Jackie Lewis (born 1 November 1936) 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 ...

, born in

Stroud Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the Five ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

Career

Lewis' racing career began in

Formula Three 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 1958 Lewis bought a Formula Three

Cooper Cooper, Cooper's, Coopers and similar may refer to: * Cooper (profession), a maker of wooden casks and other staved vessels Arts and entertainment * Cooper (producers), alias of Dutch producers Klubbheads * Cooper (video game character), in ...

Norton Norton may refer to: Places Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada * Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan *Norton Parish, New Brunswick **Norton, New Brunswick, a ...

from Cheltenham based

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 ...

and made his debut at

Mallory Park Mallory Park is a motor racing circuit situated in the village of Kirkby Mallory, just off the A47, between Leicester and Hinckley, in central England. Originally used for grass-track until 1955, a new, basically oval hard-surfaced course ...

, remarkably coming fourth. 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 ...

he made front page news for surviving a crash - a lucky photographer captured Jack’s upside-down Cooper showing Jack’s hand appearing to hold the car up. Just a week later he came first at

Full Sutton Full Sutton is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately east of the village of Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, Stamford Bridge. According to the Unit ...

and then won again at

Oulton Park Oulton Park is a hard surfaced track used for motor racing, close to the village of Little Budworth, Cheshire, England. It is about from Winsford, from Chester city centre, from Northwich and from Warrington, with a nearby rail connection a ...

. In his first season in Formula 3 he raced 13 times - he won three of his races and was on the podium for a further four. A year later, in a

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 ...

Climax Climax may refer to: Language arts * Climax (narrative), the point of highest tension in a narrative work * Climax (rhetoric), a figure of speech that lists items in order of importance Biology * Climax community, a biological community th ...

Lewis won his first F2 race at Paris

Montlhéry Montlhéry () is a Communes of France, commune in the Essonne Departments of France, department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located from Paris. History Montlhéry lay on the strategically important road from Paris to Orléans. U ...

– winning by over two minutes. The following year Lewis' determination paid off and he took the F2 champion title – ahead of Australian World Champion

Jack Brabham Sir John Arthur Brabham (2 April 1926 – 19 May 2014) was an Australian racing driver who was Formula One World Champion in , , and . He was a founder of the Brabham racing team and race car constructor that bore his name. Brabham was a R ...

. The following year, he tried his hand at

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, ...

and purchased a

Cooper T53 The Cooper T53 is a Formula One car built by British motorsport team Cooper for the 1960 Formula One season. Jack Brabham drove it to his second World Championship that year, and with teammate Bruce McLaren gave Cooper its second Constructors' Cham ...

from the Surbiton factory. He made his Grand Prix debut at the

Belgian Grand Prix The Belgian Grand Prix (French language, French: ''Grand Prix de Belgique''; Dutch language, Dutch: ''Grote Prijs van België''; German language, German: ''Großer Preis von Belgien'') is a motor racing event which forms part of the Formula O ...

Spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...

in June 1961. His maiden season showed much promise – qualifying often mid-grid and finishing ninth in his first ever race and at the

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...

. He achieved fourth in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. Aside from

Stirling Moss Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British Formula One racing driver. An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, he won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several categories of comp ...

, Lewis was the only independent driver to score any points in 1961 and was listed as a Grade A driver for the following year. In 1962 Lewis formed the Ecurie Galloise (Welsh Racing Team) sponsored by the Western Sporting Press and his father's business H&L Motors of Stroud - of which Lewis was now also a director. He bought a 1961/62

BRM British Racing Motors (BRM) was a British Formula One motor racing team. Founded in 1945 and based in the market town of Bourne in Lincolnshire, it participated from 1951 to 1977, competing in 197 grands prix and winning seventeen. BRM wo ...

V8 to race, but the car was unsatisfactory and eventually went back to the factory. He had no option but to return to his Cooper which he used the previous season. Although he achieved seventh place at the

Dutch Grand Prix The Dutch Grand Prix ( nl, Grote Prijs van Nederland) is a Formula One motor racing event held at Circuit Zandvoort, North Holland, the Netherlands, from 1950 to 1985 and from 2021 onwards. It was a part of the World Championship from 1952, ...

, it was overall a disappointing season for Lewis. The politics of F1 were beginning to affect him – he had been quicker than three works drivers at

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

, yet had been denied a starting slot by the organisers. Lewis survived a few dangerous moments – losing a wheel at speed at Oulton Park and ramming

Graham Hill Norman Graham Hill (15 February 1929 – 29 November 1975) was a British racing driver and team owner, who was the Formula One World Champion twice, winning in and as well as being runner up on three occasions (1963, 1964 and 1965). Despite ...

in the

French Grand Prix The French Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de France), formerly known as the Grand Prix de l'ACF (Automobile Club de France), is an auto race held as part of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's annual Formula One World Championsh ...

. He participated in 10 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix in all, scoring a total of three championship points. By 1963, feeling despondent, Lewis retired from a promising racing career and took on a farm in Llandovery, Carmarthenshire where he bred Arab horses, and raised two daughters. After 18 years as a sheep farmer, in 1981, Lewis returned to Gloucestershire to help his father run H&L Motors, a motorcycle business. In 1988 he fathered a son, Jack Lewis Jnr, and currently lives in his town of birth, Stroud, Gloucestershire.

Complete Formula One World 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 ...

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Jackie 1936 births Living people Welsh racing drivers Welsh Formula One drivers People from Stroud 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers World Sportscar Championship drivers Sportspeople from Gloucestershire