Lionel Martin (racing driver)
Lionel Walker Birch Martin ( 1878 - October 14, 1945 ) was a British businessman and racing driver from Cornwall . Alongside Robert Bamford, he is one of the two founders and namesake of the Aston Martin car brand .
Life
Lionel Martin came from a family who had earned money and reputation in the mining industry. He enjoyed his training in Eton, among other places . He discovered his passion for motorsport early on . The gentleman driver was known for a tough, victory-oriented driving style. In addition to cars, his passion was bicycles. Significantly, Martin died on one of these on October 14, 1945 at the age of 67 in Kingston , when he was involved in a traffic accident while riding his three-wheeled bicycle on Gloucester Road and was fatally injured.
Aston Martin
On the eve of the First World War , January 15, 1913, he founded Bamford & Martin Ltd. together with the engineer Robert Bamford . in London . The company dealt with the sale of automobiles of the Singer brand in southern England. According to the motto "Win on sunday, sell on monday", Martin regularly took part in car races with Singer automobiles. However, the vehicles showed a number of defects in racing, so Bamford and Martin planned their own development.
Lionel Martin had just taken part in the Aston Clinton hill climb with a converted Singer 10 , but did not win, as is often claimed. According to his traditional statement, however, this event was the starting point for the creation of the Aston Martin brand name: After reviewing all the flowers, beasts, birds and fishes that we knew, we got to place names, and as my Singer had recently scored a point or two at the Aston Clinton Hill Climb, the first part of that name was adopted with acclamation and my simple cognomen appended to it. (We went through all of the flowers, wildlife, birds, and fish we knew and considered place names. Since my Singer scored a few points in the Aston Clinton hill climb recently, we enthusiastically decided to give the first part of that name and add my humble family name to it.)
In March 1915, the first prototype, mockingly called the “Coal Scuttle”, with an optimized Coventry Simplex engine on the wheels. The registration of March 16 shows the registration number AM 4656. This prototype was beaten by Lionel Martin for four years until a second vehicle was developed. This vehicle, which was completed in 1920, was used for the first small series production in 1923. However, the engineer Robert Bamford left the young company shortly before because he had lost interest in series production.
Lionel Martin found a new, financially strong partner in the millionaire's son and passionate racing driver Count Louis Zborowski . But the Graf had a fatal accident on October 19, 1924 in Monza after he had posted some records and racing successes for Aston Martin . This had fatal consequences for Lionel Martin : the successful Aston Martins, which cost around 700 to 750 pounds sterling , sold slowly and the company ran into financial difficulties. Martin had to give up the management and withdrew from the company disappointed.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Aston Martin , Rainer W. Schlegelmilch, Hartmut Lehbrink, pages 9 to 10, Könemann (2006), ISBN 3-8290-4832-7
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Martin, Lionel |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Martin, Lionel Walker Birch |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British businessman and racing driver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1878 |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 14, 1945 |
| Place of death | Kingston upon Thames |