Tony Rolt, the last surviving driver from the very first F1 race in 1950, died in Warwickshire (England) aged 89


Wednesday 6th February 2008

Tony Rolt, the last surviving driver from the very first F1 race in 1950, died in Warwickshire (England) aged 89. He competed in two other British Grand Prix in 1953 and 1955 but failed to finish any of the F1 races he entered. He made his racing debut in 1936 and by 1937 he had won the Coronation Trophy races twice at Donington Park. He drove his ERA “Remus”, which is still used in historic competition today, to victory at Donington in the prestigious 200-mile British Empire Trophy in 1939. His greatest achievement in motorsport was at Le Mans where he competed in the 24-hour race for seven consecutive years between 1949 and 1955, famously winning the 1953 event in a Jaguar C-Type shared with Duncan Hamilton. During World War II he spent several years as a prisoner of war, latterly at Colditz where he was involved in a legendary attempt to escape using a homemade glider.


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