Formula One This article is more than 18 years oldObituaryCliff Allison
This article is more than 18 years oldSelf-effacing British racing driver on Ferrari's winning teamCliff Allison, who has collapsed and died, aged 73, while driving near his home, was a member of that elite band of British racing drivers to be recruited by the Ferrari formula one team. But unlike such celebrities as Mike Hawthorn, Tony Brooks, John Surtees and Nigel Mansell, his career with the famous Italian squad passed without a single grand prix victory, and was certainly one of the briefest, amounting to just six races.
His best result in a Ferrari was second place, driving a front-engined Dino 246, behind Bruce McLaren's mid-engined Cooper in the 1960 Argentine grand prix at Buenos Aires. Within a few months, he was involved in a huge accident while practising for the Monaco grand prix, a tragedy that effectively finished his top-line career.
Allison came closest to winning a world championship at the wheel of a spindly little Lotus 12 in the 1958 Belgian grand prix, on the daunting Spa-Francorchamps road circuit. In later life, he reflected that if only the race had been one lap longer, he would have beaten Stirling Moss to the distinction of becoming the first man to win a race for the British constructor.
Brooks's Vanwall took the chequered flag to win, despite slowing with a major gearbox problem, Hawthorn's Ferrari suffered an engine failure within sight of the finish, and coasted over the line, while Stuart Lewis-Evans's Vanwall wobbled to a halt in third place with broken front suspension. Allison's Lotus, running fourth, was the first healthy car to finish.
A farmer, whose family also owned the local garage business, Allison was born and lived all his life in the windswept village of Brough, in Cumbria. He drove his first race at the age of 20, at the now defunct Charterhall track in Scotland, at the wheel of his own 500cc formula three Cooper, and stayed competing in this category until 1956, by which time he had made his name as a man to watch.
In 1957, he shared a Lotus 11 sports car with Keith Hall at Le Mans, and finished an impressive 14th overall in this tiny, 744cc-engined machine, winning the prestigious Index of Performance handicap in the process.
In 1957, Allison's speed convinced Lotus team owner Colin Chapman to give him a drive in formula one, alongside Graham Hill, which, in turn, led to the invitation to sign for Ferrari in 1959.
Today, Ferrari grand prix drivers are multi-millionaires criss-crossing Europe in a couple of hours aboard private jets. Allison raced at a time when they were meagrely rewarded, and recounted how he made the gruelling trip from Cumbria to Maranello on a fortnightly basis. "Oh, it wasn't really any problem," he said with a grin. "I used to drive to Darlington, get the express train to King's Cross, taxi to Cromwell Road air terminal, bus to Heathrow, plane to Milan, taxi to the station, train to Modena and taxi out to the Ferrari factory at Maranello."
His career was abruptly interrupted when he crashed his Ferrari at Monaco and was hurled from the cockpit onto the track. He woke up in hospital 16 days later speaking French, which was strange because he did not know any French. Sidelined for a year with facial and arm injuries, he attempted a comeback in the 1961 Belgian grand prix, but rolled his UDT Laystall team Lotus 18 at the tricky Blanchimont corner and broke both his legs. After that, he retired to Brough with his wife Mabel, though it was many years before the bitterness of a career cut short finally left him.
A popular member of the British Racing Drivers' Club, Allison eventually became a familiar presence again, in the pit lanes, usually at Silverstone and Monaco, chatting happily about old times.
He is survived by his wife, three sons and a daughter.
ยท Cliff Allison, racing driver, born February 8 1932; died April 7 2005
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