Kenny Acheson


Kenneth Henry Acheson is a British former racing driver who participated during the 1983 and 1985 Formula One seasons for the RAM team. He completed only one of his three race starts, finishing in 12th position in the 1983 South African Grand Prix. In 1985, he was a substitute for Manfred Winkelhock, who was killed in a sportscar race during the season.

Career

Early career

Born in Cookstown, his father, the owner of an Ulster brickworks, raced in the 1970s on motorcycles and in Formula Ford.
In 1976 he had a test in his father's old Crosslé FF1600 at the local Kirkistown Circuit and in no time was lapping within three seconds of the lap record. He entered his first race later in the year, once again at Kirkistown driving his father's FF1600 Crosslé. He acquitted himself pretty well and his father agreed to buy a new Crosslé for the 1977 season if Kenny quit smoking.
So, equipped with new machinery, he won the 1977 Northern Ireland FF1600 Championship.

Further success and Formula 1

For 1978 he moved to England to contest three of the Formula Ford series. Driving one of Alan Cornock's Royales with RMC sponsorship, he won 29 races and all three championships. He also picked up a Grovewood Award at the end of the year.
Moving up to Formula 3 in 1979, he began with a second-hand Ralt but soon ordered a new March 793 in an effort to be more competitive. However he failed to take any Championship wins though he set the fastest lap at the F3 support race for the 1979 British Grand Prix and won three non-championship races.
For 1980 he joined up with Murray Taylor Racing at Stone in Oxfordshire, to contest the Vandervell British F3 Championship. By mid-season Acheson was leading the Championship from Stefan Johansson who was driving for Project 4 Racing. But then Johansson acquired a new Ralt RT3 and closed the gap. At the last race of the Championship, Kenny made a small mistake and Johansson took the title.
Moving up to Formula 2 in 1981, he joined Docking Spitzley Racing driving a Toleman TG280. However his season ended prematurely with a big accident while racing for the lead with Michele Alboreto around the French street circuit at Pau. Running wheel to wheel, Alboreto left Acheson nowhere to go and he crashed heavily, his car ending up in a tree. With both his legs badly broken he was lucky to survive.
Nevertheless, he returned in 1982 with the Ralt Honda team, finishing seventh in the European Championship.
He was given a works F2 drive with Maurer Motorsport in 1983 and, later in the year, made his F1 debut in one of John McDonald's RAM March F1 cars with RMC sponsorship RAM March F1 car. In seven races, he failed to qualify the cumbersome car on every occasion before he finally made it onto the grid for the South African GP.
Without a drive in 1984, he returned to the RAM team as to replace Manfred Winkelhock who had tragically been killed racing a Kremer Porsche 962C at Mosport Park. With the more competitive Hart-powered RAM 03 Kenny qualified for both the Austrian and Italian GP but his funds dried up and that was the end of his F1 career.

Later career

He also had a brief flirtation with CART that year. He was entered for the Indy 500 in a Lola T800 Cosworth but didn't drive. He then crashed his March 83C Cosworth at the Meadowlands before failing to qualify for Elkhart Lake and crashing in practice at Laguna Seca in the Skoal Bandit Lola T800 Cosworth.
For the next few years he made his living in Japan where he raced for Kunimitsu Takahashi’s Advan-backed Alpha team in Formula 3000 and sports cars. He won the Japanese Sportscar Championship in 1987 and on the back of that, moved back to Europe in 1988 with Sauber-Mercedes and was due to drive at Le Mans, but the team pulled out in practice.
He embarked on a full season with Sauber-Mercedes in 1989 and took a fine second at Le Mans that year driving with Mauro Baldi, the pair going on to win at Brands Hatch and Spa.
At the end of 1989 he was dropped by Sauber despite his performances and instead moved to Nissan for 1990 for the WSPC season. At Le Mans he retired the R90CK with a gearbox failure during the warm-up lap.
For Le Mans in 1991 he was part of the Silk Cut Jaguar team, finishing third in the XJR12. In 1992 he was back at Le Mans, this time with Toyota driving the Tony Southgate designed TS010 and scoring another second, though the following year he failed to finish. When the sportscar World Championship ended, Acheson switched to GT racing in Japan with the SARD team. This led to a final visit to the Sarthe in 1995, when he drove the SARD MC8R, retiring after just 14 laps when the car suffered a total brake failure.
In 1996 Acheson went to the Daytona 24 Hours with the Newcastle United football team liveried Lister Storm. In the dying moments of the race his Lister was destroyed in a violent crash when he was hit by a slower car. Luckily he walked away from the scene, and he also decided to walk away from racing altogether.

Racing record

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

YearEntrantChassisEngine12345678910111213Pts
Docking Spitzley Team TolemanLola T850HartSIL
19		HOC
Ret		THR
Ret		NÜR
6		VAL
10		MUG
15		PAU
Ret		PERSPADONMISMAN
3		15th5
Ralt Racing Ltd.Ralt RH6/82HondaSIL
Ret		HOC
13		THR
2		NÜR
4		MUG
6		VAL
14		PAU
5		SPA
10		HOC
11		DON
10		MAN
Ret		PER
Ret		MIS
Ret		7th12
Maurer MotorsportMaurer MM83BMWSIL
Ret		THR
10		HOC
10		NÜR
9		VAL
11		PAU
2		JAR
Ret		DON
8		MISPERZOLMUG10th6

Japanese Top Formula Championship results

YearEntrantChassisEngine1234567891011Pts
1981Suzuki RacingToleman TG280HartSUZSUZSUZSUZSUZ
Ret		NC0
1982Ralt Racing Ltd.Ralt RH6/82HondaSUZFUJSUZSUZSUZ
15		SUZ
4		12th10
1985Advan Sports NovaMarch 85JHondaSUZ
4		FUJ
3		MIN
6		SUZ
Ret		SUZ
5		FUJ
1		SUZ
4		SUZ
8		3rd66
1987Advan Sports TomeiMarch 87BCosworthSUZ
8		FUJ
16		MIN
SUZ
10		SUZ
15		SUG
Ret		FUJ
7		SUZ
Ret		SUZ
Ret		15th8
1988Team KitamuraMarch 87BMugen-HondaSUZ
8		FUJ
Ret		MIN
9		SUZ
15		SUG
Ret		FUJ
14		SUZSUZNC0
1989Team LeMansReynard 89DMugen-HondaSUZFUJMINSUZSUG
Ret		FUJ
14		SUZSUZNC0
1991Ad Racing TeamReynard 91DMugen-HondaSUZ
EX		AUTFUJMINSUZSUGFUJSUZFUJSUZFUJNC0

Complete Formula One results

American Open-Wheel racing

CART PPG Indy Car World Series

Complete World Sportscar Championship results

YearEntrantClassCarEngine1234567891011Pts
1985John Fitzpatrick RacingC1Porsche 956BPorsche Type 935 2.6 F6tMUGMNZ
Ret		SILNC0
1985John Fitzpatrick RacingC1Porsche 962CPorsche Type 935 2.6 F6tLMS
DNQ		HOCMOSSPABRHNC0
1985Richard Lloyd RacingC1Porsche 956 GtiPorsche Type 935 2.6 F6tFUJ
Ret		SHANC0
1986Team IkuzawaC1Tom's 86CToyota 4T-GT 2.1 L4tMNZSILLMSNORBRHJERNÜRSPAFUJ
Ret		NC0
1987Advan Alpha NovaC1Porsche 962CPorsche Type 935 3.0 F6tJARJERMNZSILLMSNORBRHNÜRSPAFUJ
11		NC0
1988Team Sauber MercedesC1Sauber C9Mercedes-Benz M117 5.0 V8tJERJARMNZSILLMS
DNS		BRNBRHNÜRSPAFUJ
5		SANNC0
1989Team Sauber MercedesC1Sauber C9Mercedes-Benz M117 5.0 V8tSUZ
2		DIJ
3		JAR
5		BRH
1		NÜR
2		DON
2		SPA
1		MEX
Ret		4th97
1990Nissan Motorsports InternationalCNissan R89CNissan VRH35Z 3.5 V8tSUZ
Ret		9th11
1990Nissan Motorsports InternationalCNissan R90CKNissan VRH35Z 3.5 V8tMNZ
7		SIL
Ret		SPA
3		DIJ
21		NÜR
9		DON
4		CGV
5		MEX
4		9th11
1991Silk Cut JaguarC2Jaguar XJR-12Jaguar 7.4L V12SUZMNZSILLMS
3		NÜRMAGMEXAUT24th12
1992Toyota Team Tom'sC1Toyota TS010Toyota RV10 3.5 V10MNZSILLMS
2		DONSUZ
Ret		MAG16th15

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete International Formula 3000 results

YearEntrantChassisEngine1234567891011Pts
1986Eddie Jordan RacingMarch 86BFord CosworthSILVALPAUSPAIMOMUGPERÖST
Ret		BIRBUGJARNC0