Rupert Keegan
.jpg)
|
|||||||||
| Nation: |
 United Kingdom
|
||||||||
| Automobile / Formula 1 world championship | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First start: | 1977 Spanish Grand Prix | ||||||||
| Last start: | 1982 Las Vegas Grand Prix | ||||||||
| Constructors | |||||||||
| 1977 Hesketh • 1978 Surtees • 1980 RAM Racing • 1982 RAM | |||||||||
| statistics | |||||||||
| World Cup balance: | no World Cup placement | ||||||||
|
|||||||||
| World Cup points : | - | ||||||||
| Podiums : | - | ||||||||
| Leadership laps : | - | ||||||||
Rupert Keegan (born February 26, 1955 in Westcliff on Sea ) is a retired British automobile racing driver .
Career
Rupert Keegan was not considered particularly talented when he got into Formula 1 in 1977 , but he still managed to take part in 25 world championship races.
Keegan began his career in the early 1970s on a Ford Escort Mexico, but soon switched to the British Formula Ford Championship . In 1974 Keegan drove an entire season in Formula 3 . With the money from his father, who ran several large bakeries, he bought the March 743 from Brian Henton a year later and entered the Formula 2 European Championship . Keegan was quick, but only achieved it by taking too much risk. The result was a series of rides and accidents (Keegan's worst accident was in Thruxton), all of which he survived without injuries.
The turning point came in 1976 when he won the British Formula 3 Championship with nine race wins. This success earned him a works contract with Hesketh for the 1977 Formula 1 season. Hesketh, once the team with which James Hunt won his first Grand Prix, was meanwhile inferior to the competition in all respects. Keegan was able to qualify the vehicle, the Hesketh 308E - Ford - Cosworth , in every race in which it was used; However, it was not enough for a World Cup point. So he switched to Surtees in 1978 . However, there were no great successes here either. The best placement was eleventh place at the Spanish Grand Prix in Jarama .
After John Surtees did not renew the contract in 1979, Keegan had to switch to the Aurora Formula 1 series , a national British racing series based on the regulations of the Formula 1 World Cup. Keegan used a private previous year Arrows A1 . He won five races and the championship and returned to Formula 1 in 1980 with RAM Racing . In 1982 his Formula 1 career ended with a brief stint at RAM, without ever being placed in the points.
As a result, he drove sports car races, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans and some races at the Champ Cars , before he preferred a career as a businessman to motorsport.
In 1995 he celebrated a surprising comeback for Lister at Le Mans alongside Geoff Lees and Dominic Chappell . The car, a Lister Storm GT , broke down after 40 laps with damage to the drive shaft.
statistics
Le Mans results
| year | team | vehicle | Teammate | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 |
Ultramar team Lola
|
Lola T610 |
Guy Edwards
|
Nick Faure
|
failure | Cylinder overheated |
| 1983 |
John Fitzpatrick Racing
|
Porsche 956 |
Guy Edwards
|
John Fitzpatrick
|
Rank 5 | |
| 1984 |
Skoal Bandit Racing Team
|
Porsche 962 |
Guy Edwards
|
 Roberto Moreno
|
failure | accident |
| 1995 |
Lister Cars Ltd.
|
Lister Storm GTS |
Geoff Lees
|
Dominic Chappell
|
failure | Gearbox damage |
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Keegan, Rupert |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British racing car driver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 26, 1955 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Westcliff on Sea |