Anthony Middleton Dron (29 August 1946 – 16 November 2021) was a British
racing
In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific go ...
driver, motoring author, and journalist.
Racing history
Dron was best known for racing Touring Cars in the 1970s (Triumph Dolomites for the works BL/Broadspeed team) and for competing in Porsches at the
24 Hours of Le Mans
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 the early-to-mid-1980s, including a class win at Le Mans in 1982 in a
Porsche 934
The Porsche 934 was a racing version of the Porsche 911 Turbo, prepared to FIA Group 4 rules, similar to the Porsche 935 which was prepared to FIA Group 5 rules.
History
The Porsche 934 was introduced for the 1976 racing season. It was manufactur ...
, and driving a Group C (
Kremer CK-5) in 1983. He was a full-time professional race driver from 1974 to 1979, for teams that included British Leyland, Unipart and Alfa UK, but his career as a racer first began in May 1968 and continued for a full 43 years.
Dron achieved a remarkable range of victories, ''winning'' events in 24 makes and 41 models of car. (These are actual wins, not all the makes and models in which he competed.) The total number of wins is not known, but is well into the hundreds.
Race ''wins'' have been recorded in:
*
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." "A ...
: 1600GT Junior, TZ1
*
Allard: JR
*
Aston Martin:
DB4
* Austin: Metro
*
Austin-Healey
Austin-Healey was a British sports car maker established in 1952 through a joint venture between the Austin division of the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and the Donald Healey Motor Company (Healey), a renowned automotive engineering and des ...
: 3000, 100/4
* Bentley: 3-litre
* BMW: Counties 3 Series, M3
* Caterham: Seven (two types)
* Chevrolet: Camaro
* Datsun: 240Z
* Ferrari: 330LMB, 246S
* Fiat: 128 1300GT Coupé
* Ford: Escort Mexico, Falcon, Zephyr Mk II, fwd RS2000
* Jaguar: Mk 1, Mk 2, D-type
* Lister: Jaguar "Knobbly"
* Lotus: Mk 9
* Lola: Mk6GT
* Mazda: 323
* MG: Maestro, MGB
* Morgan: Plus 8
* Porsche: 924, 924GTR, 911RSL, 928S2, 928S4, 930, 934, "935", 911 Carrera 2
* Renault: 5
* Triumph: TR4, Dolomite Sprint
* TVR: Tuscan
In later years, he was also been seen racing (and winning in) an enormous variety of historic cars, including the Le Mans-winning 1959 Aston Martin DBR1 and the 1960 Ferrari 246S Dino. In the Ferrari, Dron won the Sussex Trophy at the Goodwood Revival for three consecutive years. Having competed numerous times in the modern Nürburgring 24 Hours, he was known to be a highly experienced competitor on the old Nordschleife, where historic racing victories include an outright win in the 1996 Eifel Klassik in a 1963 Ferrari 330LMB, from pole position in a field of 180 cars.
Dron retired from race driving in 2011, although he still worked as a motoring journalist and test driver for ''Octane'' magazine.
Publications
Dron wrote a regular column in ''
Octane''. He was the author of several books, including ''Porsche: Engineering for Excellence'' (2008) and ''Alan Mann – A Life of Chance'' (2012, with Alan Mann).
Racing record
Complete British Saloon / Touring Car Championship results
(
key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)
† Events with 2 races staged for the different classes.
‡ Guest driver - Not eligible for points.
References
1946 births
2021 deaths
People from Surbiton
British Touring Car Championship drivers
FIA GT Championship drivers
24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
World Sportscar Championship drivers
{{UK-autoracing-bio-stub
Porsche Motorsports drivers