Dave Charlton
David William " Dave" Charlton ( born October 27, 1936 in Brotton, † February 24, 2013 in Johannesburg) was a South African racing driver. He won six times in a row ( 1970-1975 ), the South African Formula 1 championship and also took part in several races of the Formula 1 World Championship.
Childhood and youth
Charlton initially grew up in Yorkshire. At the age of 10 he emigrated with his parents to Springs in South Africa.
Career
After an initial phase in club races, which he denied with an Austin Healey, drove Dave Charlton in 1962 in South Africa's largest single-seater championship, the South Africa - Major -League. In the early 1960s, he drove a Lotus 20 with a 4-cylinder Climax engine. With this car he enlisted in the Grand Prix of South Africa in East London, but different here from as early as the pre-qualification.
In 1967, Charlton together with Aldo Scribante Scuderia Scribante, which initially had a Brabham BT11 with Repco engine available. Charlton dominated with this vehicle, the South African Formula 1 Championship and took the Grand Prix between 1967 and 1968. The strong performance enabled Charlton 1968 a test at the Cooper works team, but he did not get a contract for work. At the 6 - hour race at Brands Hatch in 1968, he drove a Lola T70; Team partner was Canadian Craig Fisher. The duo fell out after an accident. His biggest success in sports car racing was the overall victory in the three - hour race at Goldfields in 1971, a race in the Castrol Springbok Series. After 115 laps, he won with co-driver John Hine on a Chevron B19.
1970 Charlton drove the Grand Prix of South Africa for Scribante the former Joakim Bonnier belonging Lotus 49C.
The following year, Charlton twice received the opportunity to use a work car for world championship events. At the Grand Prix of South Africa, he drove for Brabham BT33 one, and in Great Britain at Silverstone he was sitting in the third factory Lotus. Both races ended prematurely Charlton; at Silverstone he fell out after an engine failure.
1972, equipped with lots of money through the new sponsor British American Tobacco ( Lucky Strike ), the Scuderia Scribante earned a Lotus 72 with which Charlton won the South African Formula 1 Championship. In addition, he volunteered to four World Cup races in the Formula 1 1972 season, but this time he no longer drove for factory teams. In France, he failed to qualify. In South Africa, the UK and Germany, although he went into the race, but dropped out prematurely each. 1974 Lotus was replaced by a McLaren M23, further remained successful with the Charlton. Again, won the domestic single-seater championship. The end of the dominance of Charlton came in 1976, when with the young Ian Scheckter, the brother of Jody Scheckter, a strong opponent appeared on the racing tracks.
1978 Charlton lost his main sponsor. Although he ran until the early 1980s on race, especially in the South African Formula Atlantic Championship, which replaced the local Formula 1 Championship in 1976; but to his great success, he was not able.