Leslie Johnson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Leslie Johnson | |
| Nationality |  British |
|---|---|
| World Championship Career | |
| Active years | 1950 |
| Team(s) | ERA |
| Races | 1 |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podium finishes | 0 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First race | 1950 British Grand Prix |
| Last race | 1950 British Grand Prix |
Leslie George Johnson (22 March 1912 – 8 June 1959) was a British racing driver who competed in rallies, sports car races and Grand Prix races.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
Leslie Johnson was born and raised in Walthamstow, at that time one of London’s poorer districts. His father was a cabinet fitter who died soon after starting his own business. Johnson, then in his mid-teens, took charge of the firm. The employees responded to his enlightened, philanthropic management with loyalty and dedication which, allied to Johnson’s astute business brain, helped create the successful furniture manufacturing business that funded his entry into competition driving.
When competition resumed after World War II he progressed from rallies to hill climbs and sports car racing. He demonstrated world-class skill but was never to fully commit himself to racing. Business interests remained his primary focus. Further, his heart and kidneys were permanently damaged by nephritis and acromegaly in childhood. So ill-health and businesses responsibilities constrained a racing career that might otherwise have been more successful.
He specialized in European endurance races such as Le Mans and the Mille Miglia. He also broke several world speed records for production sports cars.
Among his close friends were Jaguar founder William Lyons (to whom he lent his BMW 328 for detailed mechanical investigation during the planning and design of the Jaguar XK120) and Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix engineering supremo Rudolph Ulenhaut. (Johnson used three Mercedes road cars: 300SL “gullwing,” 300 “Adenhauer” saloon, and 220S “ponton” saloon.)
Altruistic by nature, he initiated and negotiated Stirling Moss's first commercial sponsorship deal - with Shell.
He was married to the widow of anglo-French driver Pierre Maréchal, and stepfather to her son Christian Maréchal, an advertising copywriter, UK ultralight aviation pioneer and freelance journalist.
Johnson’s worsening heart condition finally forced his retirement from competition in 1954. He bought a farm in Gloucestershire that included three houses: one was for himself and his family, one for his farm manager, and one for his bank manager. He still managed to run his Maidenhead-based company Prototype Engineering, which produced precision components for the fledgling nuclear industry. Towards the end of his life he developed a keen interest in the “Sport of Kings” and owned several racehorses.
He died in 1959, aged 46, at Foxcote House, the family’s home in the village of Foxcote, Gloucestershire, England.
[edit] Review of competition career
[edit] Rallies
Johnson’s involvement in motor sport began and ended with rallying. Early successes included:
- 1937: Winner, Scottish Rally. Winner, Torquay Rally.
- 1938: 3rd , RAC Rally.
- 1939: 3rd, RAC Rally.
He joined the Sunbeam Talbot teams for the 1952, 1953 and 1954 Monte Carlo Rallies. During the 1954 event he suffered a serious heart attack in the car but insisted co-drivers Stirling Moss and Sheila Van Damm keep going to the finish to secure the team prize. He was rushed to the Monte Carlo hospital, where doctors saved his life.
[edit] Racing: sports cars
His early races were with a BMW 328 and also a well-used 1938 Talbot T150C 4½ litre sports racing car, which he fitted with extra fuel tanks in the tail and cockpit for long-distance racing.
- 1946: 2nd overall and fastest lap, Brussels International Sports Car Race; BMW. The Motor reported his performance as that of a “budding Dick Seaman” and added: “Sommer and Chiron danced with fiendish glee as Johnson took the esses in a single controlled slide. Chiron said he had the flair of Nuvolari. Sommer, inarticulate with emotion, kissed the poor chap.”
- 1948: Winner, Spa 24 Hours; prototype Aston Martin shared with St. John Horsfall. Aston Martin’s first postwar victory.
- 1949: 3rd, Spa 24 Hours; Aston Martin DB2, partnered by Charles Brackenbury.
- Winner, Silverstone National Allcomers Race; Bentley 8-litre owned by Forrest Lycett
Johnson competed five times at Le Mans:
- 1949: DNF, Aston Martin DB2; retired from the lead with mechanical trouble.
- 1950: DNF, Jaguar XK120; clutch failure in the closing stages while lying third and catching the leaders.
- 1951: DNF, Jaguar C-Type.
- 1952: 3rd out of 57 starters; Nash-Healey.
- 1953: 11th out of 60 starters; Nash-Healey.
He also competed in four Mille Miglia races:
- 1950: 5th , Jaguar XK120. The best-ever showing by an Englishman driving a British car – in this instance a production car beaten only by lightweight competition cars entered by Alfa Romeo (Fangio’s came third) and Ferrari.
- 1951: DNF, Ferrari-Jaguar “Biondetti Special” shared with his 1950 Le Mans partner and four-times Mille Miglia winner Clemente Biondetti.
- 1952: 7th, Nash-Healey.
- 1953: DNF, Jaguar C-Type.
His name is closely associated with Jaguar; particularly the XK120 model. The uniquely illustrious competition history of his white car, road-registered as JWK 651, make it the world’s most valuable XK120. It sold for £230,000 ($350,000) at auction in 2001. His successes with the car include:
- 1949: Winner, Silverstone Daily Express International Sports Car Race. First-ever Eruopean race victory for the XK120.
- 1950 Winner in class, 4th overall, Palm Beach Shores, Florida. The XK120’s first-ever American race. The success launched Jaguar in the U.S. market.
[edit] Racing: single-seaters
In 1947 he entered three European Grands Prix with his 1930s Talbot T150C sports car. To convert it to Grand Prix configuration he simply removed its mudguards. The results were:
- 6th , Jersey International Road Race. Finished ahead of several Maserati and ERA single-seaters.
- 7th, Belgian Grand Prix.
- DNF, Swiss Grand Prix. He retired after the Talbot locked a brake entering a corner, slid wide, and killed two photographers lying in the grass, a tragedy that always haunted him.
In November 1947 he acquired English Racing Automobiles, together with one of their prewar ERA E-Type single-seaters. The cars were fast but fragile, and his results with “his” E-Type were disappointing:
- 1948: DNF, Grand Prix du Salon, Montlhéry. Started well from pole position but the fuel tank split.
- 1949: DNF, British Grand Prix, Silverstone -- Britain's first World Championship Grand Prix.
- 5th and fastest lap, British Empire Trophy.
- 5th, Richmond Trophy, Goodwood.
- 3rd, Chichester Trophy.
- 3rd, British Empire Trophy.
Other outings brought driveshaft failure, fire, supercharger failure, steering failure and another split fuel tank.
Johnson’s ambitious and technically advanced E-Type successor, the G-Type ERA, was designed to race in both Formula One Grands Prix and Formula 2. The anticipated development funds did not materialize, and the car was unsuccessful even in the hands of Stirling Moss.
[edit] Record-breaking
Johnson set numerous world records with Jaguar and Sunbeam-Talbot Alpine sports cars at the Autodrome de Montlhéry, the banked oval track near Paris; most notably:
- 1950: 107.46 mph for 24 hours; Johnson’s Jaguar XK120 roadster; co-driver Stirling Moss.
- 1951: 131.83 miles in one hour; Johnson solo with the XK120.
- 1952: 100.31 mph for 7 days and 7 nights; Jaguar XK120 coupé; co-drivers Stirling Moss, Bert Hadley and Jack Fairman.
Of the 1952 marathon Moss said:
- "...in mid-summer Leslie Johnson had another of his ideas. Having averaged 100mph for 24 hours at Montlhery he now talked Jaguar into attempting 100mph for a week!...We again drove in three-hour spells. The speedbowl lap was under a minute at 120mph, so it was quite a strain. After each straight we hit the banking high up near the lip, then plunged off, twice every fifty seconds, night and day. In each spell we would cover about 2000 laps. It was impossible to keep one's mind occupied on a job like that. We had a two-way radio which helped keep boredom at bay. We talked all the time, called each other names, even told stories. One dare not let the mind wander, because we were running within four feet of the banking lip at around 120mph. One had to concentrate on something. I worked out how many million revs the engine made in a day, how many times the wheels turned, things like that.
- The weather did not help; hot by day, cold at night. Night driving was a strain too, because we couldn't afford the drain on the battery of extra lights. The headlights had to be set very high to let us see the top of the banking when we were on it, and this meant that on the short straights we could see nothing at all because the beams were playing in the air.
- We hit several hares, rabbits and birds, and Leslie swore at one point that he'd seen a huge ten-foot tall figure in a long cloak, wearing a tall pointed hat, striding toward him along the verge. Next time round the figure had gone...it worried the life out of him for the rest of his stint. In fact I had donned a Shell fuel funnel, pulled a tarpaulin around me and sat on Jack Fairman's shoulders as he strode along the verge. After Leslie had whizzed by we ran away and hid...All very childish, but good fun in the circumstances. Leslie then had an extraordinary idea to get his own back during one of my stints. I came whistling off the banking to find him sitting with Jack Fairman in the middle of the track, playing cards!
- Then he took the pit signal board and put it out on the track, so that my natural line past the pits took me between it and the timekeeper's hut. He was lounging beside the hut so I waved to him as I shot though the gap. Next time round the board had been moved closer to the hut. The gap was narrower, but I couldn't leave the fast line so I shot through it again. Next time round, he'd moved the board closer still. Each lap he narrowed the gap which made me concentrate harder to pass through it. Eventually he gave in, and the board went back to its proper position, hung on the tent. At least it passed the time..."
Johnson's team drove the car almost 17,000 miles in 168 hours and broke eight world records.
[edit] Complete Formula One results
| Yr | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | ERA | GBR | MON | IND | SWI | BEL | FRA | ITA | ERA |
[edit] References
- Stirling Moss: My Cars, My Career Stirling Moss and Doug Nye, pub. 1992 Patrick Stephens, B000J4W6TU
- Motor Sport magazine, 1938 - 1954
- The Motor magazine, 1938 - 1954
