Tommy Sopwith (racing driver)
Thomas Edward Brodie Sopwith was a British businessman and car racing driver.Biography
Thomas Sopwith was the son of English aviation pioneer and yachtsman Sir Thomas Sopwith – builder of the Sopwith Camel and later chairman of Hawker Aircraft – and Phyllis Brodie. He was educated at Stowe School, Buckinghamshire.
His success as a racing driver saw him win the first-ever round of the British Saloon Car Championship in 1958. That year he narrowly lost out on the driver's title to Jack Sears after a ten lap shoot-out at the end of the season, after the two drivers finished on equal points. In 1961 he switched from car to powerboat racing. In 1965 he won the Cornish "100" Offshore Class 3, powerboat race in a boat called 'Thunderflash', just beating Mike Beard in 'Mongaso'.
He was the owner of Endeavour Holdings Limited, a car dealership in Portslade, Brighton, with a turnover of £17 million.
He died on 4 May 2019 at the age of 86 at Basingstoke Hospital.
