Bill Pitt (racing driver)
Bill Pitt | |
---|---|
Nationality | Australian |
Born | Brisbane, Qld., Australia[1] | 15 December 1926
Died | 23 February 2017 Caloundra | (aged 90)
Retired | 1963 |
Australian Touring Car Championship | |
Years active | 1960–62 |
Wins | 1 |
Best finish | 1st in 1961 Australian Touring Car Championship |
Championship titles | |
1961 | Australian Touring Car Champ. |
William Pitt (1926–2017) was an Australian former racing driver and motor racing official.[2]
For most of his racing career Pitt was associated with
Jaguars, competing with XK120 and D-Type sports cars, a Mark VIII rally car and a Mark 1 touring car with the assistance of Queensland's Jaguar agents Cyril and Geordie Anderson of Westco Motors.[1]
Pitt first became involved in racing as an official at the 1948 Australian Grand Prix,[1] but gradually moved into competing himself. By the mid-1950s he was a front running sports car driver. Pitt co-drove a Jaguar XK120 to a four lap victory in what for 48 years was Australia's only 24-hour motor race, the 1954 Mount Druitt 24 Hours Road Race, driving with Geordie Anderson and Charles Swinburne.[3]
In 1956 Anderson purchased a
Albert Park in November of that year.[4] The car was badly damaged the following weekend, but was rebuilt[4] and, with Pitt driving, became the dominant feature of Australian sports car racing. Frequently, because of his domination of sports car racing, Pitt raced the D-Type against Grand Prix type machinery in search of competition, finishing third in the 1957 Queensland Road Racing Championship, a race which counted towards the 1957 Australian Drivers' Championship.[5]
The D-Type was sold in 1959 and Pitt and Anderson next invested in a
Pitt retired from racing in 1963 but continued in his role as a
Confederation of Australian Motor Sport until 1964.[3]
Career results
Year | Title | Position | Car |
1956[4] | Australian Tourist Trophy[4] | 4th[4] | Jaguar D-Type[4] |
1957 | Australian Drivers' Championship | 12th | Jaguar D-Type |
1957 | Victorian Tourist Trophy | 3rd | Jaguar D-Type |
1958 | Victorian Tourist Trophy | 3rd | Jaguar D-Type |
1959 | Australian Tourist Trophy | 2nd | Jaguar D-Type |
1960 | Australian Touring Car Championship | 2nd | Jaguar 3.4 Litre |
1961 | Australian Touring Car Championship | 1st | Jaguar 3.4 Litre |
1962 | Australian Touring Car Championship | 2nd | Jaguar 3.4 Litre |
1962 | Australian GT Championship | 3rd | Jaguar 3.4 Litre |
References
- ^ a b c Hughes, Les (July 1987). "William (Bill) Pitt: Patron, Jaguar Drivers Club of Queensland". Jaguar Drivers Club of Queensland. Archived from the original on 5 May 2010. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
- ^ "Vale: Bill Pitt". 28 February 2017.
- ^ ISBN 0-9590378-2-9.
- ^ a b c d e f John Blanden, Historic Racing Cars in Australia, page 178
- ^ 1957 Gold Star race results, dandsshaw/images Retrieved via web.archive.org on 11 September 2013
- ^ Graham Howard & Stewart Wilson, The Australian Touring Car Championship, 30 Fabulous Years, 1990, pages 26-32