Eric Thompson (racing driver)

Eric Thompson

Nation:	United Kingdom
Automobile world championship
First start:	1952 British Grand Prix
Last start:	1952 British Grand Prix
Constructors
1952  Connaught Engineering
statistics
World Cup balance:	WM-18. ( 1952 )
Starts Victories Poles SR 1 - - -
World Cup points :	2
Podiums :	-
Leadership laps :	-

Eric Thompson (born November 4, 1919 in Ditton Hill, Surrey , † August 22, 2015 ) was a British automobile racing driver .

Career

Thompson was a broker and the typical example of a casual racer. His only appearance in the automobile world championship he had at the Grand Prix of Great Britain in 1952 , where he finished fifth in a Connaught Type A. In smaller Formula 2 races in Great Britain he was able to celebrate two more victories in 1953 (at the AMOC (Aston Martin Owner's Club) race and at the Redex Trophy, both in Snetterton .)

Thompson achieved great success in sports car races. As a works driver for Aston Martin, he competed regularly in the Le Mans 24-hour race between 1950 and 1955 . He made his debut at this endurance race in 1949 on an HRG 1500 Lightweight Le Mans and achieved eighth place in the overall standings with his compatriot Jack Fairman . In 1951 he achieved a place on the podium with Lance Macklin on a factory Aston Martin DB2 with third place overall.

In 1953 he was in the World Sportscar Championship scoring RAC Tourist Trophy runner-up. Together with Reg Parnell , he only had to admit defeat to his Aston Martin teammates Peter Collins and Pat Griffith . Two weeks earlier he had with Kenneth McAlpine on a Aston Martin DB3S the 9-hour race at Goodwood won.

Thompson later worked for Aston Martin and was the editor of motorsport books. He lived in Guildford , Surrey until his death and was the first member of the Le Mans Hall of Fame.

statistics

Statistics in the automobile world championship

These statistics include all of the driver's participations in the World Automobile Championship, which is now known as the Formula 1 World Championship .

general overview

season	team	chassis	engine	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	nice Race laps	Points	WM-Pos.
1952	Connaught Engineering	Connaught Type A	Lea-Francis 2.0 L4	1	-	-	-	-	-	2	18th
total				1	-	-	-	-	-	2

Single results

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th
1952
					5

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1949	Ecurie Lapin Blanc	HRG 1500 Lightweight Le Mans	Jack Fairman	Rank 8 and class win
1950	Aston Martin Ltd.	Aston Martin DB2	John Gordon	failure	Engine failure
1951	Aston Martin Ltd.	Aston Martin DB2	Lance Macklin	3rd place and class win
1952	Aston Martin Ltd.	Aston Martin DB3 Coupe	Reginald Parnell	failure	Power transmission
1953	Aston Martin Ltd.	Aston Martin DB3S	Dennis Poore	failure	Engine failure
1954	David Brown	Lagonda DP115	Dennis Poore	failure	accident
1955	Connaught Engineering	Connaught AL / SR	Kenneth McAlpine	failure	Engine failure

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
1953	Aston Martin	Aston Martin DB3S	SEB	MIM	LEM	SPA	ONLY	RTT	CAP
					DNF			2
1954	Aston Martin	Lagonda DP115	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	CAP
						DNF
1955	Connaught	Connaught AL / SR	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	TAR
						DNF

Web links

Commons : Eric Thompson  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ In Memoriam: Eric Thompson (1919-2015). ( Memento of September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Obituary on endurance-info.com of August 25, 2015 (French, accessed on August 26, 2015).