John Stuart Hindmarsh (25 November 1907 – 6 September 1938) was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
racecar driver
Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition.
Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organi ...
and
aviator.
Career
Hindmarsh was educated at
Sherborne
Sherborne is a market town and civil parish in north west Dorset, in South West England. It is sited on the River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, east of Yeovil. The parish includes the hamlets of Nether Coombe and Lower Clatcombe. ...
,
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...
and then attended the
Royal Military College. He joined the
Royal Army Tank Corps in 1928, then in 1930 learned to fly with the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
.
Hindmarsh also raced
Talbot
Talbot was an automobile marque introduced in 1902 by English-French company Clément-Talbot. The founders, Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury and Adolphe Clément-Bayard, reduced their financial interests in their Clément-Talbot ...
and
Lagonda
Lagonda is a British luxury car brand established in 1906, which has been owned by Aston Martin since 1947. The trade-name has not had a continuous commercial existence, being dormant several times, most recently from 1995 to 2008 and 2010 to 2 ...
cars; he won the
Le Mans 24-Hour Race
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...
in 1935 in a 4½ litre Lagonda M45R Rapide with
Luis Fontés
Luis Fontés (26 December 1912 – 12 October 1940) was a British racing driver of Brazilian parentage who, along with John Stuart Hindmarsh, won the 1935 24 Hours of Le Mans for the Lagonda automobile company and won the inaugural Limerick Gr ...
(222 laps; 3006.797 km; average speed 125.283 km/h).
Hindmarsh was killed aged 30 while test flying
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness b ...
I L1652 at
Brooklands
Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfie ...
on 6 September 1938; he is thought to have been overcome by carbon monoxide fumes in the cockpit, and the aeroplane then dived almost vertically into the ground and exploded at the foot of St George's Hill almost opposite the Vickers factory entrance.
Family life
Hindmarsh married the multiple record breaking racing driver
Violette Cordery on 15 September 1931 at
Stoke D'Abernon parish church, and they had two daughters, one of whom married the racing driver
Roy Salvadori
Roy Francesco Salvadori (12 May 1922 – 3 June 2012) was a British racing driver and team manager. He was born in Dovercourt, Essex, to parents of Italian descent. He graduated to Formula One by 1952 and competed regularly until 1962 for a s ...
. Widowed in 1938, Cordery retired from public life until her death on 30 December 1983 in
Oxshott
Oxshott is a suburban village in the borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England. Oxshott includes hilly acidic heath which is partly wooded (see Esher Commons and Prince's Coverts) and occupies the land between the large towns of Esher and Leatherhead ...
, Surrey.
[Obituary - Roy Salvadori](_blank)
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
, 6 June 2012, by Alan Henry
Alan Henry (9 June 1947 – 3 March 2016) was a British Grand Prix reporter and book author.
Career
Henry had been a Grand Prix reporter since the early 1970s. He was the Formula One correspondent of ''The Guardian'' newspaper and until the end o ...
Racing record
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
References
John Hindmarshat Historic Racing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hindmarsh, John
1907 births
1938 deaths
24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
24 Hours of Le Mans winning drivers
Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in England
English racing drivers
English aviators
Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst
Royal Tank Regiment officers
Royal Air Force officers
Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1938
20th-century British Army personnel
20th-century Royal Air Force personnel