Nationality British Wins 0 Active years 1952 Championships 0 Role Racing driver | Entries 3 (1 start) Name Bill Aston Teams Aston Butterworth Podiums 0 | |
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Born 29 March 1900
Hopton, Staffordshire, England, UK ( 1900-03-29 ) Died March 4, 1974, Lingfield, United Kingdom Similar People Kenneth McAlpine, Rudi Fischer, Dennis Poore, Gino Bianco, Eitel Cantoni | ||
William Aston (29 March 1900 – 4 March 1974) was a British racing driver who participated in three World Championship Grands Prix, in 1952 when the championship was run to Formula Two rules, for his own team Aston Butterworth.
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Career
Prior to taking part in World Championship Grand Prix racing, Aston was a test pilot and motorcycle racer. He turned to four-wheel racing with a Cooper-JAP in Formula Three and later graduated into Formula Two. He came close to winning a heat race at Chimay in 1951, driving an 1,100 cc (67 cu in) Cooper, but his car failed on the last lap. In the same year he set a 500 cc (31 cu in) world speed record at Montlhéry in the streamlined Cooper, fitted with a V-twin J.A.P. motor.
For 1952 he teamed up with Archie Butterworth to build the Aston Butterworth, a car that raced quite well, but was unfortunately very unreliable. He entered the car in the 1952 German Grand Prix but it failed on the second lap. At the Italian Grand Prix he failed to make it through qualifying. Aston raced on into his 60s, with a Mini and a Jaguar, before he retired.
Complete Formula One World Championship results
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