Thomas Edward Brodie Sopwith (15 November 1932 – 4 May 2019) was a British businessman and

car racing 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 ...

driver.

Biography

Thomas Sopwith was the son of English aviation pioneer and

yachtsman A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

Sir Thomas Sopwith Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, CBE, Hon FRAeS (18 January 1888 – 27 January 1989) was an English aviation pioneer, businessman and yachtsman. Early life Sopwith was born in Kensington, London, on 18 January 1888. He was the ei ...

– builder of the

Sopwith Camel The Sopwith Camel is a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the Sopwith Pup and became one of the b ...

and later chairman of

Hawker Aircraft Hawker Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer that was responsible for some of the most famous products in British aviation history. History Hawker had its roots in the aftermath of the First World War, which resulted in the bank ...

– and Phyllis Brodie. He was educated at

Stowe School , motto_translation = I stand firm and I stand first , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent school, day & boarding , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster ...

, Buckinghamshire. Sopwith took up motor racing and formed his own team, Equipe Endeavour, named after his father's racing yacht. His success as a racing driver saw him win the first-ever round of the

British Saloon Car Championship The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as ...

in 1958. That year he narrowly lost out on the driver's title to

Jack Sears Jack Sears (16 February 1930 – 6 August 2016) was a British race and rally driver, and was one of the principal organisers of the 1968 London-Sydney Marathon. Biography Sears was popularly known as "Gentleman Jack". His son David is a ...

after a ten lap shoot-out at the end of the season, after the two drivers finished on equal points. In 1961 he switched from car to powerboat racing. In 1961 He won the first ever Cowes - Torquay race in Thundebolt, following up with wins in 1968 (Telstar) and 1970 (Miss Enfield II). In 1965 he won the Cornish "100" Offshore Class 3, powerboat race in a boat called 'Thunderflash', just beating Mike Beard in 'Mongaso'. He was the owner of Endeavour Holdings Limited, a car dealership in

Portslade Portslade is a western suburb of the city of Brighton and Hove, England. Portslade Village, the original settlement a mile inland to the north, was built up in the 16th century. The arrival of the railway from Brighton in 1840 encouraged rapid de ...

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, with a turnover of £17 million. He died on 4 May 2019 at the age of 86 at Basingstoke Hospital.

Racing record

Complete British Saloon Car 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.) † Events with 2 races staged for the different classes. ‡ Event with 3 races staged for the different classes.

References

English racing drivers British Touring Car Championship drivers People educated at Stowe School 1932 births 2019 deaths {{England-autoracing-bio-stub