Ken Wharton

Ken Wharton

Nation:	United Kingdom
Automobile world championship
First start:	1952 Swiss Grand Prix
Last start:	1955 Italian Grand Prix
Constructors
1952 Scuderia Franera  1953 Ken Wharton  1954 Owen Racing Organization  1955 Vanderwell Products Ltd.
statistics
World Cup balance:	WM-13. ( 1952 )
Starts Victories Poles SR 15th - - -
World Cup points :	3
Podiums :	-
Leadership laps :	-

Frederick Charles Kenneth "Ken" Wharton (born March 21, 1916 in Smethwick near Birmingham , † January 12, 1957 in Ardmore , New Zealand ) was an English racing driver .

Start of career

As early as the late 1930s, the garage owner tried his hand at races in Donington Park behind the wheel of a small , supercharged Austin Seven . After the Second World War he wanted to continue his interrupted racing career and therefore started in various trial and hill climbs as well as some rallies on the British Isles and the continent.

Meeting the idol

Initially the style of the stocky man with boxing shoulders was marked by grim determination, but he was to change in many ways through the encounter with his idol : In Zandvoort he met the French Grand Prix driver and European champion from 1946 Raymond Sommer . He seemed impressed by the British's unaffected enthusiasm, so he took the time to let him in on the deeper secrets of the set-up, the braking points and the ideal line . Wharton now wanted to move up into the higher Grand Prix classes.

The British "mountain king"

To achieve this goal, he wanted to prove his driving skills in as many different races as possible - a strategy that many pilots pursued after the war. If he has successfully competed in rallies and trials so far, as demonstrated by the class victory at the Tulip Rally in 1949 and 1950 and the one in Lisbon as well as the championship of the trials championship of the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) on a Ford V8 driver, he turned around The hill climb is now increasing, as the starting fields are clearer there and the races are also contested with formula cars.

Therefore, he initially purchased a Cooper - Formula 3 race car, a 500-cc engine he quickly 1000 cm³- by a JAP - motorcycle engine replaced, after a two-liter Formula ERA , wherein he won with two models in 1950 first class wins could.

In the following year he won the title of RAC mountain champion for the first time, which he was to defend successfully in the following three years. This should remain his real domain, but he did not lose sight of his real goal.

Assignments as a works driver

As a result, he was also used as a works driver for Frazer-Nash and Jaguar in long-distance, sports car and Formula 1 races. He was later seen in Formula 1 at BRM and Vanwall . In total, he contested 15 races between 1953 and 1955 in the so-called “premier class” of motorsport . However, his first season was also the most successful when he fought for fourth place with the Frazer-Nash- Bristol at the Swiss Grand Prix in Bremgarten . These should remain his only points, as in the years of Ferrari dominance there were usually only fourth and fifth places to be won.

In sports car races such as the “August Bank Holiday Saturday” in Boreham in the same year on a Frazer Nash MkII Le Mans replica in the same year or two years later as a works driver in a Jaguar in the Reims 12 hour race However, D-Type saw him again as the winner.

The legend of Goodwood

In 1954 he also had his most successful year with a Grand Prix car. In the famous race at the Easter Monday Goodwood Meeting , which is not part of the world championship , he achieved a fiercely fought victory from the start line against arch rival Roy Salvadori on the capricious BRM P15 with a supercharged 1.5-liter V16 engine , the one actually superior Maserati drove. Only the better start and the consistent blocking kept Ken in front of his opponent, who was unable to overtake the BRM, which is clearly slower in corners and which, due to its width, visibly blocked the ideal line. Wharton consistently drove the line of battle, which was made easier for him by the fact that his monoposto constantly spat oil, which was deposited on the windshield and glasses of his pursuer. Salvadori lost his nerve, waved his arms wildly and tried desperately to stab the inside of the Lavant corner during the 19th lap - the collision was inevitable. Both drivers were able to continue after the spin, but Roy had to retire with a damaged clutch while Ken Wharton won the race. "Ken was one of the toughest drivers, I should have known better ..." said Roy Salvadori in retrospect.

The racing driver's death

After promising outings in a Ferrari sports car in 1957, he was also to try a race in Ardmore, New Zealand. There, the Ferrari carried him after a drift onto a lawn, where the brakes of the bolide were ineffective. The side of the car hit the barrier, killing Ken Wharton on the spot.

Thanks to his fighting spirit, Wharton was at times very popular with the British and was considered one of the most versatile drivers of his time. Initially, he made up for a lack of talent through enthusiasm and commitment, and it was only in later years that he cultivated an economical driving style.

statistics

Statistics in the automobile world championship

general overview

season	team	chassis	engine	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	nice Race laps	Points	WM-Pos.
1952	Scuderia Franera	Frazer-Nash FN48	Bristol 2.0 L6	2	-	-	-	-	-	3	13.
		Frazer-Nash 421		1	-	-	-	-	-
		Cooper T20		1	-	-	-	-	-
1953	Ken Wharton	Cooper T23	Bristol 2.0 L6	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	NC
1954	Owen Racing Organization	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	4th	-	-	-	-	-	-	NC
1955	Vandervell Products Ltd.	Vanwall VW55	Vanwall 2.5 L4	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	NC
total				15th	-	-	-	-	-	3

Single results

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9
1952
	4th		DNF				DNF	9
1953
			DNF		DNF	8th		7th	NC
1954
				DNF	8th	DNS	6th		8th
1955
						9	DNF

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
1953	Automobiles Frazer Nash Ltd.	Frazer Nash Le Mans Touring Coupe	Laurence Mitchell	Rank 13 and class win
1954	Jaguar Cars Ltd.	Jaguar D-Type	Peter Whitehead	failure	Gearbox damage
1956	Jaguar Cars Ltd.	Jaguar D-Type	Jack Fairman	failure	accident

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
1953	Frazer Nash	Frazer Nash Le Mans	SEB	MIM	LEM	SPA	ONLY	RTT	CAP
					13	6th
1954	jaguar	Jaguar D-Type	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	CAP
						DNF	6th
1955	Frazer Nash	Frazer Nash Le Mans	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	TAR
							DNF
1956	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 290MM	BUA	SEB	MIM	ONLY	KRI
						3

Web links

Commons : Ken Wharton  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Ken Wharton at grandprix.com (English)