Drivers

Philip Fotheringham-Parker

A wealthy amateur driver, Fotheringham-Parker was a typical British privateer of his era, willing to have a go and frustrated by the disruption caused by World War II.

Fotheringham-Parker started racing in his twenties at Brooklands, at the wheel of an Alvis but in the August Senior Mountain Handicap race of 1932, in the rain, he slid wide on the banking, over-corrected and went straight over the top and disappeared down the embankment on the outside of the track. The car came to rest when it hit the railings which separated the entrance road from the banking. Although shaken by the experience Fotheringham-Parker suffered no serious injury and the car was sold in 1933 to Michael May who raced it until the chassis finally broke.

Having calmed down a bit after his lucky escape Fotheringham-Parker graduated to an ERA and went on to invest in a Maserati 4CL Grand Prix car, although the outbreak of World War II cut short his exploits. When peace returned Fotheringham-Parker was 38 but he took the old Maserati out of storage and went into action again, enjoying some success in the immediate post-war era. In 1949 he finished second in the Wakefield Trophy at The Curragh and two years later made his Grand Prix debut (his only World Championship event as it turned out) at the British Grand Prix. He did not figure strongly but that same year won a minor F1 race at Winfield.

A competent all-rounder Fotheringham-Parker raced sportscars in the 1950s, sharing an Aston Martin with Tony Gaze in the Goodwood Nine Hours and the Spa 24 Hours. That same year he co-drove at Le Mans with Sidney Allard in an Allard-Cadillac. The following year he did the Monte Carlo Rally in a Willment Jupiter, which was built specially for him. By then he was 47 years of age and faded from the racing scene. He eventually retired to Rye in Sussex where he died in 1981 at the age of 74