Richard Shuttleworth (racing driver)
| Richard Shuttleworth | |
|---|---|
| Born |
16 July 1909 Old Warden, Bedfordshire, England |
| Died |
2 August 1940 (aged 31) Ewelme, Oxfordshire, England |
| Occupation |
Aviator Racing driver |
Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth (1909–40)[1] was a racing motorist, aviator and prolific collector of veteran cars and aircraft. His collection forms the nucleus of the Shuttleworth Collection. He was killed in an air crash on an RAF training exercise in 1940.[2]
Life
Motor vehicles
Shuttleworth first took part in a London to Brighton Veteran Car Run in 1928.[3] He often entered more than one car for this event. He participated 1928–1938 except for 1935 where: "R. O. Shuttleworth failed to send in his entry before the closing date but joined up with the others at Westminster Bridge with a Benz. His companion at the wheel was Charles Martin and their hairy goat-skin coats which dated from the same period as the car, were much admired."[4]
He won the Brighton Speed Trials on a Bugatti Type 51 in 1934,[5] and again in 1935[6] on an Alfa-Romeo P3 Tipo B, breaking Sir Malcolm Campbell's course record. He also won a one-off hillclimb at Joel Park, Northwood Hill, Middlesex, on 22 June 1935, on a Bugatti, in a time of 30.16 sec.[7] His greatest victory came in the Donington Grand Prix in 1935.[8] He won the Mountain Championship at Brooklands later that year.[9] In 1936 he had a bad crash in his Alfa Romeo at the South African Grand Prix. The injuries suffered caused him to retire from motor racing.
He was chairman of Railton Cars, Ltd and a member of the BRDC.[10]
Aircraft
Shuttleworth collected old aircraft, repaired them for flight at workshops at Old Warden, Bedfordshire and flew them at air displays.
When the Second World War broke out Shuttleworth joined the RAF. He reached the rank of pilot officer and in August 1940 he was training with No. 12 Operational Training Unit RAF at RAF Mount Farm, Oxfordshire. In the early hours of 2 August 1940 he took off in a Fairey Battle light bomber for a cross-country training exercise but it crashed into a hill at nearby Ewelme and he was killed.[11]
See also
References
Footnotes
- ↑ Flight, Here and There, p111, 8 August 1940
- ↑ Ogilvy 1989, Ch. 1.
- ↑ Motor Sport, September 1940, Page 168 - for a full obituary.
- ↑ Motor Sport, December 1935, Page 68.
- ↑ Motor Sport, October 1934, Page 554.
- ↑ The Observer, 15 September 1935, Page 29.
- ↑ The Autocar, 28 June 1935, Page 1157.
- ↑ Motor Sport, September 1935, Page 13. For a picture of Shuttleworth at Donington in the Alfa Romeo see: Automobile Quarterly, Vol 49, No 1, Page 9.
- ↑ The Observer, 20 October 1935, Page 36.
- ↑ Motor Sport, September 1945, Page 247.
- ↑ "Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth". Shuttleworth Collection. The Shuttleworth Trust. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
Bibliography
- Desmond, Kevin, 1982, Richard Shuttleworth: An Illustrated Biography, London, Jane’s Publishing Co Ltd.
- Ogilvy, David, 1989, Shuttleworth – The Historic Aeroplanes, Shrewsbury, Airlife Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-85310-106-0
- Shuttleworth, Dorothy Clotida, Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth: Reminiscences of his life by his Mother, No place or date (privately published)