Wednesday 5th December 1917

Born on this day, Kenneth Henry Downing, British racer. Always a privateer, Downing was the best placed British driver on the grid for the 1951 British Grand Prix with Connaught A-type 2-litre Formula 2 car. Only the three factory Ferraris of Farina, Ascari and Taruffi and Manzonís Gordini were in front of him. A goofy backmarker cost him a better result than ninth in the race. He retired from the Dutch Grand Prix, his only other appearance Grand Prix. He died in 2004 at the age of 84.