Born on this day, Abecssis George, English racing driver and co-founder of the HWM Formula One team


Friday 21st March 1913

Born on this day, Abecssis George, English racing driver and co-founder of the HWM Formula One team. He began racing in 1935 in a modified Austin Seven. However, he made a name for himself in English club racing during the 1938 and 1939 seasons with Alta and ERA machinery. In 1939 he won the Imperial Trophy Formula Libre race at Crystal Palace, his only major victory, driving his Alta, defeating Prince Bira, in the E.R.A. known as Romulus, in a wet race, “that being the only time it was beaten by a 1,500 c.c. car in the British Isles.” At one point Abecassis held the Campbell circuit lap record at Brooklands at 72.61 m.p.h. On July 3, 1938 Abecassis broke the Prescott Hill Climb record with a climb of 47.85 seconds in his supercharged 1½ litre Alta. When World War II broke out he joined the Royal Air Force and became an experienced pilot, ultimately becoming a member of the secret “Moon Squadrons”,ferrying secret agents in and out of France with Lysander aircraft. During the course of his wartime service Abecassis was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.


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