Roy Salvadori

Roy Salvadori
Driver Information
Born	12 May 1922(1922-05-12) Dovercourt, Essex, UK
Died	3 June 2012(2012-06-03) (aged 90) Monte Carlo, Monaco
Nationality	GBR
Formula One World ChampionshipCareer Statistics
Status	Deceased
Seasons Active	1952–1962
World Titles	0
Races	51 (47 starts)
Poles	0
Wins	0
Podiums	2
Fastest Laps	0
Points	19
First Race	1952 British Grand Prix
Last Race	1962 South African Grand Prix

Roy Francesco Salvadori (born 12 May 1922 in Dovercourt, Essex, England, United Kingdom – died 3 June 2012 in Monte Carlo, Monaco) was a British racing driver, born in Dovercourt, Essex in the UK to Italian parents. Salvadori drove for numerous works teams, including the disappointing Aston Martin team, in a career that spanned from 1952 until 1962, totalling 47 Grand Prix starts.

Although Salvadori never managed to win a Championship Grand Prix (taking two podiums in total), the Brit was well known in the racing world, having won numerous non-Championship races, and competed in other series. But, Salvadori's greatest achievement would come in Endurance Racing, when he and team mate Carroll Shelby won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1959, a victory that prompted Aston Martin into Formula One.

After a nasty crash during the 1963 edition of Le Mans, Salvadori officially retired from racing, having already called time on his Formula One career. Salvadori also became briefly involved in the Ford GT40 Programme for Le Mans, before taking over as a manager at the Cooper Racing Team in 1965, staying until 1967.

Formula One Career

Having started working life as a car dealer, Salvadori began entering minor level races for fun in 1946, before deciding to take it up more professionally in 1949. Entering a few Formula One spec races over the next few years, usually using Formula Two machinery, Salvadori entered his first World Championship race in 1952, starting his 47 Championship race career.

Privateer: 1952

Salvadori's first entry came at the 1952 British Grand Prix, with the Brit starting the race in a privately run Ferrari 500 for the weekend. An impressive eighth place finish resulted from the event, the Brit battling his way up from nineteenth on the grid, before the Connaught factory team asked him to drive in several non-Championship races. The British Grand Prix would prove to be Salvadori's only World Championship appearance in 1952, although many believed that the Brit would be back in the field again.

Connaught: 1953

The attention from Connaught gave Salvadori a chance at entering more World Championship races, with the Brit entering five races in the season (alongside a succession of non-Championship rounds). Unfortunately for the Brit, the season was blighted by a series of failures on his car meaning he retired from every single round of the season. Yet, away from the World Championship, Salvadori tasted victory for the first time in a Formula One level event, taking victory in the VI Madgwick Cup in September.

The Gilby Years: 1954 - 1956

Salvadori's performances, despite the limited success, saw him join up with Sid Greene's Gilby Engineering Ltd. team in 1954. Greene ran a Maserati for Greene for 1954, although the Brit was hampered by retirements in his two entries that year, before being approached for a one off drive with the factory Maserati team in the 1954 Swiss Grand Prix. Yet, the Brit did not start the race as his car was used by his team mate for the day Sergio Mantovani.

The next two seasons saw a handful of appearances in the World Championship for Salvadori, although the Brit enjoyed a fair amount of success in non-championship races. In four races between 1955 and 1956, Salvadori retired from three races, before taking eleventh in his final race for the team, the 1956 Italian Grand Prix.

Cruising Coopers: 1957 - 1958

Salvadori started the 1956 season with BRM, although he failed to qualify (for the first time in his career) for the 1957 Monaco Grand Prix. A one-off drive for Vanwall saw Salvadori retire after qualifying in sixth at the 1957 French Grand Prix, before the Brit joined the Cooper Car Company. A promising début for the team came at his home race, with Salvadori claiming his first World Championship points for fifth, although he would retire from the following two races.

1958 would prove to be the most successful season for Salvadori in Formula One, with the Brit attending all bar two of the season's races. After missing the first race in Argentina, and retiring from the second round, Salvadori kick started his season with a battling performance to finish fourth in the Dutch Grand Prix, despite starting in ninth. The Brit would then miss the Indy 500, before returning to the paddock to complete the rest of the season with Cooper.

The French and Belgian grand prix saw Salvadori struggle in qualifying, preventing him from scoring in either as the Championship headed to more familiar ground. It was at the 1958 British Grand Prix where Salvadori first stood on the podium, having started a career best third on the grid. Having run third through the entirety of the race, Salvadori was successful in fending off a late challenge from Stuart Lewis-Evans to claim third place and leap up the Championship table. He backed this with a stunning drive in the 1958 German Grand Prix, where the Brit rose from sixth on the grid to take second, a career best finish and his final visit to the podium. Salvadori only managed one more points finish that season, but ended up fourth in the Championship table at the end of the season.

Sporting Success: 1959 - 1960

Cooper dropped Salvadori at the end of the 1958 season, with the Brit moving to Aston Martin and their new Formula One programme, which would debut later that season. Salvdori, meanwhile, would start the season with High Efficiency Motors, claiming sixth at the Monaco Grand Prix, before joining up with American Carroll Shelby to début the Aston Martin DBR4 at the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix. Unfortunately for both Salvadori and Shelby, the car proved a flop as both retired, although the pair would cement their names in racing history a few weeks later, sharing an Aston Martin sports car on their way to victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The rest of 1959 saw Salvadori drive for HEM when Aston Martin opted not to race, although he would retire from his two outings with the former. Marginally more successful with the Astons, Salvadori claimed the car's first finish at the 1959 British Grand Prix, having set a stunning time in qualifying to start the race in a career best second place. He repeated his sixth place finish in Portugal, beating team mate Shelby in the Championship on finishing positions.

1960 saw another split schedule for Salvadori, although Aston Martin opted to curtail their Formula One programme before the end of the season. Again driving for HEM and Aston, Salvadori endured a dismal year, retiring from two of his three races, and failing to start the other, before leaving Aston Martin all together at the end of the season. He also failed to defend his Le Mans crown, although did finish third with rising star Jim Clark as his partner.

Final Gamble: 1961 - 1962

Without a factory backed drive for 1961, Salvadori joined the privately run Reg Parnell Racing team mid-way through the season, running under the Yeoman Credit Racing banner. Salvadori rediscovered some of his fighting form (aided by his consistent running in the British Saloon Car Championship) to claim points in two of the season's races, before coming close to a maiden victory at the season finale. Salvadori was running second, and gaining a massive amount of time each lap on race leader Innes Ireland at the 1961 United States Grand Prix, and was within sight of his country man with a few laps to go. With Salvadori gaining four seconds a lap, it seemed inevitable that he would take victory, only for his Climax engine to go up in a cloud of smoke four laps from the end, handing Ireland his maiden victory instead.

Salvadori's final season was, if anything, an awful way to end a career, as he retired from seven of the season's nine races in the new Lola Mk4. Salvadori was also resolutely beaten by team mate John Surtees, and so called time on his professional racing career at the end of the season, only continuing to race in non-Championship races and the BSCC. He would retire from racing entirely a few years later, having recovered from serious injuries sustained at the 1963 edition of Le Mans.

Managing Move: 1966 - 1967

Having retired from racing, Salvadori rejoined the Cooper Car Company to take over the management of their Formula One programme in 1966, having worked, briefly, on the Ford GT40 Programme in America. His two seasons with Cooper did revive their fortunes, finishing third in the Championship two years in a row, before Salvadori retired from all motorsport at the end of 1967 to live in Monte Carlo.

Formula One Statistical Overview

Formula One Record

Salvadori's full Formula One record is outline below, featuring entrant names and finishing position in the Championship:

Year	Entrant	Constructor	WDC Points	WDC Pos.	Report
1952	Privateer	Ferrari	0	NC	Report
1953	Connaught Engineering	Connaught-Lea-Francis	0	NC	Report
1954	Gilby Engineering Ltd.	Maserati	0	NC	Report
	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati
1955	Gilby Engineering Ltd.	Maserati	0	NC	Report
1956	Gilby Engineering Ltd.	Maserati	0	NC	Report
1957	Owen Racing Organisation	BRM	2	19th	Report
	Vandervell Products Ltd	Vanwall
	Cooper Car Company	Cooper-Climax
1958	Cooper Car Company	Cooper-Climax	15	4th	Report
1959	High Efficiency Motors	Cooper-Climax	0	NC	Report
	David Brown Corporation	Aston Martin
1960	High Efficiency Motors	Cooper-Climax	0	NC	Report
	David Brown Corportation	Aston Martin
1961	Yeoman Credit Racing Team	Cooper-Climax	2	17th	Report
1962	Bowmaker-Yeoman Racing Team	Lola-Climax	0	NC	Report

Career Statistics

Template:Statbox

Career Results

Complete Formula One Results
Year	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pts	Pos Template:1952 Results/11 Template:1953 Results/11 Template:1954 Results/11 Template:1955 Results/11 Template:1956 Results/11 Template:1957 Results/11 Template:1958 Results/11 Template:1959 Results/11 Template:1960 Results/11 Template:1961 Results/11 Template:1962 Results/11

Key
Symbol	Meaning		Symbol	Meaning
1st	Winner		Ret	Retired
2nd	Podium finish		DSQ	Disqualified
3rd			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)
4thP	Qualified for pole position		[+] More Symbols

References

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