Robert O'Brien (April 11, 1908 – February 10, 1987) 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. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

from the United States. He participated in one

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

World Championship Grand Prix, the

1952 Belgian Grand Prix The 1952 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula Two race held on 22 June 1952 at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. It was race 3 of 8 in the 1952 World Championship of Drivers, in which each Grand Prix was run to Formula Two rules rather than the Formula O ...

Career

O'Brien was born in Lyndhurst,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. He mostly raced

sports cars A sports car is a type of automobile that is designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving, and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1910s and ar ...

in the US, finishing fourth in the 1952 12 Hours of Sebring in a

Ferrari 166 MM :''See also the Ferrari 166 Inter, 166 Inter GT car'' :''See also the Ferrari 166 MM Berlinetta Le Mans, 166 MM Berlinetta Le Mans'' :''See also the Ferrari-Abarth 166 MM/53'' The Ferrari 166 S was a sports car built by Ferrari between 1948 and 1 ...

shared with Richard Cicurel. He later made a few appearances in Europe through his contacts in Belgium. This included an appearance at the 1952 Belgian Grand Prix driving a

Simca-Gordini T15 The Simca-Gordini Type 15, also known simply as the Gordini Type 15, is an open-wheel race car, designed, developed, and built by French manufacturer Gordini, to compete in Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide ra ...

Spa-Francorchamps The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), informally referred to as Spa, is a motor-racing circuit located in Francorchamps, Stavelot, Wallonia, Belgium, about southeast of Spa. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, ho ...

. Qualifying slowest of the 22 entrants, 1 minute 23 seconds slower than the fastest time of

Alberto Ascari Alberto Ascari (13 July 1918 – 26 May 1955) was an Italian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Ascari won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won in and with Ferrari, and won 13 Grands Prix across ...

, O'Brien circulated at the back and finished 14th of the 15 finishers. He subsequently drove (and retired) the same car in a race at the Grenzlandring in Germany before returning to the US. O'Brien is one of the more obscure drivers to have participated in the Formula One World Championship, and unsubstantiated rumours arose that he was involved with the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

and operated as a spy. He was later involved in the motor industry in his home state and in New York. O'Brien died in Hackensack,

in 1987.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

( key)

Career

Complete Formula One World Championship results

References

Further reading