Innes Ireland

Innes Ireland

Nationality British
Formula One World Championship career
Active years	1959 - 1966
Teams	Lotus, BRP, BRM
Races	53 (50 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	1
Podium finishes	4
Career points	47
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	1
First race	1959 Dutch Grand Prix
First win	1961 United States Grand Prix
Last win	1961 United States Grand Prix
Last race	1966 Mexican Grand Prix

24 Hours of Le Mans career
Participating years	1958-1959, 1962-1966
Teams	Team Lotus Ecurie Ecosse UDT-Laystall Racing Team Aston Martin Maranello Concessionaires Alan Mann Racing Comstock Racing
Best finish	6th (1964)
Class wins	0

Robert McGregor Innes Ireland (b. 12 June 1930 – d. 22 October 1993), was a Scottish military officer, engineer, and motor racing driver. He was a larger-than-life character who, according to a rival team boss, "lived without sense, without an analyst and provoked astonishment and affection from everyone."^{[citation needed]}

Ireland was born June 12, 1930 in Mytholmroyd, Yorkshire, England, the son of a Scottish veterinary surgeon. His family returned to Kirkcudbright, Dumfries and Galloway, in Scotland during his youth, and he trained as an engineer with Rolls-Royce, first in Glasgow and later in London. Commissioned as a lieutenant in the King's Own Scottish Borderers, he served with the Parachute Regiment in the Suez Canal Zone during 1953 and 1954.

Ireland's first serious year of auto racing was 1957, by which time he was running a small engineering firm in Surrey. Success in sports car racing saw him make his Formula One debut for Team Lotus in 1959. In 1960 he won three non-championship Formula One races and finished fourth in the World Drivers Championship. Badly injured in the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix, Ireland recovered to win the Solitude and Austrian Grand Prix races, then finished the season with a victory in the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen.

Ireland upset Lotus Cars boss Colin Chapman and the team sponsors by giving up his car to Stirling Moss of the rival Rob Walker team at the 1961 Italian Grand Prix. This led to him being arbitrarily sacked at the end of the '61 season. Despite occasional successes, Ireland never again had a car to match his talent, and his last serious race was the Daytona 500 in 1967.

A talented writer, Ireland produced a classic autobiography, All Arms and Elbows (ISBN 0-85184-050-7), and worked as a journalist for the American Road & Track magazine, as well as skippering fishing trawlers in the North Atlantic. Towards the end of his life, he was elected president of the prestigious British Racing Drivers' Club, which post he still held at the time of his death from cancer on October 22, 1993, at Reading, Berkshire, England.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	WDC	Pts.
1959	Team Lotus	Lotus 16	Climax L4	MON	500	NED 4	FRA Ret	GBR	GER Ret	POR Ret	ITA Ret	USA 5		14th	5
1960	Team Lotus	Lotus 18	Climax L4	ARG 6	MON 9	500	NED 2	BEL Ret	FRA 7	GBR 3	POR 6	ITA	USA 2	4th	18
1961	Team Lotus	Lotus 21	Climax L4	MON DNS	NED	BEL Ret	FRA 4	GBR 10	GER NC		USA 1			6th	12
		Lotus 18/21	Climax L4							ITA Ret
1962	UDT-Laystall Racing Team	Lotus 24	Climax V8	NED Ret	MON Ret	BEL Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 16	GER	ITA Ret	USA 8	RSA 5		16th	2
1963	British Racing Partnership	Lotus 24	BRM V8	MON Ret					GER Ret					9th	6
		BRP	BRM V8		BEL Ret	NED 4	FRA 9	GBR Ret		ITA 4	USA	MEX	RSA
1964	British Racing Partnership	Lotus 24	BRM V8	MON DNS	NED									14th	4
		BRP	BRM V8			BEL 10	FRA Ret	GBR 10	GER	AUT 5	ITA 5	USA Ret	MEX 12
1965	Reg Parnell Racing	Lotus 25	BRM V8	RSA	MON	BEL 13	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	NED 10	GER				-	0
		Lotus 33	BRM V8								ITA 9	USA Ret	MEX DNS
1966	Bernard White Racing	BRM P261	BRM V8	MON	BEL	FRA	GBR	NED	GER	ITA	USA Ret	MEX Ret		-	0

External links

• An Innes Ireland fan site

Sporting positions
Preceded by Jack Brabham	BRDC International Trophy winner 1960	Succeeded by Stirling Moss
Preceded by Gerald Lascelles	BRDC President 1992 - 1993	Succeeded by The Lord Hesketh

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