Tom Wheatcroft
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Frederick Bernard "Tom" Wheatcroft (8 May 1922 – 31 October 2009) was an English businessman and car collector. He made his fortune through building and construction, and was known for resurrecting the
Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, still owned b ...
motor racing circuit and founding the
Donington Grand Prix Collection The Donington Grand Prix Collection, sometime known as the ''Donington Grand Prix Exhibition'', was a museum of motor racing cars, based at the Donington Park motor racing circuit in Leicestershire, England. The collection, which started in t ...
museum.


Biography

Frederick Bernard Wheatcroft was born in
Castle Donington Castle Donington is a market town and civil parish in Leicestershire, England, on the edge of the National Forest and close to East Midlands Airport. History The name 'Donington' means 'farm/settlement connected with Dunna'. Another suggest ...
, Leicestershire, in 1922. Early in life he was nicknamed 'Tom-Tom' by an uncle, owing to his habit of repeatedly patting his stomach, and the name stuck with him for the rest of his life. Wheatcroft had only 20 months of formal schooling, and following the end of this he became an apprentice
plasterer A plasterer is a tradesman or tradesperson who works with plaster, such as forming a layer of plaster on an interior wall or plaster decorative moldings on ceilings or walls. The process of creating plasterwork, called plastering, has been u ...
. However, he preferred to bicycle from his parents home in
Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...
to
Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, still owned b ...
to watch pre-war motor racing. He was in attendance at the circuit during the
1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Fe ...
and
1938 Donington Grand Prix The 1938 Donington Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race held on 22 October 1938 over 80 laps of the Donington Park circuit. The race was won by Tazio Nuvolari driving an Auto Union. The race was organised by the Derby & District Motor Club and ...
races: During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
Wheatcroft served as a
tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...
driver. He saw action in many
theatres Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...
, including Madagascar, India and the Middle East, and was a part of the
Allied invasion of Italy The Allied invasion of Italy was the Allied amphibious landing on mainland Italy that took place from 3 September 1943, during the Italian campaign (World War II), Italian campaign of World War II. The operation was undertaken by General (Unit ...
. Toward the end of the conflict he was invalided home after he was temporarily blinded by a nearby mortar explosion. Following the end of the war Wheatcroft returned to the construction industry as a labourer. When a storm caused significant damage to parts of Leicester he organised repairs. Using the money made from this he funded the construction of two houses, and from there he rapidly built a thriving construction business, Bernard Wheatcroft Ltd. In 1946 he married Helena Morgenstern, known to her family as "Lenchen". Wheatcroft had always lived within a 30-mile radius of Castle Donington, had by his death had amassed an estimate fortune of £120 million, and was father to seven children.


Motor sport activities

Following on from his childhood passion for motor racing, after Wheatcroft's construction business started to provide a stable source of income he returned to visiting race events as a spectator. In 1964 he bought an elderly Ferrari 125
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, ...
car, formerly owned and driven by Peter Whitehead. Despite having had its Ferrari
V12 engine A V12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine where two banks of six cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V12 engines are more common than V10 engines. However, they are less common than V8 engines. The fi ...
replaced by a
Chevrolet Corvette The Chevrolet Corvette is a two-door, two-passenger luxury sports car manufactured and marketed by Chevrolet since 1953. With eight design generations, noted sequentially from C1 to C8, the Corvette is noted for its performance and distinctive ...
V8 by the previous owner in Australia, Wheatcroft enjoyed driving the car at test sessions. The car sparked a buying spree and formed the first of what was to become a major collection of Grand Prix machinery. Over the following years Wheatcroft and his distinctive laugh – described by historian
Doug Nye Doug Nye (born October 1945) is an English motoring journalist and author. He lives in Farnham, Surrey, England. He is generally recognised as a world authority on competition cars of any period from 1887, and is a consultant to the Bonhams auc ...
as "like a rusty truck failing to start" – became a familiar feature at race circuits around the world.


Wheatcroft Racing

Having made his fortune, and having started to build his car collection, Wheatcroft further indulged his racing passion by running his own racing car team. In 1970 he purchased an ex-works
Brabham BT26 The Repco Brabham BT26 was a Formula One racing car design. A development of the previous BT24, its Repco engines were unreliable, but following a switch to Cosworth DFV engines it scored two World Championship Grand Prix wins and finished ...
,
Jacky Ickx Jacques Bernard "Jacky" Ickx (; born 1 January 1945) is a Belgian former racing driver who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans six times (second-highest of all time) and achieved eight wins and 25 podium finishes in Formula One. He greatly contributed ...
's
1969 German Grand Prix The 1969 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Nürburgring on 3 August 1969. It was race 7 of 11 in both the 1969 World Championship of Drivers and the 1969 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. Twelve Formula Two ...
-winning car, and entered Derek Bell for the
Tasman Series The Tasman Series (formally the Tasman Championship for Drivers)Tasman Championship for Drivers, CAMS Manual of Motor Sport with National Competition Rules 1974, pages 80 to 83 was a motor racing competition held annually from 1964 to 1975 ove ...
'
1970 New Zealand Grand Prix The 1970 New Zealand Grand Prix was a race held at the Pukekohe Park Raceway on 10 January 1970. The race had 20 starters. It was the 16th New Zealand Grand Prix, and doubled as the second round of the 1970 Tasman Series. Frank Matich won his f ...
. Bell finished second. Following that initial success, later that year he invested in a new a
Brabham BT30 The Brabham BT30 was an open-wheel Formula 2 racing car used in the 1969, 1970, and 1971 European Formula Two Championship. The Brabham BT30 used a complex tubular space frame and was powered by the FVA Cosworth engine. The large rear wings fi ...
to run for Bell in the
European Formula Two Championship The European Formula Two Championship was a Formula Two motor racing series that was held between 1967–84. The races were held across Europe, and were contested both by drivers aiming to compete in Formula One in the future as well as curren ...
. Bell again finished second. During the season he also entered the BT26, in full three-litre form, at the
Race of Champions The Race of Champions (ROC) is an international motorsport event held at the end/start of each year, featuring some of the world's best racing and rally drivers. It is the only competition in the world where stars from Formula One, World Rall ...
, where Bell suffered an accident in practice, and 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 ...
, where the car retired. At the 1971 Monaco Formula Three race Wheatcroft became acquainted with
Roger Williamson Roger Williamson (2 February 1948 – 29 July 1973) was a British racing driver, a two time British Formula 3 champion, who died during his second Formula One race, the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort Circuit in the Netherlands. Biography ...
, also from Leicester, and began to support his driving career. Driving for Wheatcroft Racing, in 1972 Williamson won two of the three
British Formula Three Championship British Formula Three Championship may refer to: *British Formula 3 International Series The British Formula Three Championship was an international motor racing series that took place primarily in the United Kingdom with a small number of ev ...
s, and took part in numerous European Formula Three and Formula Two races. In 1973 Wheatcroft sponsored a seat for Williamson in the Formula One
March Engineering March Engineering was a Formula One constructor and manufacturer of customer racing cars from the United Kingdom. Although only moderately successful in Grand Prix competition, March racing cars enjoyed much better success in other categories ...
works team, run by
Max Mosley Max Rufus Mosley (13 April 1940 – 23 May 2021) was a British racing driver, lawyer, and president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), a non-profit association which represents the interests of motoring organisations and ...
. Williamson's short career lasted two races. He crashed on the first lap of his debut, at the ill-fated
1973 British Grand Prix The 1973 British Grand Prix (formally the John Player Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on 14 July 1973. It was race 9 of 15 in both the 1973 World Championship of Drivers and the 1973 International Cup for Formula ...
, then again on the eighth lap of 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, ...
. Although he was unhurt in the accident the car had flipped over, preventing his escape, and Williamson died in the subsequent fire. Wheatcroft reflected later that "I lost friends in the war but it was nothing like losing The Lad. Wasn't until afterwards you realised how much he meant." After this Wheatcroft continued to back occasional drivers in Formula Atlantic and Formula Two. He funded the construction of a bespoke Wheatcroft chassis, designed by former
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 ...
designer
Mike Pilbeam Mike Pilbeam (born 1937) is a British motorsport designer and engineer known for his work with BRM, Lotus, Surtees and his own company, Pilbeam Racing Designs. An early design was the experimental four wheel drive Formula One BRM P67 of 1964. ...
, and ran 1974 British champion
Brian Henton Brian Henton (born 19 September 1946) is a former racing driver from England. He won both 1974 British Formula Three Championships and the 1980 European Formula Two Championship. He participated in 38 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 19 Ju ...
(born in
Castle Donington Castle Donington is a market town and civil parish in Leicestershire, England, on the edge of the National Forest and close to East Midlands Airport. History The name 'Donington' means 'farm/settlement connected with Dunna'. Another suggest ...
) in selected Formula Two and Atlantic races using it. Henton's best result with the Wheatcroft 002 was third place in the
Silverstone Circuit Silverstone Circuit is a motor racing circuit in England, near the Northamptonshire villages of Towcester, Silverstone and Whittlebury. It is the home of the British Grand Prix, which it first hosted as the 1948 British Grand Prix. The 1950 ...
round of the European Formula Two Championship. The two maintained their relationship in 1976, but Wheatcroft's heart wasn't in it and he slowly wound down the team's activities over the year.


Complete Formula One World Championship results

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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 ...
)


Donington Park

In 1971 Wheatcroft bought a large part of the Donington Hall estate, including the remnants of the pre-war racing circuit, for £100,000. The park had been used as a military supply depot during World War II and the circuit was derelict. At his own cost, he rebuilt the circuit over the following six years into
Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, still owned b ...
racetrack. One of his first moves was to move his car collection to the estate. Formerly known as the Donington Grand Prix Exhibition, it was at the time the largest collection of motor racing cars in the world. Racing finally returned to the Donington circuit in 1977, after a hiatus of almost 30 years. Over the next decade and a half Wheatcroft campaigned tirelessly to hold a Formula One World Championship Grand Prix at Donington. In 1983 he was given a provisional date for the
1988 Formula One season The 1988 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 42nd season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1988 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1988 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested ...
, but when the calendar for that year came to be finalised the
RAC Motor Sports Association RAC or Rac may refer to: Organizations * Radio Amateurs of Canada * RATCH-Australia Corporation, electricity generator * Refugee Action Collective (Victoria), Melbourne, Australia * Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, US * Rent-A-Center, ...
changed their mind and decided to stage the British Grand Prix at Silverstone instead. At the same time Wheatcroft even explored the potential for holding an Irish Grand Prix at Donington, but this too was vetoed by the RAC MSA. Finally, in 1993 the
European Grand Prix The European Grand Prix (also known as the Grand Prix of Europe) was a Formula One event that was introduced during the mid-1980s and was held every year from to , except in . During these years, the European Grand Prix was held in a countr ...
was scheduled to be held at Donington Park. Prior to the race, despite having suffered his third heart attack only the previous week, Wheatcroft himself took the wheel of his own pre-war
Mercedes-Benz W154 The Mercedes-Benz W154 was a Grand Prix racing car designed by Rudolf Uhlenhaut. The W154 competed in the 1938 and 1939 Grand Prix seasons and was used by Rudolf Caracciola to win the 1938 European Championship. The W154 was created as a result ...
Grand Prix car for a demonstration run. He spun the car. The 1993 European Grand Prix was held in very wet conditions, but produced a memorable drive from
Ayrton Senna Ayrton Senna da Silva (; 21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994) was a Brazilian racing driver who won the Formula One List of Formula One World Drivers' Champions, World Drivers' Championship in , , and . Senna is one of three Formula One drivers fro ...
. However, having lost money on the event Wheatcroft decided not to pursue a follow up race the next year. In 2007, Wheatcroft agreed a 150-year lease of the land on which the circuit and museum are located to Donington Ventures Leisure Ltd., which with his support subsequently won a 10-year agreement from Formula One organisers to host the British Grand Prix from July 2010. However, the project ran out of money and Donington Ventures Leisure Ltd. went out of business. Tom Wheatcroft died, aged 87, on 31 October 2009 at his home in
Arnesby Arnesby is a village and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. Arnesby contains approximately 142 households with a population of about 357 (2011 census). The village is situated south-east of Leicester, on the ...
, after a long illness. Wheatcroft's son,
Kevin Wheatcroft Kevin Wheatcroft (born 1959) is a British businessman and motor sport entrepreneur. He is the owner of The Wheatcroft Collection, which is thought to be the largest private collection of military vehicles in the world. Early life Born in 1959, ...
has followed in his father's footsteps as a collector, establishing
The Wheatcroft Collection The Wheatcroft Collection in the United Kingdom is a large and important collection of historical softskin and armoured military vehicles. It is located in Leicestershire, England, and is one of the largest private collections of military vehicles ...
of military vehicles in Leicester.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wheatcroft, Tom 1922 births 2009 deaths Military personnel from Leicestershire British Army personnel of World War II British car collectors British real estate businesspeople English motorsport people Formula One people People from Castle Donington Plasterers People from Arnesby Royal Tank Regiment soldiers