Neville Lederle (25 September 1938 – 17 May 2019) was a

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

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. He participated in two World Championship

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, ...

Grands Prix, scoring a single championship point.

Early life

Lederle was born in

Theunissen Theunissen is a small town that has the only wine estate, the Theunissen Wine Farm, in the Free State province of South Africa. It is located about 95 kilometers northeast of Bloemfontein and about 45 kilometers south of Welkom Welkom () ...

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

and schooled at St Andrews in Bloemfontein.

Formula One career

Starting out in Formula One with his

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

-engined

Lotus 18 The Lotus 18 was a race car designed by Colin Chapman for use by Lotus in Formula Junior, Formula Two, and Formula One. Overview Lotus 18 was the first mid-engined car built by Lotus and was a marked improvement over Chapman's early and only ...

in 1961, he retired from the

Rand Grand Prix The Rand Grand Prix was a motor race held at various circuits in South Africa. The first event took place in 1937 but it was not held regularly until the 1960s, when it was run to Formula One rules and formed part of the non-Championship calenda ...

and only managed 14th in the Cape Grand Prix in January 1962. Later that year, however, he acquired a

Lotus 21 The Lotus 21 was a Formula One racing car designed by Colin Chapman. It was a mid-engined design using a tubular spaceframe structure skinned with fibreglass panels, of a more advanced build than seen in the Lotus 18. Powered by the 1.5-litre ...

with a

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 ...

engine and came fifth in the 1962 Rand Grand Prix and fourth in the Natal Grand Prix. This form led him to a sixth place in the World Championship

South African Grand Prix The South African Grand Prix was first run as a Grand Prix motor racing handicap race in 1934 at the Prince George Circuit at East London, Cape Province. It drew top drivers from Europe including Bernd Rosemeyer, Richard "Dick" Seaman, Richa ...

and thus a World Championship point in his first event at that level. In 1963 Lederle broke a leg in practice for the Rand 9 Hours sports car race and missed a large part of the 1964 season whilst recovering. He returned with his Lotus 21 for the end-of-season

1964 Rand Grand Prix 1964 Formula One races, Rand Grand Prix Rand Grand Prix December 1964 sports events in Africa 1964 in South African motorsport ...

where he finished 10th, but he narrowly failed to qualify for January's

1965 South African Grand Prix The 1965 South African Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Prince George Circuit, East London on 1 January 1965. It was race 1 of 10 in both the 1965 World Championship of Drivers and the 1965 International Cup for Formula One Manufac ...

. After this disappointment, Lederle effectively retired from racing to concentrate on business interests, which included a

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

dealership.

Death

Lederle died at his home in

Knysna Knysna () is a town with 76,150 inhabitants (2019 mid-year estimates) in the Western Cape province of South Africa. and is one of the destinations on the loosely defined Garden Route tourist route. It lies at 34° 2' 6.3168'' S and 23° 2' 47. ...

on 17 May 2019.

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 ...

)

Non-Championship

(

)

References

* "The Grand Prix Who's Who", Steve Small, 1995. * "The Formula One Record Book", John Thompson, 1974.

External links

F1 Rejects interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lederle, Neville 1938 births 2019 deaths People from Masilonyana Local Municipality South African racing drivers South African Formula One drivers White South African people Scuderia Scribante Formula One drivers