Chris Craft (racing driver)

Chris Craft
Born	17 November 1939; Porthleven, Cornwall, England, UK
Died	20 February 2021 (aged 81); Essex, England, UK
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	British
Active years	1971
Teams	non-works Brabham
Entries	2 (1 start)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1971 Canadian Grand Prix
Last entry	1971 United States Grand Prix

Christopher Adrian Craft (17 November 1939 – 20 February 2021)^[1] was a British racing driver who competed in many different forms of motor sport.

Biography

Craft was born in Porthleven, Cornwall and began his career in 1962, with a Ford Anglia^[2] and became recognised as a leading saloon car racer, particularly with the Team Broadspeed Escort which he campaigned from 1968 to 1970.^[2] Having also previously driven a Tecno in Formula Three, he moved to sports cars from 1968, initially with a Chevron and then joined forces with Alain de Cadenet to drive his Porsche 908 and McLaren M8C.^[2] It was this association that led to his participation in two World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, in 1971, driving a Brabham BT33 prepared by Cadenet's team Ecurie Evergreen, but he failed to score a championship point. He did not qualify for his first World Championship race (the 1971 Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport Park) but would have been able to start the race following the withdrawal of two other drivers due to accidents in the raceday warm-up sessions. However, his own car suffered engine trouble, denying him the opportunity.^[3] His second Grand Prix, at Watkins Glen ended with a suspension failure and tyre problems during the race.^[4]

Craft continued to compete in many other forms of motor racing, including saloon cars, notably with a

Formula 3 and Formula 5000. Craft won the 1973 European Sportscar Championship in a Lola T92. ^[5] One of the highlights of his career was a third-place finish in the 1976 24 Hours of Le Mans

.

After his race career Chris Craft started the Light Car Company with F1 designer Gordon Murray to build the Light Car Company Rocket.^[6]

Racing record

Complete British Saloon Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Pos.	Pts	Class
1964	Chris Craft	Ford Cortina Lotus	B	SNE ?	GOO Ret	OUL ?	AIN 7	SIL Ret	CRY 4†	BRH	OUL								27th	2	11th
1964	Superspeed Conversions Ltd.	Ford Anglia Super	A						CRY 6†	BRH DSQ	OUL Ret								27th	2	NC
1965	R. Trustham	Ford Anglia Super	B	BRH DSQ	OUL	SNE	GOO	SIL ?	CRY 3†	BRH DNS	OUL 8								25th	6	9th
1966	Superspeed Conversions Ltd.	Ford Anglia Super	B	SNE 6	GOO 6	SIL Ret	CRY Ret†	BRH Ret	BRH Ret	OUL 1†	BRH Ret								8th	24	3rd
1967	Superspeed Conversions Ltd.	Ford Anglia Super	B	BRH	SNE	SIL	SIL	MAL	SIL	SIL Ret	BRH Ret	OUL Ret†	BRH Ret						NC	0	NC
1968	Team Broadspeed	Ford Anglia	A	BRH Ret	THR 5	SIL 10	CRY Ret†	MAL Ret†											8th	38	4th
1968	Team Broadspeed	Ford Escort 1300 GT	B						BRH 12	SIL 10	CRO Ret	OUL 9	BRH	BRH 7					8th	38	5th
1969	Team Broadspeed	Ford Escort 1300 GT	B	BRH Ret	SIL Ret	SNE 8	THR 4	SIL 3	CRY 2†	MAL 2†	CRO 12	SIL 5	OUL 7	BRH 6	BRH 7				2nd	67	1st
1970	Team Broadspeed	Ford Escort TC	C	BRH 2	SNE 4	THR Ret	SIL 4	CRY 3†	SIL 4	SIL 26	CRO 3	BRH 11	OUL 5	BRH 3	BRH				5th	60	1st
1974	Wisharts Garages	Ford Capri 3000 GT	C	MAL	BRH	SIL	OUL	THR	SIL	THR	BRH	ING	BRH	OUL	SNE ?				29th	7	8th
1974	Shellsport	Triumph Dolomite Sprint	B													BRH 9			29th	7	12th
1975	Wisharts Garages	Ford Capri 3000 GT	C	MAL	BRH	OUL	THR 11	SIL	BRH	THR	SIL	MAL	SNE	SIL	ING Ret†	BRH ?†	OUL 5	BRH	23rd	16	7th
1976	Tricentrol / Hammonds Sauce Group	Ford Capri II 3.0s	D	BRH 2	SIL DSQ	OUL	THR 3	THR 3	SIL DNS	BRH 4	MAL 2†	SNE 4†	BRH Ret						10th	28	3rd
1977	Hammonds Sauce Group	Ford Capri II 3.0s	D	SIL Ret	BRH DNS	OUL 3†	THR 6	SIL 4	THR 1	DON	SIL 2	DON 2†	BRH	THR 3	BRH 2				8th	24	2nd
1978	Gordon Spice Group	Ford Capri III 3.0s	D	SIL Ret	OUL 3†	THR Ret	BRH Ret†	SIL 2†	DON 1†	MAL 4†	BRH 4	DON 4†	BRH 5	THR 2	OUL Ret†				10th	40	3rd
1979	Gordon Spice Racing	Ford Capri III 3.0s	D	SIL 2	OUL 3†	THR 16	SIL 5	DON 3	SIL 2	MAL ?†	DON 3	BRH 2	THR ?	SNE	OUL				10th	40	3rd
Source:^[7]

† Events with 2 races staged for the different classes.

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	WDC	Points
1971	Ecurie Evergreen	BT33	Cosworth V8	RSA	ESP	MON	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN DNQ	USA Ret	NC	0
Source:^[4]

References

^ Brown, Allen. "Chris Craft". OldRacingCars.com. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
^
ISBN 0851127029
.

ISBN 0-85429-321-3
.

^
ISBN 0851127029
.

^ "World Sports Racing Prototypes - European Sportscar Championship". 2 August 2010. Archived from the original on 2 August 2010. Retrieved 16 February 2021.

^ Ernst, Kurt (15 September 2014). "Hemmings Find of the Day – 1992 Light Car Company Rocket". Hemmings Daily. Retrieved 28 December 2014.

^ de Jong, Frank. "British Saloon Car Championship". History of Touring Car Racing 1952-1993. Retrieved 17 October 2022.

External links

Cornwall portal

Profile at www.grandprix.com

This Cornwall article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
v
t
e

motor racing is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
v
t
e

[1] Brown, Allen. "Chris Craft". OldRacingCars.com. Retrieved 28 February 2021.

[ReferenceA-2] 
ISBN 0851127029
.

[LangVol2P166-3] ISBN 0-85429-321-3
.

[Small114-4] 
ISBN 0851127029
.

[5] "World Sports Racing Prototypes - European Sportscar Championship". 2 August 2010. Archived from the original on 2 August 2010. Retrieved 16 February 2021.

[6] Ernst, Kurt (15 September 2014). "Hemmings Find of the Day – 1992 Light Car Company Rocket". Hemmings Daily. Retrieved 28 December 2014.

[7] Jong, Frank. "British Saloon Car Championship". History of Touring Car Racing 1952-1993. Retrieved 17 October 2022.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]