Ken Downing
 Downing at Zandvoort, 1952 | |
| Born | Kenneth Henry Downing 5 December 1917 Chesterton, Staffordshire, England |
|---|---|
| Died | 3 May 2004 (aged 86) Monte Carlo, Monaco |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  British |
| Active years | 1952 |
| Teams | Connaught (including non-works) |
| Entries | 2 |
| First entry | 1952 British Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1952 Dutch Grand Prix |
Kenneth Henry Downing (5 December 1917 – 3 May 2004) was a British racing driver, soldier and businessman. He raced for Connaught in the 1952 Formula One season, notably qualifying for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone and the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.
Downing fought in the British expeditionary force during the Second World War and was sent to France before the Dunkirk evacuation where he was surrounded by a Panzer division.[1] He moved to South Africa in 1953 where he began a business mining sea diamonds at the mouth of the Orange river.[2][1] Downing later lived in Switzerland and Monaco until his death in 2004.
Family
Downing was born into a wealthy family, whose interests included material manufacturing and transport.[3] He was the only son and heir of George Henry Downing, JP, High Sheriff of Staffordshire, of Clayton Lodge in Newcastle-under-Lyme.[4] His sister Eleanor Downing married Frank Skailes and was the mother of Ian 'Mo' Skailes and David Skailes, successful Ferrari racing drivers.
In 1942 Downing married Elizabeth Keane. His daughter Anne married Patrick McNally, whose company Allsport Management controlled the corporate hospitality and circuit advertising for Formula One.[3]
Racing career
He began racing at 21, competing in his first event the Eastbourne Rally in a Healey, and competed in sports car races throughout the late 1940s after the war. Initially racing a Brooke Special, he switched to a Connaught in 1951,[3] winning 17 races throughout the year.[5]
Downing switched to single seaters in 1952, racing a Connaught A-Type, and won the Madgwick Cup at Goodwood and second place at the Grand Prix des Frontières at Chimay, Belgium, where he lost the lead at the end of the race several metres before the finish line.[6]
He finished ninth in his first World Championship event at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix, but had run fourth in the race ahead of Alberto Ascari before spinning while avoiding a backmarker. Racing alongside fellow Connaught drivers, Kenneth McAlpine, Eric Thompson and Dennis Poore, Downing had qualified on the second grid and was the highest placed British driver.[3][2] He competed in the Dutch Grand Prix later that year, but then retired from an oil-pressure problem.[6] Ascari, with whom Downing was acquainted, went on to win the 1952 World Championship of drivers and achieved global fame before dying at the Monza circuit in 1955. At the end of the 1952 season he sold all of his cars and switched to an Aston Martin DB3S. He contested the Silverstone international several times and finished third place at Thruxton in May. In 1953 he decided to retire from racing in order to focus on managing the family business.
South Africa and later life
In 1953 after the death of his mother, Downing emigrated to Constantia in South Africa and later established a company mining sea diamonds near the border of Namibia, constructing a dredger to dredge diamonds at the mouth of the Orange river that had been washed down from the Kimberley diamond mines. The business was successful and along with the mining rights was eventually sold to De Beers, an international mining corporation. He had also formed the idea of mining guano on an island near Madagascar, but this was delayed.[5][1]
Downing died on 3 May 2004 at the Loews Hotel in Monaco.
Complete Formula One World Championship results
(key)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | WDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | Connaught Engineering | Connaught Type A | Lea-Francis | SUI | 500 | BEL | FRA | GBR 9 |
GER | NED | ITA | NC | 0 |
| Kenneth Downing | SUI | 500 | BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | NED Ret |
ITA | |||||
Source:[7]
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References
- ^ a b c "From Connaughts to Sea Diamonds – Ken Downing – F1 GPDC". www.f1grandprixdriversclub.com. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
- ^ a b Jenkins, Richard. "Where are they now: Ken Downing". Old Racing Cars. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
- ^ a b c d "Ken Downing profile". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
- ^ "Page 1380 | Issue 34261, 3 March 1936 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
- ^ a b "Statistics: Ken Downing". Grand Prix Archive. Crash Media Group. Archived from the original on 17 January 2013. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
- ^ a b Williamson, Martin. "Ken Downing profile". ESPNF1.com. ESPN. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
- ^ Small, Steve (1994). The Guinness Complete Grand Prix Who's Who. Guinness. p. 124. ISBN 0851127029.