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Brian Henton

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Nationality
  
British

Wins
  
0

Name
  
Brian Henton

Entries
  
37 (19 starts)

Role
  
Racing driver

Championships
  
0



Born
  
19 September 1946 (age 77) (
1946-09-19
)

Teams
  
Similar People
  
Derek Daly, Rupert Keegan, Jim Crawford, Dave Morgan, Tommy Byrne

Active years
  
1975, 1977, 1981–1982

F1c VB AS - F1 1977 Brian Henton - Fuji


F1 classic Arrows FIA Historic formula one


Brian Henton (born 19 September 1946 in Castle Donington, Leicestershire) is a former racing driver from England. He won both 1974 British Formula Three Championships and the 1980 European Formula Two Championship. He participated in 38 Formula One grands prix, debuting on 19 July 1975, but never scored any championship points.

Contents

Henton (nicknamed "Superhen" in the British racing press) came from a modest council house background and did not start racing until he was 23. On winning the minor British Formula Vee championship in 1971, ever-conscious of the value of public relations, he announced that he was going to be World Champion. This aim eluded him, but he enjoyed a successful career in Formula Three and Formula Two.

Brian Henton Henton Brian GB

Henton's F1 debut came in 1975 for Lotus, theoretically a good drive but the team was in turmoil with the Lotus 72 finally uncompetitive and its replacement the Lotus 76 a failure, so nothing concrete was achieved. Between 1975 and 1978 he mixed Formula One and Formula Two drives (including a spell in a private March for his own British Formula One Racing Team), never quite establishing himself in either category, but clinched the 1980 F2 championship for Toleman, who took him into F1 for 1981. The first Toleman-Hart was something of a disaster, overweight and underdeveloped, and Henton only managed to qualify once. Unfruitful outings for Arrows and Tyrrell in 1982 led to no more success.

Brian Henton Brian Henton USA 1975 by F1history on DeviantArt

Perhaps fittingly, his last Formula One outing was at the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch in April 1983, which also turned out to be the last non-championship F1 race in the modern era.

Brian Henton Brian Henton returned after a year away from F1 to finish

Following his retirement from the sport, he returned to running a car dealership and later moved into property development and in recent years has diversified into other areas, notably engineering. He has occasionally driven at historic events and holds equestrian events at his home in Ingarsby Hall, Leicestershire.

Brian Henton BRIAN HENTONautograph collection of Carlos Ghys

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Henton drove Rupert Keegan's No. 18 Surtees during practice for the 1978 Austrian Grand Prix but was not officially entered for the race.

References

Brian Henton Wikipedia