Kenneth Henry Acheson (born 27 November 1957) is a British former

racing 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 organise ...

from

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 ...

who competed for

RAM Racing RAM Racing was a Formula One racing team which competed during the racing seasons of 1976 to 1985. The team entered other manufacturers' chassis from 1976 to 1980, then ran March's team from 1981 to 1983, only entering a car entirely their ow ...

in the 1983 and

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

seasons. He completed only one of his three race starts, finishing in 12th position in the 1983 South African Grand Prix. In 1985, he was a substitute for

Manfred Winkelhock Manfred Winkelhock (6 October 1951 – 12 August 1985) was a German racing driver. He participated in 56 Formula One Grands Prix (with 47 starts) between 1980 and 1985, driving for Arrows, ATS, Brabham and RAM Racing, with a best finish of fi ...

, who was killed in a sportscar race during the season.

Career

Early career

Born in

Cookstown Cookstown ( ga, An Chorr Chríochach, IPA: �anˠˈxoːɾˠɾˠˈçɾʲiːxəx is a small town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the fourth largest town in the county and had a population of 11,599 in the 2011 census. It, along with Maghe ...

, his father, the owner of an Ulster brickworks, raced in the 1970s on motorcycles and in

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula For ...

. In 1976 he had a test in his father's old Crosslé FF1600 at the local

Kirkistown Circuit Kirkistown Motor Racing Circuit is a permanent motorsport circuit located between the villages of Kirkistown and Portavogie, on the Ards Peninsula of County Down in Northern Ireland. History The circuit is owned and operated by the 500 Motor ...

and in no time was lapping within three seconds of the lap record. He entered his first race later in the year, once again at Kirkistown driving his father's FF1600 Crosslé. He acquitted himself pretty well and his father agreed to buy a new Crosslé for the 1977 season if Kenny quit smoking. So, equipped with new machinery, he won the 1977 Northern Ireland FF1600 Championship.

Further success and Formula 1

For 1978 he moved to England to contest three of the Formula Ford series. Driving one of Alan Cornock's Royales with RMC sponsorship, he won 29 races and all three championships. He also picked up a

Grovewood Award The Grovewood Awards (later becoming the Cellnet Awards and then the McLaren Autosport BRDC Awards) were a series of British motor racing awards presented each year in the United Kingdom to the year's up-and-coming British and Commonwealth racing d ...

at the end of the year. Moving up to

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 ...

in 1979, he began with a second-hand

Ralt Ralt was a manufacturer of single-seater racing cars, founded by ex-Jack Brabham associate Ron Tauranac after he sold out his interest in Brabham to Bernie Ecclestone. Ron and his brother had built some specials in Australia in the 1950s und ...

but soon ordered a new

March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Marc ...

793 in an effort to be more competitive. However he failed to take any Championship wins though he set the fastest lap at the F3 support race for the

1979 British Grand Prix The 1979 British Grand Prix (formally the XXXII Marlboro British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on 14 July 1979. It was the ninth race of the 1979 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1979 International Cup for ...

and won three non-championship races. For 1980 he joined up with Murray Taylor Racing at Stone in Oxfordshire, to contest the Vandervell British F3 Championship. By mid-season Acheson was leading the Championship from

Stefan Johansson Stefan Nils Edwin Johansson (born 8 September 1956) is a Swedish racing driver who drove in Formula One for both Ferrari and McLaren, among other teams. Since leaving Formula One he has won the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans and raced in a number o ...

who was driving for Project 4 Racing. But then Johansson acquired a new Ralt RT3 and closed the gap. At the last race of the Championship, Kenny made a small mistake and Johansson took the title. Moving up to

Formula 2 Formula Two (F2 or Formula 2) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009–2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name return ...

in 1981, he joined Docking Spitzley Racing driving a

Toleman Toleman Motorsport was a Formula One constructor based in the UK. It was active between 1981 and 1985 and participated in 70 Grands Prix. Origins The Toleman company was formed in 1926 by Edward Toleman for the purpose of delivering Ford c ...

TG280. However his season ended prematurely with a big accident while racing for the lead with

Michele Alboreto Michele Alboreto (; 23 December 1956 – 25 April 2001) was an Italian racing driver. He was runner up to Alain Prost in the 1985 Formula One World Championship, as well as winning the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans and 2001 12 Hours of Sebring spo ...

around the French street circuit at Pau. Running wheel to wheel, Alboreto left Acheson nowhere to go and he crashed heavily, his car ending up in a tree. With both his legs badly broken he was lucky to survive. Nevertheless, he returned in 1982 with the Ralt Honda team, finishing seventh in the European Championship. He was given a works F2 drive with

Maurer Motorsport Maurer Motorsport is a Swiss auto racing team based in Roggwil. For over ten years the team has been a regular competitor in the ADAC Procar Series. They won the drivers title in 2005 with Mathias Schläppi in a former BTCC works MG ZS with a ...

in 1983 and, later in the year, made his F1 debut in one of John McDonald's RAM March F1 cars with RMC sponsorship RAM March F1 car. In seven races, he failed to qualify the cumbersome car on every occasion before he finally made it onto the grid for the South African GP. Without a drive in 1984, he returned to the RAM team as to replace

who had tragically been killed racing a Kremer Porsche 962C at

Mosport Park Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly Mosport Park and Mosport International Raceway) is a multi-Race track, track motorsport venue located north of Bowmanville, in Ontario, Canada, east of Toronto. The facility features a , 10-turn road cou ...

. With the more competitive

Hart Hart often refers to: * Hart (deer) Hart may also refer to: Organizations * Hart Racing Engines, a former Formula One engine manufacturer * Hart Skis, US ski manufacturer * Hart Stores, a Canadian chain of department stores * Hart's Reptile Wo ...

-powered RAM 03 Kenny qualified for both the Austrian and Italian GP but his funds dried up and that was the end of his F1 career.

Later career

He also had a brief flirtation with CART that year. He was entered for the Indy 500 in a Lola T800 Cosworth but didn't drive. He then crashed his March 83C Cosworth at the Meadowlands before failing to qualify for Elkhart Lake and crashing in practice at Laguna Seca in the Skoal Bandit Lola T800 Cosworth. For the next few years he made his living in Japan where he raced for

Kunimitsu Takahashi was a Japanese professional motorcycle road racer, racing driver, and team manager. Nicknamed "Kuni-san", he is known as the "father of drifting". His racing career lasted from 1958 to 1999. He competed on motorcycles between 1958 and 1963, ...

's Advan-backed Alpha team in

Formula 3000 Formula 3000 (F3000) was a type of open wheel, single seater formula racing, occupying the tier immediately below Formula One and above Formula Three. It was so named because the cars were powered by 3.0 L engines. Formula 3000 championships ...

and sports cars. He won the Japanese Sportscar Championship in 1987 and on the back of that, moved back to Europe in 1988 with

Sauber Sauber Motorsport AG is a Swiss motorsport engineering company. It was founded in 1970 (as PP Sauber AG) by Peter Sauber, who progressed through hillclimbing and the World Sportscar Championship to reach Formula One in . After operating it u ...

-Mercedes and was due to drive at Le Mans, but the team pulled out in practice. He embarked on a full season with Sauber-Mercedes in 1989 and took a fine second at Le Mans that year driving with

Mauro Baldi Mauro Baldi (born 31 January 1954) is an Italian former Formula One and endurance driver who raced for the Arrows, Alfa Romeo and Spirit teams. He is one of only 9 drivers who won the Triple Crown in endurance racing. Biography Baldi started ...

, the pair going on to win at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently host ...

and Spa. At the end of 1989 he was dropped by Sauber despite his performances and instead moved to Nissan for 1990 for the WSPC season. At Le Mans he retired the R90CK with a gearbox failure during the warm-up lap. For Le Mans in 1991 he was part of the Silk Cut Jaguar team, finishing third in the XJR12. In 1992 he was back at Le Mans, this time with Toyota driving the

Tony Southgate Tony Southgate (born 25 May 1940, Coventry, England) is a British engineer and former racing car designer. He designed many successful cars, including Jaguar's Le Mans-winning XJR-9, and cars for almost every type of circuit racing. He was res ...

designed TS010 and scoring another second, though the following year he failed to finish. When the sportscar World Championship ended, Acheson switched to GT racing in Japan with the SARD team. This led to a final visit to the Sarthe in 1995, when he drove the SARD MC8R, retiring after just 14 laps when the car suffered a total brake failure. In 1996 Acheson went to the Daytona 24 Hours with the

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

football team liveried

Lister Storm The Lister Storm was a homologated GT racing car manufactured by British low volume automobile manufacturer Lister Cars with production beginning in 1993. The Storm used the largest V12 engine fitted to a production road car since World War ...

, sharing the car with Geoff Lees and

Tiff Needell Timothy "Tiff" Needell (born 29 October 1951 in Havant, Hampshire) is a British racing driver and television presenter. He is a presenter of '' Lovecars'', and formerly served as co-presenter of ''Top Gear'' and ''Fifth Gear''. Biography Need ...

. In the dying moments of the race his Lister was destroyed in a violent crash when he was hit by a slower car. Luckily he walked away from the scene, and he also decided to walk away from racing altogether.

Racing record

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

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

Japanese Top Formula Championship results

(

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

Complete Formula One results

(

)

American Open-Wheel racing

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

CART PPG Indy Car World Series

Complete World Sportscar Championship results

(

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

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Acheson, Kenny 1957 births Grovewood Award winners Living people Formula One drivers from Northern Ireland European Formula Two Championship drivers Japanese Formula 3000 Championship drivers Champ Car drivers Racing drivers from Northern Ireland People from Cookstown BRDC Gold Star winners 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers International Formula 3000 drivers RAM Racing Formula One drivers World Sportscar Championship drivers Japanese Sportscar Championship drivers TOM'S drivers Team LeMans drivers Forsythe Racing drivers Nismo drivers Mercedes-AMG Motorsport drivers Jaguar Racing drivers Alan Docking Racing drivers