Drivers

Peter Arundell

From Ilford in Essex, Arundell started racing when he was 21 driving an MG. After finishing his National Service with the Royal Air Force he became a professional racing driver, competing in Lotus and Elva machinery. In 1962 he won the British Formula Junior title in a factory Lotus 22, his domination of the series being so complete that his rivals alleged that he was using illegal engines. Arundell was challenged to take the car to Monza for the Monza Lotteria and demonstrate his speed. He did and he won. He also won the prestigious Monaco Formula Junior race in 1961 and 1962. In 1963 he did some non-championship Formula 1 races with Team Lotus after Trevor Taylor was injured in a spectacular crash in the non-championship Mediterranean GP at Enna. Arundell, however, concentrated on winning the British Formula 3 title and did not make his Grand Prix debut until the following year after Taylor was dropped. Life as Jim Clark's team mate was not easy but he finished third on his debut at Monaco and repeated the performance at the Dutch GP two weeks later. Less than two months later he was seriously injured in the Formula 2 race at Reims when he had a spin and was hit at high speed by Richie Ginther. Arundell was thrown from the car in the impact.

He missed most of the 1965 season as he recovered but Lotus boss Colin Chapman kept a car for him in 1966 although the team was in trouble with the development of the BRM H16 engine and Arundell failed to score any major results. At the end of the year he retired from F1 having competed in only 11 World Championship events.