John Riseley-Prichard drove within the Method 1 British Grand Prix and in addition took half in probably the most notorious race in Le Mans historical past earlier than later fleeing to Thailand to keep away from trial
Picture: Getty Photographs)
Method 1 has an excellent historical past however 75 years of the World Championship has additionally featured loads of darkish components and shady characters.
Certainly one of them was John Riseley-Prichard, whose involvement in F1 was actually very fleeting. He raced simply as soon as within the World Championship which was nonetheless very a lot in its infancy when he competed in his second-hand Connaught Kind A on the 1954 British Grand Prix.
It was simply the fifth World Championship operating of the occasion, held at Silverstone and received by the Argentine Jose Froilan Gonzalez. Nevertheless it was an unsuccessful debut for Riseley-Prichard who suffered an accident after 40 laps and was compelled to retire.
He might need made extra F1 appearances afterwards, had he not known as time on his transient racing profession simply the next 12 months. He took that call within the aftermath of the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans, which stays one of many darkest days in motorsport historical past.
Dozens had been killed and greater than 100 injured when Pierre Levegh crashed round two-and-a-half hours into the race. He died immediately when he was thrown from his automotive which flew up off the monitor and into the gang.
The precise dying toll has been disputed however most sources, together with a BBC 4 documentary on the catastrophe, counsel 83 spectators had been killed together with Levegh, whereas round 120 extra suffered accidents. It stays probably the most deadly accident in motorsport historical past and led to a brief ban on racing in lots of nations, together with in Switzerland the place many types of motorsport stay prohibited to this present day.
Riseley-Prichard was not concerned within the accident, however didn’t end the race, compelled to retire the Aston Martin he shared with future Ferrari F1 driver Tony Brooks after 9 hours due to a battery downside. However the traumatic scenes he witnessed on the Circuit de la Sarthe that day led to his choice to retire from racing.
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Picture:
Getty Photographs/Formula1Points.com)
As an alternative, he focused on his day job as an insurance coverage dealer for Lloyd’s. Brooks was given the keys to his Connaught racing automotive, giving him the possibility to make his personal F1 World Championship debut which he used as a springboard to land future seats with Ferrari and Vanwall, ending as runner-up within the standings in 1959.
However Riseley-Prichard later discovered himself on the centre of allegations of paedophile offences. Amid a police investigation, he allegedly left the UK to flee trial.
He was present in 1993 within the distant Thailand village of Baan Kai Thuan. Nevertheless, by that point he was terminally sick from AIDS and was deemed unfit to face trial. He died in July of that 12 months, aged 69.
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