Duncan Hamilton (racing driver)

James Duncan Hamilton (30 April 1920 in Cork, County Cork, Ireland – 13 May 1994 in Sherborne, Dorset, England) was a British racing driver.

He was famed for his colourful and extroverted personality, which often overshadowed his genuine talent.

After fighting in the Second World War, he took up motorsport.

After racing a Maserati 6CM in 1948, Hamilton graduated to a Talbot-Lago Grand Prix car.

Hamilton participated in five World Championship Grands Prix and 18 non-Championship Formula One races.

His best results in the non-Championship events were fourth place in the 1948 Zandvoort Grand Prix with a Maserati 6CM, third in the 1951 Richmond Trophy (ERA B-Type), second in the 1951 BRDC International Trophy (Talbot-Lago T26C), third in the 1952 Richmond Trophy (Talbot-Lago T26C) and fourth in the 1952 Internationales ADAC Eifelrennen (HWM-Alta).

That fourth place at Zandvoort, showed that he was right at home in the upper level of Grand Prix racing, especially as this was his debut at this level.

After that impressive debut, things soon turned sour for Hamilton, at his last race of 1948, the RAC International Grand Prix, the first official post-WW2 British Grand Prix, he retired with oil pressure problems.

Throughout the 1949 Grand Prix season, he only suffered one retirement, however he did not finish higher than ninth, which he managed twice, both times at Goodwood.

The following season, he competed in fewer Grand Prix races, while he expanded his racing experience by racing sportscars.

He won the Wakefield Trophy, a minor Formula Libre race, held at Curragh in the Republic of Ireland.

Hamilton performed beautifully before the Irish crowd.

In the wet, Hamilton had few peers.

During the years between the war ending and the start of the 1950s, Hamilton started racing in local events.

He cut his teeth in such pre-wars as the MG R-type and the Bugatti Type 35B.

The pair finished fourth at their first attempt in the 1950 race and sixth in 1951, both times in a special-bodied Nash-Healey coupe.

In his Talbot-Lago, he eclipsed even world champion Juan Manuel Fangio at the soaking BRDC International Trophy race at Silverstone in 1951, when he finished second to Reg Parnell.

He was best known for his success in the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, which he took part in nine times, most famously in partnership with Tony Rolt.

Their Jaguar C-Type did not finish in 1952, but they returned with a C-Type to win in 1953.

Although adept in single-seaters, sportscars was where he enjoyed most success, winning the 1953 24 Hours of Le Mans, two Coupe de Paris events, and the 12 heures internationals Reims race in 1956.

Hamilton famously won the 1953 event in a Jaguar C-Type shared with Rolt.

Initially, the pairing were disqualified for practising in a Jaguar that had the same racing number as another on the circuit at the same time, but they were reinstated.

Hamilton's account has become a motor racing legend: when Jaguar team manager Lofty England persuaded the organisers to let them race, both drivers were already drunk in a local bar.

England said: "Of course I would never have let them race under the influence. I had enough trouble when they were sober!"

They were second with a Jaguar D-Type in 1954, losing to a much larger-engined V12 Ferrari – and by the narrowest margin in years.

They came within two miles of victory, Hamilton driving a storming race in the closing stages to halve the lead of the Scuderia Ferrari of José Froilán González and Maurice Trintignant, as the track was awash following a cloudburst.

When the track started to dry out, the Ferrari hung on for a narrow triumph.

He failed to finish in 1955.

For 1956 Hamilton partnered Alfonso de Portago in a Ferrari but again did not finish.

Hamilton also won the 1956 Rheims 12-hour race for Jaguar with a D-Type co-driven by Ivor Bueb.

Despite the win, the factory dropped him from their 1956 Le Mans roster for speeding up and passing team-mate Paul Frère's car at Rheims when Lofty England had ordered the entire team to slow down, hence his switch to a Ferrari that year.

In 1957 he reverted to a Jaguar D-Type: partnered by the American driver Masten Gregory he came sixth.

In 1957 Jaguar did not enter Le Mans – cars and equipment had been destroyed by a fire at the factory – and Hamilton used his privately owned D-Type.

He retired in 1958 and ran a garage in Bagshot, Surrey for many years.

His last Le Mans appearance was in 1958, when the D-Type he shared with Ivor Bueb failed to finish.

He died from lung cancer in 1994.

Born in County Cork, Hamilton was brought up in relative obscurity.

Prior to his 20th birthday, Europe was already embroiled in the Second World War.

As a result, he would spend the war years as part of the Fleet Air Arm flying Lysanders.

After the war ended, he opened a car garage.