Graham Hill

Norman Graham Hill (15 February 1929 – 29 November 1975) was a British racing driver and team owner, who was the Formula One World Champion twice, winning in and as well as being runner up on three occasions (1963, 1964 and 1965).

Despite not passing his driving test until 1953 when he was already 24 years of age, and only entering the world of motorsports a year later, Hill would go on to become one of the greatest drivers of his generation.

Hill is most celebrated for being the only driver ever to win the Triple Crown of Motorsport, an achievement which he defined as winning the Indianapolis 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Formula One World Drivers' Championship.

While several of his peers have also espoused this definition, including fellow F1 World Champion and Indy 500 winner Jacques Villeneuve, the achievement is today most commonly defined as including the Monaco Grand Prix rather than the Formula One World Championship.

He had been interested in motorcycles but in 1954 he saw an advertisement for the Universal Motor Racing Club at Brands Hatch offering laps for five shillings.

He made his debut in a Cooper 500 Formula 3 car and was committed to racing thereafter.

Hill joined Team Lotus as a mechanic soon after but quickly talked his way into the cockpit.

The Lotus presence in Formula One allowed him to make his debut at the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix, retiring with a halfshaft failure.

By this newer definition, Hill is still the only driver to have ever won the Triple Crown, winning at Monaco with such frequency in the 1960s (5x; 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968, 1969) that he became known as "Mr. Monaco".

In 1960, Hill joined BRM, he won also in that year on 8 May 1960 the Targa Florio in the class Sports 1600 together with a German driver Edgar Barth in a Porsche 718, and won the world championship with BRM in 1962.

He was known for his race preparation, keeping records of the settings on his car and working long hours with his mechanics.

Hill was also part of the so-called 'British invasion' of drivers and cars in the Indianapolis 500 during the mid-1960s, triumphing there in 1966 in a Lola-Ford.

At the same time, Hill along with his F1 contemporaries competed in the British Saloon Car Championship, scoring several outright wins.

He achieved a best finish of sixth overall in 1961 driving a Jaguar Mark 2.

In 1967, back at Lotus, Hill helped to develop the Lotus 49 with the new Cosworth-V8 engine.

It fell to Hill to perform the initial testing of the new car and its engine.

After the first shakedown run, Hill quipped "Well, it's got some poke! Not a bad old tool."

After teammates Jim Clark and Mike Spence were killed in early 1968, Hill led the team, and won his second world championship in 1968.

Hill crashed at the 1969 United States Grand Prix and was seriously injured, breaking both his legs and ending his season.

The Lotus had a reputation of being very fragile and dangerous at that time, especially with the new aerodynamic aids which caused similar crashes of Hill and Jochen Rindt at the 1969 Spanish Grand Prix.

A crash at the 1969 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen broke both his legs and interrupted his career.

Typically, when asked soon after the crash if he wanted to pass on a message to his wife, Hill replied "Just tell her that I won't be dancing for two weeks."

Upon recovery Hill continued to race in F1 for several more years, but never again with the same level of success.

Hill was known during the latter part of his career for his wit and became a popular personality – he was a regular guest on television and wrote a notably frank and witty autobiography, Life at the Limit, when recovering from his 1969 accident.

Hill was also a well liked television personality and was frequently seen on television screens in the 1970s in a non-sporting capacity, appearing on a variety of programmes including panel games.

Colin Chapman, believing Hill was a spent force, placed him in Rob Walker's team for 1970, sweetening the deal with one of the brand-new Lotus 72 cars.

Although Hill scored points in 1970 he started the season far from fully fit and the 72 was not fully developed until late in the season.

Hill moved to Brabham for 1971–2; his last win in Formula One was in the non-Championship International Trophy at Silverstone in 1971 with the "lobster claw" Brabham.

The team was in flux after the retirements of Sir Jack Brabham and then Ron Tauranac's sale to Bernie Ecclestone; Hill did not settle there.

Upon leaving Brabham, Hill set up his own team in 1973, operating under the name Embassy Hill.

Although he would recover and continue to race until 1975, Hill's career would never again reach the same heights, and the Monaco Grand Prix victory earlier in 1969 would be his last victory in Formula One.

Wins in the most prestigious races of all three of the major disciplines of motor racing cemented Hill's position as one of the most complete drivers in the history of the sport.

Hill continued to race, however after failing to qualify for the 1975 Monaco Grand Prix he retired from driving to concentrate on the day-to-day operations of the team.

That same year, Hill and five other members of the Embassy Hill team were killed when the aeroplane Hill was piloting from France crashed in fog at night on Arkley golf course while attempting to land at Elstree Airfield in north London.

Hill and his son Damon were the first father and son pair to win Formula One World Championships.

Hill's grandson Josh, Damon's son, also raced his way through the ranks until he retired from Formula Three in 2013 at the age of 22.

Born in Hampstead, London, Hill attended Hendon Technical College and joined Smiths Instruments as an apprentice engineer.

He was conscripted into the Royal Navy and served as an Engine Room Artificer (ERA) on the light cruiser HMS Swiftsure, rising to the rank of petty officer.

After leaving the navy he rejoined Smiths Instruments.

Hill did not pass his driving test until he was 24 years old, and he himself described his first car as "A wreck. A budding racing driver should own such a car, as it teaches delicacy, poise and anticipation, mostly the latter I think!"