Changes: Joe Fry

Revision as of 08:36, 17 October 2017

Joseph Gibson Fry (October 26, 1915 - July 29, 1950) was a British racing driver and distant member of the Fry's Chocolate family, who only took part in the first ever championship Formula One race, the 1950 British Grand Prix, where he shared a Maserati 4CL with Brian Shawe-Taylor. The pair finished 10th. Along with Peter Walker and Tony Rolt, Fry and Shawe-Taylor were the first drivers to share the same car.

In only his third ever circuit motor race, having completed two races in Formula 500, Fry would start his third ever circuit race in racing's premier category, Formula One. Amazingly, despite almost no experience in circuit racing, Fry qualified third for the 1949 Goodwood Trophy.

Fry rose to prominence in British Hillclimbing where he and his family built Freikaiserwagen competed successfully in between 1936 and 1950. Fry's greatest achievement was beating Raymond Mays record in the 1949 Shelsley Walsh Hillclimb by 0.02 seconds. Mays record had been unbeaten for eleven years.

Fry narrowly missed out on winning the 1949 British Hillclimb championship, losing to Sydney Allard by a single point. Fry was the championship favourite for 1950, however was killed on July 29, 1950, in an accident during the Blandford hillclimb.. He was 34 years old.

The Joe Fry Memorial Trophy, held at Castle Combe as a Non-Championship race, between 1952 and 1954, was organised in his memory.

Career

Management

Fry was born in Winterbourne, Gloucestershire on the 26th October 1915. He was born as a member of the famous family run chocolate business, J.S Fry & Sons. Joe shared his namesake with his ancestor, Joseph Fry whom founded the company in 1761. Although the company had merged with Cadbury's in 1919, the Fry family would since turn their innovative spirit into motorsport.

Joe and his cousin, David had began entering local hill climb championships during the mid-1930's. David had the inspiration to use the family money to build their own motor car for competition. With the technical design completed by Dick Caesar and Hugh Dunsterville, David had completed his car in 1936. The design took the chassis of a Frazer Nash and modified it to be a mid-engined car that mimicked the design of the dominant Auto Union inGrand Prix racing.

The car was affectionately referred to as the "Porsche" due to its comparisons to the designs of Ferdinand Porsche, however it was officially named the Freikaiserwagen. Due to the car's German influence, it was named as a German rendition for Fry, Caesar and wagon.

Fry was also involved in the secret motor racing club, CAPA which was co-founded by Freikaiserwagen creater, Dick Caesar. It was described as an organisation that was "membership by invitation, if one had the right temperament and attitude." Fry had a significant role in the organisation as it was on his estate near Lulsgate that a private hillclimb testing ground was set up for its members. It was said that the reason for such secrecy was "intentionally low key in an effort to prevent the RAC getting upset about it's 'outlaw' nature and withdrawing competition licences from those who took part, which they threatened to do."

At the conclusion of the war, CAPA became the main instigators in persuading the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) to run a new Hillclimb championship series in which motor regulations would be restricted to a total of 500cc. The 500 class would restrict the engine type to that of a motorcycle engine which was aimed at reducing the dominance of manufacturers such as ERA and Alta. Motorsport was left in a bad way at the end of the war and Formula 500 was the first series to commence racing once again in the country.

In 1947, alongside David Fry and Dick Caesar, he founded the Gordano Car Company. Although the company would begin simply in selling chassis components, they had ambitions to create their own 1.5 litre sportscar within the near future. The Gordano Car Company ran the Freikaiserwagen entrants in Formula 500 hillclimb and Formula 500 circuit racing.

In 1950, the company planned the creation of a fourth edition Freikaiserwagen, a project that was shrouded in much secrecy known only as the "1864 Job". It was expected to become the dominant force in British Hillclimb and Formula Three for 1951. However, upon Fry's death, the company fell apart and the much anticipated new Freikaiserwagen never materialised. The Gordano Car Company died with Fry just as it was set for rapid expansion.

1936-1950: British Hillclimb / Formula 500 Hillclimb

David, Joe and Jeremy were the Freikaiserwagon's initial drivers, however it quickly became apparent that Joe was the fastest of the three. Jeremy would only compete sporadically whilst David's large body frame made it difficult for him to maneuver the nimble car. Instead David focussed on engineering the car with Joe competing as the primary driver.

Although the car was somewhat difficult to handle, it had excellent acceleration for an amateur built car. In 1938, the Freikaiserwagen was upgraded with a Maserati engine which immediately boosted its success. At Shelsley Walsh, Joe set an astounding time to go fourth fastest, only slightly slower than the works ERA, Frazer Nash and A7 cars. Joe appeared set to go even faster, however an engine misfire on his second run spoiled any improvement.

Nonetheless Joe was commended for driving with "great calmness", although the day belonged to Raymond Mays in the ERA whom smashed the track record. Later that season at Prescott, Fry had an enormous accident to which he effectively destroyed the Freikaiserwagen. It was an unfortunate result as he was described to have "unofficially bettered" the time of the event winner, George Abecassis in the Alta.

With the Freikaiserwagen out of action, Fry competed at the Backwell Hill Climb in 1939 with a Delahaye. However he notably struggled for competitiveness in this event. At the outbreak of war, Fry joined the Royal Air Force to which he served throughout the duration of the war between 1939 and 1945. Fry was also one of the few European racers to continue racing during the war-time. He continued to compete in small events organised by the 750 Club in Gloucestershire in a Delahaye and an SS1. Fry promised the Freikaiserwagen would be more "potent" than ever before if he had the time to repair it.

The Freikaiserwagon was rebuilt and revised to meet the standards of F500. The car was rebuilt around an original design by Dick Casear known as the Iota P1. It had now had a serious chance of challenging the works manufacturers cars. Furthermore the RAC announced the creation of the British Hill Climb championship in 1947 to which the series now had added credibility.

In the 500 category, with the exception of the major manufacturers, the Freikaiserwagon was one of the fastest cars. However its progress was overshadowed by John Cooper's Cooper-JAP's which were taking the F500 scene by storm. In 1948, Fry extracted the maximum he could from his Freikaiserwagon at Shelsley Walsh, however he was ultimately defeated by John Cooper.

Further improvements to the power of the car saw big hopes for Fry in taking the 1949 British Hill Climb Championship. This was no doubt underlined at the 1949 Shelsey Walsh Hillclimb to which Fry achieved his greatest achievement in motorsport. Raymond Mays, the double Hillclimb champion whom had won both the opening seasons in 1947 and 1948 had since had an untouched record of the Shelsey Walsh Hillclimb since 1938. Mays dominance at the circuit had meant he was since dubbed the "King of Shelsley".

Although Fry faced stiff competition in the event, particularly the Coopers of Stirling Moss and John Cooper, he would carry out an extraordinary feat in his little Freikaiserwagon. On his first run, his car looked wildly out of control and hit a bank at the start of his run. Nonetheless, he underlined his performance when the run was only a second off the lap record.

On his second run, Fry put in a wild run performance to beat Mays's eleven year record by 0.02 seconds. It was an awe inspring performance to which the double hillclimb champion exclaimed to Fry in a beer tent after the event, "Joe, I simply can't go any faster." Fry featured on the cover of the July 1949 edition of Motor Sport to which it was commented "His second run was a model of how to do it, leaving, one suspects only a very slender safety margin! The Freikaiserwagen's acceleration up the straight, tyres nearly alight and the two stage, air cooled V-twin Blackburne sounding absolutely right, had to be seen to be believed and could only just be believed even then. This is the sort of praise that brings exclamations of joyful praise from even the most blasé pressmen."

He took further victories at Blandford and Weston-super-Mare to which going into the final round of the championship at the Brighton International Speed Trials, Fry alongside Dennis Poore and Sydney Allard were left as the final contenders for the title. However although the Freikaiserwagon was extremely quick, it was also notoriously unreliable.

After his performance at Shelsley Walsh, Fry was the popular favourite for the title, however mechanical gremlins would haunt his championship challenge. In practice, his flyby wheel broke and then ahead of his timed trial, the magneto failed. This had meant that Fry lost the championship to Allard by only a single point. It was reported "The sympathy of everyone on the hill went out to him." As his broken car was being towed away, the Mayors of Brighton and Hove asked him "How much did it cost you?". Fry angrily replied, "£1000 plus".

During 1949, the Freikaiserwagen had developed to be even faster than its main rivas, however it has lost the championship on pure reliability. Nonetheless the Fry's were even more determined to succeed for 1950. Ahead of 1950, it was reputed to be the title favourite, the Fry's planning to add even more power to their little car.

Furthermore there were reports of a secretive project known as the "1864 Job" in which the Fry's had recruited Robin Jackson to design a new Freikaiserwagen that would run with an Alfa Romeo engine and was expected to be, if completed, "Unbeatable in Fry's capable hands."

During practice for the 1950 Shelsley Walsh, Fry in the updated Freikaiserwagen was much faster than his peers and looked set to follow on his victory from the previous year's event. However during the time trial, Fry ever racing on the edge hit a bank and rolled his car. Amazingly, he emerged unscathed apart from a badly cut hand. Whilst he was being bandaged by the nurse, he reportedly asked for a "brandy and soda" as his prescribed treatment.

1948-1950: Formula 500 / Formula Three

With the rules of Formula 500 expanding from Hillclimb racing to circuit racing for 1948, Fry made a very late entry into circuit racing at the age of 33. He competed in the opening races at the Silverstone Circuit as well as the support event for the 1948 British Grand Prix. Among his circuit F500 competitors were John Cooper and his fellow Cooper drivers, Stirling Moss and Eric Brandon. During practice at Silverstone, the Freikaiserwagen notably blew its Cross engine and for the race it borrowed a JAP from John Cooper whom was running the highly successful Cooper outfit.

Formula 500 had become extremely popular and fielded the support races for the British Grand Prix in 1948 and 1949. The cars were running not far off the pace of the Formula One cars and made an excellent feeder series. In 1950, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) officially announced F500 as an international racing category and was thus renamed Formula Three for 1950.

Ahead of the new F3 season, Fry swapped his Freikeiserwagen for an Arengo chassis which was better suited for circuit racing. Fry immediately impressed, in his first race with the car, he took his first circuit win at Lulsgate. He took the lead on the second lap and subsequently dominated the race.

For the third time, Fry took part in the support event for the British Grand Prix, albeit also racing in the main event as well. Fry was unable to distinguish himself from the midfield in an event that was dominated by the nimble Cooper cars.

1949-1950: Formula One

Although many of his competitors in Hillclimbing were also circuit racers, Fry had interestingly always stayed away from circuit racing. He had largely been an amateur competitor whom had run a family-built car, the Freikaiserwagon throughout his Hillclimb career. However when circuit racing had become accessible with the F500 category, Fry had run in the support events for the 1948 and 1949 British Grand Prix. Fry's first circuit running was incidently also the very first race in Silverstone's history.

In 1949, having become a serious contender for the British Hillclimb Championship, Fry decided to try his hand in the Formula One category. Fry purchased a two year old Maserati 4CL from Enrico Platé to compete in Grand Prix events. His first Formula One category race was at the 1949 Goodwood Trophy. Astoundingly, Fry's two races in the support events for the British Grand Prix in 1948 and 1949 were his only previous circuit experiences. In only Fry's third circuit race, he was racing in the premier category of the sport.

With the support of his cousin, David, whom engineered the car, he proved impressively quick in qualifying to go third fastest behind Stirling Moss and Brian Shawe-Taylor. In the five lap race, Fry got a massive amount of wheel spin and dropped to fourth behind Kenneth McAlpine, Reg Parnell and David Hampshire.

For the main event, Fry found circuit racing to be more difficult as he quickly dropped down the field. His Hillclimb experience was demonstrative of excellent one lap pace, however he couldn't match his qualifying performance and dropped four places in the race down to seventh. Nonetheless he succeeded in remaining on Reg Parnell's lead lap throughout the race.

His first true exposure to the international racing scene came when he attended the 1949 BRDC International Trophy at Silverstone. Fry performed well in his heat, finishing eighth out of eighteen cars which qualified him for the event final. His old Maserati didn't see him have much chance against the newer machinery, however he remained the fastest of the Maserati 4CL runners that included Roy Salvadori and David Murray. Fry went on to finish the final fifteenth and three laps down on race winner, Alberto Ascari's Ferrari.

Fry's next Formula One race would come at the opening round of the very first Formula One World Championship. His entrant into the 1950 British Grand Prix was not only his first true Grand Prix but also bared the significance of entering a World Championship for Drivers'. Fry would also enter the British Grand Prix support race for the third time to which during the practice, he would swap interchangeably between his F3 Arengo and his F1 Maserati.

Fry whom was still unfamilar too circuit racing as well as running an uncompetitive car and switching between two different cars during practice meant that he could only manage twentieth on the grid, ahead of only Johnny Claes. In competing in two separate races throughout the day, unlike the other drivers', Fry agreed with Brian Shawe-Taylor that he would take over his car at the end of the race. Shawe-Taylor had his entry revoked after his ERA car was deemed too old to race.

Whilst Claes behind him got a lightning start in the race, Fry was conservative off the line. However he overtook Leslie Johnson and Peter Walker, both of whom had problems with their cars. Fry ran in last for the first quarter of the race, however he remained close behind the two Alta cars of Geoffrey Crossley and Joe Kelly ahead of him. On lap 29, Fry overtook Kelly and on the following lap he had also moved past Crossley. He would run until lap 45 when at the pit-stop, Shawe-Taylor took over the car. Shawe-Taylor finished the share car in tenth position.

Death

Fry remained one of the fastest drivers in Hillclimbing and his speed demonstrated at the 1950 Shelsley Walsh had left him a prime candidate as 1950 British Hillclimbing champion. There was also an expectation that with the new "1864 Job" with the Alfa Romeo engine, Fry would dominate the 1951 British Hillclimbing championship.

However the Freikaiserwagen whilst always been known as somewhat unreliable, it was also notoriously difficult to drive whilst still remaining extremely powerful. The updated 1950 Freikaiserwagen was now the fastest Hillclimbing car, however it had become even more difficult to control.

A month after his outing at the British Grand Prix, Fry returned to Hillclimbing where he survived a massive roll at the 1950 Shelsley Walsh. Fry was looking extremely competitive and was looking to improve on his lap record from the previous year when he had his accident. He had been described as "leaving safety to a very slender margin" the previous year, however in 1950 he had pushed the boundary too far.

He was described as lucky to survive the incident with nothing more than a cut hand, however he had lost the race to rival, Raymond Mays when he needed to win. The Fry's repaired the car and his hand had healed in time for the next meeting at Blanford. He was once again touted to win the event, however as ever he would have to master the overly powerful Freikaiserwagon. Once again, Fry pushed over his limits to take the victory and lost control and crashed. This time he was left severely injured, he was rushed to hospital however he succumbed to his wounds only a few hours after his accident.

Fry's death had also meant the end of the Freikaiserwagon which had accompanied him throughout his motorsport career. The wreckage of the car was not repaired and the small amateur constructor would disappear along with its primary driver. The Gordano Car Company also went into dissolution and the much hyped "1864 Job" never materialised.

Raymond Mays summarised the incident best when he stated, "The death of Joe Fry, from injuries whilst practicing at the Blanford hillclimb, was a great blow to me and British motorsport in general."

In his obituary it was noted "It was always an experience to watch Joe in that car, he never gave away a fraction of a second anywhere and his technique was of the most fearless. He did not scorn mechanical instruction from his cousin, but as a driver he was his own master and master of his car."

Legacy

Fry was the first Formula One driver to pass away following the establishment of the world championship. His largest contribution to motorsport was his role in CAPA which pushed for the creation of the Formula 500 category in motorsports. His efforts saw the development of the first British Grand Prix feeder series. Only shortly before his death, the FIA made F500 an International motor racing series to which it was renamed Formula Three. A championship for Formula Three was established in 1953 to which it continues to be one of the most prominent Formula One feeder series into the contemporary era.

He was commemorated in motorsport with the Joe Fry Memorial Trophy. The race held at Castle Crombe first ran in 1952 to Formula Two specifications and was won by Roy Salvadori. The race was then ran once again in 1954 to Formula Libre specifications which included Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Three and Sportscars. The second running was won by Horace Gould.

Although his cousins death meant the end of Freikaiserwagen and Gordano Car Company, his cousin, David Fry continued to operate in motor racing. In 1958 he established the Fry-Climax team for Formula Two which ran Mike Parkes as race driver. The Fry-Climax attempted to compete among the Formula One runners in the 1959 British Grand Prix, however the car failed to qualify for the event. Although the Freikaiserwagen was never rebuilt, his widow commissioned a model to be created as a trophy. The winner of the Wiscombe-Park Hillclimb has since been presented with the Joe Fry Freikaiserwagen Trophy every year since 1960. The Wiscombe-Park Hillclimb was established to replicate the Shelsley Walsh run to which Fry rose to prominence in 1949.

In 2008, a 94 year old Hugh Dunsterville and his son, Rob, published the book Freik which told the story of the Freikaiserwagen. Joe and his cousin, David's story was thereafter published to the world. It was reviewed as "One of the most interesting technical books I have ever read" on Motor Sport magazine.

On the 67th anniversary of his death, the Grand Prix Drivers' Association payed tribute to Fry in 2017 by posting on Twitter "Another sad day for F1 with the fatal crash of Joe Fry (1915) in 1950." The tribute also mistakenly references him as being killed in the first Formula One race and being the first Formula One driver to die in a Formula One race.

Formula One Statistical Overview

Records Currently Held

Record	Predecessor	Held Since
Highest Tenth Place Finishing Ratio (100%)	N/A	1950 British Grand Prix

Records Previously Held

Record	Predecessor	Race	Held Until	Total Races	Succesor
Most Tenth Place Finishes (1)	N/A	1950 British Grand Prix	1952 German Grand Prix	20	Johnny Claes
Most Tenth Place Finishes in a Season (1)	N/A	1950 British Grand Prix	1953 German Grand Prix	29	Louis Rosier
Most Twentieth Place Qualifications (1)	N/A	1950 British Grand Prix	1951 German Grand Prix	12	Pierre Levegh
Most Twentieth Place Qualifications in a Season	N/A	1950 British Grand Prix	1954 Spanish Grand Prix	40	Louis Rosier

Formula One Record

Year	Entrant	Team	WDC Points	WDC Pos.
1950	Joe Fry	Maserati	0	NC

Career Statistics

Template:Statbox

Career Results

Complete Formula One Results
Year	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Pts	Pos Template:1950 Results/7

Key
Symbol	Meaning	Symbol	Meaning
1st	Winner	Ret	Retired
2nd	Podium finish	DSQ	Disqualified
3rd	Podium finish	DNQ	Did not qualify
5th	Points finish	DNPQ	Did not pre-qualify
14th	Non-points finish	TD	Test driver
Italics	Scored point(s) for Fastest Lap	DNS	Did not start
18th^†	Classified finish (retired with >90% race distance)	NC	Non-classified finish (<90% race distance)
4th^P	Qualified for pole position	[+] More Symbols

@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 Fry was born in Winterbourne, Gloucestershire on the 26th October 1915. He was born as a member of the famous family run chocolate business, J.S Fry & Sons. Joe shared his namesake with his ancestor, Joseph Fry whom founded the company in 1761. Although the company had merged with Cadbury's in 1919, the Fry family would since turn their innovative spirit into motorsport.
-Joe and his cousins, the two brothers David and Jeremy had began entering local hill climb championships during the mid-1930's. David had the inspiration to use the family money to build their own motor car for competition. With the technical design completed by Dick Caesar and Hugh Dunsterville, David had completed his car in 1936. The design took the chassis of a {{Frazer Nash-CON}} and modified it to be a mid-engined car that mimicked the design of the dominant {{Auto Union-CON}} in''Grand Prix ''racing.
+Joe and his cousin, [[David Fry|David]] had began entering local hill climb championships during the mid-1930's. David had the inspiration to use the family money to build their own motor car for competition. With the technical design completed by Dick Caesar and Hugh Dunsterville, David had completed his car in 1936. The design took the chassis of a {{Frazer Nash-CON}} and modified it to be a mid-engined car that mimicked the design of the dominant {{Auto Union-CON}} in''Grand Prix ''racing.
 The car was affectionately referred to as the ''"Porsche" ''due to its comparisons to the designs of [[Ferdinand Porsche]], however it was officially named the Freikaiserwagen. Due to the car's German influence, it was named as a German rendition for Fry, Caesar and wagon.