Peter Whitehead Biography: Peter Whitehead was a British racing driver who gained fame in the 1940s and 1950s. He competed in various motorsport events, including Formula One and endurance races, achieving notable successes such as victories in the 1951 and 1952 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Peter Whitehead Biography
Peter Whitehead Biography: Peter Whitehead was born in Menston, England, on November 12, 1914. Yorkshireman Whitehead, who came from a wealthy family in the wool industry, began racing in a Riley when he was 19 years old. The following season, he upgraded to an ERA B-Type and got Alta’s first significant result, finishing third in the Limerick Grand Prix, a Formula Libre race. In 1936, he finished third in the Donington Grand Prix, sharing his ERA with Walker. While on business in Australia in 1938, he took the ERA and won his first significant victory, the 1938 Australian Grand Prix at Bathurst and the inaugural Australian Hillclimb Championship. In 1939 he returned to England and finished third in the Nuffield Trophy.

Peter Whitehead Wiki
Name | Peter Whitehead |
Date Of Birth | November 12, 1914 |
Birth Place | Menston, England |
Died | 21 September 1958 |
Height | N/A |
Weight | N/A |
Zodiac Sign | Scorpio |
Profession | Racing Driver |
Net Worth | N/A |
Car Collection | N/A |
Peter Whitehead Cause Of Death
In 1958, Whitehead and his half-brother Graham shared driving in an Aston Martin DB3S at Le Mans, where they finished second. A couple of months later, on September 21, 1958, while competing in the Tour de France together, Peter and Graham’s Jaguar 3.4-Litre crashed off a bridge into a 30-foot (9.1 m) ravine at Lasalle, near Nimes, with Graham at the wheel. Graham escaped with severe but threatening injuries, but Peter was instantly killed.
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Peter Whitehead Career
During World War II, Whitehead was a pilot for the Royal Air Force. As soon as racing recovered, he returned to competition and finished second in the British Empire Trophy at the Douglas Circuit on the Isle of Man in the summer of 1947. He also competed in the Grand Prix of Lausanne, finishing sixth. In 1948, while en route to Milano to discuss purchasing a Ferrari 125, he survived a plane accident at Croydon Aerodrome. The tragedy left him severely injured and unable to compete for a year.
Peter Whitehead is notable for being the first individual to whom Enzo Ferrari sold a Formula One vehicle, a Ferrari 125, in 1949 to Peter Whitehead. With a green-colored car, he won the Velká cena eskoslovenska. He became the first Englishman since Richard Seaman to win a significant international motor race outside the United Kingdom. Whitehead made his Formula One championship debut the following year at Monaco but did not compete. In his next championship race, the Grand Prix l’A.C.F., he came close to winning but was slowed by a gearbox fail and finished in third place. In 11 championships between 1950 and 1954, he never finished on the podium again.
During the 1950 season, he won two insignificant Formula One races, the Jersey Road Race & the Ulster Trophy, but his most significant victory occurred in Sports Cars. He continued to dominate Formula Two races across Europe. Later, he won the Lady Wigram Trophy in New Zealand in 1954 and repeated the feat in 1956 and 1957. He also won the Rand Grand Prix in 1956. All four victories were achieved while driving a Ferrari.
Whitehead began his first 24 Hours of Le Mans competition in 1950, driving a Jaguar XK120 alongside John Marshall. The pair placed 15th overall. He won the 1951 race with Peter Walker in a Jaguar C-Type at an average speed of 93.112 miles per hour (149.8 km/h). In 1953, Whitehead decided to focus on sports cars, and in July of that year, he shared a Jaguar C-Type with Stirling Moss at the 12 Heures Internationales de Reims and achieved further success. Again partnered with Ken Wharton, he won the event in 1954, driving a works-supported Jaguar D-Type with the manufacturer’s assistance. Before his victory at Reims, he also won the 12 Hours of Hyères.