al. 1971, pp. 68-69.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Walker, Dave |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Walker, David (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Australian racing car driver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 10, 1941 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sydney , Australia |