Innes Ireland
Robert McGregor Innes Ireland, was a British military officer, engineer, and motor racing driver. He was a larger-than-life character who, according to a rival team boss, "lived without sense, without an analyst and provoked astonishment and affection from everyone."
Early life
Ireland was born on 12 June 1930 in Mytholmroyd, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, the son of a Scottish veterinary surgeon. His family returned to Kirkcudbright, Scotland during his youth, and he trained as an engineer with Rolls-Royce, first in Glasgow and later in London. Commissioned as a lieutenant in the King's Own Scottish Borderers, he served with the Parachute Regiment in the Suez Canal Zone during 1953 and 1954.Racing career
Ireland began racing a Riley 9 in 1954. His first year of nationally competitive events was 1957, by which time he was running a small engineering firm in Surrey. Success in sports car racing saw him make his Formula One debut for Team Lotus in 1959. In 1960 he won three non-championship Formula One races and finished fourth in the World Drivers Championship. Badly injured in the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix, Ireland recovered to win the Solitude Grand Prix and Flugplatzrennen races, then finished the season with a victory in the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen.Despite these successes, he was sacked at the end of the season, team boss Colin Chapman considering Jim Clark a better bet. Despite occasional successes, Ireland never again had a car to match his talent, and he was encouraged by Bill France, founder of NASCAR, to participate in the 1967 Daytona 500, one of the last races of his career, where the V8 engine of his Dodge exploded outside the stands.
A talented writer, Ireland produced a classic autobiography, All Arms and Elbows, and worked as a journalist for ESPN for several F1 races in the late 1980s as well as the American Road & Track magazine, Autocar magazine, and skippering fishing trawlers in the North Atlantic. Towards the end of his life, he was elected president of the British Racing Drivers' Club, which post he still held at the time of his death from cancer on 22 October 1993, at Reading, Berkshire, England.
Personal life
On 30 October 1954 Ireland married Scarborough schoolteacher Norma Thomas. They had two daughters before divorcing in 1967. He then married Edna Humphries also in 1967. Ireland married his third wife Jean Mander, a former fashion model, on 11 June 1993 at Newbury register office. Jean had been engaged to Mike Hawthorn at the time of Hawthorn's death in 1959. Ireland also had a son who died in 1992.Formula One results
Complete Formula One World Championship results
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | WDC | Pts. |
| Team Lotus | Lotus 16 | Climax L4 | MON | 500 | NED 4 | FRA Ret | GBR | GER Ret | POR Ret | ITA Ret | USA 5 | 14th | 5 | ||
| Team Lotus | Lotus 18 | Climax L4 | ARG 6 | MON 9 | 500 | NED 2 | BEL Ret | FRA 7 | GBR 3 | POR 6 | ITA | USA 2 | 4th | 18 | |
| Team Lotus | Lotus 21 | Climax L4 | MON DNS | NED | BEL Ret | FRA 4 | GBR 10 | GER Ret | USA 1 | 6th | 12 | ||||
| Team Lotus | Lotus 18/21 | Climax L4 | ITA Ret | 6th | 12 | ||||||||||
| UDT-Laystall Racing Team | Lotus 24 | Climax V8 | NED Ret | MON Ret | BEL Ret | FRA Ret | GBR 16 | GER | ITA Ret | USA 8 | RSA 5 | 16th | 2 | ||
| British Racing Partnership | Lotus 24 | BRM V8 | MON Ret | GER Ret | 9th | 6 | |||||||||
| British Racing Partnership | BRP | BRM V8 | BEL Ret | NED 4 | FRA 9 | GBR Ret | ITA 4 | USA | MEX | RSA | 9th | 6 | |||
| British Racing Partnership | Lotus 24 | BRM V8 | MON DNS | NED | 14th | 4 | |||||||||
| British Racing Partnership | BRP | BRM V8 | BEL 10 | FRA Ret | GBR 10 | GER | AUT 5 | ITA 5 | USA Ret | MEX 12 | 14th | 4 | |||
| Reg Parnell Racing | Lotus 25 | BRM V8 | RSA | MON | BEL 13 | FRA Ret | GBR Ret | NED 10 | GER | NC | 0 | ||||
| Reg Parnell Racing | Lotus 33 | BRM V8 | ITA 9 | USA Ret | MEX DNS | NC | 0 | ||||||||
| Bernard White Racing | BRM P261 | BRM V8 | MON | BEL | FRA | GBR | NED | GER | ITA | USA Ret | MEX Ret | NC | 0 |
Non-championship results
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 1959 | Team Lotus | Lotus 16 | Climax Straight-4 | BUE | GLV | AIN | INT | OUL | SIL Ret | |||||||||||||||
| 1960 | Team Lotus | Lotus 18 | Climax Straight-4 | BUE Ret | GLV 1 | INT 1 | SIL Ret | LOM 1 | OUL Ret | |||||||||||||||
| 1961 | Team Lotus | Lotus 18 | Climax L4 | LOM Ret | GLV 5 | PAU | BRX 9 | VIE | AIN 10 | SYR Ret | NAP | LON | SIL | KAN Ret | MOD DNQ | |||||||||
| 1961 | Team Lotus | Lotus 21 | Climax L4 | SOL 1 | DAN 2 | FLG 1 | OUL Ret | LEW | VAL | RAN | NAT | RSA | ||||||||||||
| 1962 | UDT-Laystall Racing Team | Lotus 18/21 | Climax L4 | CAP | BRX 3 | LOM Ret | LAV | GLV 3 | PAU | AIN Ret | ||||||||||||||
| 1962 | UDT-Laystall Racing Team | Ferrari 156 | Ferrari V6 | INT 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1962 | UDT-Laystall Racing Team | Lotus 24 | BRM V8 | NAP | MAL | CLP 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1962 | UDT-Laystall Racing Team | Lotus 24 | Climax V8 | RMS 3 | SOL DNA | KAN 4 | MED | DAN 3 | OUL Ret | MEX 3 | RAN Ret | NAT | ||||||||||||
| 1963 | British Racing Partnership | Lotus 24 | BRM V8 | LOM 3 | GLV 1 | PAU | IMO | SYR | AIN 2 | INT 4 | ROM | KAN | MED | AUT | OUL Ret | RAN | ||||||||
| 1963 | British Racing Partnership | BRP | BRM V8 | SOL 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1964 | British Racing Partnership | BRP | BRM V8 | DMT 1 | NWT Ret | SYR | AIN Ret | INT Ret | SOL Ret | MED 3 | RAN | |||||||||||||
| 1965 | Reg Parnell Racing | Lotus 25 | BRM V8 | ROC | SYR Ret | SMT | INT | MED 5 | RAN 6 | |||||||||||||||
| 1966 | Reg Parnell Racing | Lotus 25 | BRM V8 | RSA Ret | SYR | INT | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1966 | Bernard White Racing | BRM P261 | BRM V8 | OUL 4 |