Ken Rudd (racing driver)
Kenneth "Ken" Rudd (born March 24, 1921 ; † August 29, 2009 ) was a British entrepreneur and racing car driver .
Entrepreneur
Ken Rudd opened a repair shop for motor vehicles in Worthing in November 1945, a few months after the end of World War II . The company's beginnings were very humble; the first workshop was in an abandoned stable . For years he worked for local farmers and repaired their agricultural machinery before turning to sports cars in the early 1950s . In 1948 he had worked with K. N. Rudd Ltd. founded a corporation and a few years later built a new facility in Worthing.
Rudd became known through conversions and modifications to road vehicles for racing. In addition to models from Austin-Healey , Volvo and Alfa Romeo , this mainly affected sports cars from AC Cars . The basis for equipping AC-Ace models with Bristol engines was a supply contract between AC and Bristol Cars in 1956 . At a suggestion by Rudd, Girling disc brakes were also introduced in the Ace in 1957.
Rudd offered engines for the Ace through his own company Ruddspeed in the early 1960s. The 2.6-liter six-cylinder in- line engine came from Ford , where it was used in the sedan models Zephyr Mk.II and Zodiac Mk.II from 1956 to 1961 . Rudd supplied the engine in five different power levels. AC built an upgraded ruddspeed motor into an original Ace in 1961. The performance figures were so convincing that AC presented this version in 1961 at the British International Motor Show in London and included it in the regular delivery program.
Until his death in 2009, Rudd worked on the restoration of historic vehicles, primarily from AC and Volvo. The company includes also the former Brooklands Aero Club House & Control Tower at Brooklands Aerodrome on which he formerly oval track of Brooklands was.
Racing career
In the 1950s, Rudd was also active as a racing driver. In 1953 he finished eleventh overall with Johnny Lockett in the Goodwood 9-hour race . In addition to several victories in national sports car races, he won the 3-hour race in Snetterton in 1957 .
In the same year he drove a works Ac Ace at Le Mans with Peter Bolton and finished tenth overall.
statistics
Le Mans results
year | team | vehicle | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1957 | AC Cars Ltd. | AC Ace | Peter Bolton | Rank 10 |
Individual results in the sports car world championship
season | team | race car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14th | 15th | 16 | 17th | 18th | 19th | 20th | 21st | 22nd |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1955 | Frazer Nash | DKW 3 = 6 | BUA | SEB | MIM | LEM | RTT | TAR | ||||||||||||||||
DNF | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
1957 | AC Cars | AC Ace | BUA | SEB | MIM | ONLY | LEM | KRI | CAR | |||||||||||||||
10 |
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
Individual evidence
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Rudd, Ken |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Rudd, Kenneth |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British entrepreneur and racing car driver |
DATE OF BIRTH | March 24, 1921 |
DATE OF DEATH | August 29, 2009 |