Rupert Keegan
Rupert Keegan ( born February 26, 1955 in Westcliff -on-Sea ) is a British former racing driver.
Rupert Keegan was considered not particularly talented when he came in 1977 in Formula 1, but he managed to take part in 25 World Championship races.
Keegan began his career in the early 1970s on a Ford Escort Mexico, but soon moved to the British Formula Ford Championship. 1974 Keegan went an entire season in Formula 3 with the money his father, who ran a few bakeries, it earned a year later, the March 743 by Brian Henton and went into the Formula 2 European Championship. Keegan was fast, but reached only by too high a risk. The result was a series of rides and accidents ( the most serious accident had Keegan at Thruxton ), which he survived without any injuries.
The turning point came in 1976, when he was superior to win the British Formula 3 Championship with nine race wins. This success earned him a contract for work at Hesketh for the Formula 1 1977 season. Hesketh, once the team with which James Hunt won his first Grand Prix was now inferior in all aspects of the competition. Keegan was the vehicle, the Hesketh 308E Ford Cosworth, although in every race in which he was employed qualify; to a world point, however, it was not enough. So he moved in 1978 to Surtees. However, a major success came from here. Best place was the eleventh place in the Spanish Grand Prix at Jarama.
After John Surtees 1979 contract did not extend, Keegan had to dodge in the Aurora F1 series, a British national racing series, which was based on the rules of the Formula 1 World Championship. Keegan appointed a private - Arrows A1 last year. He thus won five races and the championship, and returned in 1980 with RAM Racing in Formula 1 back. 1982 ended his Formula 1 career with a brief stint in March, without that he was ever placed in the points.
As a result, he drove sports car races, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans and some races in the Champ Car before he preferred motorsport career as a businessman.
In 1995, he celebrated at Le Mans on the side of Geoff Lees and Dominic Chappell Lister for a surprising comeback. The car, a Lister Storm GT, but stopped after 40 laps with a damage on the drive shaft are.