Jack Fairman

Interesting facts

Jack Fairman made his Formula One debut on 18 July 1953 at the British Grand Prix in an HWM, which he retired from the race. He achieved greater success in endurance sports car racing with his reliable, dogged style, winning the 1959 Nürburgring 1000 km and the Tourist Trophy at Goodwood alongside Stirling Moss in an Aston Martin. He combined racing with running a family precision tool manufacturing company, and his career was interrupted by wartime service in the Tank Corps during the Second World War. At the 1961 British Grand Prix, driving the experimental four-wheel-drive Ferguson P99, he simultaneously became the last driver to start a Grand Prix in a front-engined car and the first in a four-wheel-drive one - Stirling Moss then took over his car after his own suffered brake failure, only to be disqualified later. Across his entire F1 career he scored just five championship points, all in 1956 with Connaught, finishing that season tenth in the standings. Jack Fairman raced in Formula 1 from 1953 to 1961, across 8 seasons as a British driver. He scored a total of 5 championship points over his career.