Peter Mitchell-Thomson, 2nd Baron Selsdon

The race winners of the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1949 ; Peter Mitchell-Thomson, 2nd Baron Selsdon (left) and Luigi Chinetti (center). On the right, Chinetti's wife Marion

Ferrari 166MM Barchetta, the winning car from Chinetti / Selsdon in Le Mans 1949

Peter Mitchell-Thomson, 2nd Baron Selsdon ( May 28, 1913 - February 7, 1963 ), known as Lord Selsdon , was a British racing driver . He was the son of William Mitchell-Thomson, 1st Baron Selsdon and inherited his baron title when he died in 1938.

Career

Peter Mitchell-Thomson began racing sports cars in the 1930s. In 1935 he made his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans , but had to give up the race prematurely after a technical defect. In 1935 he started as Mitchell-Thomson at Le Mans, and in 1939 he finished fourth in the overall standings on a Lagonda .

He celebrated his greatest success in motorsport in 1949 when he won the first 24-hour race after the Second World War as a teammate of Luigi Chinetti . It was the first major success for Ferrari in international racing. However, Chinetti was behind the wheel for 23 of the 24 hours to be driven.

A year before that, he had scored his first win with the Ferrari 166MM without having driven a meter. At the 12-hour race in Montlhéry - not uncommon at the time shortly after the war - sports cars and Formula 1 vehicles were mixed at the start. Team-mate Chinetti did not let himself be shaken off by the faster monopostos and after a solo trip he won clearly ahead of a larger-displacement Talbot and a Delage . Selsdon watched the race from the pit lane, but is the second driver in the winner lists.

The English gentlemen's driver also used his Ferrari in Le Mans in 1950. His team mate this time was the Frenchman Jean Lucas . It was the last major race Selsdon took part in and it ended after 164 laps due to a technical defect.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1935	MTU Collier	Frazer Nash TT Replica	Michael Collier	failure	malfunction
1939	Lord Selsdon	Lagonda V12	Lord William Waleran	Rank 4
1949	Lord Selsdon	Ferrari 166MM	Luigi Chinetti	Overall victory
1950	Lord Selsdon	Ferrari 166MM	Jean Lucas	failure	malfunction

literature

• RM Clarke: Le Mans. The Jaguar Years 1949-1957. Brooklands Books, Cobham 1997, ISBN 1-85520-357-X .
• 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

Commons : Peter Mitchell-Thomson, 2nd Baron Selsdon  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Image: Lord Selsdon (left)
• Lord Selsdon at 24-hour en-piste

predecessor	Office	successor
William Mitchell-Thomson	Baron Selsdon 1938-1963	Malcolm Mitchell-Thomson