Herbert William Hawthorne (17 December 1943 – 14 April 1972) was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

racing driver. He was born in Derryhennett,

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and ha ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

and immigrated to New Zealand at 13 years of age.

Racing career

Hawthorne started racing in the mid-to-late 1960s with a Ford Anglia. He moved to the United Kingdom to work as a racing mechanic at Ron Tauranac's

Brabham Brabham () is the common name for Motor Racing Developments Ltd., a British racing car manufacturer and Formula One racing team. Founded in 1960 by Australian driver Jack Brabham and British-Australian designer Ron Tauranac, the team won four ...

factory. He built a Brabham BT21 and shipped it back to New Zealand where he raced it in the National Formula category for twin-cam, 1600 cm3 engines. He became friends with Allan McCall, who was impressed with Hawthorne's racing talent. Hawthorne returned to the UK with a limited budget to race in

Formula 3 Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as F3, is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One driv ...

, then went to the US to race in the North American Formula B/Atlantic Championship where he became vice-champion of the series in 1971. In 1972 Hawthorne won the Bogota Grand Prix, giving the Brabham BT38 its maiden victory. He did not continue with Brabham but linked up again with McCall, who was developing Formula 2 under the banner ''"Leda Engineering"''. Hawthorne's first Formula 2 race was the Jochen Rindt Memorial Trophy at Thruxton, a round of both the British and

European Formula 2 Championship The European Formula Two Championship was a Formula Two motor racing series that was held between 1967–84. The races were held across Europe, and were contested both by drivers aiming to compete in Formula One in the future as well as curren ...

s. Hawthorne won a heat race and was putting on an impressive display in the final race before retiring on lap 38 with a fuel pickup problem.

Death

Hawthorne was killed on 14 April 1972 in the following round of the European Championship, the

Jim Clark James Clark Jr. OBE (4 March 1936 – 7 April 1968) was a British Formula One racing driver from Scotland, who won two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965. A versatile driver, he competed in sports cars, touring cars and in the Indianapol ...

Memorial Race at

Hockenheim Hockenheim () is a town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 20 km south of Mannheim and 10 km west of Walldorf. It is located in the Upper Rhine valley on the tourist theme routes "Baden Asparagus Route" () and Bertha Benz M ...

. Hawthorne was driving Allan McCall's TUI car, racing with German driver Bernd Terbeck when Hawthorne's car slowed. Terbeck hit Hawthorne's car at speed, pitching it head-on against the barriers. The car skidded along the guard-rail, pulling out security uprights and came to rest on fire. At the track it was realised that both Terbeck and Hawthorne were missing, but there was no knowledge of the incident until two laps later, when Niki Lauda pulled in to the pits and asked why nothing was being done about a car on fire on the circuit. It was later confirmed that Hawthorne had died instantly from head injuries.http://www.motorsportmemorial.org/focus.php?db=ct&n=1237 Motorsport Memorial Page

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawthorne, Bert 1944 births 1972 deaths New Zealand racing drivers Racing drivers who died while racing Sport deaths in Germany New Zealand people of Irish descent People from County Armagh Tasman Series drivers