Ninian Sanderson (14 May 1925 – 1 October 1985) was a Scottish car dealer,

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...

driver, and winner of the 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Racing career

Sanderson was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. In common with many drivers of his era, he cut his racing teeth in the highly competitive 500cc

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 ...

class in the early 1950s. He is best known for winning the 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans for the

Ecurie Ecosse Ecurie Ecosse (French: "Scotland Stable") was a motor racing team from Edinburgh, Scotland. The team was founded in November 1951 by Edinburgh businessman and racing driver David Murray and mechanic Wilkie Wilkinson. Its most notable achieveme ...

team, together with Ron Flockhart in an ex-works

Jaguar D-Type The Jaguar D-Type is a sports racing car that was produced by Jaguar Cars Ltd. between 1954 and 1957. Designed specifically to win the Le Mans 24-hour race, it shared the straight-6 XK engine and many mechanical components with its C-Type ...

. The following year Sanderson again competed for Ecurie Ecosse, finishing second with co-driver John "Jock" Lawrence, only beaten by the other Ecurie Ecosse D-Type driven by Flockhart and

Ivor Bueb Ivor Léon John Bueb (6 June 1923 – 1 August 1959) was a British professional sports car racing and Formula One driver from England. Career Born in East Ham, Essex east of London, Bueb started racing seriously in a Formula Three 500cc Cooper ...

. He took part in several non-championship

Formula Two 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 retur ...

and

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, ...

races with Ecurie Ecosse, with a best result of third in the 1952 Scotland National Trophy and 1952 Joe Fry Memorial Trophy. He was a reserve driver with the team for the 1953 British Grand Prix but did not compete in the race. In 1999 the Jaguar sports car that won the 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans was sold at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

in London for £1.71 million. At that time it was the most expensive car ever bought at auction. Although reputedly not the easiest of men to get along with, Ninian Sanderson was well known in racing circles for his lively sense of humour. Fond of practical jokes he was not averse to putting firecrackers up exhaust pipes and ribbing members of the public with his race-bred black humour. The contrast in personalities within the Ecurie Ecosse team was stark; down-to-Earth, Glaswegian Sanderson, and refined, Edinburgh-born Flockhart were "like chalk and cheese". Ninian was also a keen yachtsman and regularly raced his yachts on the Clyde with the same competitive spirit and ebullience as in his motor racing. He owned several beautiful Clyde boatyard McGruer-built yachts: a Dragon class keelboat named "Corsair" built in 1947 and an 8-metre class cruiser racer "Debbie" built in 1966. In 1974 he also commissioned McGruer to build his well-known 3/4-Tonner racing yacht "Nippie Sweetie". In 1983 Sanderson and Jim Watt raised £10,500 for the medical oncology unit at the

Glasgow Royal Infirmary The Glasgow Royal Infirmary (GRI) is a large teaching hospital. With a capacity of around 1,000 beds, the hospital campus covers an area of around , and straddles the Townhead and Dennistoun districts on the north-eastern fringe of the city cen ...

following a sponsored canoe trip from

Broomielaw Broomielaw is a major thoroughfare in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It runs adjacent to the River Clyde, on its north bank and forms the southern, waterside boundary of the city's International Financial Services District. History Named after ...

Tarbert Tarbert ( gd, An Tairbeart) is a place name in Scotland and Ireland. Places named Tarbert are characterised by a narrow strip of land, or isthmus. This can be where two lochs nearly meet, or a causeway out to an island. Etymology All placenames ...

, Loch Fyne. Sanderson had been receiving treatment at the unit for several years; he died of cancer in 1985. His wife Dorothy Sanderson died in 2007. Educated at

Strathallan School Strathallan School is an independent boarding and day school in Scotland for boys and girls aged 7–18. The school has a campus at Forgandenny, a few miles south of Perth. School roll The school has 73 full-time staff, and 18 part-time staff ...

, in the announcement of his passing in the school magazine The Strathallian included a quote from F1 racing World champion Sir Jackie Stewart where Stewart described Sanderson as a 'perfectionist, with immense spirit and commitment.'

Racing record

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

*Note *: Not Classified because car failed to complete 80% of its Index of Performance distance.

Complete 12 Hours of Sebring results

References

External links

Brief biography at historicracing.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanderson, Ninian 1925 births 1985 deaths People educated at Strathallan School Scottish racing drivers Sportspeople from Glasgow 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans winning drivers World Sportscar Championship drivers 12 Hours of Reims drivers Ecurie Ecosse drivers