Ken Wharton

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Frederick Charles Kenneth Wharton<ref>England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966 (Ancestry.com)</ref><ref>England & Wales, Birth Index, 1916-2005 (Ancestry.com)</ref> (21 March 1916 – 12 January 1957) was a British racing driver from Smethwick, England. He competed in off-road trials, hillclimbs, and rallying, and also raced sports cars and single-seaters. He began racing in the new National 500cc Formula in his own special, and later acquired a Cooper. His World Championship Grand Prix debut was at the 1952 Swiss event, run to Formula 2 regulations, where he started from 13th position on the grid and finished 4th. He participated in a total of 15 World Championship Grands Prix, from which he scored three championship points.

On 17 August 1935, he was involved in a crash at Donington Park while driving an Austin in an 850 c.c. race. The incident, which saw him overturn at Red-gate corner occurred on lap one of five. Wharton escaped with abrasions to the arm.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1951 he "travelled abroad, with Peter Bell's 2-litre E.R.A., to finish 3rd overall in the Susa/Mont Cenis hill-climb and 4th overall in the Aosta/Grand Saint Bernard hill-climb. With a Cooper 500, he also competed in the German Freiburg hill-climb where he was runner-up in the 500 cc class to Stirling Moss."<ref>C. A. N. May, Speed Hill-Climb, G.T. Foulis & Co LTD, 1962, Page 28.</ref> Wharton won the Freiburg event outright in the E.R.A. on 5 August, climbing the 7.4 miles of the Schauinsland Pass,<ref>Motor Year Book 1952, Temple Press, Page 193.</ref> in 8 minutes 5.33 seconds. On 19 August he was fastest at the Vue des Alpes hill-climb, with a time of 3 minutes 57.8 seconds.<ref>Motor Sport, January 1952, Page 11.</ref> He won the British Hill Climb Championship every year from 1951 to 1954, and remains the only driver to have won four successive BHCC titles. Other successes with ERA R4D included winning the Brighton Speed Trials in 1954, 1955 and 1956.

Success in rallies included winning the Tulip Rally in 1949, 1950 and 1952, driving Fords. He also became the British Trials Champion.

On 4 July 1954, he and Peter Whitehead won the Reims 12-hour race in a Jaguar D-Type.<ref>Les Douze Heures de Reims, Motor Sport, August 1954, Page 426.</ref>

In 1957 Wharton was fatally injured when his Ferrari Monza crashed in a sports-car race at the Ardmore Circuit in Auckland, New Zealand.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> More than 1,100 people attended his funeral, including his mother, father, sister, aunt, uncle and cousins.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Complete World Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	WDC	Points
1952	Scuderia Franera	Frazer-Nash FN48	Bristol Straight-6	SUI Template:Small	500	BEL Template:Small	FRA	GBR	GER	NED Template:Small			13th	3
		Cooper T20									ITA Template:Small
1953	Ken Wharton	Cooper T23	Bristol Straight-6	ARG	500	NED Template:Small	BEL	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER	SUI Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	NC	0
1954	Owen Racing Organisation	Maserati 250F	Maserati Straight-6	ARG	500	BEL	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	SUI Template:Small	ITA	ESP Template:Small	NC	0
1955	Vandervell Products Ltd	Vanwall	Vanwall Straight-4	ARG	MON	500	BEL	NED	GBR Template:Small	ITA Template:Small			NC	0

External links

• Ken Wharton profile at The 500 Owners Association